Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacquelyn Woodson

 

From Goodreads - Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.
Love this author's website!
http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com/ 

Reading is not optional!

 


I saw this recently and loved it!  The poster is now on everyday classroom doorway entrance in my our school.  The trick of course it to create a community in which reading is valued, meaningful and interactive!  Happy Reading!

To Do Well In Life, You Have To 'Read Well'  Walter Dean Myers 

Walter Dean Myers is the award-winning author of over 100 books, written especially for young adults and children. His goal: to get more children reading. Jeffrey Brown reports on how reading and writing saved helped Myers as a child and his current role as Library Of Congress' National Ambassador For Young People's Literature.  

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment-july-dec12-myers_07-31/

Back-to-School Book Ideas

 

Some classics for Read Aloud - Back-to-School Read Alouds 

The Day the Crayons Quit Hardcover –   by Drew Daywalt

Crayons have feelings, too, in this funny back-to-school story illustrated by the creator of Stuck and This Moose Belongs to Me--now a #1 New York Times bestseller!

Poor Duncan just wants to color. But when he opens his box of crayons, he finds only letters, all saying the same thing: His crayons have had enough! They quit! Beige Crayon is tired of playing second fiddle to Brown Crayon. Black wants to be used for more than just outlining. Blue needs a break from coloring all those bodies of water. And Orange and Yellow are no longer speaking—each believes he is the true color of the sun.

What can Duncan possibly do to appease all of the crayons and get them back to doing what they do best?
 

Kids will be imagining their own humorous conversations with crayons and coloring a blue streak after sharing laughs with Drew Daywalt and New York Times bestseller Oliver Jeffers. This story is perfect as a back-to-school gift, for all budding artists, for fans of humorous books such as Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Sciezka and Lane Smith, and for fans of Oliver Jeffers' Stuck, The Incredible Book Eating Boy, Lost and Found, and This Moose Belongs to Me

 

Elli: Coming of Age in the Holocaust by Livia Bitton Jackson

 
From her small, sunny hometown between the beautiful Carpathian Mountains and the blue Danube River, Elli Friedmann was taken-at a time when most girls are growing up, having boyfriends and embarking upon the adventure of life-and thrown into the murderous hell of Hitler's Final Solution.
When Elli emerged from Auschwitz and Dachau just over a year later, she was fourteen. She looked like a sixty-year-old.
This account of horrifyingly brutal inhumanity-and dogged survival - is Elli's true story.