Why I Picked It Up: One of my most popular sessions is For the Love of Poetry and in the process of finding great poetry picture books, I found this gem. Why I Finished It: This book is so much fun. It’s light, energetic, and accessible (in stark contrast to what we think of when we […]
Poetry
Book Review: Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices
Why I Picked It Up: In searching for strong social studies text for our Beyond the Textbook Session, I found this advanced reader’s copy in Sherry’s personal collection. It was definitely a “Jessica book,” so she happily gave me her copy. Why I Finished It: Curiosity! From the beginning I was intrigued by the stories the […]
Book Review: Words with Wings, by Nikki Grimes
Why I Picked It Up: Honestly, I had to find out novel in verse that would be appropriate for grades 3-5 for our up coming High Tech Literature Circles session. I am one of those people who typically freeze up and become a little panicky, so I wasn’t having much luck. However, many of the […]
Book Review: Prince Puggly of Spud and the Kingdom of Spiff, by Robert Paul Weston
Why I Picked It Up: This was a classic case of “Sherry” and “Jessica” books. In preparation for our Head to Head session, we each needed a novel-in-verse to read and review. Jessica had already fallen in love with The Crossover, so I had to find my own novel-in-verse that was different enough to be competitive in our […]
App Review: ChatterPix Kids
I am a firm believer that, when it comes to your toolbox of apps for the classroom, less is more. I’ll spare you the soapbox this time (you can read about it in this blog post if you are really interested!) and just tell you that this is one of the apps on my shortlist. ChatterPix lets […]
Book Review – Update: The Crossover, by Kwame Alexander
** Contact us if you would like to have one of our engaging mentor text sessions come to your campus! ** Almost a year ago, I reviewed The Crossover with lesson ideas and then began shoving it (sometimes unwillingly) into teachers hands. It seemed like the golden ticket to reluctant adolescent readers. Why would they not […]
