Literacy Now

"Please?" said the girl with the pink-beaded pigtails, gazing shyly at the copy of my book, DOTTY, in my hands. I had just read it aloud and she, along with every child in her class, had received a copy from First Book.

I tried to correct her confusion. "This is my book, and you’re holding yours. See, I signed yours already. And you can put your name in it right here." I showed her the First Book bookplate inside the book.

"I want that one, too," she said, pointing.

Now I was confused. "But it's the same book. You don't want two copies of the same book, do you?"

"Not for me," she explained. "My sister needs a book of her own, too."

Before I started working with First Book, I took book ownership for granted. Sure, some kids are lucky enough to have groaning bookshelves threatening to crush them like Flat Stanley. But all kids have some books... don't they?

They don’t. According to the research of Susan B. Neuman—and confirmed by my author visits to struggling schools across the U.S.—children from low-income homes suffer from a staggering lack of access to quality reading material. In poor neighborhoods, there are as few as one age appropriate book for every 300 children. In Neuman’s book, GIVING OUR CHILDREN A FIGHTING CHANCE: POVERTY, LITERACY, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION CAPITAL, she makes a strong argument that children from low-income homes can make significant gains and realize a wide range of opportunities through book ownership and increased access to books and print.

That's where First Book comes in. We provide brand-new high-quality books and resources to educators serving kids in need. But to do it most effectively, we need one thing.

Your help.

Why? Simple. You are in the classroom every day, and you can offer us the best guidance on what all students need to have and want to read. By signing up with First Book—and encouraging fellow educators to do so—you can add your voice to those of teachers all across North America who are helping us to provide more resources, meet more needs, and level the playing field so that ALL students can become readers and leaders.

p: Shopping Sherpa via photopin cc

First Book is available to any educator working with kids in need at a Title I or Title I eligible school—teachers, librarians, principals, reading specialists. Those who work in more affluent communities can still be great friends of First Book and help spread the word about us so we can reach more kids in need.

We have books for all kids, birth to age eighteen, we distribute over 11 million new books every year (over 100 million since our founding in 1992), and we work with a growing national network of over 50,000 schools and programs in the United States and Canada.

We have some different distribution channels, depending on the needs of the program, but the books are always brand-new and always high-quality. Our most innovative breakthrough is the First Book Marketplace, where anyone signed up with First Book can choose from a selection of over 4,000 award-winning and popular titles at 50–90% off retail, shipping included.

To sign up with First Book today, go to www.firstbook.org/register.

My job at First Book focuses on what I love—the books themselves, and our publisher and author partnerships. Our new program, Authors & Illustrators in Action!, offers authors and illustrators tools so they can use to easily connect eligible programs and schools with our resources. More information can be found on our website at www.firstbook.org/authors.

We are particularly focused on offering a wide selection of multicultural books as well as stories from under-represented voices. We just launched the Stories for All Project, purchasing over a million dollars worth of culturally relevant titles. Prominent authors, including Sharon Draper, Walter Dean Myers, and Lulu Delacre have added their voices to ours on the important message that children need to see themselves in books as well as to have the opportunity to explore cultures and characters beyond their own experiences through books.

Still holding my copy of DOTTY, I stared at the girl with the pigtails. DOTTY is a book about a girl named Ida whose imaginary friend Dotty is a source of comfort when other children turn on her and tease her. It is also the story of a teacher who shows Ida that they have more in common than it would appear on the surface. Through DOTTY, I try to show readers that imagination can be a friend you don’t ever have to outgrow.

Was there something about this particular story that spoke to this particular child? Or was she just looking to avoid having to share what was clearly a rare commodity in her home?

And did it matter?

I want to live in a world where all children have books that are their own, books that can be their friends for life. With First Book, I feel like we’re working together to build that world, as well as a superhighway to it.

But we’re not there yet. Which is why we need you.

Erica S. Perl, the author of books for young readers including WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU O.J. and DOTTY, is the Vice President of Publisher and Author Relations for First Book. You can contact her at eperl@firstbook.org.

How would my childhood self have reacted, if you’d told me that someday I’d be blogging about Children’s Book Week for the International Reading Association?

I would have wondered what blogging is. Then I might have said:

I’m very, very, very, very, very, very proud!
Proud as a blue sky without a cloud
Proud as a brass band playing very loud
I’m very, very proud (and my mom will be wowed!)

That sounds about right. I liked similes, and I have been known to use “very” the way Starbucks uses ice cubes to make a small iced coffee fit a Grande-sized cup.

I am proud. And I feel lucky, too, because this is my first Children’s Book Week as a published author-illustrator. It’s not because I’m young (as you can see from my author photo). I came to children’s books late. I’ve loved writing and drawing my whole life, but unlike many of my colleagues, I didn’t make it my work until I was almost forty.

In Brooklyn, where I live, you can’t throw a rock without hitting an award-winning author or illustrator, many with impressive educational and professional pedigrees, and none deserving to be hit with rocks. I don’t deserve to be hit with a rock, either, even though I have little formal training to make picture books—no writing MFA, no illustration degree.

My lack of preparation gave me a lot of agita when Michael Green of Philomel Books offered me my first picture book contract. Not enough to make me say no, but enough to make me worry the entire time I was creating the book. I still remember delivering the final art for BABY PENGUINS EVERYWHERE! to Penguin Young Readers Group HQ, and feeling like I was going to throw up as Michael and my art director, Semadar Megged, walked around the conference room inspecting it.



I shouldn't have worried nearly as much. BABY PENGUINS EVERYWHERE! turned out well. Philomel offered me a contract for two more books. A piece of my book art was featured at the Society of Illustrators last December. Walking around that show felt very different than walking around the conference room had, 11 months earlier. I could finally begin to see what I offer to the world of children’s books.

I’m not the most proficient artist. I wish I could paint and draw as well as some of my illustrator friends. I might be more skilled had I studied art for years, but I didn’t. Still, my work has things going for it. One art director told me it’s “fresh.” I’m not sure what that means but I think she was saying, I like the way you do what you don’t quite know how to do.

I hope that’s what she meant, because I do like being a beginner. I welcome the uncertainty that comes with doing something new, whether it’s sleeping in the wilderness or playing drums or making a book about penguins. That’s part of my personality, which I have strengthened by the experience of trying lots of things.



I can also thank my many great teachers for this trait. That list of teachers includes my scientist parents, who valued curiosity as well as achievement, and shared with me their love of books and experiments. My sister and I were always encouraged to ask questions, and my parents were mostly patient as we figured things out. (At times, questions like “How long do you think it will be until the policeman finishes writing the ticket?” or “Why doesn't the door unlock from this side?” weren't appreciated.)

Given what I can offer, I’ve decided to use this wonderful platform from IRA to make the following suggestion about Children’s Book Week:

Don’t just enjoy the wonderful children’s books that are out there—MAKE ONE YOURSELF.

Yes, as the official 2013 standard-bearer of Not Knowing Exactly What You’re Doing, I propose you make a book this week, even if you’re positive you’d be bad at it (and I suspect you’d be good at it). I’m a picture book person, so of course I’m talking about a picture book.

If you’re hesitating, consider this: children spend years at the intersection of low ability and high enthusiasm. You can spend a few days there. If you don’t want to try it alone, invite a collaborator (child or adult) to join you. And if you’re unsure about how to dive in, just follow my step-by-step instructions!

1. Pick a character (e.g. child, fish, blade of grass). Pick another character (e.g. bird, another blade of grass, crackpot). Give them something to do together. Something short. If you can’t think of an ending, just close with “It was fun,” or “It was a terrible idea and they never did it again.”
2. (Everyone forgets this part) Write down what you thought of before you forget it!
3. Make pictures! Draw new ones. Cut up old ones and put them back together in a new way. Don’t worry about whether you’re a good artist or a bad artist.
4. Put the story and the pictures together in order. Glue them, tape them, collage them like a ransom note.
5. Celebrate, because you just made a picture book! Share what you made with other people. Show them your original work. Hand out copies. Or just keep it to yourself.

You may be saying, “Those aren’t real instructions.” I know, and there’s a good reason for that. There are almost no absolute rules for making a picture book. The elasticity of the form is what makes picture books so wonderful to create and enjoy.

As further incentive for the intrepid, I will share any creation you’re proud to send me on my blog. Just email it to me by the end of May, at melissaguion@me.com.

While you do this, I’ll be right there next to you making notes for my third book. I’ll be reading with my daughter, and going around town in my new penguin costume. And I’ll be joining fellow authors and artists at free literacy events throughout the country. Find out what’s going on near you at http://www.bookweekonline.com!

However you choose to celebrate, find a way to make Children’s Book Week lots of fun for yourself and the people you love.

Melissa Guion is the author-illustrator of BABY PENGUINS EVERYWHERE! and the upcoming BABY PENGUINS LOVE THEIR MAMA! She is proud to be part of an upcoming children’s book art auction raising money for anti-censorship efforts: the auction launches online on Saturday, May 18th, and concludes at Book Expo America on Wednesday, May 29. Visit www.melissaguion.com or http://abffesilentauction.wordpress.com/preview-art/ for more information.



5 Questions With... Salina Yoon (PENGUIN AND PINECONE)

Book Reviews to Celebrate Children's Book Week

I was raised in a financially poor household in the late ’50s to early ’70s. I know now that we were rich in the things that matter, but no one could have convinced me of that when I was a lonely child looking for toys to occupy my long days while my two older sisters went off to that glorious place called school. Not having much stuff and having too much time on my hands afforded me the blessing of a vivid imagination. I loved to play “school.” I loved books and the power they held. I loved to write important information on every scrap piece of paper I could find. No envelope or piece of mail was safe from my “school work.”

In the weeks leading up to my first day of school, I spent a considerable amount of time wondering what my first teacher would be like. Would she have a nice smile? Would she be young and pretty, or would it be the same teacher my sister had three years earlier? I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get her. There were pros and cons. A pro was that she liked my sister, so surely she would like me. There were, however, more cons. She was old, and only smiled half-smiles. She wore high-top nanny shoes like Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins was stern but fun, though—this woman was just stern.

Well, I ended up getting my sister’s old, un-fun teacher, but the important thing was that I finally made it to school. I had finally entered the fantasy land of books and papers and pencils.

For five long years I had watched my sisters wait at the end of the driveway for that elusive school bus. Their arms would be piled high with books and notebooks. They looked so important. I fantasized about the day I could join them on that bus. I envisioned my arms over-loaded with books stacked to my chin. When the first day of school finally arrived, I could hardly contain my enthusiasm.

So you can imagine my disappointment to learn that first graders weren’t allowed to take their own paper and pencils to school, and we had to leave our books there too. Getting on that bus empty-handed was just about more than I could bear. I had to take action.

One afternoon, I collected every old workbook I could find that my sisters had from their earlier school days. When that bus rolled up the road the next morning, I was ready, my arms loaded, just like the big kids. Upon my arrival at school, I dutifully placed that stack of books underneath my desk. And then I promptly forgot about them, until the student next to me raised her hand and said, “Sandy has two workbooks!”

I didn’t know what she was talking about. But the teacher rushed over to my desk, grabbed my sister’s previously used workbook from under my desk, angrily thumbed to the page we were working on, and proceeded to tell the class what a low-life cheater I was.

“You even missed the same problem!” she snapped. She seemed very proud of herself, as if she had busted an evil cheating ring with her tremendous sleuthing skills. She was going to make an example of me if it was the last thing she did in her teaching career. In one brief encounter on that fall morning, this teacher single-handedly transformed a little six-year-old girl from a child who could barely contain her enthusiasm for books and learning, to a child who absolutely dreaded each subsequent school day. I no longer jumped out of bed in the mornings excited to go to school. Books no longer held that magical place in my life. And I was not about to be caught dead with a book in my hands at school!

Without that needed practice, my reading skills reached a plateau. My comprehension was terrible. My mind wandered as I read, and I would often find myself reading page after page, never knowing a thing they said.

That is not to say I didn’t sound like a good reader. I never missed a spelling word, and my vocabulary was that of a third grader. My high school sister was so proud of my skills, she asked me to showcase my talent for her boyfriend by reading the back of the Crest toothpaste tube for him. (This highly intellectualized sales claim is still etched in the useless information lobe of my brain.) But in the recesses of my mind, I was at recess!

I’m sure my first-grade teacher never picked up on my lost zeal for reading, and she certainly never troubled herself to discover my comprehension problem. In fact, she never really engaged with me the rest of the year. I stayed under her radar, and I was just fine with that.

Near the end of that school year, she called each child to her desk to read individually. No problem. I was the best out-loud reader in the whole class. When it came my turn, I approached the desk and read this paragraph about candy. Only, that day I had a problem confusing my lower case d with my b. So every time I came across the word “candy,” I pronounced it can-BUY.

My teacher allowed me to read through an entire story about can-BUY. When I finished, she said, “Well done, but that word is candy.”

Shouldn’t that have been a clue to her that I didn’t comprehend a thing I was reading? Who goes to the store to buy canby? What is canby? Again, this woman squandered a teachable moment.

I received exemplary grades that year, and my reading problem was never discovered. I managed to make good grades through high school as well. (Perhaps that’s an indictment of Georgia schools in the ’60s and ’70s.)

As an adult, I have learned to employ some strategies to help me stay focused. I still read aloud. I try to visualize everything I read, and apply it to my own life when possible. And when all my strategies fail, I read a passage two or three times until it sinks in.

Now What?

p: Old Shoe Woman via photopin cc

We learn from everyone we encounter, the good and the bad. From my first grade teacher, I learned the damage that can be done to an impressionable young mind and spirit. She broke my spirit, and caused me to be turned off by books and pleasure reading. It took many years of introspection to discern the real damage. If my teacher had spoken to me in private about my little book fetish, without resorting to public humiliation, I suspect I would have had an entirely different attitude about school and reading. If she had only employed some teaching strategies to help me with my obvious comprehension problem, it may have prevented me from being a college dropout.

As much as I would like to blame all my failures in life on my first grade teacher, I can’t do it. To be honest, I was just a tad lazy in college the first time around. But I do believe if I had been a strong reader, it would have made a world of difference. (So, no, I’m not going to let her off the hook completely.)

I was a student who was left behind before “left behind” became a political buzz phrase. In elementary school, I was quiet and caused no trouble. I did as I was told. Aren’t those the people in most of life’s situations who seem to get left behind? The non-complainers, the non-tattle-tales, the rule-followers—they’re the squeak-free wheels that don’t get greased.

I contend it’s that middle-of-the-road student who has the greatest untapped potential to grow and expand his horizons. That’s also the student who will absolutely thrill any teacher who is willing to look at him or her as a human being rather than a task or statistic.

My first-grade experiences have made me acutely aware of the power teachers hold. I hope that I will always use it to be an encourager. I hope I will be keenly tuned to the student who is struggling quietly. I hope that I will be able to ask the right questions to get to the heart of his or her struggles.

After a career in retail management and consulting, Sandy McClure returned to college to pursue a degree in secondary English education. She is currently teaching and writing. In 2011, her first children’s book, THINGS I PONDER, was published. It was a finalist in the children’s division for the 2012 Georgia Author of the Year Awards. Sandy and her sisters also published a children’s epic, THE CHIPMUNK FAMILY ODYSSEY. For more information about these books, visit www.threeheartcreations.com.



Reflections of a Former Alliterate Reader

When I set out to write the Lunch Lady series of graphic novels, I had one simple goal in mind—to draw cartoons of a lunch lady fighting off robots with fish sticks. I wasn’t expecting to celebrate school lunch employees nationwide or to help awaken a generation of dormant readers. But while my original goals weren’t altruistic, I have come to embrace the responsibilities that the series has bestowed upon me.

First, and the most obvious, would be the “lunch ladies” that I am championing. The series itself was inspired by a chance encounter I had with Jeanne Cariglia, the woman who ran the cafeteria at my old elementary school. It was 2001 and I had returned to Gates Lane School in Worcester, Massachusetts, to talk to the students about my first published book, GOOD NIGHT, MONKEY BOY. While setting up my slide projector in the cafetorium, I noticed Jeanne was still working at the school and I struck up a conversation with her. When she told me about her grandchildren, I was bowled over. She had a family?! She didn’t live in the kitchen with the spatulas?! Even at 23, I had never thought about what would happen after the last lunch of the day was served. I set out to write a book that would detail the secret lives of school lunch employees, and the Lunch Lady series was born.

From left: Jeanne, Betty, and Jarrett

The series was launched in 2009 with LUNCH LADY AND THE CYBORG SUBSTITUTE and LUNCH LADY AND THE LEAGUE OF LIBRARIANS. I celebrated at the Worcester Public Library and had a packed house, with Jeanne and her old cafeteria cohort Betty front and center. I acknowledged their presence and presented them with framed drawings of the characters, along with autographed books. The crowd gave the women a thunderous round of applause. Both Jeanne and Betty loved the evening, relishing in the attention, and even autographed some books themselves.

In the time since the Lunch Lady graphic novels were first published, I've crisscrossed the country visiting schools to give lectures on writing and creativity. And with every school I visit, I learn about the school’s lunch staff and often stop by the cafeteria to shake hands with the women and men who work so hard to feed our nation’s school children. I love having the opportunity to hear how the series has shifted the way kids interact with their school’s lunch staff. Is there really a crime-fighting operation going on behind that sneeze guard?

In late 2011, I received some terrible news. Jeanne Cariglia had passed away. I attended her wake and could not believe what I saw there. Next to her casket were her childhood portrait and the drawing I had given her at the library two years prior. I spoke with her widower and his eyes widened as he told me about how much that gesture had meant to his wife. Jeanne was so proud of having been the inspiration for the series. She was even signing books for the nurses while in hospice.

I still have a difficult time wrapping my mind around that experience. That drawing I gave her—it took me maybe 15 minutes to make, but it meant a great deal to somebody. It, of course, went so much deeper than the time spent; it was the thought and validation that the drawing represented.

These experiences led me to dream up School Lunch Superhero Day, a day in which kids across the country could spread similar joy to their school lunch staff. When considering a possible date for this to take place, I glanced at a bulletin board I keep in my studio. It’s filled with mementos from the Lunch Lady books, including Jeanne’s mass card. I noticed her birthday—May 3rd. It seemed so perfect to me. What school employee wouldn’t want a little boost at the end of the year?

Along with Random House Children’s Books and the School Nutrition Association, I’ve created this dedicated website where educators and parents can download resources to celebrate on May 3rd.

But just as I want to encourage good citizenship in students, I also want to inspire their creativity. Through social media, I have already heard from so many schools that are celebrating in unique ways. One school is hosting the lunch staff on their morning news program, another is surprising their school lunch employees with balloons and flowers, and yet another will be lining the school’s hallways with drawings that the children make. The possibilities are endless!

Being that this is a guest blog for the International Reading Association, I did want to take a moment to touch upon the other group that I have embraced with the Lunch Lady series—the reluctant, or dormant, reader. I hear from so many educators and parents who share that their children are reading books for the first time because of my yellow-toned books and I am so humbled by their sentiments. Had comics been a validated reading format when I was a child, I can’t even begin to imagine how much more confident a reader I would have been. When I was a kid, I read every CALVIN & HOBBES treasury, I cut out and scrapbooked the GARFIELD comic strips from the newspaper daily and, if I couldn’t get a ride to the comic book store, I would walk a mile and a half to get there. I would walk three miles to read!

I won’t be abandoning this group when I wrap up the Lunch Lady series later this year. (If you haven’t heard, the tenth Lunch Lady book will be the last, at least for some time.) Also in May, my first chapter book will publish. While PLATYPUS POLICE SQUAD: THE FROG WHO CROAKED is a much longer and more prose-heavy book, it is very heavily illustrated. In 2014, I will see the publication of my next picture book, PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLYFISH. I also have some wonderful top-secret plans in the works, and some of them involve comics.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading my books in your schools. I am, and forever will be, grateful for the hard-working educators who put my books into the hands of young readers. I look forward to seeing what kind of fun activities you might come up with for School Lunch Superhero Day. When reading and food join forces, nothing but good can come from it! And when our children’s imaginations are inspired as they develop a love of reading it is an awe-inspiring thing!

Jarrett J. Krosoczka has been passionate about storytelling through words and pictures since he was a kid. His Lunch Lady series has twice won a Children's Choice Book Award and was nominated for a Will Eisner Comic Industry Award. In the summer of 2013, Jarrett will have his chapter book debut with the publication of PLATYPUS POLICE SQUAD: THE FROG WHO CROAKED. His Punk Farm and Lunch Lady series are both currently in development as feature films. Jarrett is happily living out his childhood dream in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he resides with his wife and daughters and their pug, Ralph Macchio.



Graphic Novels Reviewed, Part 2

5 Questions With... Dave Roman (ASTRONAUT ACADEMY: ZERO GRAVITY)

I am writing this as a confession. For the first twenty-five years of my life I cannot recall ever voluntarily reading an entire book. I’ve always been enamored by a good plotline when watching a movie, following a TV show, or listening to someone tell almost any kind of story. Both my parents and my older brother were voracious readers who kept every book they ever read on shelves like little trophies. I should have been an avid reader of books, but I wasn’t.

I went to a fine public school and was instructed by competent teachers who told us how important it was to read. But I didn’t read.

My teachers did not know I wasn’t reading because I “fake read.” I was a sharp enough student to figure out that if I read the words written on the covers of books I could bluff my way through assignments and book reports. I was not illiterate; I was a slow reader, but I knew how to read. I just didn’t want to. I suppose today I would be labeled as aliterate because I used every device I could think of to avoid reading any book.

I thought the idea of reading for pleasure was an oxymoron. Teachers would give their list of approved selections, but none caught my interest. I thought they were boring and of no value except to get a grade on a test or book report.

Occasionally I would observe classmates who always seemed to have their “private stashes of literature” with them to read during any stolen moment. I wondered what was wrong with them. Why would anyone read a book they weren’t required to read?

In class my teachers would introduce classic novels as great pieces of literature without really explaining the importance of what they could teach us about life and about ourselves. I’m sure my teachers were well intentioned, but they seemed to approach reading as a technical feat and/or memory exercise rather than as an experience to be savored. Every book report assigned was to be written in the accepted formula of title, author, setting, main characters, and summary. I was never asked what I thought about a book, how the book may have changed my thinking, or what kind of books I might like to try.

For twenty-five years I read only what I absolutely had to. I made good grades, but I never read a book for pleasure, for curiosity, or for just more information.

I am embarrassed to admit this, but what finally began my appreciation of pleasure reading was a romance novel, SWEET SAVAGE LOVE, by Rosemary Rogers. In my mid-twenties I was talking with a friend who brought along a copy of the book. She couldn’t seem to put it down. I teased her about being a “book nerd,” so she started telling me how steamy and romantic the book was. She summarized part of the plotline, and I was hooked. I had to know how the story ended. She handed me the book and said, “See for yourself.”

And I did. I read every single word of the book. I was thoroughly entertained, and I felt like I had entered another world through the characters Ms. Rogers created. I asked my friend if there were any more books like that around. She smiled and said, “A few.” I read several more simple romance novels right away.

Never before had I experienced being swept up by the written word to another time and place. When I had to put my book down to attend to mundane duties I worried about what was going on with the characters; I could not wait to get back to see how everyone was faring. I was fascinated by the novelty of being able to pick right back up where I had left off no matter when I came back to the book. My character “friends” were always there awaiting me. I could visit them as many times as I liked.

And, of course, the more I read the better reader I became. I soon tired of romance novels and moved on to historical romance novels, then to historical novels, then to all manner of fiction, both classic and new. I discovered for the first time how a work of fiction can help a person understand history, psychology, geography, human behavior, philosophy, and boundless areas of life.

I was struck by how much enjoyment I found in the stories, the people, and all I learned by taking a journey outside myself into the world of literature. But I was also saddened by how much time and opportunity I had missed for the first quarter of my life. I felt then and still feel that I can never catch up with all the books I have missed as I “fake read” my way through school. As a teacher I wonder why I was such a reluctant reader and how many students are missing the same things I did.

I think part of the problem is that I am a very slow, plodding reader with the attention span of a gnat. To this day I can listen to a book on CD, which I often do, faster than I can read it myself.

But more than that, I somehow missed the fact that there were so many books available that I would have found relevant and appealing. I was well aware that there were numerous books required and/or recommended by my teachers, but I never found my personal Harry Potter or Judy Moody series that would beckon me to turn off the TV or stop talking to my friends and immerse my self in a private, more fulfilling kind of journey.

When I listen to people like Steven Layne, Danny Brassell, and Donalyn Miller speak on how they help make books come alive for kids I am envious of the students in their classes who will know early on about coming of age novels to help them navigate the tricky waters of early adolescence, and deeply thoughtful works that may change forever the way they think about the world. I am awestruck by the creativity, the commitment, and the resourcefulness of teachers of reading who change lives every day by introducing students to the power of literature.

I applaud those educators who attend conferences, study pedagogy, and try countless strategies to inspire students to become lifelong readers. My apprehension, though, is for a growing concern I hear among teachers who feel they can no longer afford to spend time talking with students about the books they are reading or even for reading new literature themselves. With the pressure of a standardized curriculum, high sweepstakes testing, and too many “boxes to check,” many teachers feel they can no longer afford to indulge in the luxury of encouraging kids to read for pleasure.

Standards experts have shifted the curriculum to emphasize nonfiction and technical reading so that ideally students will be more ready to enter the workforce. More and more assessments have been developed to check students’ decoding and comprehension abilities at every step of the game.

But where in the standards is there an emphasis on helping students discover the joy and the affect of reading literature for discovery, for enlightenment, or for entertainment? If we create a bunch of technically proficient readers who, like me, learn to avoid books that aren’t required, then what have we accomplished?

I am a product of teachers who were proficient in teaching me how to read but never why I should read. I never truly became a reader until I started reading for pleasure. I learned much too late that the best way to become a better reader is pretty simple—read!

Come see Debbie Silver at IRA 2013. She will be speaking at the Second General Session on Sunday, April 21, 2013.

With 30 years spent as a teacher, staff development instructor, and university professor, Debbie Silver doesn't just know her way around the classroom; she's familiar with the challenges educators face at every level. Her newest book, FALL DOWN 7 TIMES, GET UP 8: TEACHING KIDS TO SUCCEED, is being heralded by parents, teachers, and administrators as a “fresh approach to getting kids to work smarter and better.” When she’s not working as an educational speaker and motivator, Debbie enjoys spending time in Texas with her husband, Dr. Lawrence Silver, and with their five sons and their families in five different states.



Debbie Silver to Speak at Annual Convention General Session

In the Classroom, Whose Taste Matters?

Building Communities in an Online Environment