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.

• Pairing Picture Books and Primary Sources: Jack Knight’s Brave Flight: How One Gutsy Pilot Saved the U.S. Air Mail Service by Jill Esbaum and Stacy Innerst

  By Tom Bober on 04/07/2023 • ( 0 )

  

  When I find a historically based nonfiction picture book that is also a page turner that keeps me on the edge of my seat, I know that my students are going to enjoy it. And I hope it is one… Read More ›

• Picture Books and Primary Sources: A Song for the Unsung: Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the 1963 March on Washington by Carole Boston Weatherford, Rob Sanders, and Byron McCray

  By Tom Bober on 01/31/2023 • ( 0 )

  

  After writing dozens of these posts and working on dozens of other picture book and primary source pairings, there are few that truly shift my thinking about how I should be teaching a topic in my school library. But that… Read More ›

• Pairing Picture Books and Primary Sources: Harriet’s Ruffled Feathers by Joy McCullough and Romina Galotta

  By Tom Bober on 10/24/2022 • ( 0 )

  

  When reading a nonfiction picture book, I often think about how students will connect with it. When reading Harriet’s Ruffled Feathers: The Woman Who Saved Millions of Birds by Joy McCullough and Romina Galotta, I saw multiple connections that could… Read More ›

• Picture Books and Primary Sources: The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch by Chris Barton and Don Tate

  By Tom Bober on 07/15/2022 • ( 1 )

  

  Recently I was working with a group of elementary and classroom teachers in Florida. I was tasked with helping them incorporate effective instruction with primary sources around the topic of Reconstruction. Of course, I wanted to focus one activity on… Read More ›

• Pairing Picture Books and Primary Sources: Revisiting a Pairing with Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race

  By Tom Bober on 04/27/2022 • ( 1 )

  

  After writing for the KQ blog for a few years, I am lucky enough to speak with educators about their own pairings of picture books and primary sources. Recently, Amanda Jones, a fellow KQ blogger and amazing school librarian in… Read More ›

• Picture Books and Primary Sources: Rosie the Riveter: The Legacy of an American Icon by Sarah Dvojack

  By Tom Bober on 03/01/2022 • ( 0 )

  

  Many of my Picture Book and Primary Sources blog posts I write focus on an individual. And so many of those picture book biographies include a moment from that person’s childhood. But this picture book, Rosie the Riveter by Sarah… Read More ›

• Picture Books and Primary Sources: Shirley Chisholm Dared: The Story of the First Black Woman in Congress by Alicia D. Williams and April Harrison

  By Tom Bober on 01/25/2022 • ( 0 )

  

  I first heard about Shirley Chisholm several years ago when visiting the National Portrait Gallery. A series of portraits of her around her 1972 presidential run opened my eyes to a piece of the past I had been unaware of…. Read More ›

• Pairing Picture Books and Primary Source: Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper

  By Tom Bober on 11/29/2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Since it came out earlier this year, many people have read Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper’s Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre. I waited. The Tulsa race massacre was something I had recently learned about. How could what I knew… Read More ›

• Picture Books and Primary Sources: Kate’s Light: Kate Walker at Robbins Reef Lighthouse by Elizabeth Spires and Emily Arnold McCully

  By Tom Bober on 11/09/2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Maybe I’m a sucker for a good lighthouse story after sitting on the 2019 Caldecott Committee where Sophie Blackall won for Hello Lighthouse. But more likely, I’m drawn to an intriguing story. That was what I found when I opened… Read More ›

• AASL Conference Friday General Session: A Conversation with Administrators

  By Tom Bober on 10/22/2021 • ( 0 )

  

  I attended the Friday’s General Session “A Conversation with Administrators” during the AASL National Conference. What do administrators at all levels need and expect from their school librarians? How can administrators not only support but empower school librarians as leaders?… Read More ›