Category Archives: Uncategorized

Consider this colorful picture book for your first days of school…for all ages and grades. Yellows, Blues, and Reds live peacefully in a city, until one day, a Red declares, “Reds are the best!” The whole community is thrust into chaos — so much so that the three color groups must live apart, forming segregatedContinue reading “Book Review: Mixed: A Colorful Story by Arree Chung”

To kick off the school year and prepare for Banned Books Week (September 23 – 29), I’m revisiting these two 2017 fabulous titles: Our Story Begins, edited by Elissa Brent Weissman I sat with Elissa at dinner during Nerd Camp Michigan this summer, and she is amazing! She put together stories and snippets of workContinue reading “IMWAYR: We Have Stories! Let Them Read!”

In another amazing collaboration from Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess, we follow Noah and his best friend, Walt through the ups and downs of high school life. Noah and Walt are NOT on the school baseball team, but Walt hits the batting cages with fierce commitment and passion, channeling his love of jazz toContinue reading “Book Review: SWING by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess”

One of the most important aspects of my job as a librarian is to spread the book love! I want students to know what books are out there, and I want to supply them with those books. There are so many choices! This week I’m excited about… SWING by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand HessContinue reading “IMWAYR: Choices!”

I’m moving to a new school, and I couldn’t be happier with my fine arts academy middle school staff. I am lucky to be a part of the arts integration movement, and the school library will be the best place to support our curriculum. Here are ten picture books I will share with my newContinue reading “#PB10for10: Picture Books I’m Sharing with My New Staff”

Have you ever wanted to start a writing workshop in your classroom? Do you run a writing workshop that needs some…tweaking? THIS is your answer! Kwame Alexander’s The Write Thing: Kwame Alexander Engages Students in Writing Workshop and You Can Too is THE how-to guide to get started (or to change your boring routine). KwameContinue reading “Book Review: THE WRITE THING by Kwame Alexander”

I’m so lucky to have met many awesome authors in the last few years, and Kate Messner is one author I’ve followed closely. Her newest book, Breakout, released on June 5th, and I finally got my pre-ordered book in the mail today. I haven’t finished yet, but I wanted to share this post immediately soContinue reading “IMWAYR: Breakout by Kate Messner”

It’s been an interesting year here at Reading Teacher Writes. I got to live my dream of serving students and spreading book love as a school librarian in my fabulous middle school. The highlights of the year included Kwame Alexander, poet and writer extraordinaire, visited our city and surprised one of our students (and hisContinue reading “Reading Teacher Writes — Summer Plans Lead to a Fabulous Future”

On October 18, 2017, I wrote a blog post about my reading goals/solutions for schools and for myself. Today, I revisit that post and update my goals; I look forward the future. Make reading in school FUN again. THEN: The fondest memories I have of school reading are of teachers who read aloud fantastic storiesContinue reading “Reading Goals: Then and Now”

Rebound, the prequel to the Newbery-Winning title, The Crossover, by Kwame Alexander, tells of childhood days of Charlie “Chuck” Bell (Josh and Jordan’s father). At the age of 12, Charlie had already experienced love and loss, carrying much baggage to his grandparent’s house in the summer of 1988. “It was the summer when Now andContinue reading “Review of Upcoming Book, REBOUND, by Kwame Alexander (04/02/18)”