Podcasts about march book madness

After a month of not talking to each other, join a very excitable Jose and Trevor as they talk all about Celebration London and look back at the March Book Madness event to see how good Trev's predictions were.JOIN OUR COMMUNITY▶ WEBSITE https://www.youtini.com▶ CANON AND LEGENDS TIMELINES https://www.youtini.com/timelines▶ DISCORD https://www.youtini.com/discord▶ TWITTER https://twitter.com/swarchivespod▶ INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/youtini_us/?hl=en▶ FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/youtiniSUPPORT YOUTINI▶ WEEKLY CONTENT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/youtini▶ YOUTINI MERCH: https://www.youtini.com/merch

With the Youtini March Book Madness Event 2023 in full swing, Jose challenges Trev to talk about 64 Star Wars books in 60 minutes to see if he can predict the final winner of the public vote for each bracket.JOIN OUR COMMUNITY▶ WEBSITE https://www.youtini.com▶ CANON AND LEGENDS TIMELINES https://www.youtini.com/timelines▶ DISCORD https://www.youtini.com/discord▶ TWITTER https://twitter.com/swarchivespod▶ INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/youtini_us/?hl=en▶ FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/youtiniSUPPORT YOUTINI▶ WEEKLY CONTENT ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/youtini▶ YOUTINI MERCH: https://www.youtini.com/merch

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” – Margaret Fuller Gina Gadson was born and raised in Gary, IN. She is a mother of three, Johnika, Kennedy and Troy. Her mom and dad, Johnetta and Leonard, always encouraged her to follow her dreams. She owned and operated a daycare for eight years, teaching children how to read and write. Out of this grew her desire to write children's books. Her mission is to put books back in the hands of our children and to use her books as a tool to teach them. March 2019, she hosted March Book Madness at the Southlake Mall in Merrillville, IN. This event featured 25 local authors, marking the first book event ever held at the Mall. Watch this episode as Gina shares her experience, her journey will give you a unique view to look at life

In the spirit of this month's theme for Quail Ridge Books' Young Adult book display, T.A.B. discusses some of their favorite books including the topic of revenge, plus books with green covers perfect for Saint Patrick's Day! At the end of the episode, T.A.B. plays a special edition of March Madness --book themed! Play along and share your brackets on the Instagram here! For more reviews, recommendations, and T.A.B. click here And explore Quail Ridge Books' upcoming events and online catalog here

This week Jenny and Jenny share some upcoming events for March including Disability Awareness Month, March Book Madness, and the United Way Community Impact Award. We are also reminded that Jenny Rhoads has little to no fashion sense (we can't keep blaming it on the stay-at-home orders). Listen to Jenny and Jenny in the Morning Fridays and Saturdays on Roundtown Radio! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jennyjennyroundtown/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jennyjennyroundtown/support

Gayle is back from Florida and picked an appropriate mix of stressful reads for a sunny beach vacation. Find out what's stressing her out so much. They also catch up on what Nicole has been reading, share a few new early April releases and crown the winner of the March Book Madness bracket challenge. Books mentioned in this podcast: https://amzn.to/2HVVjFJ (Everything Here is Beautiful) by Mira T. Lee https://amzn.to/2I2O52d (American Marriage) by Tayari Jones https://amzn.to/2YLmFDJ (Adele) by Leila Slimani https://amzn.to/2I7JOus (The Perfect Nanny) by Leila Slimani https://amzn.to/2I7JOus (Golden Child) by Claire Adam https://amzn.to/2I8VhKi (A Place For Us) by Fatima Farheen Mirza https://amzn.to/2HRl4r3 (Baby Teeth) by Zoje Stage https://amzn.to/2FSlw5V (And Then There Were None) by Agatha Christie https://amzn.to/2WDAgv2 (Educated) by Tara Westover https://amzn.to/2uI3GMM (Murder On The Orient Express) by Agatha Christie https://amzn.to/2WMhWjD (Where The Crawdads Sing) by Delia Owens https://amzn.to/2WH0IUu (Looker) by Laura Sims https://amzn.to/2WDAgv2 (Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss) by Rajeev Balasubramanyam https://amzn.to/2K28hUk (The Care And Feeding Of Ravenously Hungry Girls) by Anissa Gray https://amzn.to/2HUrmpO (The Dreamers) by Karen Thompson Walker https://amzn.to/2UdzJDq (The Farm) by Joanne Ramos https://amzn.to/2K0vyGm (A Wonderful Stroke Of Luck) Ann Beattie https://amzn.to/2uHqXys (The Editor) by Steven Rowley https://amzn.to/2UrGxMW (The Last) by Hannah Jameson Support this podcast

It's the end of March, so Gayle and Nicole take stock of the reading they've done so far this year, now that it's one-quarter over. They also check in on various reading challenges and see how those are coming along. They are at Round 3 of the March Book Madness competition! We narrow our matchups down to the final two. Who will win? [Halfway through the show, they also held their book club discussion about Michelle Obama's memoir, https://amzn.to/2FyG1mJ (Becoming), one of their favorite books of the year. They talk about how the book was written, the stories and images we found most memorable, our favorite section, and whether Michelle's book changed our opinions of Barack. (Spoiler alert: they still love both of them.)] Books mentioned: https://amzn.to/2YcV7al (Inheritance) by Dani Shapiro https://amzn.to/2On2Hu9 (When You Read This) by Mary Adkins https://amzn.to/2On2Hu9 (Adele) by Leila Slimani https://amzn.to/2Jx4Apx (Trust Exercise) by Susan Choi https://amzn.to/2FmdZLh (Educated) by Tara Westover https://amzn.to/2FlG6uc (Where The Crawdads Sing) by Delia Owens https://amzn.to/2CAnxBN (The Girl On The Train) by Paula Hawkins https://amzn.to/2U8qHH1 (Everything Here Is Beautiful) by Mira T. Lee https://amzn.to/2uxpIlk (An American Marriage) by Tayari Jones https://amzn.to/2YkZ64u (The Stars Are Fire) by Anita Shreve https://amzn.to/2JJUrpJ (The Great Believers) by Rebecca Makkai https://amzn.to/2HVYeNS (Our Souls At Night) by Kent Haruf https://amzn.to/2UaKRA9 (The Dreamers) by Karen Thompson Walker https://amzn.to/2UcMnS5 (There There) by Tommy Orange https://amzn.to/2TDeSEi (Tin Man) by Sarah Winman https://amzn.to/2FuPX0Q (The Hunting Party) by Lucy Foley Support this podcast

We're already at Round II of the Readerly Report March Book Madness competition! (See and http://thereaderlyreport.com/2019/03/12/march-book-madness-round-i/ ( listen to Round I) if you missed it) This week, we're down to 4 book matchups, and we predict some major disagreements between us regarding which ones should advance. Are we still friends in the end, or is this the final episode of the Readerly Report podcast? And most important, did we make the right choices? BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST: https://amzn.to/2XJOknZ (The Girl On The Train)  by Paula Hawkins https://amzn.to/2ECsme2 (Eligible) by Curtis Sittenfeld https://amzn.to/2EEVZeF (Waiting For Eden) by Elliot Ackerman https://amzn.to/2ERuu2O (Everything Here Is Beautiful) by Mira T. Lee https://amzn.to/2tW0sF4 (An American Marriage) by Tayari Jones https://amzn.to/2XH2kix (The Great Believers) by Rebecca Makkai https://amzn.to/2IXi6lV (The Stars Are Fire) by Anita Shreve https://amzn.to/2VFXHTV (Dept of Speculation) by Jenny Offil *Books linked above are our affiliate links. There's no additional expense you, but if you make a purchase through us a small portion of that contributes to the costs associated with making our podcast. Thanks so much for listening and for your support! Connect With Us We'd love to hear from you at any and all places that you love to talk about books. You can find us at the spaces below. Nicole Bonia: http://www.nicolebonia.com/ (Nicole's Website) | http://www.instagram.com/nicolebonia (Instagram) | https://twitter.com/nicolebonia (Twitter) | https://www.facebook.com/linussblanket/ (Facebook) | https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1248236-nicole-bonia (Goodreads) Gayle Weiswasser: http://everydayiwritethebookblog.com/ (Gayle's Website) | https://twitter.com/gweiswasser (Twitter) | https://www.facebook.com/everydayiwritethebook/ (Facebook) The Readerly Report: https://www.facebook.com/ReaderlyMag/ (Facebook) |http://www.instagram.com/readerlymagazine (Instagram) | https://www.facebook.com/groups/ReaderlyReport/ ((New!) Join Our Facebook Group) If you enjoy our show, books (literary fiction in particular—yay for navel gazing!), us as a collective or singly as Gayle or Nicole, please share us with your friends, family and fellow book lovers by letting them know about us. They can subscribe to The Readerly Report: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1141898658?i (iTunes)|http://subscribeonandroid.com/thereaderlyreport.libsyn.com/rss (Android)|http://subscribebyemail.com/thereaderlyreport.libsyn.com/rss (Email)|http://thereaderlyreport.libsyn.com/rss (RSS)| Support this podcast

We are so excited to announce the first ever Readerly Report March Book Madness competition! Here's how this works: It's March, so we're all thinking about bracket competitions, close calls and eliminations. We've started out the Readerly Report bracket with 16 books of fiction – each of which we've both read – and we're going to be putting these books head to head while we whittle the 16 down to the best book that we've both read. Over three episodes of the Readerly Report podcast, we'll discuss the merits of the competing books and decide the victor. Here are the criteria by which we're judging the books: 1) was it an engrossing reading experience all the way through?; 2) was the subject matter relevant and timely?; and 3) has the book held up over time since we read it, and do we think it will continue to do so? We want to hear what you think! Please comment on the blog, Facebook, Facebook Group, Instagram, etc. and let us know if we got it right – or if you think we let the wrong books advance. Here are the Round 1 Matchups: https://amzn.to/2XJOknZ (The Girl On The Train) vs https://amzn.to/2ES0nbE (Best Day Ever) https://amzn.to/2tUVM26 (Mary B.) vs https://amzn.to/2ECsme2 (Eligible) https://amzn.to/2EEVZeF (Waiting For Eden) vs. https://amzn.to/2tUVM26 (The Confusion Of Languages) https://amzn.to/2EIYtJ9 (The Leavers) vs https://amzn.to/2ERuu2O (Everything Here Is Beautiful) https://amzn.to/2H4T3M7 (That Kind Of Mother) vs https://amzn.to/2tW0sF4 (American Marriage) https://amzn.to/2IXiQrd (The Female Persuasion) vs https://amzn.to/2XH2kix (The Great Believers) https://amzn.to/2XHLVKH (Stay With Me) vs https://amzn.to/2IXi6lV (The Stars Are Fire) https://amzn.to/2VFXHTV (Dept of Speculation) vs https://amzn.to/2tSWeOg (American Housewife) To find out who makes it out of Round 1, listen to the podcast. Support this podcast

Chris and Stacey interview Tony Keefer and Scott Jones, creators of March Book Madness (MBM), a bracket-style book competition that serves to engage students in conversations surrounding books from three areas, Picture Books, Middle Grades and YA. AJ was on special assignment during the interview, but joins in for the intro and shares his podcast recommendation.Featured ContentTony Keefer, a 7th-grade teacher by day and family man by night, and Scott Jones, 5th Grade teacher, reader, traveler, and 21st Century Teacher for 21st Century learners, are teachers in Central Ohio. In 2015, they decided to take their classroom versions of March Book Madness to the rest of the world. Now students, classrooms and libraries from as close as down the hall to as far away as Kuala Lumpur participate in March Book Madness.During the interview, we ask about the origins of March Book Madness, how themes and books are selected, how MBM works, how educators and schools get get involved, as well as other questions. Links and ResourcesResourceshttp://marchbookmadness.weebly.comhttps://twitter.com/TonyKeeferhttps://twitter.com/escott818https://diversebooks.org/#2019mbmWhat We're Listening ToAJ: Inspiring Teachers with Tavis and Danny Episode 9CJ Reynolds (Real Rap with Reynolds on YouTube) talks about Genuine Passion in Teaching and Giving Your AllChris:I want to become a master penman! – Art of Manliness (482) Power of Penmanship – Guest, Michael Sull, a master penman discusses what it takes to become a master penman and what exactly a master penman does for a living. The conversation explores the history of cursive handwriting, including insights into how culture has influenced handwriting styles throughout the ages and why penmanship has declined in the modern day.Stacey:I have been a fan of Techmeme Ride Home for a while now and was a bit wary when the host Brian decided to go 7 days a week by adding weekend interviews with guests, but the interviews conducted this weekend were amazing! NBC News' Jacob Ward On Data Vs. Privacy and Mark Gurman Says Apple “don't even know for sure” What Project Titan Is Building. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Scott and Tony from March Book Madness explain the history and how to get involved in #MBM

My Messy Muse- Episode 11- #TeacherFeature with 5th Grade Educator Erin Varley 5th Grade Educator (for 12 years!) Erin Varley shares her and her students favorite book activities. Erin is active in the kidlit community and expands upon her book knowledge and authors resources to provide her students with a fun range of activities. A Printable Take-Away Pamphlet highlighting the activities from this Episode and pictures for guidance can be found in our private My Messy Muse Facebook Community www.facebook.com/groups/mymessymuse TEACHERS & LIBRARIANS DON’T MISS OUT! TOP 5 ACTIVITIES 1. Top 10 Lists! 2. Get Outside and Chalk Your Favorite Book Characters! 3. Recreate your favorite book cover! 4. March Book Madness! Picture Book Brackets- http://marchbookmadness.weebly.com 5. Novels in Verse that 5th Graders love! Erin has made many author contacts on Twitter! Twitter is the place where #kidlit folks go to virtually socialize. If you have not already listened to Episode 8- Twitter for Kidlit Talent, you should! In that Episode you will learn tips and tricks for socializing with kidlit on Twitter. There is something for everyone in Episode 8. Be sure to join the My Messy Muse community on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/mymessymuse If you are interested in a picture book critique, a strategy session or a school visit with host Michele McAvoy, please visit her website at www.michelemcavoy.com/workwithme

Intro Hi everyone! And welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who wants to connect kids between 8-12 to incredible stories. I believe in the power of books to bring communities together. And my goal is to help you connect your children and your community with fantastic books and share inspiring conversations with the people who make that magic happen. I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of a 9 and 11 year old, a 5th grade teacher in Central New York, and glad to be back with you after a short hiatus to focus on school and supporting some local candidates in the mid-term elections! Before this year, I had NEVER done any phone banking or canvassing, but after being inspired by so many of YOU - I knew I had to get off my bum and get to work. This is episode #62 and Today’s show is all about promoting literacy in your community.  First, I’ll share some advice about launching a community book club based on my experience starting a ProjectLIT Book Club at my school. And then I’ll share a conversation with Harper & Maggie, two young girls who’ve launched Books & a Blanket - an organization to promote literacy and well-being among young children in need. Before we get started, I have a BIG announcement that I am delighted to tell you about!  For the whole month of December, Annaliese Avery and Jarrett Lerner and myself from MGBookVillage are teaming up with Lorie Barber and Erin Varley to bring you #HappyPottermas - a month-long celebration of all things Harry Potter!  There will be daily Twitter prompts and all the 9pm EST Monday night #MGBookChat topics throughout December will be all about Harry Potter! And…. I’ve got some special guests lined up for the December episodes of the podcast to talk about the Wizarding World.  And I would love to feature YOU on the show as well. So if you have THOUGHTS about Hogwarts, Snape, the books vs. the movies. If you have OPINIONS you want to share - I really, really want to hear what you have to say!  So, if you are interested in being featured on this podcast, just check out the link posted in the show notes, and I can’t wait to hear from you! Main Topic - Launching a Community Book Club This week I’m sharing some things I’ve learned about launching a community book club based on my experiences starting a ProjectLIT Book Club at my school. But whatever type of book club you might already have going or are considering starting - whether that’s a ProjectLIT club or not - I think you’ll get some good ideas from today’s discussion.  And - just know that every document I mention (flyers, surveys, discussion guides, etc…) are all available for you to download right in the show notes and on this episode’s post at MGBookVillage.org. And all of them are editable so you can download and adjust them however you need. Today I’ll be talking about the difference between ProjectLIT and other traditional community book clubs, including the pros and cons of each. Then I’ll share some ideas about how to prepare to launch your club, some ideas about how to decide what books to read and how to get copies of those books, how to get students and the wider community involved and excited, and then I’ll get into some specifics about planning meetings and hosting a community-wide book celebration. That’s a lot to cover! So let’s dig right in! What is the difference between a traditional book club with community involvement and a ProjectLIT Community Book Club - and what are the pros and cons of each? ProjectLIT is a grassroots literacy movement with community book club chapters all over the country. As of this week, there are now 592 chapters. Their goal is to increase access to culturally relevant books and promote a love of reading in our schools and communities. Each spring the ProjectLIT team consults with chapter leaders and announces a list of 20 books from middle grade to YA that include topics that will generate lots of discussion and bring awareness to issues in our society. Since this is the second year, there are now 40 books to choose from. The books feature characters from a wide variety of backgrounds and are usually #ownvoices - written by authors who share the marginalized identity of the main character. For example, some ProjectLIT books are Amina’s Voice by Hena Kahn and Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Some of the YA choices are Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime and Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. ProjectLIT is all about bringing together a community to discuss the big ideas put forth in these books and to encourage students to take a leadership role in planning community meetings and doing community service projects to promote literacy. It’s beyond just a book club that might meet to read and discuss books.  If you want to know more about ProjectLIT, their founder, Jarred Amato was a guest on this podcast on episode 54. So, if you are considering whether or not to launch a more traditional book club in your school or to be a ProjectLIT chapter, here are some pros and cons to keep in mind. Cons: The book choices are more limited. There are about 20 middle grade titles to choose from and about 20 YA, but I found that the middle grade titles weren’t all the best fit for my club which is geared toward 4th and 5th graders. For example, the March graphic novels are listed as middle grade but I decided to not offer that as one of our choices since it seemed more like a middle school fit.  I’m really hoping that the book options next year will include some lower middle grade titles to expand the choices for elementary kids and to include a variety of reading levels for older students, too. Many of the titles are newer so they are only available as hardcover which makes it financially challenging. And students are less familiar with them so you might need to do some book talks and sampling to get them really pumped about reading them. If you advertise an event as ProjectLIT, it does need to be one of the approved titles. You can mix things up but it does make it more complicated. And if you are trying to make your book club ALSO connect with other things like Battle of the Books or March Book Madness, it is a little bit limiting in that way.   PROS: The book choices ARE amazing! Long Way Down, Amal Unbound, The First Rule of Punk, Ghost, The Parker Inheritance - truly - these are fabulous reads!! Yes, they are new. But that also means that most kids haven’t already read them. I know when I’ve attempted book clubs with really popular books that have been out for awhile, some kids didn’t come because well - if they were interested in the book, they’d already read it. Newer books pull in those readers who will be literacy leaders. Those kids who want to be on the cutting edge and draw in the rest of their peers and community with their excitement. You have an amazing supportive community who are all working toward the same goals and really eager to help make your life easier by sharing ideas and resources. If you need discussion questions for Towers Falling - they are already done! There’s a wonderful Facebook group, a Sunday Twitter chat, and a weekly newsletter emailed to you. So, you are not in it alone. And because of that, there are great opportunities for clubs to collaborate and maybe Skype with other groups reading the same book to discuss beyond their community and to get ideas from each other. How can I prepare my launch to make the book club successful?   Doing some work ahead of time can really help get your book club started off on the right foot and get some community behind you from the very beginning. One of the first things I did was to decide who I might strong-arm into, I mean…. invite to partner with me. In most schools there are at least a couple book lovers who would be down with helping out. At my school - that would be the amazing Kelly. So I emailed Kelly - who was totally excited about launching a club at our school!  Sometimes you just have to ask people. Then I emailed our local public librarian, the PTO, our principal, and let them know about the awesome new club for kids that was coming soon.   Then, I needed to decide how often we would meet, when, and where.  And that really depends on two main factors - time available at your school or library. And YOU!  Because honestly - you are the one who needs to be the main force in making this work. So just...decide and promote the heck out of it!  Since our school day starts early, a before school time was not going to work. So I decided to offer the club to 4th and 5th graders after school from 2:10 to 3:15. The reason I went with 3:15?  Because that’s the time that Drama Club and the Book Cooks let out so I decided to be consistent with them so parents wouldn’t be confused about pick-up times. I also decided to go with Thursdays to avoid those other club days as well.  Now, I will say - I’ve had to do some push back against getting sucked into meetings on Thursdays. But I am holding firm. I don’t want the job to get in the way of my actual work - expanding literacy and love of reading in my school. So if there is a meeting on a Thursday? I’m not going. I’m with the kids doing THAT important work.   The next thing to decide is how many books you want to read throughout the year and when you want to hold a community-wide celebration of those books. Again - this all depends on YOUR availability and how many books you think you can get.  Maybe you start small with just 4 books and 4 events. Maybe every other month works for you. Since I have no chill whatsoever, I decided to go for once a month but to use our first month of school to let everyone get settled and start promoting it, and then officially launch in October.  Kudos to ANYONE who can jump start something the first month of school - I just can’t quite manage the logistics of that. So - cut yourself some slack and give yourself a month head start. After looking at the calendar and our school schedule, I decided that our community-wide celebrations would be the first Saturday of every month from 10am to 11:30am. I went with this for a few reasons - Everyone seems to already have things in the evenings and I really wanted parents and adults to be able to come. Our school gets out at 2:10 - very few adults can make it at that time if we had after school events. Sundays are often tough for some people in our community because of religious observances in the morning so I wanted to avoid any conflict there. I wanted it to be early enough in the day so that it didn’t wreck people’s entire day. They can come, enjoy, and then have all the rest of Saturday do whatever they want. The first weekend of the month tends to avoid most major holidays.   That being said - there is absolutely no possible way you can accommodate everyone’s schedule and avoid hockey tournaments and dance recitals and the plethora of other obligations people have. So - no worries!  If kids can’t come to the Thursday after school meetings, they are always welcome to just attend the celebration event! And if they can’t attend the community celebration, they are still welcomed wholeheartedly to the after school meetings. And if November doesn’t work out - come join us when your schedule frees up in the spring!  I really try to make it as socially and emotionally easy to join us as possible - whenever they can.   Okay - so once you’ve decided the meeting days and when your community book club celebrations will be - figure out a place to meet.  We meet in my classroom after school because I know that location will be available and I am not inconveniencing anyone else. And we meet in the school library for those Saturday celebrations. I had considered meeting at the local public library, but opted for the school library for a couple reasons - one, I am familiar with that space and have access to it so I can set up the night before. Perhaps you are noticing a theme here - make it as easy as possible for YOU. Also, I want the school and our library to be a literacy hub for the community.  And I wanted access to the technology in that space - Promethean Board and Chromebooks. And the public library didn’t have those options and the students and I were comfortable with our school’s space and technology.   Alright, so your prep phase should include the Who, When, and Where. Who - figuring out who will help you and who you will reach out to to let them know the amazingness that is coming. When you will meet with students and when you and those students will host the community book club celebration. And where -the location of these meetings.   How do you decide which books to read?   Picking awesome and interesting books are what’s really going to get people excited.  And I recommend letting kids have some ownership of that process. Kelly and I decided to pick the first book ourselves so we could do some work ahead of time to get copies and then have the kids vote on the other middle grade ProjectLIT choices.  You might decide to have the students pick from a list you provide or have them pick every other month so there is some variety but also honors student choice. We launched our book club with Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes. For us, this seemed like a good start for a few reasons. It was one of the books with an easier reading level and being in New York, our families have many personal stories about 9/11 that this book club would give them an opportunity to share. So I’d recommend picking a really high interest book to start that will get a lot of support in your community.   During our first after school meeting, I had the students do a book tasting of 15 ProjectLIT books that I thought would be a good fit for our 4th and 5th graders - Ghost Boys, The Wild Robot, Amal Unbound, Wonder, The Crossover, Rebound, Booked, Ghost, Patina, Sunny, The Parker Inheritance, The First Rule of Punk, Wishtree, and Refugee.  Perhaps you could give some choices that align with your goals and that ensure a variety of perspectives.  So - I had scrounged up multiple copies of each book and printed out evaluation forms. (Those are available to download right in the show notes!) Kids sat in groups of about 4 and examined and previewed about 3 books at a time.  Just like any other book tasting, I encouraged them to look at the cover, read the teaser material on the back cover or inside flaps, and read the first page. And I framed this for them as - don’t JUST think about what YOU like. Think about what books you like and what titles you think would be important and interesting for our community to discuss.  So - then they voted on their top choices. I had intended this to be done on a Google Form (which I will share with you) but our internet went down so we went old school and they wrote down their lists and we tallied them up. The seven books that got the most votes were The Wild Robot, Wonder, Amal Unbound, Ghost, Sunny, Wishtree, and The First Rule of Punk. And… I’m not gonna lie. I was a tad heartbroken that a certain book I really, really wanted to read with them didn’t quite make the cut. BUT - I had committed to honoring their choices. Also - Sunny was chosen but NOT book 2 of that series (Patina), so I just decided to go with it since each book can really stand on their own.   After that, I matched each book to a month - putting the two Jason Reynolds books (Ghost then Sunny after each other later in the year since their reading levels were more challenging) and timing Wishtree so our celebration would fall close to May 1st since that date plays a big part in the novel. So, as you schedule the books, think about what seasonal connections you might make and consider putting those more challenging books later on in the year. Also - some books will be available in softcover later in the year, so you might want to schedule those then to reduce costs.  Speaking of costs….   How do you get copies of the books?   This is the big challenge. Ideally, you want to gather enough copies for each student who wants to participate AND some extras for those in the community to borrow as well. (But that’s not always possible.) So, here are a few suggestions: Ask students to purchase the books themselves if they are able (I have this listed on our permission slip for each month’s club and having families that are willing and able to purchase books for their child helps free up funds to get books for other kids) Ask the PTO/PTA for funding - our PTO actually approached ME to attend a meeting and share the goals of the club.  Not only did I get more families interested in joining by talking to their folks, they gave us $250 for books! So definitely seek out your PTO! Take advantage of Scholastic points and perhaps ask teachers in your building to donate some copies. Not all of our books were available through Scholastic, but we had several members of the staff donate copies of Towers Falling because it was only $4! Try doing a Donors Choose project! Apply for grants! Right now, Kelly and I have a grant submitted that would totally cover the cost of the remaining books - so cross your fingers for us! Ask local businesses and organizations for support! Our local Lions Club is really receptive to opportunities to support the schools. And those local businesses and organizations might be EVEN MORE into it when you invite them to read the books with you and come to the book celebrations. I also make sure to thank all our donors by name during the meeting and you can also have a few “Sponsored by” flyers around as well. Collaborate with your school library and the local public library. They can often gather copies for you that kids and the community can check out.  The library right down the street from our school has a special display for our book club with our monthly flyer and the books stacked right underneath it available to check out. Start an Amazon Wishlist and share that link EVERYWHERE - in your email signature - in a newsletter - on social media… Ask friends to share it with their friends and family who might be looking for an opportunity to support a great cause.   How do you get students and the community to join your book club?   Alright - now that you’ve built something amazing and have everything organized and have a plan to get those books - you need to build that excitement so kids will come and continue coming!  And the community will read the books with you and come to the celebrations. Let’s start with the kids: I think the single most effective thing we did was at the beginning of the year, Kelly and I went into all the 4th and 5th grade classrooms with a stack of the book options and gave a quick book talk of each one and passed them around for the kids to look at. And then we passed out the permission forms.  After that, I make a quick visit at the beginning of each month to do a quick chat about the upcoming book and pass out those permission slips so you know who is coming and if they need a copy of the book. (And an editable copy of that slip is right in the show notes for you to download.) Wherever your school promotes events - on the morning announcements, in a newsletter, on a school calendar… get the club mentioned!  About once a week, I make an announcement reminding the kids to come to our weekly meeting AND reminding folks to come to the upcoming Saturday celebration. Our school also has a weekly news show - The Minoa Morning Messages - and some of our members made an appearance to promote the club and announce the next book. Be visible! Last year I spent a lot more time in my classroom whenever I could but this year I am making more of an effort to hang out by the buses at dismissal and say hello to kids not in my class during lunch. I have been surprised by how many kids approach me during those casual times and ask about the book club or see me and suddenly remember their permission slip! If out of sight means out of mind, then you‘ve got to literally be in their sights. And each of those encounters builds interest and awareness among the other kids (and staff) who observe those conversations!   So - how about getting the staff and community to come to your celebrations?  That can be a bit trickier, but I do have some ideas for you: Have the students invite them!  Each month, students help design an invitation and I print off a bunch of copies. Then we get some envelopes and personally invite every single member of the staff - not just classroom teachers, but secretaries, TAs, custodial staff, lunch monitors, the superintendent - everyone!  One student even snagged the mail carrier on his way in and handed him an invitation! I also give students multiple copies of the invitation - and the digital version for them to invite family members. We also branch out and invite folks at the town hall, the mayor, the fire chief. And based on their suggestions, I drive around and post flyers in areas they think would be a good idea - like the post office or the fire department or the local pizza shop. Another way to get the staff involved is to email them and ask them to read the book and come to the celebration. And last month, we had some extra copies of Towers Falling, so some of the kids just walked around after school and asked the staff if they wanted to borrow the book and talked up how good it was. And of course, included an invitation tucked into the front cover. Harness the power of social media! Our club has both a Twitter account (@ProjectLITMinoa) and an Instagram account (@ProjectLITMinoa) and are both nice places to showcase what the students are doing and share those awesome pictures of your events. And if you are on the social media platforms that parents and kids already use, it makes it easier for them to tag you and start to build awareness among the community. Have a social media presence also makes your club Google-able. You could also make a website, but that’s definitely an in-the-future step for us. Make a display and put it in a high traffic area in your school! Last month, I finally realized I needed to make a display of some kind because people kept asking when the next book club was and what books we were reading next. So having one place they can look is really helpful both to be informative and to also serve as an advertisement!   How do you run the student book club meetings?   One thing that I did on a whim was to start our very first meeting with a quick get-to-know-you activity. I definitely didn’t know all the students and I’m certain they didn’t know each others’ names, so we did a quick round of “When the Cold Wind Blows”. Basically each kid takes a turn standing in the center of the circle and says their name and something about themselves. Like, “My name is Corrina and I like Harry Potter!” And if that applies to you, you stand up and move like the wind to another seat.  That went over so well, that each month, when we have a new mix of students, we start with a new ice breaker. During that first meeting, I pass out the reading schedule (and yup - that’s right online for you!), and we start reading together! Sometimes we listen to the audio book and sometimes Kelly and I take turns reading it out loud. For the meetings after that first one, we take the first 10-15 minutes to discuss the reading we did last week - talking about any confusing parts, big ideas, connections, questions, favorite parts, or favorite quotes… and then I read aloud or we listen to the audio book for the next 20 or so minutes. And the last 20-30 minutes is planning time. This is when the kids take care of invitations, come up with discussion questions, trivia questions, brainstorm new ideas together - and basically take care of all the things that come up when planning an event. After that, we pack up and I escort the crew down to the main hall to be picked up and take that opportunity to connect with parents and answer any questions. So basically, our after school book club meetings are discussion, read together, plan together.   How do you host a great community book club celebration?   Honestly, I wasn’t sure this was going to work out at ALL. The Saturday morning of our first event, two things happened that did not bode well.  First, despite the fact that I had requested the room through the proper channels and filled out all the school-required paperwork, the library was locked and NO ONE with the key was available. Okay - so we just relocated to my room, and I scrambled to get the space organized. Second - several of the kids and staff had volunteered to come in early at 9:30 to help me set up and it was 9:50 and NO ONE was there but ME. And I thought - well…. I’ll just hang out here and grade papers and eat the cider and muffins I brought myself. But - then…. EVERYONE showed up!! And our final count was over 40 people and it was an amazing event!  So - here is the schedule we followed. First - ask for some volunteers to bring in drinks and snacks. We had cocoa (a BIG hit!), cider, donuts, and muffins. Kelly and I brought in some and parents had volunteered to supply snacks and drinks, too. When people arrived from 10:00 - 10:20, there was a sign-in sheet, and we had an activity set up at each table for them to complete when they came in. For Towers Falling, we supplied big pieces of paper and markers, and had people create their own Social Units diagram. For our next read, The Wild Robot, we’re planning on a build-your-own-robot craft. I think having something fun to do for the first 15 minutes as people arrive is a good idea since families want to get a snack and everyone wants to chat anyway. From 10:20-10:30 I welcome everyone, give a brief introduction - go through the agenda, explain what ProjectLIT book clubs are all about, show pictures of the book club in action that I’ve been taking throughout the past month, and give thanks to the organizations and donors and volunteers that have helped us out. It’s a quick power point, and I’ll drop a link to that in the show notes if you want to use it for your events.  Also, as each person arrives, we hand them a half-sheet copy of the agenda with an exit survey stapled to the back to we can get some feedback. From 10:30-10:50 is Group Discussion time!  Students pass out a discussion guide with six questions they’ve developed.  And each group takes about twenty minutes to chat about the book! These could be general questions like, what character could you relate to the most or what scene stood out to you? Or they might be specific to the novel, like “Why do you think Dejá’s father didn’t want her to learn about 9/11?”  For this particular book, we also asked the adults in each group to share where they were on 9/11 and what were their experiences and feelings on that day. From 10:50-11:15 is trivia! I created an online quiz based on the trivia questions that the kids made using the website Kahoot - which was lots of fun!  You do need access to a device though, so traditional trivia is fine, too!  We had everyone break up into teams of no more than 6 and then the top team each won a prize of a full-sized Hershey’s Bar, the second place team each got a Hershey’s mini, and the 3rd place team each got a Hershey’s kiss. That trivia game and those little prizes were such a HUGE hit - and the competition was quite fierce!  I’ll drop a link to that Kahoot if you want to check it out. From 11:15 - 11:20 - We drew prizes!  We were lucky enough to have some community members and parents donate books and a few small gift cards to Barnes & Noble and a local yogurt shop. So at the beginning of the meeting, we had a student in charge of passing out tickets and then we just drew names at the end of the meeting. From 11:20 - 11:30 is cleanup!   A few things I would change - we forgot to explicitly ask people to fill out the surveys and return them to us. Oops! And I forgot to take a big group picture! Next time, I’d also make sure that at least one of the book club kids were seated at each group. We also didn’t get as many community members who weren’t directly connected to the school as I had hoped. So, we are going to keep reaching out! And our next steps are to do more community service events like book drives and to find ways for the students to be literacy advocates in other ways in our community.   So, overall - it was REALLY successful and a TON of fun! Our new principal came - even though he hadn’t technically started until the following week! We had almost all the book club kids come with at least one family member - including bringing older siblings who were former students which was wonderful!  About six staff members came, including one with her new baby.   I was truly overcome with the passion and excitement and generosity that our community showed. And really - all I did was provide an outlet and an opportunity for kids and the community to express their passion for reading and literacy.   I know, if you decide to start a community book club in your school, you won’t regret it!   And if you have any questions at all, I’d be happy to chat more with you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or reach out on Twitter or Instagram at the handle @Books_Between. And if you have some suggestions or tips about how to run a successful community book club - I’d love to share your ideas so we can all learn from each other!   Maggie & Harper from Books and a Blanket - Interview Outline   Our special guests this week are sisters Maggie & Harper - founders of Books and a Blanket!  We talk about the origins of their project, their favorite books, and how you can help them promote literacy and well-being among young children in need.   Take a listen…   Books & a Blanket   What is Books and a Blanket and how did it get started?   How has Books and a Blanket changed from when you first came up with the idea?   How do you get all the books and blankets? And do you accept both used and new?   What are your plans for the future of Books and a Blanket?   How do you decide who gets them?   If our listeners wanted to get involved and help you out, what could they do? Your Reading Life   One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians and parents inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books.  Did you have a special teacher or librarian who helped foster your reading life?   We have a lot of teachers and librarians listening. What is something you want them to know?   What is something you wish teachers did MORE of?   What is something you wish teachers did LESS of?   What are some of your all-time favorite books?   What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked?   Links:   Books & a Blanket website - https://booksandablanket.com Books & a Blanket on Twitter   Books & Authors We Chatted About:   Mr. Lemoncello’s Library (Chris Grabenstein) The Penderwicks (Jeanne Birdsall) Penderwicks at Last (Jeanne Birdsall) The Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling) The Hunt for Red October (Tom Clancy) The Mysterious Benedict Society (Trenton Lee Stewart) The Candymakers (Wendy Mass) Nevermoor (Jessica Townsend) The Land of Stories (Chris Colfer) Rick Riordan Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card) Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer)   Closing   Okay, that wraps up our show this week!  I hope you’ll head over to BooksandaBlanket.com to help support a great cause.   And remember to check out #HappyPottermas throughout December for some magical fun.   If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.   Books Between is a proud member of the Lady Pod Squad and the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com   Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.   Thanks and see you soon!  Bye!

Intro   Hi and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who wants to connect middle grade readers between 8-12 to books they’ll love.  I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a 5th grade teacher, a mom of two girls, and enjoying a gloriously (and weirdly) warm Winter Break. It hit 70 degrees today. In Syracuse. In February. Hey - I’ll take it! This is Episode #18 and today we have a interview with genre fiction book critic Paul Goat Allen, I’ll discuss three novels featuring spunky female leads, and then I’ll answer a question about the books featured on our last episode on March Book Madness. Main Topic - Interview with Paul Goat Allen Today on the show I am welcoming book critic extraordinaire, genre fiction writing professor, writer, and my husband - Paul Goat Allen!   Here are some of the books we talking about in the interview segment of today’s episode: Fenway & Hattie by Victoria Coe Wings of Fire Series by Tui Sutherland Harry Potter Series by JK Rowlings Midnight Without a Moon by Linda Williams Jackson Ghost by Jason Reynolds Percy Jackson Series  by Laurel Snyder Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart Lord of the Flies by William Golding A Canticle for Leibowtiz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkein The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock The Earthsea Trilogy  by Ursula K. Le Guin The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkein The elements on the  “The Genre Fiction Book Reviewer’s Hierarchy of Needs” Readability (narrative clarity, fluidity,a coherent storyline, brisk pacing)   Immersion (focus on world building, overall description) Characters Depth ( three dimensional , interesting, and emotionally connective characters) Plot Intricacy (Impressively constructed storyline replete with plot twists) Originality & Innovation (innovative narrative element - unconventional protagonist, new twist on an old mythos, etc.)   The Message (profound, spiritual, existential enlightenment) Book Talk - Three Novels Featuring Spunky Girls In this part of the show, I share with you three books centered around a theme and discuss three things to love about each book. This week I’ll be talking about three fantastic contemporary debut middle grade novels featuring female protagonists who are full of spirit and determination. Even if, for a couple of them, it takes some time to embrace and harness that inner courage. The books this week are Gertie’s Leap to Greatness by Kate Beasley, Frazzled: Everyday Disasters and Impending Doom by Booki Vivat, and A Rambler Steals Home by Carter Higgins. Frazzled: Everyday Disasters and Impending Doom This week, I’ll be going in order of release date so I’ll start with the September 2016 debut Frazzled: Everyday Disasters and Impending Doom by Booki Vivat. Doesn’t that subtitle perfectly capture that middle school feeling where everything seems awful but the adults in your life just blow it off as no big deal?  That is precisely the problem the main character, Abbie Wu, faces as she grapples with starting middle school. To Abbie, middle school is just another awful “middle” thing - like the middle seat in the car, the Middle Ages, and… being the middle child. She is stuck between her soccer star perfect older brother and her cute can’t do anything wrong younger sister. I knew this book was a winner when my daughter started reading it over my shoulder. Here are three things to love about Frazzled:   How perfectly this book captures the frustrations of that first middle school year. Like the awful lunches, that awkward feeling of not knowing the kids in your class, and not knowing which electives to pick. Abbie’s two best friends are Logan, genius gamer kid who joins the Coding Club. And Maxine, confident Teen Vogue reader who, of course, chooses drama as her elective. But Abbie doesn’t have a clear “thing” that’s she good at like her friends and so she gets stuck in the doldrums of Study Hall where eventually she becomes the center of a Lunch Revolution.    Frazzled is fun to read! Now, I love a heavy, deep books, but with the world as complicated as it is right now, it is a joy to jump into such a book that makes me laugh out loud. There are playful and clever illustrations on every page, and I love Booki Vivat’s hand lettered style to the drawings with different textures and patterns to the words. And the self-deprecating honesty of Abbie’s character and how she describes the personalities of her family and teachers is just perfect. This is the type of humor that adults and teachers will like, too. Well - at least I did, anyway! I guess I can’t speak for anyone else! For example, here’s Abbie describing her new Vice-Principal:  “A woman in a frumpy suit walked up to the podium and introduced herself. Mrs. Kline looked nice, but she also looked really tired, kind of like the “before” version of ladies on those makeover shows or like one those grown-ups who always complains about needing coffee.”    How Frazzled handles anxiety with a light touch. I read a statistic recently that anxiety is the number one mental health issue facing kids today. From what I observe in my own classroom - it is A BIG problem. And I appreciate that a kids’ book tackles it from a place of humor. For example, the giant “Welcome Packet” that arrives from Poindexter Middle School that has Abbie’s mom excited about school shopping has Abbie in near panic mode from information overload. Abbie has nightmares before school starts and attempts to stay home from school. Her Aunt tries to get her to meditate.  At one point, Abbie says, “Like whenever we talk about school, Mom always tells me the same things over and over again - “It’ll be great!”, “Nothing to worry about!”, “Just be yourself!” - as if saying it will somehow make it more true.”   For a worrier like Abbie, when you are surrounded by ever cheerful people telling you that “Everything will work out for the best!” it can feel like you are not even being heard.   Frazzled is a fantastic book for kids dealing with everyday middle school frustrations and anxieties. AND - I hear there is a second book coming out September 26th, 2017 so keep that on your radar!   Gertie’s Leap to Greatness Our next debut middle grade book featuring a determined female protagonist was released in October of 2016 - Gertie’s Leap to Greatness by Kate Beasley. This book, and this girl, just worked their way into my heart last fall.  Gertie is one of those kids that you just want to yank from the pages and take home with you. She lives in an Alabama town with her father and her Great Aunt Rae. Her mother, basically abandoned her when she was a baby, but she still lives in the same town. However, Gertie is rocked to find out that her mother is getting married and moving away. So - she has this mission to become the greatest 5th grader ever. To show up at her mother’s door and just say, “Ha! I don’t need you anyway!” Well, obviously, things don’t go as planned. Especially when an overachieving new girl shows up - literally in Gertie’s seat - to thwart her plans. Here are three reasons why I adored Gertie’s Leap to Greatness:   Her Great Aunt Rae. This lady is gold. She is Gertie’s main caretaker since her dad is on an oil rig for weeks at a time. She lets her have Twinkies for breakfast and every day as Gertie leaves for school, she calls out “Give ‘em hell, baby!” And there’s a moment toward the end when she has Gertie’s back in such a fierce way. Every kid should have Aunt Rae! How well this book understands how kids can turn on each other - or as Gertie says, they’re “fickle”! I teach 5th grade and can attest - those social dynamics can be complicated. One day things are good and then the social landscape shifts and you are on the outs with your former friends. Even Gertie has this moment when she says an unforgivably awful thing to Audrey - the 5 year old her Aunt Rae baby-sits. And she has to come to terms with that. The Swiss Chocolate Meltdown. Oh. My. God!!  I know it was wrong, but I just wanted to cheer! I don’t want to say too much but it reminded me of the chocolate cake scene in Matilda. Oh, it’s good! Read the book just for that scene!   Kate Beasley’s Gertie’s Leap to Greatness is a fun and touching story that’s like a beautiful blend of Ramona and Raymie Nightingale.  These three girls would absolutely be friends - or drive each other crazy. Either way, there would be an adventure. I don’t think this one is scheduled to have a sequel, but I for one would love to jump back into Gertie’s world again.   A Rambler Steals Home The final book this week is A Rambler Steals Home - Carter Higgins’ middle grade debut. Even though I read it during one of the worst snowstorms we’ve had up here in New York, it immediately swept me away to hot Virginia summers filled with baseball and frog-catching.  The story centers around the traveling Clark family - the dad, Garland, the young brother named Triple, and our main character - 11 year old Derby. Their family drives around in a Rambler car, selling Christmas trees in the winter and selling hot chocolate and gingersnaps and apple cider and cinnamon sugar donuts out of an old concession stand trailer. But - in the summers, they make their home in Ridge Creek, Virginia where they set up a concession stand in the parking lot of a minor league baseball team. But this summer, Derby is confronted with some difficult changes and some secrets to uncover. Here are three things to love about A Rambler Steals Home: The sweet, homey pace of the story. Now - don’t get me wrong - I do not mean that the storytelling is slow but rather we savor the details of eating an oatmeal cookie on a front porch. We linger over sweet potato fries and a swipe of Christmas Nutmeg lipstick. This is the perfect book to read stretched out in a backyard hammock. The names are awesome! Carter Higgins has that same magical knack for naming characters as Kate DiCamillo. So, I already mentioned Garland, Triple, and Derby. Derby’s middle name, by the way, is Christmas. But we also have Goose and Scooter and Ferdie and the Skipper and Betsy and Lollie. And of course, a banjo named Twang. How perfect is that?  And not only do these characters have fabulous names, but you enjoy spending time with them. They are the kind of people you just want to surround yourself with in your own life. The gorgeous, poetic, twangy flavor of the language. Like this line describing the baseball team: “The Rockskippers scattered the field in their blue-and-whites while they stretched and spat and scratched.” This book is heart-warming and charming and one you and your kids won’t want to miss. It is due to be released Tuesday, February 28th - the day after this episode is out so tomorrow - head over to your favorite bookstore and grab yourself a copy. So if your middle grade girls - and guys! - are looking for a novel with a spunky female lead, they will really like Gertie’s Leap to Greatness , Frazzled, and A Rambler Steals Home. Q & A Our last segment of the show is Question & Answer time.   Question: After our last episode about March Book Madness was released, I posted a picture on Twitter featuring last year’s tournament bracket from my class to give an example of what a starting bracket could look like. And one of our followers, Eric Carpenter, replied “hope you talk about why only one of these 16 books in this bracket is by a POC. #OwnVoices “   Answer: So - absolutely.  And just so you all can picture what Eric was referring to, I’ll add a photo of that bracket to the shownotes and the website, but here are the list of the 16 books included on that bracket: The One and Only Ivan, The Honest Truth, I Funny, Big Nate, Hatchet, Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood, Home of the Brave, Auggie & Me, The Crossover, The Hunger Games, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Smile, Flying Solo, El Deafo, Wonder, and Sunny Side Up. So - he’s right. The Crossover is the only book on that list from a person of color. So - why is that? I’ll start by describing how those books were chosen and then analyzing why there might be a lack of diversity, and then discuss some ways to change that.     First - how were the 16 books selected? Those 16 titles were nominated and voted on entirely by my students last year. I give them total control over that process, simply asking them to nominate books they’ve read and liked. Their favorites. I think kids having ownership of that is important. If I picked the books, I don’t think they’d be as excited about participating. However, I think there is a way to honor students’ choices while still including a more diverse range of authors and characters that not only reflects the community but our society. More on that a little bit.   Second - why was there a lack of diversity in those choices? Well, I have a few thoughts on that. One might be that the books my students included may reflect the general lack of diversity among the most “popular” middle grade titles. A second thought is that some of the books, like Hatchet and Wonder and Flying Solo and Home of the Brave may have been nominated because my students read them in class as part of the curriculum and book list that my school follows. And only one of them features a non-white main character (Home of the Brave) but that book, while excellent, is still not written by a person of color. Essentially, those books are not featuring enough diversity and not enough stories told by diverse authors. Another piece to that, and probably the largest one - my students are simply not surrounded with enough diverse books written by Native Americans, written by black authors, written by men and women from ethnic, cultural, and religious minority groups. Among many, many other diverse groups. And within my classroom, that is entirely on me. But taking that responsibility means that I have the power to change it.   Alright - if our students and kids aren’t listing diverse books as their favorites, how can that be changed? A couple very quick ideas knowing that this is just the beginning of a much longer conversation: As you stock your classroom library, as you make purchases for the kids in your life, pick more diverse books written by authors writing from their own experience. Over the last few years, as I have committed to having a vibrant classroom library, my focus needs to shift from just getting any books to being more aware of who is represented in that library. And making better choices. One good place to start is weneeddiversebooks.org and by following the Twitter hashtag #OwnVoices  Scholastic also has a We Need Diverse Books catalog that’s a good resource, too. Don’t just stick those books in your library - read them aloud, book talk them, and build that excitement. If you are excited about a book, the kids will often latch onto it, too. Reexamine those books that are in your curriculum. Like a lot of other districts, my school is thankfully moving away from the one-book-fits-all approach which leaves more space for student choice and for teachers to select more diverse books. Be an advocate for that in your schools. And parents - please speak up, too! Finally - bring this conversation to your students and your children. I plan on sharing Eric’s tweet with my class and asking them to think about it. And in considering March Book Madness, perhaps instead of simply asking students to nominate favorite books, I could have framed the tournament a little differently and asked them to nominate favorite books that represent the diversity of our community and society. So you are still having the books be their choice, but guiding them to be more aware. Also, I read this fabulous blog post last year on Lee & Low Books where a teacher had her students pull every book from her classroom library off the shelves and work in groups to analyze the diversity in the books they had available. It was a powerful exercise - both for that teacher and her students. So I’ll link to that in the show notes so you can check it out yourself.   Now, I acknowledge that we are really just scratching the surface of this topic and we will be chatting a lot more about it on future episodes. And I’d like to get your input and ideas about that. What do you see as the challenges to getting your students to read more diversely? And what concrete things can we do as teachers and librarians and parents to help kids develop deeper connections to more diverse books?   Closing   Okay - that wraps our show this week. If you have a question about how to connect middle grade readers to books they’ll love or an idea about a topic we need to cover, I want to hear from you. Please email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.   Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get find a transcript of this show and all of our previous episodes at AlltheWonders.com. And, if you are liking the show, if you are finding some value in them, I’d love it if you left a rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Thanks again and see you in two weeks!  Bye! Links: http://weneeddiversebooks.org   http://blog.leeandlow.com/2016/07/07/part-1-having-students-analyze-our-classroom-library-to-see-how-diverse-it-is/   http://www.scholastic.com/parents/blogs/scholastic-parents-raise-reader/special-edition-weneeddiversebooks-scholastic-reading-club  

Intro   Hi and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who wants to connect middle grade kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love.  I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a teacher, a mom, a college basketball fan, and a lover of all things science. Coming from my dad’s side, I grew up on a steady diet of Syracuse games and highlighted brackets scattered all over the house every spring. And on my mom’s side, I grew up with a steady diet of David Attenborough documentaries and trips to just about every planetarium and nature center in the state.   This is Episode #17 and today I’m chatting with you about March Book Madness and featuring twelve fabulous books about science and scientists.   Main Topic - March Book Madness   It is almost that magical time of year when a little March basketball mayhem can be harnessed into a fun competition that celebrates children’s literature. Of all the book related activities that I tried with my students last year, participating in March Book Madness was by far the most engaging thing we did. My 5th graders loved it, the students across the hall were talking about it, the teachers walking by our class were making predictions - it was fantastic. It got kids reading and promoting books to each other. And mostly - it was just fun. So today, I’ll discuss three things: what is it, how can I participate, and where can I get resources and more info? A quick heads up before I begin - as always, I have your back and every resource and website I mention will be linked in the show notes and on AlltheWonders.com.   What is March Book Madness? March Book Madness is a bracket-type tournament modeled after the NCAA tournament where you have books going head-to-head to see which one will advance to the next round. Typically, you start with 16 books and then week by week narrow them down to the final match-up. Usually the brackets are created with a big display in a classroom, hallway, or library. I think a public place is best so you really create that community buzz about the books.   For each round, you have students vote on each match up to determine which book makes it to the next round. Last year, I had a meeting with my class to determine which books to start with. They each had their reading journals in their lap and we hashed out the top 16 books that most of the class had read. Our picks last year were: The One and Only Ivan, The Honest Truth, I Funny, Big Nate, Hatchet, Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood, Home of the Brave, Auggie & Me, The Crossover, The Hunger Games, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Smile, Flying Solo, El Deafo, Wonder, and Sunny Side Up. Generally if a lot of books in a series were recommended, we just put in the first book to represent all of them.   Before we got going, I had every student fill out a bracket to predict who would win and the kid with the most points for each round would get a free book from our next Scholastic order. Once we got going, we voted via a Google form and my rules were that in order to vote on a match-up, you had to have read BOTH books. So - that really got students reading books that they might not have picked up themselves so they could participate and vote for their favorites, too.  But - you can handle that however you think is best. Last year in our class, The Crossover narrowly beat out The Honest Truth. And I can’t wait to see what they pick this year.   How Can I Participate? It’s easy, hardly any supplies are necessary so it’s an activity with lots of bang for your buck. So - option 1 - poll your class and decide on your 16 starting books that way. Or, option 2 - participate in the 2017 March Book Madness already set up online by the amazing Tony Keefer and Scott Jones. If you head over to marchbookmadness.weebly.com these two 5th grade teachers from Central Ohio have set up this awesome website with three different tournaments you can join - Picture Book, Middle Grade Novel, or YA.  I think my class will be doing their Picture Book  tournament this year as well doing our own middle grade one. They conduct voting through Google forms also and you can have students vote individually or submit your choices as a class. There’s really no wrong way to do it, as long as you and your kids are having fun and talking up books. Also on their site, they have printable forms for each bracket showing the covers of the books AND for the Middle Grade books - there are book trailers for each one. That’s a great resource any time of year!  If you decide to join in with them, the voting there starts on March 1st, 2017. So if you are interested, head over to that site and check it out. Their sweet sixteen books this year are: Roller Girl vs. Counting by 7s, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library vs. Sisters, Brown Girl Dreaming vs. The Honest Truth, Echo vs. A Night Divided, The War That Saved My Life vs. Booked, Fish in a Tree vs. Pax, The Fourteenth Goldfish vs. El Deafo, and Absolutely Almost vs. Crenshaw. Whoa - some tough match-ups this year.   Resources Okay - once you decide which books you are starting with, the next step is to gather a few resources and make a display. I’m going to offer you some advice - keep it simple and use the free resources already out there to save yourself some time. Last year I found a free download from Catherine Reed of The Brown Bag Teacher that looked great. (I’ll link to that resource in the shownotes.) And then I made some quick orange paper basketballs with white letters on them saying Tournament of Books and printed off the covers of our 16 starting titles, So then I was ready to set up our brackets in the hallway. I ended up using black electrical tape for the lines connecting our brackets and that worked out great.  I really do recommend you put your bracket in a public spot and not just in your classroom. I promise you - kids, teachers, parents - everyone will be talking about it. And if you are active on Twitter, join in by taking photos of your brackets and tweeting using the hashtag #2017MBM.   If you have done a book bracket before or are thinking of participating this year, I would love to see what you’ve got going on. You can tag me on Twitter or Instagram - our handle is @books_between and if you have an engaging activity that gets kids reading and talking about books, I would really love to chat with you about it so please email me booksbetween@gmail.com. Book Talk - Fabulous Science Books   It’s time for our book talk segment! In this section of the show, I share with you several books centered on a theme. This week, I am recording on Charles Darwin’s birthday, February 12th, celebrated across the world as Darwin Day. It is a day to to reflect and act on the principles of intellectual bravery, perpetual curiosity, scientific thinking, and hunger for truth as embodied in Charles Darwin. So today I am sharing with you 12 science themed books. You know, science sometimes has this bad reputation somehow of being cold and distant and just about hard facts. But to me, science has always been a story. It’s personal and ever so important.   Science is about changing your ideas in the face of facts. It’s my grandmother helping my 16 year old self admit that, yeah… it wasn’t actually a raven I saw in our backyard and just a big crow.   Science is exploring and observing every bit of the world around us. It’s my grandfather taking my 7 year-old self on a nature walk and showing me four decades worth of wildflowers he’d picked and tucked between the pages of his Peterson field guide.   Science is tackling the most challenging problems our society faces. It’s my Uncle Tim, taking my 12 year-old self on a tour of of his lab at the Harvard Brain Bank, gently placing a brain in my hands, and explaining how his team is trying to understand what causes Alzheimer’s disease.   Science is about instilling awe and wonder and always encouraging that “Why?” question. It’s my mom driving my 9 year-old self out to some cold, dark field to see Haley’s comet or dragging my cranky 13 year-old self out to Howe’s Caverns and Niagara Falls to see for my own eyes what the power of time and erosion could do.   And yeah - I didn’t appreciate all that nearly enough at the time, but… like that slow drip that eventually ends up as a stalagmite, all those experiences add up to a life filled with wonder and questioning and then seeking out books that would feed that curiosity.   So, science is deeply, deeply important to me. And every year, I’m disappointed in myself that I don’t spend as much time as I really want in our class studying and doing science. Those of you that teach all subjects in an elementary class like I do, can maybe understand how that sometimes frantic focus on Reading, and Writing, and Math can often edge out science and social studies, even why you try to blend them together. So, if there is ever a way we can bring more science into our classrooms, our libraries, our homes, let’s do it. Because our kids, our society, need those stories right now.   Okay - I’m getting too emotional. On to the books! This week I was helped by our incredible Twitter community who weighed in on my request for favorite science books. We got a lot of great suggestions today so I am featuring 12 terrific books with a science theme.   So, let’s start with some fiction, and I’ll save the nonfiction until the end.   Fiction A quick note - I have numbered them to make it easier to keep track of, but that doesn’t mean they are ranked. Every single one is a winner.   Space Case by Stuart Gibbs This is a murder mystery that takes place on the moon. It’s funny and fresh and a clever speculation about the future of NASA and life in space. If you know a kid who loves astronauts and maybe loved the movie The Martian, this would be a great book for them. And the second one in the series, Spaced Out, was just released last year.   Hoot by Carl Hiassen I’ve always felt that between about 9 and 12 is when kids start to get more socially conscious. I remember for me that’s when I started harassing my parents about recycling although my dad would tell you that I still left every single light in the house on. And Carl Hiasson’s books are the perfect kindling for that fire. If you know a child who is into environmental science and climate change and standing up to the forces trying to put money ahead of our future, then Hoot is the perfect book. And then they can check out Hiasson’s other eco-thrillers Chomp and Flush and Scat.   The Friendship Experiment by Erin Teagan The girl in this story, Madeline, is one of those kids that you can just see winning a Nobel and being the next Marie Curie. She is immersed in science, from her parents, her beloved grandfather who recently passed away, and even is the subject of her own self-study of a rare genetic disease that she and her sister are both grappling with. But, this is a middle school story so friendships are a focus. And when Madeline takes that analytical mindset and starts writing down her observations and developing Standard Operating Procedures for her life and friends, you can only imagine where things start to go. It’s a great read.    When I put out a call for favorite science themed books, dozens of people recommended The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin. This is a first person story told by Suzy - a girl whose world is shaken by the drowning of her friend. And the idea that “sometimes things just happen” is simply not acceptable to her so she sets off to attempt to figure out what really happened. She has this theory that her friend was stung by a rare jellyfish and so interwoven through the story are these fascinating facts about the ocean and jellyfish. Fabulous, fabulous book.   Keeping with our aquatic theme, another favorite science themed novel is The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer Holm. This book is full of wit and wonder and a celebration of science. It’s about Ellie and her young grandfather, Melvin, who draws her into his research. Inspired, she and the reader learn about Oppenheimer, Curie, Salk, Galileo, Newton, Pasteur and how science is like a love story involving people and possibility.   The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly Oh how I loved this book! It’s set in rural Texas in 1899 and is the story of an 11 year old girl growing up in a well-to-do family with six brothers. As the only girl, she has a lot of expectations set on her by her mother. And her time and even her body are beginning to be constrained by things like corsets, and cooking, and needlepoint. But Calpurnia is drawn to scientific expeditions with her cranky grandfather who secretly slips her a copy of Darwin’s Origin of Species. A friend of mine who helps coordinate our local Darwin Day events listened to the audio of this book with her two sons and they absolutely loved it and the sequel. Plus - if you have younger kids, Jacqueline Kelly now has the Calpurnia Tate Girl Vet series which are illustrated chapter books. So there’s lots to love here.   Okay - on to our six science themed nonfiction titles!   Nonfiction Science Comics Series published by First Second. I have fallen head over heels for this series. There’s one on volcanoes, bats, dinosaurs, coral reefs, plague - awesome stuff! Each volume is 128 pages chock full of science, fabulous illustrations, and an exciting adventure story to keep your kids turning those pages.   Pink is for Blobfish: Discovering the World’s Perfectly Pink Animals by Jess Keating This book was probably mentioned the most by folks on Twitter. It is playful and gross and is one of those books that appeals to kids from kindergarten to middle school. It reminds me a tad of the book When Lunch Fights Back - with how it really pulls kids into the science with that “eww” factor. Look for Jess Keating’s new book, Shark Lady, when that comes out this June 2017. Also - if you haven’t done it yet - check out her Animals Are Awesome videos on YouTube. They’re two minute snippets of science. They are perfect to binge watch with your kids or get your students excited about some cool animals. My favorite is the Sparkly Bat Poop episode.   A picture book called Star Stuff: Carl Sagan & Mystery of the Cosmos Oh do I have a soft spot for all things Carl Sagan and Cosmos. This is a sweet and inspiring narrative biography formatted a bit like a graphic novel with panels and thought bubbles. It’s a great science book to kindle the spark of curiosity in your child and introduce them to an amazing scientist.   A pair of books by Theodore Gray called Elements and Molecules I love these books because kids get out of them whatever they’re ready for. At first, maybe it’s just the pictures. Then they start to read the descriptions and then notice the molecule diagrams on a reread. Plus - they are simply gorgeous to look at! Every page has this velvety black background with bright pictures of the elements and molecules. In the blurb on the back, Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters says that you feel like you’re holding a jewelry catalog. A great science book for a coffee table or tucked in the back seat of your car.   #5 What is Evolution? By Louise Spilsbury and Illustrated by Mike Gordon. I first bumped into this book at our Scholastic Book fair last spring and immediately had to snag it for my students. Having a basic understanding of the concepts of evolution is so crucial to even start to understand the world around us. A book like this - presenting evolution in a fun, colorful, and quick way at 64 pages is a must for every classroom and library. This book is full of details about Darwin, and natural selection, and genetic mutations, but it’s also got funny pictures and lots of text features that keep it readable.   #6 Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky I have been hearing everyone rave about this book, but I didn’t appreciate its scope and beauty until my sister-in-law, Jackie, brought it to our family book club and I actually held it in my hands. The design and layout are outstanding. And I know I’m not going to do it justice, but I just want to describe it a little bit for you. So each of the 50 women are featured on a two page spread. Throughout the book, the background is consistently a deep coal color with a different featured color for each scientist - yellows and teals and oranges and pinks - it’s stunning. On the left is a large gorgeous drawing of each person at work with the various tools of their profession and one of her memorable quotes written across the bottom. On the right side is a one page description of her life and accomplishments with smaller sketches in the margins illustrating those moments. It’s hard to describe how beautiful it is and not just the sketches but the stories of those groundbreaking women who fought against those forces trying to hold them back and nevertheless persisted. Absolutely pick it up!   Closing   Alright - that’s it for our show this week. If you have a question about how to connect middle grade readers to books they’ll love or an idea about a topic we should cover, I really would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.   Thank you so much for taking the time to join me this week. You can get find a transcript of this show and all of our previous episodes at AlltheWonders.com. And while you are there, check out Matthew’s interview with Raina Telgemeier - it’s one you won’t want to miss. Thanks again and see you in two weeks!  Bye! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Book-Madness-A-Tournament-of-Books-1714992   http://brownbagteacher.com/book-madness-march-book-display/   http://www.allensteachingfiles.com/2016/03/march-book-madness.html https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC31PBmBfs_2ndHPLd9fkjZw/videos

Intro Hi and Welcome to Books Between - a podcast to help teachers, parents, or librarians connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love. I’m your host, Corrina Allen - an elementary school teacher, a mom of two daughters, and excited to be back at school! Last Tuesday, I welcomed a brand new batch of 18 5th graders and we have had a great week reading picture books like School’s First Day of School and Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, setting up our fresh new reading journals, and taking time to get to know each other. It’s going to be a fantastic year! This is Episode #6 and today we’re discussing the Global Read Aloud project, the two read aloud novels featured at the middle grade level, and I’ll answer a question about the origins of the podcast. Main Topic - The Global Read Aloud Project As September has rolled around, and teachers, librarians, and homeschool families are making plans for the year, I thought now would be a good time to discuss The Global Read Aloud Project - also referred to as GRA. If you’ve been hearing about the Global Read Aloud Project and want to know more, then this is the perfect podcast for you. I first heard about the GRA last summer on Twitter and was immediately intrigued, but at the time,  I was already piloting a new reading program so didn’t want to take on another new thing. But this year, I am ready to go and really excited to be participating for my first time. The questions we’ll answer for you today are: What is the Global Read Aloud project?, What are the books?, Why should I participate?, and finally How can I jump in and get involved? What IS Global Read Aloud? First of all - what IS the Global Read Aloud Project? The GRA was started by educator Pernille Ripp in 2010 as a way to connect the world around one fantastic book. In 2010 that book was The Little Prince and after that, it expanded to include more than one book to target different reading levels, so more children can participate.  It really was a bottom up, grassroots project that has expanded every year. This year there are more than 600,000 students signed up already. The Global Read Aloud runs each fall from early October to the beginning of November and teachers, librarians, and parents participate by reading that year’s featured book out loud to their kids over a six week period. This year the GRA kicks off on October 3rd, but you can definitely jump in after that date. The suggested reading schedule is posted on the Global Read Aloud website, which I will link to in the show notes.  During that time frame from about early October to early November, your class connects with at least one other group of children, and hopefully more depending on how in-depth you want to go. That connection might involve a Skype session, doing a joint project in a Google Classroom, asking and answering some thought-provoking questions in a shared Edmodo group, or maybe connecting on Twitter. What are the 2016 books for GRA? As I mentioned before, the GRA has expanded beyond just one book to feature several across various age ranges so you can find a good fit for your child or your class.  I will be participating as both a parent with my 7 and 9 year old and as a teacher with my 5th graders. The youngest grades do an author study and read six picture books over the course of the project. This year’s featured author/illustrator is Lauren Castillo -you might know her books like Nana in the City, The Troublemaker, and a recent favorite in my house - Twenty Yawns. I defy you to read it aloud without yawning joyfully all through that book! My girls and I will probably end up reading those as well. The next GRA book option recommended for ages 7 and up is Roald Dahl’s BFG. I think that’s a great fit with the Spielberg movie released last summer and a huge perennial favorite among adults and kids. The next read aloud choice recommended for ages 9 and up is Pax by Sara Pennypacker with illustrations by Jon Klassen. Either the BFG or Pax would be perfect for middle grade readers, and I’ll be talking much more about them in our Book Talk segment in a few minutes. If you are looking for something for readers ages 12 and up, then this year’s book is Orbiting Jupiter by Gary Schmidt. And the Young Adult book this year for about ages 15 and above is All American Boys by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely. I have not yet read either of those books but so many of my friends keep talking about them - they are bound to be excellent. Why should you participate? Really the answer is two-fold. It’s great for children AND it’s great for you, too! Participating in the Global Read Aloud is an excellent way to have students connecting and collaborating with other kids and classrooms across the nation (and maybe world!) through social media and other online tools. And old-fashioned pen and paper, too if you want!  We are a global society and the GRA is a perfect way to build those 21st Century skills we all know are crucial for kids’ success. Aside from benefits for students, there are also lots of benefits for teachers. All the teachers that I’ve spoken with who have done the GRA in the past have loved the connections they make with other educators. It really builds your professional network and also pushes you a bit to try to expand your digital literacy in a new directions. So maybe that’s Twitter, Skype, or Padlet. But whatever direction you decide to go in to make your connections, I know you won’t regret participating. How can you participate? So now that I have got you excited and hopefully sold on trying out the Global Read Aloud project this year, how do you join? The first thing to do is grab a copy of whichever book you decide to read and then go to the GRA main website - www.theglobalreadaloud.com - and sign up right on that main page. It’s really easy to find, and - by the way, totally free. From there, you can find the Google Group and Facebook Group. Also - one of the best places to make connections with other teachers and classrooms are the Edmodo groups designated for each book. There is also an online shop where you can buy this year’s Global Read Aloud merchandise - and all kinds of other reading themed t-shirts and accessories. If you listened to Episode #3, you already know that I went a little crazy there and bought 3 shirts from the shop already. GRA is also on Pinterest (of course!) and you can connect on Twitter using this year’s hashtag #GRA16.  Each of the individual books also have their own hashtag for easier sorting - the middle grade novels are #GRABFG and #GRAPAX for Pax.  There is lots and lots of other great information on the website - and I’ll link to everything I’ve mentioned right in the show notes. I am really psyched to be joining the Global Read Aloud movement this year and I’m looking forward to seeing all the exciting connections and cool projects that you all are doing as well. Book Talk - Two Middle Grade GRA Choices In this part of the show, I share with you a few books centered around a theme and discuss three things to love about each book. This week, I’ll be talking about the two middle grade Global Read Aloud options: The BFG by Roald Dahl and Pax by Sara Pennypacker. BFG Roald Dahl’s 1982 novel The BFG is about a Big Friendly Giant (that’s what the BFG stands for) who roams the streets of London with his magical trumpet which he uses to blow dreams into children’s ears. One night a young orphan, Sophie, sees him outside her window. So the BFG snatches her up and carries her off to Giantland. There Sophie realizes that there are nine other giants who are WAY bigger than the BFG and not so friendly. They set off each night to the far corners of the earth to gobble up children. Eventually, Sophie and the BFG come up with a plan to try to stop these man-eating giants. A plan which, by the way, involves the Queen of England. In true Roald Dahl fashion, it’s funny but also pretty dark gruesome actually. So here are three things that I find very intriguing about the BFG. The Language. The BFG speaks in this funny mishmash of semi-English, using words like “filthsome” to describe something yucky, “kiddles” for children, or “human beans” to mean human beings. Really good dreams are called “phizzwizards” and nightmares are “trogglehumpers” - it’s just fun and playful.   And of course, my daughters now enjoy using the term “whizzpopping” which means - farting. The potential for some deep conversations. For example, it turns out that Sophie is not the first child that the BFG has essentially abducted. There was a little boy who lived with the BFG for awhile and was eventually discovered by the other giants and eaten. I found that to be deeply disturbing and it raises big moral questions. Should he have taken her? As does the idea that the giants are totally and completely evil for eating people. I mean - are lions evil for eating a gazelle? Are humans evil for eating bacon? There are those ethical questions that this book can raise about our choices in what we eat. The Movie - This past July, Disney and Steven Spielberg teamed up to create The BFG film. It was a beautiful and well crafted movie that does downplay the darkest elements of the book while generally staying pretty true to the main plot points. Also - if you are Downton Abbey fan, Penelope Wilton (who plays Mrs. Crawley) does a phenomenal job as Queen Elizabeth II.  It’s worth watching just for that!  And I think the DVD will be released by this November, so the timing should work out to watch the film after you read the novel. Pax The second middle grade option for the Global Read Aloud is Sara Pennypacker’s Pax. The novel starts off with a heart-wrenching scene of a boy, Peter, intentionally abandoning his pet fox by the side of the road. Eventually, you come to realize that Peter can’t keep the fox, named Pax, because his father has enlisted in the army and so Peter has to go live with his grandfather. The chapters alternate between Peter’s point of view and the perspective of the fox as he tries to survive in the wild and desperately hopes his boy returns for him. And after a guilt-ridden couple of days, Peter does run away to try to find him. Here are three things I really found so fascinating about Pax: The novel is set in an undefined place and time, and I found that aspect of the book to be really interesting. It could be the United States or maybe Canada and there are clues along the way that help you narrow it down a bit. For example, there are modern-ish vehicles and they mention the kids playing baseball. But you’re never really sure, and I think that dimension of this book could lead to some deep conversation and debate with kids. How this novel explores the concept of being inseparable. When Peter first arrives at his grandfather’s house, he discovers an old picture of his dad as a kid with a pet dog. The grandfather describes them as “inseparable” and that idea of being inseparable gnaws at Peter and he almost becomes obsessed with the idea. I just love how the book explores that idea from all different angles - the father who left to fight in a war, his own mother who died just recently, and now leaving his tame and vulnerable fox on the side of the road. It really asks us to think about whether or not being inseparable is the highest form of bonding and love. The perfect symmetry of the ending. And - I don’t want to spoil it at all by revealing what happens, but oh my gosh - it is powerful and not at all what I expected to happen. Pax is so much more than I’ve just described - I haven’t even mentioned the characters Vola or Gray or all the issues that come as Peter and Pax try to make their way through this worn-torn country to find each other. Pax is so good. It’s about war, and loyalty, and loss. I’m excited and intrigued to see what this novel brings out in my students this fall. I hope you decide to sign up for the Global Read Aloud this year with your students or read aloud with your kids. I’ll be doing both - reading Pax to my 5th graders at school and my 9 and 7 year old at home.  But even if you don’t do the GRA, these are both excellent books to put in the hands of a middle grade reader. Q & A Our last segment of the show is Question & Answer time. Question: Now that the Books Between Podcast has been out for awhile and more people are listening (thank you!), I’ve had some people ask “What made you decide to start a podcast?” Answer: Two things really came together to push me to into launching a podcast about middle grade readers and middle grade books. First, I simply LOVE listening to podcasts. I have a 30 minute commute to work each day and podcasts like Stuff You Should Know, RadioLab, and Serial make my drive bearable. If I’m doing the dishes or cleaning, I pretty much always have an earbud stuck in my ear. And last year I started to listen to more kidlit focused podcasts like Let’s Get Busy (which is now All the Wonders), The Yarn, Scholastic Reads, and KidLit Drink Night. So I knew how much a podcast could have an impact and really give value to someone.  But there wasn’t a podcast that solely focused on middle grade books and readers. Second, I started to become more open and interactive about my reading life both online and in person. And take my role as a reading advocate more seriously. So, on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, I’d share what I was reading with my students and my daughters. And I’d ask for others suggestions, too. Essentially, wherever I went, I was talking to people about books kids would like and how to get them reading.  And I noticed that I was having similar conversations over and over again. For example, last June I had a parent stop me in the hallway at school to ask for summer book recommendations and then a few days later, my friend Ilona messaged on Facebook with the same question. Last spring I was swapping ideas with a librarian in our district about March Book Madness and some creative ways she had to get students recommending books to each other, and then I’d have the same conversation on Instagram when I posted photos of our book brackets. And I kept thinking, “Oh, I wish you had been there when we were just talking about this!”  I really wanted a way to share the essence of those conversations with more people. So that - combined with the thought that there seemed to be a space in that middle grade podcast niche - pushed me to start this Books Between Podcast last summer - a podcast focused on readers between 8 and 12.  I decided to teach myself the basics of GarageBand and get over the fact that I hate the sound of my own voice, and push myself to do something new and little uncomfortable. I am truly humbled by how many people have reached out to say they’ve enjoyed the episodes so far and are finding value in the podcast. So stay tuned because I have lots more interesting topics planned for upcoming weeks, fantastic new books to talk about, and an exciting announcement which I can’t wait to share with you. Closing Alright - that wraps up our Q&A section this week. If you have a question about how to connect children between 8-12 to books they’ll love or an idea about a topic we should cover on a future episode, please email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between. Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can find a full transcript of this show, and all the other episodes, at our website - BooksBetween.com  with links to every book and resource I mentioned today. And, if you have gotten some value out of this show, I’d really appreciate a quick review or rating on iTunes or Stitcher so others can find us as well. Thank you again and see you in two weeks!  Bye!

Classroom 2.0 LIVE webinar with special guest, Nate Balcom, May Featured Teacher, May 14, 2016. We are so excited to have Nate Balcom on Classroom 2.0 LIVE as our Featured Teacher for the month of May! This will be an excellent opportunity to learn about an amazing project Nate has organized called "March Book Madness" and also to hear about the exciting ways he is integrating technology in his teaching as the Integration Specialist at Starr Elementary Sch., Grand Island, Nebraska. He has taught in the classroom for 12 years at Starr Elementary School. We are looking forward to seeing some of the creative videos and projects his students have created. Nate is passionate about global education and each year his students are involved with the Global Read Aloud program that connects students around the world who are reading a book together and sharing their experiences. https://theglobalreadaloud.com Nate is a Google Certified Educator Level 1., was a 2015 Grand Island Education Foundation Mini Grant Recipient, 2015 Grand Island Education Foundation Teacher of the Year Nominee, and a 2014 Bammy Awards Nominee for Teacher of the Year. He obtained his Master's Degree in Elementary Administration from the University of Nebraska at Kearney and is currently pursuing another Master's degree in Technology Leadership. He and his wife have two amazing boys (12 y/o and 9 y/o) and two daughters (6 and 4 y/o). http://www.mrbalcom.com/