Susannah's Thoughts on Books and Readers (Note that these may not apply to all readers, all the time under all circumstances).

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1 Cultivating Lifelong Readers One Book at a Time Greenwich Public Schools Presentation sponsored by ALP 4/25/16 Susannah Richards Associate Professor, Eastern Connecticut State Susannah.richards@me.com The goal is to cultivate lifetime readers and not to produce schooltime readers. This is a book list that represents the possibility and the list is presented as a suggested list of titles that young people might enjoy and not a reading list. While some readers may love a title, others may choose to abandon that same title. Both readers are going to be OK. Susannah's Thoughts on Books and Readers (Note that these may not apply to all readers, all the time under all circumstances). & Reading should be modeled by everyone in the house and in all genres, & Be happy if they are reading. & Make sure they have access to books that are at their independent reading level (books they can read and mostly understand by themselves). & Encourage the reading of nonfiction as well as fiction. & Encourage your child locate and read diversely (on topic, people, & genre)- windows, mirrors and doors. & If a child starts to read a book they are not ready for (emotionally, intellectually, etc.), they will abandon it, talk to you/look it up on the Internet, or skip the part they don't want to read. All of those are OK. & Audiobooks are GREAT! (And they COUNT as reading). Try to choose an audiobook that is about 2 years above what the listeners can read on their own (This builds vocabulary). & Play word games and games that make up stories. & Explore literature & the literary world beyond the page- Eg seeing Tuck Everlasting and Matilda on Broadway, visit the New York Historical Museum to see the exhibit on Mo Willems, visit literary locals like the Mark Twain & Harriet Beecher Stowe House, visit the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. & Highly able readers are readers who may be reading at least two years above what is expected for a child of that age so they may reading books & It is OK for a child to read more than one book at a time. & No one is harmed is a child buries themselves in a series but you might want to find out what they like about the series and use that as a vehicle to get them to read other material. & Hide books in plain sight. & Create a home where literature is valued- book graffiti on the bulletin board, literary placemats, audiobooks in the car, books located in places that are accessible to be read, etc. & Consider reading non- fiction aloud or listening to it on an audiobook. & The classics are still classics and many of them are very appropriate for able readers. & Graphic Novels are TERRIFIC and the reading of them should be encouraged. & Talented readers have three pet peeves about reading o They need access to books (libraries are great for this) o They want to read at their own pace List compiled by Susannah 4/26/16, p. 1

2 o They do not want to prove that they read every book (and neither do I J ) Featured Books for Adults Christakis, E. (2016). The Importance of Being Little: What Preschoolers Really Need from Grownups. Viking. Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2007). Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Random House. Jensen, F. E., & Nutt, A. E. (2016). The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist's Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults. Harper Paperbacks. Kaufman, S. B., & Gregoire, C. (2015). Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind. TarcherPerigee. Lambert, M. D. (2015). Reading Picture Books with Children: How to Shake Up Storytime and Get Kids Talking about What They See. Charlesbridge. Rose, T. (2016). The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness. HarperOne. Books for Youth, Mostly Fiction Alexander, K. (2014). The Crossover. HMH Books for Alexander, K. (2016). Booked. HMH Books for Applegate, K. (2015). The One and Only Ivan. HarperCollins. Applegate, K. (2015). Crenshaw. Feiwel & Friends. Auxier, J. (2012). Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes. Amulet Paperbacks. Auxier, J. (2014). The Night Gardener. Amulet Books. Auxier, J. (2016). Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard: A Peter Nimble Adventure. Harry N. Abrams. Banks, A. (2015). Finding Serendipity. Henry Holt and Co. (BYR). Banks, A. (2016). A Week without Tuesday. Henry Holt and Co. (BYR). Beasley, C. (2015). Circus Mirandus. Dial Books. Bertman, J. C. (2015). Book Scavenger. Henry Holt and Co. (BYR). Broach, E. (2015). James to the Rescue. Henry Holt and Co. (BYR). Byrne, S. (2015). The Power of Henry's Imagination. Aladdin. Carson, M. K. (2010). Emi and the Rhino Scientist. HMH Books for Coville, B. (2015). The Enchanted Files: Diary of a Mad Brownie. Random House Books for Curato, M. (2015). Little Elliot, Big Family. Henry Holt and Co. (BYR). Fitzhugh, L. (2014). Harriet the Spy: 50th Anniversary Edition. Delacorte Books for Young Floca, B. (2013). Locomotive. Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books. Franceschelli, C. (2015). Dinoblock. Harry N. Abrams. Furgang, K. (2013). National Geographic Kids Everything Money: A wealth of facts, photos, and fun!. National Geographic Children's Books. Grabenstein, C. (2013). Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library. Random House Books for Grabenstein, C. (2015). The Island of Dr. Libris. Random House Books for Grabenstein, C. (2016). Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics. Random House Books for Young List compiled by Susannah 4/26/16, p. 2

3 Grove, S. E. (2014). The Glass Sentence. Viking Juvenile. Grove, S. E. (2015). The Golden Specific. Viking Books for Hecht, T. (2016). The Nocturnals: The Mysterious Abductions. Fabled Films Press. Hoberman, M. A. (2012). You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together. Little, Brown Books for Jamieson, V. (2015). Roller Girl. Dial Books. Johnson, V. (2014). The Great Greene Heist. Arthur A. Levine Books. Johnson, V. (2016). To Catch a Cheat: A Jackson Greene Novel. Arthur A. Levine Books. Kelly, J. (2015). The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate. Henry Holt and Co. (BYR). Klausmeier, J. (2013). Open This Little Book. Chronicle Books. Law, I. (2010). Savvy. Puffin Books. Light, S. (2015). Have You Seen My Monster?. Candlewick. Lin, G. (2011). Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Little, Brown Books for Lin, G. (2016). When the Sea Turned to Silver. Little, Brown Books for * Lloyd, N. (2016). The Key to Extraordinary. Scholastic Press. Merrill, J. (2014). The Pushcart War: 50th Anniversary Edition. NYR Children's Collection. Milford, K. (2012). The Broken Lands. Clarion Books. Milford, K. (2014). Greenglass House. Clarion Books. Nayeri, D. (2015). How to Tell a Story: 1 Book + 20 Story Blocks = A Million Adventures. Workman Publishing Company. Nelson, M. (2009). A Wreath for Emmett Till. HMH Books for Park, L. S. (2010). A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story. Clarion Books. Pflugfelder, B., & Hockensmith, S. (2015). Nick and Tesla's Special Effects Spectacular: A Mystery with Animatronics, Alien Makeup, Camera Gear, and Other Movie Magic You Can Make Yourself!. Quirk Books. Riley, J. (2015). Story Thieves. Aladdin. Rundell, K. (2016). Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Ryan, P. M. (2015). Echo. Scholastic Press. Sabuda, R. (2015). The White House: A Pop-Up of Our Nation's Home. Orchard Books. Schlitz, L. A. (2012). Splendors and Glooms. Candlewick. Selznick, B. (2015). The Marvels. Scholastic Press. Singer, M. (2016). Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About Greek Myths. Dial Books. Smith, L. (2015). Return to Augie Hobble. Roaring Brook Press. Stead, P. C. (2016). Ideas Are All Around. Roaring Brook Press. Stein, D. E. (2010). Interrupting Chicken. Candlewick. Stewart, T. L. (2013). The Mysterious Benedict Society Collection. Little, Brown Books for Stewart, T. L. (2016). The Secret Keepers. Little, Brown Books for * Tullet, H. (2016). Let's Play. Chronicle Books. Turnage, S. (2012). Three Times Lucky. Dial. Turnage, S. (2015). The Odds of Getting Even. Kathy Dawson Books. Wolk, L. (2016). Wolf Hollow. Dutton Books for Woodson, J. (2015). Brown Girl Dreaming. Nancy Paulsen Books. Yamada, K. (2014). What Do You Do With an Idea?. Compendium Inc. Yolen, J., & Stemple, H. (2015). You Nest Here With Me. Boyds Mills Press. List compiled by Susannah 4/26/16, p. 3

4 Zagarenski, P. (2015). The Whisper. HMH Books for Books for Youth, Mostly Nonfiction (2004). 100 Words Almost Everyone Confuses and Misuses. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (2008). 100 Words to Make You Sound Great. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Alko, S. (2015). The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage. Arthur A. Levine Books. Anderson, M. (2015). Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad. Candlewick. Applegate, K. (2014). Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla. Clarion Books. Bell, C. (2014). El Deafo. Amulet Books. Bernstein, D. (2012). Better Than a Lemonade Stand!: Small Business Ideas for Kids. Aladdin/Beyond Words. Blumenthal, K. (2012). Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different. Feiwel & Friends. Brown, D. J. (2013). The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Viking Adult. Bryant, J. (2014). The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus. Eerdmans Books for Young Burns, K. (2016). Grover Cleveland, Again!: A Treasury of American Presidents. Knopf Books for Burns, L. G. (2010). Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion. Sandpiper, Burns, L. G. (2012). Citizen Scientists: Be a Part of Scientific Discovery from Your Own Backyard. Henry Holt and Co. (BYR). Foreman, M. (2015). The Tortoise and the Soldier: A Story of Courage and Friendship in World War I. Henry Holt and Co. (BYR). Hartland, J. (2015). Steve Jobs: Insanely Great. Schwartz & Wade. Heiligman, D. (2013). The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos. Roaring Brook Press. Hillenbrand, L. (2014). Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive. Delacorte Press. Hoose, P. (2015). The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR). Isaacson, P. M. (2001). Round Buildings, Square Buildings, and Buildings that Wiggle Like a Fish. Knopf Books for Kamkwamba, W., & Mealer, B. (2012). The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Young Readers Edition. Dial. Krieger, E. (2016). Real or Fake?: Far-Out Fibs, Fishy Facts, and Phony Photos to Test for the Truth. National Geographic Children's Books. Krull, K. (2015). A Kids' Guide to America's Bill of Rights. HarperCollins. Macaulay, D., & Keenan, S. (2012). Castle: How It Works. David Macaulay Studio. Macaulay, D., & Keenan, S. (2012). Jet Plane: How It Works. David Macaulay Studio. Macaulay, D., & Keenan, S. (2013). Eye: How It Works. David Macaulay Studio. Macaulay, D., & Keenan, S. (2013). Toilet: How It Works. David Macaulay Studio. Mattick, L. (2015). Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear. List compiled by Susannah 4/26/16, p. 4

5 Little, Brown Books for McCarthy, M. (2016). The Wildest Race Ever: The Story of the 1904 Olympic Marathon. Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books. Montgomery, S. (2009). The Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea. HMH Books for Montgomery, S. (2015). The Octopus Scientists. HMH Books for Montgomery, S., & Grandin, T. (2012). Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. Noordeman, A., Wright, C., Noordeman, J., & Hearst, M. (2014). Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Animals. Chronicle Books. Noyes, D. (2016). Ten Days a Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original "Girl" Reporter, Nellie Bly. Viking Books for Pizzoli, G. (2015). Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower. Viking Books for Rusch, E. (2015). Electrical Wizard: Candlewick Biographies: How Nikola Tesla Lit Up the World. Candlewick. Sheinkin, S. (2015). Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War. Roaring Brook Press. Silvey, A. (2015). Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall. National Geographic Children's Books. Sís, P. (2014). The Pilot and the Little Prince: The Life of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR). Stabler, D. (2015). Kid Athletes: True Tales of Childhood from Sports Legends. Quirk Books. Stone, T. L. (2013). Who Says Women Can't Be Doctors?: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell. Henry Holt and Co. (BYR). Sutcliffe, J. (2016). Will's Words: How William Shakespeare Changed the Way You Talk. Charlesbridge. Sweet, M. (2011). Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. Sweet, M. (2016). Some Writer!: The Story of E. B. White. HMH Books for * Talbott, H. (2015). United Tweets of America: 50 State Birds Their Stories, Their Glories. Puffin Books. Thimmesh, C. (2013). Scaly Spotted Feathered Frilled: How do we know what dinosaurs really looked like?. HMH Books for Tonatiuh, D. (2014). Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family s Fight for Desegregation. Harry N. Abrams. Tonatiuh, D. (2015). Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras. Abrams Books for Tunnell, M. O. (2010). Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot". Charlesbridge Publishing. Turner, P. S. (2013). The Dolphins of Shark Bay. HMH Books for Turner, P. S. (2016). Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune. Charlesbridge. *Denotes a book that is not yet published. THANK YOU Diane's Books ( for letting me borrow so many titles to share at the presentation. Please support independent bookstores. List compiled by Susannah 4/26/16, p. 5