Nick's Picks

Selected Resources from TeachingBooks.net

Nick Glass, TeachingBooks.net for Curriculum Connections -- School Library Journal, 1/6/2009

One of the perks (and thrills) of working at TeachingBooks.net is the opportunity to record writers introducing and reading their own works. In addition to tying in neatly with our goal of helping teachers and students learn directly from authors and illustrators in the classroom, these recordings support a host of 21st-century learning standards.

In this month’s column, I encourage you to spark students’ interest in the featured titles and writers by listening to a few of the highlighted readings in your classroom. You’ll encounter humor, insight into the writing process, and likely and unlikely sources of inspiration. I hope these recordings will show you new ways to integrate online materials into your lesson plans.

Click on the cover image or book title to hear a brief introduction and reading by the author.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Abrams, 2007)

Introduced and read by the author, Jeff Kinney

The Phantom Tollbooth (Random, 1961)

Introduced and read by the author, Norton Juster

Habibi (S & S, 1997)

Introduced and read by the author, Naomi Shihab Nye

Lock and Key (Viking, 2008)

Introduced and read by the author, Sarah Dessen

 Game (HarperTeen, 2008)

Introduced and read by the author, Walter Dean Myers

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party (Candlewick, 2006)

Introduced and read by the author, M.T. Anderson

To help you consider the ways in which these online readings can be integrated into your lessons, here’s what we ask authors before a recording:

• Imagine you are in a classroom introducing your work
• Take a minute or two to synthesize some of the backstory of how the book came to be and/or to touch on any challenges you faced in the writing
• Read a page of the book, so that students and teachers can hear how the author interprets the words, tone, rhythm, and pace

If there are authors you would be interested in hearing read their titles, please email me your suggestions. TeachingBooks will do its best to get that audio made, put it online, and send it to you.  

A happy, peaceful new year. Nick Glass nick@teachingbooks.net