Author Archives

Tom Bober is a school librarian at RM Captain Elementary, 2018 Library Journal Mover and Shaker, former Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress, and author of the upcoming book Elementary Educator's Guide to Primary Sources: Strategies for Teaching. He writes the Picture Books and Primary Sources posts for AASL’s KQ blog and has written articles for several publications. Tom also presents at conferences, runs workshops, and gives webinars to promote the use primary sources in student learning. He began his career as an elementary classroom teacher, was also an educational technologist, and has spent the last nine years as a school librarian.

• Picture Books and Primary Sources: Manhattan: Mapping the Story of an Island by Jennifer Thermes

  By Tom Bober on 03/27/2020 • ( 0 )

  

  Occasionally there is a picture book that I know will work well with a certain format of primary sources before I even open it. That was the case with Jennifer Thermes book Manhattan: Mapping the Story of an Island. There… Read More ›

• Picture Books and Primary Sources: Interview with Chris Barton, Author of All of a Sudden and Forever

  By Tom Bober on 02/21/2020 • ( 0 )

  

  Authors of historically based picture books typically focus on one set of primary sources to tell their story, a set of materials connected with one moment in time. In his new book, All of a Sudden and Forever, author Chris… Read More ›

• Picture Books and Primary Sources: A Place to Land by Barry Wittenstein and Jerry Pinkney

  By Tom Bober on 01/23/2020 • ( 0 )

  

  Earlier this school year, I interviewed Barry Wittenstein about his newest book, A Place to Land. In the interview, he shared stories about his use of primary sources in the research for his book and the role that they played… Read More ›

• Picture Books and Primary Sources: Samuel Morse, That’s Who! By Tracy Nelson Maurer and El Primo Ramon

  By Tom Bober on 12/18/2019 • ( 0 )

  

  Traveling the world, becoming inspired, overcoming obstacles, and changing life as we know it all sound like parts of some amazing movie. They are also parts of the picture book story of Samual Morse, inventor of the telegraph and Morse… Read More ›

• Picture Books and Primary Sources: Lines, Bars and Circles: How William Playfair Invented Graphs by Helaine Becker and Marie-Eve Tremblay

  By Tom Bober on 11/20/2019 • ( 0 )

  

  There are certainly historically based picture books about inventions that I’ve read before, but none may have surprised me more than Helaine Becker’s Lines, Bars and Circles. I had never attributed the creation of the line, bar, and circle graphs… Read More ›

• Engaging Students with Inquiry Using Primary Sources

  By Tom Bober on 11/15/2019 • ( 0 )

  

  Teaching research is not just teaching about where information is according to Rebecca Newland. In her 2019 AASL National Conference presentation “Engaging Students with Inquiry Using Primary Sources,” she noted that teaching researching is also an opportunity to teach students… Read More ›

• 5 Kinds of Nonfiction

  By Tom Bober on 11/15/2019 • ( 0 )

  

  Whether we organize the nonfiction in our library by Dewey, ditching Dewey, or some other method, our libraries are often organized by topic. In her AASL National Conference presentation, Melissa Stewart gave conference attendees another way to think about nonfiction… Read More ›

• Picture Books and Primary Sources: Interview with Donna Janell Bowman, Author of King of the Tightrope

  By Tom Bober on 10/23/2019 • ( 1 )

  

  As we continue to explore picture book authors who utilize primary sources in their research, I was excited to interview Donna Janell Bowman who, in her newest book, writes about one of my favorite lesser-known historical figures, The Great Blondin…. Read More ›

• Picture Books and Primary Sources: Interview with Barry Wittenstein, Author of A Place to Land

  By Tom Bober on 09/24/2019 • ( 0 )

  

  Authors and illustrators of historically based picture books often use primary sources as part of their research. These sources shape their understanding of a person, place, or time and ultimately help to shape the final story. As we enter the… Read More ›

• Pairing Picture Books and Primary Sources: How the Cookie Crumbled by Gilbert Ford

  By Tom Bober on 08/22/2019 • ( 2 )

  

  When I first read Gilbert Ford’s book How the Cookie Crumbled where readers are introduced to Ruth Wakefield and the invention of the chocolate chip cookie, I immediately wondered what primary sources could be paired with the book. My searches led… Read More ›