The Joy of Children's Literature

The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child written by Donalyn Miller , has been enthusiastically received and reviewed by teachers and bloggers. Below is a review from Library Journal (March, 15, 2009) by Mark Bay of the University of Cumberlands Library in Williamsburg, KY: Miller, a sixth-grade language arts and social studies teacher and blogger, as enabled students of many different backgrounds to enjoy reading and to be good at it; her students regularly score high on the Texas standardized tests. Her approach is simple yet provocative: affirm the reader in every student, allow students to choose their own books, carve out extra reading time, model authentic reading behaviors, discard timeworn reading assignments such as book reports and comprehension worksheets, and develop a classroom library filled with high-interest books. Her students regularly read more than 40 books in a school year and leave her classroom with an appreciation and love of books and read...

Choice Literacy offersd these great resources on children's literature in their latest issue of Big Fresh : Gayle Brand created an eGuide for planning author studies , taking teachers through the process of charting individual studies and plans for the entire year. In " Inspiration from Author Visits , " Jennifer Jones reflects on the power of a local author visit in her school, and also provides some quick tips and weblinks for planning a visit. Summer is a great time for catching up on children's literature, as well as classic kidlit you may have missed over the years. Picturing Books has developed an interactive timeline of children's literature , with milestones from the last century to current times. Lots of other great links at this site, too, including author birthdays as you chart out your year of author studies. The International Children's Book Library is a remarkable teaching resource, with scores of texts and teaching ideas ready to download or vie...

In Conjunction With the 40th Anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Book Award, TeachingBooks.net Launches an Extraordinary, Free Curriculum Resource Center For Educators and Families Maya Angelou and Jerry Pinkney Among the More than 250 Original Audio Interviews and Recordings Chicago, IL (July 13, 2009) — On the eve of the 40th anniversary celebration of the Coretta Scott King Book Award, TeachingBooks.net is launching the Coretta Scott King Book Award Curriculum Resource Center ( http://TeachingBooks.net/csk ), a free, online resource center for educators and families, featuring over 250 original recordings with the award-winning authors and illustrators and hundreds of lesson plans. The resource center was developed to assemble teaching materials that connect the award-winning books to the curriculum in any classroom, and to add a multimedia dimension to reading activities for any library, academic or book enthusiast. “We hope that this curriculum center makes teaching the Coretta ...