The TeachingBooks.net Blog

Can you remember the first book that really captivated you? A book that brought you on a journey to a brand new place?  A book that you just couldn’t wait to pick up again for the pleasure of being totally immersed, completely absorbed, in the story?

For me, that book was Suzanne Fisher Staples’, Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind (Random House, 1989).

When I recorded Suzanne speaking about Shabanu and reading an excerpt, I realized that I’d been mispronouncing the book’s title and protagonist’s name for years. This reminded me of a simple, but very useful, reason to listen to audio resources about the books I am reading and recommending.

I also learned that Suzanne worked as a news reporter in Pakistan and then did literacy work in the Cholistan Desert.  I love how TeachingBooks.net’s Original Book Readings include the author speaking about the story behind the story.  I find it interesting to listen to these Book Readings both before and after reading a book.  I love the new connection I feel with an author when I’ve heard their voice and their inspiration for writing a particular book.

Learn more about Suzanne Fisher Staples and her reasons for writing Shabanu in her Original Book Reading of Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind.

When you listen to this Original Book Reading, I hope you’ll also notice the new audio player, which we’ve improved based on customer feedback. Educators have shared that it’s helpful for them to know the length of the multimedia resources they plan to integrate into their teaching. So now, after clicking play, you’ll see each Book Reading’s length and elapsed time displayed. We hope you’ll enjoy this enhancement to the audio player.

Lastly, see all resources for Suzanne Fisher Staples on TeachingBooks.net, including her Author Name Pronunciation, website, and multiple Book Guides.

Posted by Danika L. Morphew-Tarbuck, MLS, Web 2.0 Content Producer

As Father’s Day approaches, I love to think about all the fathers in the world who have had a positive influence on the children in their lives.  In particular, I’m cognizant of several authors/illustrators with adult offspring who are now in the book-making business.

Take, for example, Walter Dean Myers.  Walter is well-known for writing such gripping young adult novels as Monster (the very first novel to receive the Michael L. Printz Award) (HarperCollins, 1999) and Fallen Angels (Scholastic, 1988).

One of Walter’s sons is Christopher Myers. He is an award-winning artist for such books as Harlem (written by Walter Dean Myers, Scholastic, 1997) and Jazz (written by Walter Dean Myers, Holiday House, 2006).

In this Original Author Program, Christopher says he loves working with his “pop” and discusses how his art choices intertwine with the text that his dad writes. What fun to have one’s source of professional inspiration be a close relative!

Here are two more family names that come to my mind when thinking of multiple book creators found within a single family: Pinkney and Emberley.  What other parent-child book creators can you think of?

Posted by Carin Bringelson, MLS, Information Manager

TeachingBooks.net is delighted to welcome award-winning author Linda Sue Park as our featured guest blogger.

Each month, we ask one distinguished author or illustrator to write an original post that reveals insights about their process and craft. Enjoy!

Photo provided by Linda Sue Park, 2009

Hi blog readers,

I recently attended BookExpo America (BEA) in New York City. I feel very fortunate that I get to attend conferences like BEA, for a couple of reasons. First, because I think of myself as a reader, even more than a writer. I love to read, and the authors whose books I love are among my heroes. The big book conferences mean I have the chance to hear other authors speak, and sometimes I even have the thrill of meeting a writer whose work I really admire.

Yep, when you come right down to it, I’m a book-and-author groupie. Big time.

At BEA, I got to see writers like Neil Gaiman and Suzanne Collins and Jon Scieszka receive awards for their work; I got to hear speeches by Shannon Hale, Katherine Paterson, and Mike Lupica; I got to chat with Sherman Alexie; I got to have dinner with Mary Downing Hahn. In addition to those luminaries, I was able to say hello to several other authors and illustrators who may not be famous yet, but they will be someday!

Fiction writing is in many ways a strange life: When I’m at home working on a writing project, I can go for days, sometimes even weeks at a time, when I hardly talk to anyone except my family. But unlike many writers, I’m an extrovert, and I love meeting people and getting to know them. Even though my schedule at these conferences is sometimes alarmingly full, I love the opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones.

Besides meeting other writers, I get to meet other READERS! At BEA, it’s booksellers. At the American Library Association conference, it’s librarians. At IRA and NCTE, it’s teachers. Whoever they are, they’re book lovers! Everywhere you go at these conferences, there are people talking about books and reading and writing. That’s my kind of fun.

At BEA, I got to meet twenty tables’ worth of booksellers at the “Speed Dating with Children’s Authors” event, where I talked about my latest novel, Keeping Score (Clarion, 2008). They’re all VIPs as far as I’m concerned. Because it’s these book lovers who will leave the conferences and return to their jobs and hopefully introduce my books to the people who really count: the young readers I write for. For every bookseller I met, I felt like I was saying hello indirectly to dozens, maybe hundreds of young readers. What an honor to be able to do so.

One more thing. We’ve been hearing for years now that reading is on the decline in our culture, and recently, the publishing business has suffered along with the rest of the economy. But at BEA, I saw THOUSANDS of books on display, and met so many people who still believe in the power of books. I came home inspired!

And the icing on the cake? Because BEA was in New York this year, I also got to attend a New York Mets game in their new stadium. The weather was gorgeous, it was an exciting game, and the Mets won.

Talk about a perfect weekend!

An original article by author Linda Sue Park.

More online resources about Linda Sue Park:

View the Book Guide for Keeping Score (Clarion, 2008).

View Now

Hear Linda Sue Park discuss the origin of her name and speak about her characters’ names in her Author Name Pronunciation.

Listen Now

• Read Linda Sue’s blog.
• Access all of TeachingBooks.net’s online resources about Linda Sue Park.

This spring we’ve been busily preparing to help celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Coretta Scott King (CSK) Book Awards. First celebrated in 1970, 246 recognitions have been bestowed since the award’s inception.

In the early years, only authors were recognized. By 1974, the first illustrator received an award. Then in 1994, the CSK Book Award was expanded to include the New Talent Award to honor African American authors and illustrators with less than three published works.  This newest award is now called the John Steptoe Award for New Talent.

Working on this project made me curious to learn more about the namesake of the award, John Steptoe. The author and illustrator of, among other books, the 1988 CSK Illustrator Award-winning book Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale (Lothrop, 1987), John also received Caldecott honors in 1985 and 1988.

As it turns out, John Steptoe has a son, Javaka Steptoe, who is also an award-winning illustrator. In 1998, Javaka won the CSK Illustrator Award for In Daddy’s Arms I am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers, (text by Alan Schroeder, published by Lee & Low, 1997).

Enjoy this video of Javaka reading from In Daddy’s Arms I am Tall and reflecting on how the struggles and triumphs of his father impacted his own development.  Gives me something to think about as Father’s Day approaches. How about you?

Posted by Carin Bringelson, MLS, Information Manager

This post was originally published in Nick Glass’ monthly column for Curriculum Connections, an e-newsletter published by School Library Journal in partnership with TeachingBooks.net. Subscribe to this free newsletter here.

Recently I was asked how online, multimedia resources about books and authors can engage students with reading challenges—specifically those students who are reading below grade level and crave high-interest, fast-paced titles. While there may be no one prescriptive answer to that question, educators have a variety of approaches at their disposal to interest these reluctant and struggling readers.

In this month’s post, I’ve selected a sampling of TeachingBooks.net materials on high-interest titles with low reading levels that students will find enjoyable and accessible. These multimedia resources will enliven book discussions as they honor students’ interests.

If you have experience using online materials to engage struggling readers, I’d love to hear about them. Email me at nick@teachingbooks.net

1. In written and video interviews author Sharon M. Draper reveals her approach to captivating readers

Sharon M. Draper, the 1997 National Teacher of the Year and an award-winning author, clearly knows how to capture her readers’ interests—on the elementary, middle, and high school levels.

As the author and former teacher notes in this in-depth TeachingBooks.net written interview, “I used to have a big sign in my classroom that said, ‘The “B” word is not allowed in here. I will not allow you to be bored.’ Similarly, I won’t allow me to be boring. So there was always action and energy in my classroom, and I try to do that with my books.

“I decided to write Tears of a Tiger (S & S, 1994) in a multi-genre format—with diaries, letters, and conversations. That immediately erased the ‘B’ factor so that readers are involved in the story, the plot, and the characters from the first page to the end. If you don’t like letters, you can read essays. If you don’t like essays, you can read poems.”

2.  Book Guides designed to spark conversations about high-interest, low reading-level books

Orca Book Publishers of Canada specializes in well-written books for reluctant readers. Their collection of online book guides effectively supports discussions among older struggling readers and a deeper reading of text. Topics addressed in the guides include ethics, decision-making, and plot development.

Click above to access 150-plus Orca Book Publishing discussion guides.

3.  Plan discussions about Paul Fleischman’s Seedfolks

Seedfolks (HarperCollins, 1997) is included on numerous reading lists and has been selected for many middle school “One-Book” programs. The novel presents thirteen, first-person vignettes that describe the transformation of a vacant lot in a downtown Cleveland, OH neighborhood into a community garden. These novel units will assist readers as they anticipate plot advances and explore character development.

4.  Baseball resources for summer reading

As many educators can testify, sports titles have sparked the interest of many a non-reader. I know that if it wasn’t for books and magazine articles about baseball, I wouldn’t be a successful reader today.

In the spirit of summer and that great American pastime, baseball, this collection of online materials offers a variety of book-related resources on the sport for kindergarten through grade 12. Highlights include a video of Sharon Robinson reminiscing about her father, Hall-of-Famer Jackie Robinson, and discussing her award-winning baseball titles; a handful of guides to John Ritter’s The Boy Who Saved Baseball (Philomel, 2003); and an audio excerpt of Mike Lupica’s Heat (Philomel, 2006).

Posted by Nick Glass, Founder & Principal of TeachingBooks.net

TeachingBooks.net recently created three new Book Readings with Newbery Award-winning author, Richard Peck.

One of the special things about the Original Book Readings we make in-house at TeachingBooks, is that they actually contain more than just book excerpts being read aloud. TeachingBooks.net’s Original Book Readings feature the authors themselves speaking about the backstory and inspiration for their books. So, in each of Richard Peck’s readings you’ll learn a bit about how and why he came to write A Long Way from Chicago (1998), A Year Down Yonder (2000), and his upcoming book A Season of Gifts (2009) (all Penguin). For example, in his Book Reading for A Long Way from Chicago, Peck explains the impetus behind his colorful character Grandma Dowdel: “When you’re a writer you can give yourself the grandmother you wished you’d had.”

I loved hearing this insight into Peck’s work.  I immediately imagined a creative writing or character development exercise based on people or pets or technology we wished we’d had in our lives.

One of the best parts of my work is getting to show and share with educators the multimedia resources on TeachingBooks.net.  The response I hear the most (from teachers, librarians, and even authors) is, “Wow!  I really wish I’d had something like this when I was in school!”

So, with these online multimedia resources at your fingertips, consider hosting a mini virtual author visit by using Book Readings and/or Author Programs.  Have Richard Peck, or another favorite author, in the classroom with you and your students!

What other ways could you use online Book Readings and Author Programs with students? Can you see them supporting summer reading programs? Book clubs? How about using them as a Readers’ Advisory tool?

My wish is that you’ll find even more wonderful ways to implement and share online multimedia resources, and that they will help you to generate enthusiasm for books and reading.

Richard Peck introduces and reads from A Long Way from Chicago (Penguin, 1998)

Richard Peck introduces and reads from A Year Down Yonder (Penguin, 2000)

Richard Peck introduces and reads from A Season of Gifts (Penguin, 2009)

Posted by Danika L. Morphew-Tarbuck, MLS, Web 2.0 Content Producer

This post was originally published in Nick Glass’ monthly column for Curriculum Connections, an e-newsletter published by School Library Journal in partnership with TeachingBooks.net. Subscribe to this free newsletter here.

Cuddling with a good book, reading aloud from a favorite novel, and retelling stories at gatherings are familiar activities that support family involvement with reading. Jim Trelease’s The Read-Aloud Handbook (6th ed., Penguin, 2006) has inspired generations to build successful literature connections outside the classroom. Other authoritative (and passionate) guides, including Esmé Raji Codell’s How to Get Your Child to Love Reading (Algonquin, 2003) and Emma Walton Hamilton’s Raising Bookworms (Beech Tree Books, 2008), present specific strategies and activities to motivate families to take an active role in the reading lives of their children.

In this post, I offer a selection of online book-based activities that can be shared at home to further encourage family participation with literature and reading. Web sites offer a wealth of material that can stimulate discussions about books. Video and audio interviews with authors, for example, provide fresh insights about their work. Novel units, now available online, can guide conversations about books, making it possible for busy family members to know more about what their children are reading and to ask questions about particular books. The Internet’s potential to bring people and information together adds dynamic new possibilities to extend family involvement in reading.

1. Encourage students and families to view this brief movie featuring Christopher Paul Curtis

If your pupils are reading Curtis’s Bud, Not Buddy (Delacorte, 1999), recommend that they view this movie at home. Online interviews with authors enable families to meet writers, hear about their creative processes, and have discussions inspired by the professional experiences of book creators.

2. Locate study guides and lesson plans

Encourage students and families to have informed conversations using these comprehensive book guides. (Just click on the above link and enter a title.) The TeachingBooks.net database contains K-12 resources on materials ranging from picture books to young adult classics.

3. Experience book trailers

Book trailers, like their film industry counterparts, are video teasers that can turn books into topics of family conversation.

4. Listen to authors introduce themselves and pronounce their names

Families can hear hundreds of authors and illustrators comment on their monikers by linking to the “TeachingBooks.net Author Name Pronunciation Guide.” These online audio recordings offer playful musings about names, rhymes, cultures, books, and more.

I hope you enjoy these suggested activities. If you have any thoughts on connecting families, technology, and books, please email them to me at nick@teachingbooks.net.

Posted by Nick Glass, Founder & Principal of TeachingBooks.net

TeachingBooks.net is delighted to welcome award-winning author Ingrid Law as our featured guest blogger.

Each month, we ask one distinguished author or illustrator to write an original post that reveals insights about their process and craft. Enjoy!

“The Author-Character Connection“

by Ingrid Law

Photo provided by Ingrid Law, 2009

One of the wonderful things about stories is their ability to allow us to explore and make believe. Whether as a reader or a writer, stories give us the chance to try on different hats. To see things from a new or different perspective. Or to share a bit of our own perspective with others.

Sometimes, readers ask me if I am anything like any of the characters in my novel, Savvy. I tell them that I think it is impossible not to put at least a teeny, tiny bit of yourself into nearly every character. Mostly, because we know ourselves better than we know anyone else. So which traits do I share with my characters? Well …

I’m certainly not perfect, like Momma. But what mother doesn’t wish she could be? Being a mother is one of the hardest jobs there is. There are so many times when we wonder if we are doing the right thing, wonder if we are making the right choices for our families and children. But even the momma in Savvy can make “perfectly awful mistakes,” because, in the end, she is fully human, too.

Like Lill, I sometimes feel too big and too small at the same time. And I like to hide sometimes like Samson. While I could never fit beneath a pile of laundry or in a cupboard like him, I am certainly prone to being reclusive. Yet, I feel I can come out of my quiet world if someone else needs a helping hand or a little added strength.

Like Lester, my shoulders tend to jump and twitch close to my ears when I get nervous. In fact, knowing this about myself, I gave Lester this trait of mine quite specifically. I hoped that, by giving my nervous twitch to Lester, I might be freed from it myself. Unfortunately, my plan didn’t work out the way I’d hoped. But it did give me a way to laugh about it.

And finally, there is Mibs, the book’s main character and narrator. One of the most important connections between me and Mississippi Beaumont stemmed from the actual process of writing Savvy. As I began to write the book, I kept having to consciously chase away the voices of doubt and criticism that jangled inside my head. Every time I had a thought that said, “Pink Bibles and buses? No one will go for that,” or “Maybe this vocabulary is too odd,”  or any other similar, creativity-killing notion, I worked hard to listen to my own voice and just keep writing. It became a kind of practice to respect the story as it came to me and not let those voices of uncertainty cloud my judgment. Without really thinking about the connection, I gave this very same challenge to Mibs. Throughout Savvy, Mibs quite literally struggles to weed out the voices of other people inside her head and, in the end, learns to listen to her own voice. So, while in many ways Mibs Beaumont and I are very different, in this one, most important way, we are the same…

Photo provided by Ingrid Law, 2009

That, and we both share a love for the little soaps found in roadside motels (and even posh hotels). I still bring them home with me whenever I travel. I’ve got a whole drawer full! Wouldn’t Mibs be envious? There’s just enough of me in her that I happen to know she would be.

An original article by author Ingrid Law.

More online resources about Ingrid Law:

Listen to Ingrid Law introduce and read from
Savvy (Penguin, 2008).

Listen Now

Hear Ingrid Law pronounce and tell about her name.

Listen Now

• Read Ingrid Law’s blog.
• Access all of TeachingBooks.net’s online resources about Ingrid Law.

April 30th of every year allows us the opportunity to celebrate El Día de los niños/El Día de los libros, Children’s Day/Book Day.

Founded by author and literacy advocate Pat Mora, the goal of Día (as it’s often called) is to encourage bilingual literacy among all children.  Additionally, Pat Mora sees this day as a way to foster “bookjoy.”

Experience some joy yourself as you explore the following resources about Pat Mora and her books!

1) Read this TeachingBooks.net interview with Pat Mora as she reflects on Día, her poetry, and multicultural literature.

2) With Mother’s Day approaching, use this lesson plan for Pat Mora’s Love to Mama: A Tribute to Mothers (Lee & Low, 2004).

3) Watch this video — in Spanish — of Pat Mora speaking about Tomás and the Library Lady (Random House, 1997).

4) Listen to this bilingual audio clip of Pat Mora introducing and reading from the award-winning book Doña Flor: A Tall Tale about a Giant Woman with a Great Big Heart (Random House, 2005).

For more more Spanish-language resources, see this Spanish QuickSearch.

Let us know how you celebrate Día!

Posted by Carin Bringelson, MLS, Information Manager

This post was originally published in Nick Glass’ monthly column for Curriculum Connections, an e-newsletter published by School Library Journal in partnership with TeachingBooks.net. Subscribe to this free newsletter here.

Children love series fiction. They enjoy the familiarity of the storylines, become comfortable with the formulas, and delight in the characters’ idiosyncrasies. Educators appreciate that these titles are accessible to all children—from the voracious readers who never put a book down to the English Language Learners who build on the successful completion of one volume to move confidently on to the next.

In this post, I invite you to introduce a multimedia dimension to your students’ series reading:

• Watch a short movie on the creators of “The Spiderwick Chronicles”
• Listen to Christopher Paolini discuss his motivation for writing Eragon, the first book in the “Inheritance Trilogy” series
• Invite your students to listen to an excerpt from Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus
• Hear Brian Jacques, author of the “Redwall” series, share stories about his moniker
• Offer book clubs a discussion guide on Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight

There are endless possibilities for integrating online materials into reading activities. At TeachingBooks.net, it’s easy to access resources on series titles. At the site, enter a full or partial series title in the “Search” box. Terms such as “Narnia,” “Harry Potter,” “Dear America,” “Betsy-Tacy,” “The Borrowers,” “Dark Materials,” and “Unfortunate Events” will reward visitors with author interviews, audio excerpts, book guides, and more.

Watch as Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black reveal how they came to write “The Spiderwick Chronicles” (S & S)

This five-minute movie is perfect for viewing in an elementary school library along with a “Spiderwick” display. The authors’ comments on the collaborative process will intrigue readers of the series.

Listen to Christopher Paolini discuss his motivation for writing Eragon

Paolini began writing Eragon (Knopf, 2003) at the age of fifteen. In this four-minute recording the author talks about the book’s inception and reads aloud a favorite passage.

Hear an audio excerpt from the first title in Barbara Park’s “Junie B. Jones” series

Audio books are a powerful curricular tool that can give students insight into character and let them experience firsthand the rhythm and pacing of a book. Struggling readers and English Language Learners will especially appreciate this three-minute recording of Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus (Listening Library, 2002). The sassiness of the irrepressible Junie comes through loud and clear.

How is Brian Jacques’s name pronounced?

In this brief recording the beloved author of the “Redwall” series shares some favorite mis-pronunciations of his name, as well the correct version.

Enhance discussions of Twilight with this selection of online reading guides

Online book guides (also called novel units or reading-group guides) are useful aids to multilayered, meaningful classroom conversations.  Offer these discussion questions to guide conversations with students who are devouring this sensational bestseller (Little, Brown, 2005), or send the guides home for families that would like to discuss these books with their teens.

Posted by Nick Glass, Founder & Principal of TeachingBooks.net