We Need Diverse Series by Tammy Mulligan and Clare Landrigan

Nerdy Book Club

As a child, I read The Secret Garden,Harriet the Spy and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  I connected with the characters in these books and when I was sad or lonely, I reread parts of these texts and pretended I was with these characters.  They became part of my life.

As educators, Clare and I worry about our students in elementary classes finding books with characters who can become part of their lives.  As we look at the books in classroom libraries and school bookrooms, we ask ourselves, “Do we have books with diverse characters that help students understand themselves and others? Are there characters who face problems that our students encounter? Are there characters who face different problems?  Are there books with characters who will make students laugh and characters who will keep them company when they are sad or lonely?

Books are not only a source…

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[Review] Ascension by Hannah Rials

Awesome! Thanks so much for the review Joel!

Descendant of Poseidon Reads

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Hello, Feaders!

Taking this chance to say I was enrolled now to my current college under the same course with the same known classmates though I might encounter some new faces since it is common that someone else retakes for his failed subject. As we call irregulars, but I don’t want to be mean if you’re so affected such that it can sometimes happen not just to me you know 🙂

Going back to today’s highlight, I’m done reading the book, Ascension by Hannah Rials which I have received as one of the gifts for me by Ms. Becky @pragmaticmom – Thank you for giving me this and recommending that I have to read it.

Hear now my review about it.

-o-

Life is supposed to be perfect after Cheyenne Lane’s Ascension ceremony, but it turns out awakening her vampire half only complicates things more. Burdened with a patronizing family…

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Kids’ Corner: Diverse Children’s Picture Books in Review (April 2017)

This gallery contains 16 photos.

Hello bookworms! I’m excited to share with you a few diverse children’s picture books that I read over the past month. Let’s see what I read shall we? *If you are new to my blog, I review a batch of…

So Many Books, So Little Time: Tips for Reading Strategically by Donalyn Miller

Nerdy Book Club

We own too many books. I’ve confessed this before, and it surprises no one. Don and I spend too much time sorting, culling, dusting, moving, and shelving books. Without constant maintenance, our book collection would take over our lives and home. We have tried to control our book hoarding tendencies, but it’s a losing battle. We use our library cards. We download audio books. We continuously give away books, but more appear. We don’t apologize anymore. We live in a house with too many books and we accept it. Don and I fell in love with reading as children, but we owned few books of our own until we became adults. We can measure our path to prosperity in bookshelves. Our daughters grew up in a home filled with love and books and we will grow old here–happily sifting our book treasure.

We read most of the books we bring…

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Happy, Hope-y Book Birthday, BAT COUNT!

Hmmmmm

BAT COUNT — my debut picture book — is officially out TODAY!

I owe many thanks for help bringing this book into being: to supportive family, friends and colleagues; to the wonderful illustrator Susan Detwiler; and to the great folks at Arbordale Publishing.

I wrote BAT COUNT almost three years ago — before I learned that picture books are ‘supposed’ to be 500 words or less (BAT COUNT has almost 1000 words), and that ‘quiet’ books don’t sell. Happily its publisher, Arbordale, is committed to making books that support math and science education, and happily they are also interested in promoting the practice of citizen science. And so they found a place for BAT COUNT on their list.

Jojo, the story’s narrator, shares my worry about the many bats that are dying from white nose syndrome. Being a kid, though, she does NOT know that bats are just one among many species in rapid decline as human…

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Best Writing Blogs for Writers Awards 2017

These are the top 50 best blogs on writing for writers. Source: Best Writing Blogs for Writers Awards 2017

Source: Best Writing Blogs for Writers Awards 2017

Best Writing Blogs for Writers Awards 2017

Great resource!

The Neophyte Writer

These are the top 50 best blogs on writing for writers.

Source: Best Writing Blogs for Writers Awards 2017

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Digital ‘Broccoli’ Books Offer Multicultural Children’s Stories in Six Languages

Erica Swallow's Blog

Once I hit 30, I started thinking about having children and all of the questions that come with becoming a parent: What do I want my children to know, to do, to believe? How do I want them to perceive the world? How will they learn to speak, walk, read? Among those questions: How many languages will they learn as toddlers? Will we be able to teach them the native languages of both their father (French) and myself (English)? And how about other languages? And the cultures that come with them?

In celebration of Multicultural Children’s Book Day, which is celebrated this year on January 27th, I dove feet-first into answering this question by reviewing a series of multilingual, multicultural digital storybooks called Broccoli.

Founded by Wonjin Park while he was a student at Boston University, Broccoli has a rather unique mission — to broaden children’s horizons with…

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The Case for Loving – a special multicultural nonfiction picture book

Books My Kids Read

Multicultural Children’s Book Day. That time every year when we get to celebrate the diversity of this great country and to promote books that allow children of all backgrounds to see themselves on the pages. This year I received a few books that also remind us that the freedoms we have now haven’t always been there and how, as a nation, we haven’t always been kind to those who were seen as “different.”

Today, as a combination of MCBD and the nonfiction challenge from Kid Lit Frenzy, I am focusing on the beautiful book The Case for Loving, by Selina Alko. When I received this book from Scholastic, I was very excited. I had seen the book before, but wasn’t sure how my kids would react to it. Both of my girls, age 9 and 6, found the story to be quite powerful and there were a lot of…

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The Story I’ll Tell: Book Review for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017

In celebration of Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017, we reviewed The Story I’ll Tell, by Nancy Tupper Ling, illustrated by Jessica Lanan, and published by Lee & Low Books (the …

Source: The Story I’ll Tell: Book Review for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017