Nibbles of my First Book Tasting

Preparing food for other people makes me nervous. I worry about everything, from taste to presentation. Will they eat it? Will they like it? Will I be bringing home an empty dish licked clean or a platter that has hardly been touched? (Believe me, I've been on both sides of that one.)

I had a similar feeling recently when the ADK chapter I belong to was looking for program ideas. I knew of this new "recipe" for promoting engagement with books that I really wanted to try out. Only, I wasn't sure how it would go over with the crowd. Will they eat it? my worry began. Will they like it?

They put me on the calendar though, and this week, I tried out that new recipe with my colleagues. I hosted my first-ever Book Tasting. My colleagues ate it all up, and I brought home a very full heart (and a cupcake topped with Brown Bear, Brown Bear, too).

Book Tasting is not an original idea. I have heard others' accounts and seen pictures of Book Tasting events done with students and adults in many other settings. The short what of a Book Tasting is that participants have the opportunity to sample several books in the course of the event, giving them just enough to taste to decide if they want more. Beyond that, there seem to be a great variety of ways a Book Tasting could be tailored to the audience and their needs or your purpose.

For me, choosing the books was the hardest part. I knew the guests at my Book Tasting encompassed a wide range of positions in education. I would be entertaining six teachers (PreK through grade 6), a librarian, two literacy coaches, four elementary principals, and the curriculum coordinator. My goal was for every guest to taste a smattering of books that would expand their repertoire, books they might find useful in their work with students or that they would be able to recommend to others with whom they work. I wanted the featured books to represent fiction and nonfiction, picture books through middle grade. For this reason, selecting the books for my tasting was tough. I had to accept that I wouldn't be able to include every book I've loved and want everyone to know about. I helped narrow my selection for this tasting by deciding to showcase new releases, only books published in 2017. I could have picked all picture books, or all nonfiction, or all professional texts. These were all ideas I considered but put aside.

I also thought about having several small tables of four and seating my guests according to who they worked with (primary students, intermediate students, teachers). I considered serving each table their own platter. I ruled this out for this particular tasting because I wanted the coaches and administrators to see a range of books rather than be limited to one group. This lead me to seat everyone at one big table. I created a spreadsheet with each guest and seat number and laid out the rotation of books so I could "see" which five books each guest would taste. Ultimately, this set up and book passing showed the potential of the same book across different audiences.

The placemat at each place setting was my own creation. I peeked at several other educators' ideas on the internet before making my own. There are lots of resources to be found, many that prompt students to record information about the title/author/genre of the books they taste. Because my audience were colleagues in assorted roles, I wanted the 11x17 placemat to serve as a sheet for note-taking about what books they saw, their ideas and impressions of the book, and who they might tell about the books they tasted. I also knew that my guests would only taste five of the fifteen circulating titles, and that others would talk about titles they did not see, so I included a sixth box for recording other titles mentioned that piqued curiosity. When I created my placemat, I made my prompts specific to my guests and my purpose for hosting the event. I am happy to share a version of my placemat, but this is a really simple way to tailor your Book Tasting to your needs or purpose. Consider rewriting the prompts so that guests are thinking about your teaching point, using language that you use with your readers or learners.

Aside from the books, the most talked about element of the Book Tasting was the environment. I knew I would be hosting the event at school, but I also know it would be evening time and everyone would have already worked a full day and likely been to a staff meeting, too. My classroom library was the perfect place to host, but I wanted it to feel different: warm, homey, special. So, in addition to rearranging the physical space, I brought in lamps to change the lighting and purchased inexpensive red and white checked tablecloths. My colleagues helped with refreshments, including a to-die-for coffee punch and sweet cupcakes adorned with even-sweeter fondant classic book covers.

On the evening of the Book Tasting, my guests prepared their snack plates and found their seats at the table. They were treated to five "courses," and had three minutes with a book during each course. Then the book was passed to the guest on their right. When all five rounds had been served, I asked my guests to share if any of the books they tasted really stood out to to them, or anything in general they thought all of the guests needed to know about the books they sampled. Many books were widely recommended, like Matt Tavares' Red & Lulu. Others were debated. The two most talked about books were Two Truths and a Lie: It's Alive! (for it's appeal to a wide a range of readers) and After the Fall (because, well, have you read it?). In fact, the need to talk about After the Fall lead to an impromptu read aloud because we didn't want to spoil it for anyone.

This book nerd was the giddy-type of happy to listen in on other readers' initial discoveries of books I know and love to recommend. While I hated to be the bearer of bad news as the timer signaled it was time to pass the book on, I loved listening to the audible, involuntary responses as my guests turned pages, peeked under jackets, admired art, and stole nuggets of did-you-know from the acknowledgements and back-matter of the books they sampled. Their temptation to begin talking about their books to the guests around them about the books they held was all the assurance I need that they were enjoying their time."This makes me wish I still had a classroom," said one guest. Another, "All I want to do is keep reading." Guests went home with titles to share with their teachers, colleagues, and even a few titles for Christmas gifts. Before the night was done, my principal--who was one of the guests--told me she'd like us to do a Book Tasting as a whole-staff in the spring. Obviously, I agreed.

If you are thinking about hosting a Book Tasting, here are some questions that might help to guide your planning:

• Who is your audience?
• What books do you want to introduce them to?
• What do you want to help them learn or notice about books?
• How will you structure the time spent with each book? Note-taking? Reflection/sharing?
• How will you design the space for your Book Tasting? How will your guests be seated?
• How will you reflect on the success of your event?

My first Book Tasting was a big hit, and it was eaten right up. I'd encourage you to try it. As with any recipe, you can borrow mine, but you'll want to season yours to taste. I'd love to hear how it goes.

What Happens at the Campground...

...becomes rich story material for Maine author Tamra Wight's Cooper and Packrat series. 

Today marks the release of Mystery of the Bear Cub, Book 4 in the series.

The ecological mystery-adventure series, published by Islandport Press and illustrated by Carl DiRocco, features Cooper Wilder and his family who own Wilder Family Campground. In each book, Cooper's campground responsibilities or his love for exploration and geocaching lead him to a moral conflict wrapped up in a mystery to be solved. In Mystery at Pine Lake (Book 1), the friends are on a mission to identify the person responsible for harming the loons' nest on the lake. Cooper and his friends find evidence of poaching in Mystery of the Eagle's Nest (Book 2). Mystery of the Missing Fox (Book 3) has the growing group--alert to trapping--coming to the rescue of the stolen fox kit.

In writing the Cooper and Packrat series, Tamra draws on the experiences of her family-owned campground, Poland Spring Campground. Her own wonders and curiosities about the wildlife in her backyard and the campers who visit the campground provide her with plenty of realistic inspiration to write her fictional stories.

Life at the Wilder Family Campground becomes a real mess in Book 4 when the town makes a shift towards recycling more waste at Cooper's recommendation. Cooper's inspired and eco-friendly idea comes with unanticipated challenges for the campground and other small businesses in the area. Before long, someone is dumping trash illegally in the area around the campground and trouble arises with foraging bears. Cooper's sense of responsibility to solve this problem kicks into high-gear, and he and his friends resolve to make things right: for the town, for the campground, and for the bears.

For my readers and me, "Wilder Family Campground" is a particularly familiar setting. Last year, when our summer program featured academic programming to support the part of the curriculum about state history, we read Mystery of the Eagle's Nest. In a truly special and unique arrangement, Tamra hosted our group for an author visit at Poland Spring Campground down the road (literally) from where we read and grow and learn every day. Tamra took time away from writing and serving campers to treat our readers to a tour of the campground, and in an instant, the Cooper and Packrat books came to life. We hiked the trails of the campground, looked out at the campground's own eagle's nest (and strained to try to see evidence of eaglets), and heard Tamra present about writing, wildlife photography, and the research involved in writing the series. The students settled in for lunch in the fire ring and a read aloud with the author herself. The experience of stepping inside the setting of a series the students love is one they still talk about and has made them eager to continue reading.

There is a spot in our classroom library ready and waiting for my copy of Mystery of the Bear Cub, but I know it will likely be empty a while longer because my readers will be anxious to get their hands on this next adventure. And with big ideas and tough questions for them to grapple with alongside Cooper and Packrat, I'm anxious for them to read on, too.

I'm anxious for you to meet Cooper and Packrat and read Mystery of the Bear Cub, also, so I'm giving away a signed copy of one of Tamra Wight's Cooper and Packrat books. To win, comment on this post and include the title of the book you would most like to have and an email/Twitter handle where I can contact you. I will randomly select a winner the day before Tamra's book launch event on October 18 and will have your book signed to whomever you choose. Happy Reading!

Author Visit: Writing Workshop with Linda Urban

I sit at a table in my classroom, side by side with my students. Our workspace is layered with notebooks and index cards and black Flair pens and their covers. The students hands--and mine--scrawl a memory onto our pages. I'm finding myself transported to Barcelona, 1995; I'm sitting down to dinner with my high school Foreign Language Club. And while I'm about to sample that first ringlet of calamari again, I'm also keenly aware that my classroom is still and busy, humming with an aura of writers at work. 

"And, stop," a voice cuts the quiet. "Who has something they would be willing to share?" 

Half a dozen hands go up, and Linda Urban proceeds to move from one student to the next, signaling the students' moment, each reading aloud with confidence and pride the writing produced from an image conjured up through the selective questioning of the visiting author.

This week Linda Urban returned to OES to lead writing workshops for my 5th graders, enlisting their help in co-researchers about writers notebooks. Each workshop began with a glimpse into Linda's own notebooks and notebooks of other creators of kidlit, emphasizing the imperfect and the importance of writing in our notebooks for ourselves first. Then, my students and I participated in exercises selected from Linda's own study of and with comic-artist Lynda Barry (What It Is, 2009, and Syllabus, 2014). The curated exercises Linda facilitated were geared towards engaging writers and quieting their critical mind while using their writing notebooks as a place of play. My students were enthusiastic workshop participants and co-researchers, many producing more writing in short spurts of time than they typically do in our regular writing workshop and complaining when time had run out.

After school, Linda presented a third writing workshop session, this one for an audience of district colleagues and staff members. The adult audience wrote through many of the same exercises, and Linda shared her message about the importance of play in writers notebooks with research from numerous leaders in the field of education.

I am not new to the inspiration of Linda Urban. Linda and I collaborated in a long-term partnership a few years ago that shed light on Linda's process while revising Milo Speck: Accidental Agent and influenced me to strive for as much authenticity as possible in my classroom writing instruction. I've hosted Linda Urban at OES twice before, in both a classroom visit and a whole-school visit with assemblies designed for primary and intermediate audiences. I've witnessed her interactions with individual students and groups of almost 200 and know first-hand that Linda Urban's energy, sense of humor, and genuine nature contribute to her highly-engaging and phenomenal way with students.

And yet, I will never turn down an opportunity to be reminded.

Linda Urban's writing workshops were a terrific success. Here's why:

Linda builds quick and easy rapport with writers--both students and adults. In her willingness to share her own examples, Linda's model of vulnerability invites her workshop participants to take safe risks, also. Linda's interest in and respect for students has them eager to embrace their writer-selves.
Linda's suggestions are practical in practice. Each of the exercises and ideas Linda shared can be done in little time, making the commitment to "try it out" feel doable in and among all the other constraints we face in the classroom. Many of the ideas and practices Linda shares will require small shifts in the work we already do with students.
Linda's presentation is well-balanced between sharing her own story and examples, those of other writers, and issuing an invitation for student (and adult) writers to play and write. Our sessions were close to two hours long, and the participants could have gone for longer.
Linda's message about using notebooks and making time for play is important. And sometimes we need these important reminders to revisit, or we need the chance to slow down and experience the truth ourselves in order to recommit to doing what is best for students.

My week has been spent picking up little gems that my students and colleagues are putting down from our time with Linda Urban. It has been gratifying to overhear students make reference to their time spent with Linda, to incorporate small bits of what we shared together into the last few days in the classroom, and to bump into colleagues who attended the afternoon professional development session and hear them express how meaningful that time spent writing with Linda was to them.

We're thankful to have shared a day writer-to-writer with Linda Urban, and her words and encouragement will last through the year and beyond.

You can have Linda visit your school or classroom, too. (And honestly, I don't know why you wouldn't...) Send an inquiry or find out more.

10 Reasons You Need It's Not Jack and the Beanstalk

The students at my school--and their teachers, too--have been waiting anxiously for a new picture book that publishes today.

Today is the release day for It's Not Jack and the Beanstalk, a hilarious new take on a traditional fairytale, written by Josh Funk and illustrated by Edwardian Taylor, published by Two Lions.

In June, the students at Oxford Elementary School were lucky to be visited by author Josh Funk. While here to celebrate the sequel to his well-known Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast, Josh treated the students to an early look at It's Not Jack and the Beanstalk. With a little help from a few other "characters," Josh brought his story to life for our students, projecting a digital version and sharing the reading readers theater style. It's Not Jack and the Beanstalk brought smiles to students faces and--most certainly--laughter.

Oxford Elementary students got a sneak peek of It's Not Jack
and the Beanstalk when Josh Funk visited in June.

The students' warm feelings about Josh Funk's new release stayed with them, and when I pulled It's Not Jack and the Beanstalk off the shelf for a quick reread last week there were immediate cheers and comments from the students about how much they love this book. And then came the begging.

"Can we please read it again?"

So we did.

And then, they responded. I asked them to help me think of reasons why teachers need It's Not Jack and the Beanstalk for their classroom. Here's our compiled list:

10 Reasons Why Teachers Need It's Not Jack and the Beanstalk

10. It's written by Josh Funk. (Daeson)
9.  The characters' voices and personalities make this book a lot of fun to read aloud. (Ms. Guerrette)
8.  For kids who are learning to read, it can be a play. (Kenadie)
7.  If you are having a bad day, you need to read (It's Not) Jack and the Beanstalk. (Gracie)
6.  The narrator is a part of the story and interacts with the characters. (Brady)
5.  The illustrations are playful and bright, adding to the larger-than-life personality of the characters. (Ms. Guerrette)
4.  It's a happily ever after story. (Kaedence)
3.  You get to like it really easily because it is so funny! (Logan)
2.  Even the title is funny! (Cecile)
1.  You will laugh. (Lauren)

And after all, isn't that really what's most important?

My students and I are happy to celebrate the book birthday of It's Not Jack and the Beanstalk and we're already looking forward to It's Not Hansel and Gretel coming in the spring of 2019. We wish you and your classes many happy reads (and rereads)!

York: The Shadow Cipher Blog Tour

Sometimes you get an invitation that feels like a privilege.

That's how I feel about being the last stop on the Blog Tour for York: The Shadow Cipher, the upcoming alternate-history middle grade novel by Laura Ruby that publishes May 16.

I'm thrilled to add my voice to those who are already recommending the book widely and share with you the Educator's Guide for Classroom Use I created for York: The Shadow Cipher.

Here's the publisher's synopsis:
It was 1798 when the Morningstarr twins arrived in New York with a vision for a magnificent city: towering skyscrapers, dazzling machines, and winding train lines, all running on technology no one had ever seen before. Fifty-seven years later, the enigmatic architects disappeared, leaving behind for the people of New York the Old York Cipher — a puzzle laid into the shining city they constructed, at the end of which was promised a treasure beyond all imagining. By the present day however, the puzzle has never been solved, and the greatest mystery of the modern world is little more than a tourist attraction. 

Tess and Theo Biedermann and their friend Jaime Cruz live in a Morningstarr apartment house — until a real estate developer announces that the city has agreed to sell him the five remaining Morningstarr buildings. Their likely destruction means the end of a dream long-held by the people of New York. And if Tess, Theo, and Jaime want to save their home, they have to prove that the Old York Cipher is real. Which means they have to solve it.

From the first lines, The Shadow Cipher had a hold on me, and I was thoroughly captivated through all 448 pages of the novel. (In fact, I'm ready to keep reading and will eagerly await Books 2 and 3.) I marvel at the way Laura Ruby has taken a city so well-loved and familiar and twisted the past just enough to force readers to suspend what they think they know and consider just what they maybe don't know with certainty. With twin characters, Tess and Theo (who compliment each other in all the right ways) and their neighbor Jaime (who carries an emotional story of his own) readers will be transported and absorbed in their resolve to solve the Old York Cipher.

My copy of York: The Shadow Cipher, tabbed with potential
discussion points after rereading to create the Educator's Guide.

The layers of York: The Shadow Cipher are deep, and Laura Ruby incorporates many themes and big ideas that can be explored through the lens of Humanities and/or STEM. With moral and ethical questions that are as modern as they are historic and brilliant bits of wisdom woven throughout the adventure, the possibilities for discussion and extension to present-day are plentiful.

For sure, Laura Ruby's York: The Shadow Cipher is a 2017 release not to be missed.

You can win a signed copy of York: The Shadow Cipher 
by filling out this form.

Giveaway will be open until midnight (EST) on Friday, May 19.

About Laura Ruby:

Laura Ruby is the author of books for adults, teens, and children, including Bone Gap, a National Book Award finalist and Michael L. Printz Award winner, among dozens of other accolades. Her other books include the Edgar-nominated mystery Lily’s Ghosts, the Book Sense Pick Good Girls, and the acclaimed novels Play Me and Bad Apple. She is on the faculty of Hamline University’s MFA in writing for children and young adults program and lives in the Chicago area. You can visit her online at www.lauraruby.com.

Also, don't miss the Educator's Guide to Classroom Use and Activity Guide provided by Walden Pond Press. Be sure to visit the previous stops on the Blog Tour for more thoughts about York: The Shadow Cipher and more chances to win.

May 1	Kirsti Call
May 3	Book Monsters
May 4	Next Best Book
May 5	Charlotte's Library
May 7	Mrs. Knott's Book Nook
May 8	Walden Media Tumblr
May 10	The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia
May 11	Novel Novice
May 12	Educate-Empower-Inspire-Teach

Posted Blog Tour

I remember middle school well. Or, parts of it anyway. It strikes me as a time when I was especially impressionable and believed about myself what others told me about myself--they defined me more than I worked to define myself. Middle school wasn't without it's share of positive affirmations or compliments, and I had a group of friends to whom I was loyal. But it also was a time when insults and ugliness seemed to stick extra long, with super strength, and I remember the impact of things people said, on me and on other kids, too.

Words will do that.
Stick.
How often do we use words with only casual thought or care given to the way our words might be received, the impact they will have on others? What do we say with the words we give? At other times, are we too cautious and protective of our words, keeping our words caged when something might really need to be said?

Words are powerful.
Words can bruise, break, scar.
Words can comfort, console, support.
Words can help, inspire, encourage...lift.

Posted, the newest middle grade novel from John David Anderson (Miss Bixby's Last Day), is set against that middle school backdrop and has characters--and readers--considering the weight of words.

Anderson has cast a colorful and believable crew--two pairs of boys who have been a steadfast group of four, even though each boy has his own particular interest. Frost is aptly named for his poetry writing, Wolf is a piano prodigy, Bench gives his time to sports, and Deedee plays Dungeons and Dragons. The tribe has always supported one another. When a new student to Branton Middle School, Rose, moves in on the group with her larger-than-most personality, the dynamics quake, and even the most solid of friendships are forced to bend.

Having lost the privilege to keep devices at school, the tribe has taken "messaging" old school: with sticky notes. It is not long before the sticky notes become a vehicle for anonymous insults slandering peer targets. With Rose and Wolf at the brunt of a sticky note war, the kids need one another--their tribe--more than ever. But has too much changed?

Schools have been engaged discourse related to bullying for years, but Anderson's Posted serves as a fresh gateway book equipping classrooms to become open, safe discussion grounds for confronting bullying and empowering students to take a position about what they will stand for and what they won't accept from peers. I'm a big proponent of books that invite us--together with our students--to examine the world we live in with enough distance to simultaneously talk about "them" (the characters in a book) and also talk about us.

Posted will do this.

Readers will see themselves and feel just far enough away to talk about friendship and bullying and changes and growing pains. Or maybe they will read Posted on their own and maybe they won't talk about it at all, but will find reassurance that they are not alone...that maybe their tribe is in these pages. Students need this book.

Posted publishes from Walden Pond Press on May 2, 2017, 

but you can win a copy by leaving a comment below! 

In your comment, please share how your "tribe" helped you to survive middle school,

OR share an example of powerful words that helped you heal from hurt.
(A winner will be randomly selected from comments posted by midnight on May 2.)
Congratulations, Lisa Maucione! You won a copy of Posted!

John David Anderson right after
he survived middle school.

John David Anderson is the author of Ms. Bixby's Last Day, Sidekicked, Minion, and The Dungeoneers. A dedicated root beer connoisseur and chocolate fiend, he lives with his wife, two kids, and perpetually whiny cat in Indianapolis, Indiana. You can visit him online at www.johndavidanderson.org.










For more stops on the Posted Blog Tour and more chances to win, visit these other blogs:

April 17 Librarian's Quest

                Walden Media Tumblr

April 18 Nerdy Book Club

April 19 For Those About to Mock

April 20 Teach Mentor Texts

April 21 Unleashing Readers

April 22 Next Best Book

April 23 Bluestocking Thinking

April 24 Litcoach Lou

                Book Monsters

April 25 Kirsti Call

April 26 Educate-Empower-Inspire-Teach

April 27 The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia        

                Ms Yingling Reads

April 28 Maria's Mélange                                    

                Novel Novice

April 29 The Hiding Spot

April 30 This Kid Reviews Books

The Seventh Wish: An Impact Letter

In January, my STEM partner and I posted a Donors Choose project for a class set of The Seventh Wish. We had adopted the book as part of our Healthy Choices unit in fifth grade last year and knew that learning could be more easily facilitated with multiple copies of the book to provide more equity and access for the students throughout the unit. The project was funded in under two days thanks to the generosity of many donors.

If you've ever posted a Donors Choose project before, you might remember that one of the requirements of completing the project is to write a project impact letter. I did. And I'm choosing to post that impact letter here, too. Besides, this forum allows me to include a couple additional notes (below).

Here's the letter:

Dear donors,

Thank you for the generous spirit in which you donated toward our project to fund a class set of the book The Seventh Wish.

In this note, Donors Choose wants me to describe for you what reading looks like in my classroom and what kinds of skills or lessons were introduced with these books. And I can do that. 

We read the The Seventh Wish as a class read aloud, and the class set allowed students to hold their own copy and follow along while I read. For the most part, we shared this book apart from our regular reading workshop routine with explicit lessons and lots of choice reading. In my Humanities classroom, we read a lot, write a lot, and talk about reading and writing a lot. The Seventh Wish invited many conversations about character development as we looked closely and shared the actions, emotions, and conflicts of Charlie and her family. We shared many conversations rooted in students' inferences and interpretations. While reading The Seventh Wish there were ample opportunities to model what deeper comprehension looks like with the Notice and Note signposts (Beers and Probst, 2012) and share responsibility for noticing places that made us think. Having a class set of the book available for students to read along, mark passages that prompted thinking, and return to the book for evidence to support their claims made instruction easier and more equitable.

What Donors Choose doesn't know to ask me is what the impact of your gift was beyond the predictable and generalizable methods and strategies for teaching reading. Beyond teaching reading skills and comprehension, I aim to teach students about themselves and others and this complex world we share. The impact of having a class set of The Seventh Wish to use in the classroom is eyes opened, minds challenged, and hearts touched. Inside the pages of The Seventh Wish, our fifth graders met a character a lot like themselves, and through this book-friendship, the students witnessed the struggle and strain of life impacted by drug use/abuse and addiction. 

Some of my students' lives have been personally impacted by addiction already. "Sometimes it's hard for me to like read aloud right now because three people in my family have died from addiction," one student confided quietly as we closed our books for the day. Another student shared vulnerably, "I know that addiction can mess up families, that's what my biological parents did." Other students have perhaps been shielded and are more naive in their realizations, showing their developing understanding with assertions that they will "never try beer." Sharing Charlie's story in The Seventh Wish anchored all of us on common ground, with one story to share and talk about that - whether familiar or new - was distant enough for students to be both curious and anonymous.

The DARE program has been part of the fifth grade students' experience for a long time, and while DARE educates students about the health effects of drug use and supports students with skills to resist and make positive decisions, DARE alone is not enough. Including The Seventh Wish in our Healthy Choices unit has brought the rippling impact and effects of risky choices to life as students imagined themselves in the place of Kate Messner's characters, the Brennan family. The story of addiction in The Seventh Wish is an important compliment to the sterile facts students receive from DARE.

There's no doubt for me that each students' takeaway was personal and individual. Yet, if I were to try to summarize the most significant shifts in their thinking, I would choose two repeated messages. First, students came away with a strong understanding that addiction is not undone and that recovering addicts work hard every day to make better choices. Through Abby's story, kids could see that there is no going back to "before drugs." And second, it resonated with students that one person's risky choices impact entire families and circles of friends. Whether it was their resentment of the change of plans that caused Charlie to miss the Montreal feis or their heartbreak in hearing Charlie's mom meltdown or the worry they shared with Mrs. McNeill, the students' empathetic muscles - their heads and hearts - responded.

I had the opportunity to see and hear the impact of reading The Seventh Wish with students every day. I saw the impact as students' conceptual understanding of addiction changed. I heard students revise their thinking about who uses drugs and why. I heard them grapple with the same sense-making as many of us about how addiction can be so strong that it causes people to lose control of their choices. It's difficult to say with certainty what the impact of this project will be in five years, or eight, or fifteen...but I believe that as these students grow, their memories of Charlie and Abby and broken promises and tried relationships might inspire them to act with compassion, remind them they are not alone, and influence care about their own choices.

Your gift made it possible to educate students in a most meaningful way. Thank you.

With gratitude,
Ms. Guerrette

Here's a smattering of the responses students shared on Padlet:

You can hear some of the students sharing thoughts in their own words about The Seventh Wish on our classroom FlipGrid. (Warning: There are *lots* of spoilers in their videos!)

The impact of The Seventh Wish has trickled outward from our classrooms, too. My Donors Choose project impact letter wasn't the place to mention the impact of The Seventh Wish on others in our greater school community. The morning after the project was posted, one of our new teachers let me know she had seen our project and did I have a copy she could please borrow, she has a family member who is dealing with addiction. I listened while she shared what was on her heart. And soon another colleague was saying the same. One morning soon after, a parent of a former student who works at a near by quick-stop store mentioned seeing the project and voiced her support for talking about big topics with kids. And still later in the project, another new colleague stopped by with a question and spotted the twenty-six donated copies on students' tabletops, waiting for their return. "What's this book?" she asked with casual and innocent curiosity. I started to book talk. "Seriously?" she interrupted. "Can I take one? Is there one I could borrow? This sounds like it is so my story." Yes. Yes, she left with my partner teacher's own copy.

When we made the decision to give The Seventh Wish to our students as a shared experience, we did not foresee the way incorporating the book into the fifth grade experience would also help provide so many others a place to see themselves, too, and make it ok to acknowledge a part of their lives they otherwise kept to themselves. Reading The Seventh Wish with our students has sent the message to students - and staff, alike - that it's ok to talk about this topic here.

I knew from past experience that The Seventh Wish is a catalyst to important conversations and learning. I'm grateful that we'll continue to share this book with our fifth graders, and these multiple copies definitely help.

Author Visit: Elly Swartz

I had the great fortune of hosting author Elly Swartz at my school last week.

Finding Perfect was our class read aloud through the winter months, and my fifth graders responded strongly to Elly's characters and their stories. They were curious and interested in Molly's anxiety and exhibited a genuine desire to understand her internal conflict, even if different from their own struggles. The students were tickled to hear that Elly would be visiting to talk with them about a book they had grown to love.

Over the last year or so, I have also been lucky to have several conversations with Elly related to writing process and identity. Familiar with Elly's transparency and candor while being relentlessly inspiring and encouraging in her conversations about writing, I knew the students' writing lives would be enriched by the opportunity to talk with her personally.

The result was a completely full and especially joyful day for all readers and writers involved.

While visiting Oxford Elementary, Elly addressed my two fifth grade classes separately and presented a large group session with the three sixth grade classes combined. With each group, she invited any and all student questions, addressing everything from what happened to characters beyond the last page to writing quirks that are part of her process. Students' faces radiated with engagement. The dynamic was instantly comfortable, and my students could easily read that Elly was genuine in her interest and respect for what they had to say.

A look over one student's shoulder during
the Unfolding Identity Project.

Elly shared the Unfolding Identity Project with readers as part of her presentations. In keeping with the themes of Finding Perfect, Elly encouraged the students to look at the many layers of their identity and to consider what lies below the surface of those around them, too. As a teacher, I enjoyed listening to the students support one another in generating descriptors for themselves. There were so many opportunities for affirmation embedded in this activity.

Finding space for celebration as a more frequent part of the writing journey has become a specific focus for me and my writing workshop and was a direct outcome of my conversations with Elly. All year long, I have embedded more opportunities to scaffold students in recognizing smaller successes in our writing processes. During her time with my students, Elly followed up on this big idea of celebration, asking students to share one celebration about themselves as a writer so far this year, and every student shared a celebration.

Elly Swartz gave my students an up-close and personal experience in her visit to Oxford Elementary. The students loved everything about Elly's visit: the stories she shared about her personal writing journey, the picture book she brought that she had loved reading with her own children, the "secrets" about revising Finding Perfect and allusions to her forthcoming book, Smart Cookie (Scholastic, 2018). But also, they loved Elly--a writer among writers, a reader among readers. Through her authentic conversation about reading and writing and the care she showed for my students on this one day, Elly became part of our literacy community.

OES Reads: The Last Chapter

After our 2017 OES Reads season kicked-off with a wild surprise (read this post to catch-up on the kick-off), we certainly didn't expect to wrap up our five weeks with still more surprises.

Our OES Reads season was scheduled to be five weeks long, with reading chunks of Fenway and Hattie, our whole-school-community book split over that time frame. We expected to conclude the OES Reads program with a Closing Assembly on the last day of the fifth week, and we had made plans to Skype with author Victoria Coe the following Monday. It was a pretty well-planned schedule.

Only, when you live in Maine, even the best laid plans are subject to disruptive weather.

Weather postponed our Closing Assembly to the following Friday, the day before vacation week.
Weather postponed our Skype calls with Victoria Coe to Friday, the day before vacation week.
And we went to school on Valentine's Day and didn't return until...you guessed it: Friday, the day before vacation week.

You might imagine how frustrating the last two weeks have been, out of the classroom more than we have been in.

Thankfully, after days of stormy weather and dark skies, Friday morning came without a 5:00 a.m. phone call to cancel school, and plans to celebrate the end of OES Reads would be underway. I emailed Victoria to confirm that we *would* be at school and able to Skype today. As I climbed into the car, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

It was Victoria.
She got my email.
She had "big secret news."
Could I sneak her into the building at 10:30?

Victoria Coe, who had already generously scheduled (and rescheduled) two Skypes with our students, had decided to hop in the car and make the three-hour trip to surprise our students in person on this final day of OES Reads.

I do love a good book-ish surprise.

When the K-2 students and teachers reported to the gym for their "Skype," they were surprised to find Victoria Coe there waiting for them. (It was fun to watch the realization spread among the teachers, too!) Kids who had prepared questions for Victoria took their turns asking, and some teachers asked questions, too. And when Victoria read a bit of Fenway and Hattie and the Evil Bunny Gang aloud, even the youngest readers were still and attentive.

In the afternoon it was the grade 3-6 students who were in for a surprise when Victoria greeted them at the door for their "Skype." Victoria answered more student questions, ranging from wonders about author decisions while writing Fenway and Hattie to curiosities about the writing life of an author. Then, some sixth grade students who had drafted short writing pieces from a dog's point of view bravely stood before their peers and our guest and read their writing, leaving Victoria and the audience to guess where or what they were exploring. There were successful guesses all around.

Immediately following the older students' "Skype," the K-2 classes returned to the gym so that the whole school was gathered together once again. It was time for our Closing Assembly.

Our Closing Assembly has become a much-loved celebration because it has traditionally been a sharing of student work. The Kick-off Assembly is comprised of staff presentations, skits, performances. By contrast, at the Closing Assembly we feature students who have something to share related to our OES Reads book. Personally, I was happy that Victoria's surprise visit would allow her to see how her work, Fenway and Hattie, had inspired some of our kids.

The Closing Assembly featured a first grader who wrote her own book called Fenway and the Wicked Floor. Poised as could be, she introduced her book and read her story aloud to the audience. Another first grader had made a video of himself reading Fenway and Hattie to his family pet, and fourth grade students who had done perspective writing. There may also have been a silly flashmob by many good-sport staff members, too. We thanked Victoria again, publicly, and sent her home with a small gift of appreciation. Victoria shared with our OES Read-ers that her very favorite part of being an author is getting to spend time with the readers who have read Fenway and Hattie.

Having Victoria join us for our last chapter of OES Reads 2017 was an enormous gift to our students and our school community. Her generosity and interest in our students and whole-school reading community will not be forgotten!