Verse poetry novels cover a wide variety of topics, are a unique reading format, and can be engaging for more reluctant readers. Over the past few years there has been a rise in the amount of really great verse poetry… Read More ›
books
Supplemental Books for After AP/IB Exams
How many students learn for the sake of learning? It’s a question I think about a lot in this age of overtesting. In New York, children start with the ELA, Math, and Science tests in the early grades and then… Read More ›
March Book Madness: A Yearly Tournament Promoting Books
“Which book is longer?” asked an 11th grader after hearing my book talks for the two competitors of the day. It’s March Book Madness time in my high school library: my favorite activity of the year. Each day, I walk… Read More ›
Two Novels About Librarians Fighting Censorship
Like most librarians, I’m a reader, especially when I need an escape from reality. One of my consistent responses to stress is to lose myself in a good book because the world of fiction is often more pleasant than the… Read More ›
Books Matter
On February 1, I attended the webinar hosted by AASL Partner organization, ADL Education, titled “Books Matter: Using Children’s Literature to Invite Conversations about Identity, Bias and Social Justice.” Attending this webinar, emphasized to me that during this time, when… Read More ›
Speed Dating with Nonfiction Books
Every year I collaborate with the 11th-grade English teachers on a nonfiction independent reading project. The goal is to increase student agency and create excitement about literature. While many juniors initially express an aversion to reading, they often show an… Read More ›
New In November: Two YA Titles You Don’t Want To Miss
One of the professional goals I set for myself this year is to do a better job of keeping up with new book releases. To help me do that, I registered for a NetGalley account and use it to read… Read More ›
Re-imagined Classics for Your High School Library
As I read new young adult books this summer, I noticed a trend of re-imagined classics. While modern-day stories inspired by classics aren’t new, I can’t remember seeing so many of them at one time. Here are my reviews of… Read More ›
Why Stories Matter in a Data-Obsessed World
Data Driven We live in a world that is largely data driven. Teenagers, especially, are surrounded by quantifiable things. How many likes did my Instagram post get? What was your grade on the Social Studies test? Did you add another… Read More ›
Engaging Nonfiction Titles for High School Students
Summer is a reading marathon for me. Each year, as I prepare to go back to my high school library, I take stock of titles I’ve read that might engage my students. I’m not always successful at motivating resistant teenage… Read More ›