Your last day with this class is here. You have one last time to share the moment when you gather for a read aloud. How will you honor the moment?
Tag Archives: children’s books
How to Read With Your Rising First Graders and Kinders This Summer
For parents of soon-to-be kindergartners and first graders, helping their children be prepared for the start of school can be exciting and daunting (and not just for students).
What can parents do over the summer to help their children maintain the growth they made this past year in preschool or kindergarten and be ready to tackle new topics and skills in the fall? Continue reading
Submit Your Picture Book Manuscript to the New Voices Award!
Summer is almost there! That means that the sixteenth annual NEW VOICES AWARD is now open for submissions. Established in 2000, the New Voices Award was one of the first (and remains one of the only) writing contests specifically designed to help authors of color break into publishing, an industry in which they are still dramatically underrepresented.
Change requires more than just goodwill; it requires concrete action. The New Voices Award is a concrete step towards evening the playing field by seeking out talented new authors of color who might otherwise remain under the radar of mainstream publishing.
NEW VOICES AWARD submissions we have published include Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story, It Jes’ Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw, and Bird.
The contest is open to writers of color who are residents of the United States and who have not previously had a children’s picture book published.
The deadline for this award is September 30, 2015.
For more eligibility and submissions details, visit the New Voices Award page and read these FAQs. Spread the word to any authors you know who may be interested. Happy writing to you all and best of luck!
Interpreting César Chávez’s Legacy with Students
In this guest post, Sara Burnett, education associate at the American Immigration Council, presents strategies and resources to enrich the classroom with the legacy of César Chávez. This blog post was originally posted at the American Immigration Council’s Teach Immigration blog.
“When the man who feeds the world by toiling in the field is himself deprived of the basic rights of feeding and caring for his own family, the whole community of man is sick.” — César Chávez Continue reading
7 End-of-Year Field Trips and Book Pairings That Your Students Will Love (but won’t break the bank)
Assessments may not feel far enough in the past (or perhaps haven’t even started!), but the end of the year is fast approaching and field trip planning is in full force! Continue reading
4 Mentor Texts and Activities for National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month. With so many forms of poetry to explore and share with students, what will you choose? Continue reading
Why I Love to Read Sad and Dark Books to Children (and You Should Too)
- Gleam and Glow written by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Peter Sylvada
- Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust written by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Stephen Gammell
- Hiroshima No Pika written and illustrated by Toshi Maruki
- Fox written by Margaret Wild, illustrated by Ron Brooks
- The Harmonica written by Tony Johnston, illustrated by Ron Mazellan
- Peppe the Lamplighter written by Eliza Bartone, illustrated by Ted Lewin
- The Shark God written by Rafe Martin, illustrated by David Shannon
What do they all have in common? Continue reading
ALA Youth Media Awards Wins for Lee & Low Books!
Yesterday was the ALA Youth Media Awards, or the “Oscars of Children’s Literature” as they’re sometimes called. It was a big day for diversity. Diverse books and authors were honored across the board and we couldn’t be happier. Continue reading
Interview: Katheryn Russell-Brown on the research behind Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
Little Melba and Her Big Trombone is the story of Melba Liston, a little-known but trailblazing musician who broke gender and racial barriers to become a famed trombonist and arranger. We interviewed author Katheryn Russell-Brown to get a better sense of the research that went into writing the book.
Were you able to talk to any of Melba’s friends or family when doing research for the book? If so, what was that like?
Katheryn Russell-Brown: Yes indeed. I spoke with Leslie Drayton who co-led a band with Melba. Melba did not have children of her own, but she considered Leslie her “musical son.” He talked to me about Melba’s personality, how she carried herself and some expressions she used. I still keep in touch with him.
Continue readingProtesting Injustice Then and Now
In August we wrote to you about the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Our publisher said then that the matter of representation was urgent; now, four months later, we see that urgency for what it is: a matter of life or death. Michael Brown’s name now sits alongside new names like Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Akai Gurley. How many more names will need to be added before things change?