Welcome to the Curriculum Connections e-newsletter, designed to keep you up-to-date on some of the most exciting new trade titles and multimedia products, with suggestions on how to use them in your K–12 classrooms.

We are pleased to announce that this monthly newsletter marks the beginning of a partnership between School Library Journal and TeachingBooks.net. By clicking on any of the buttons found throughout the newsletter, you will immediately access content from TeachingBooks.net’s rich collection of online resources. These include author interviews, selections from audiobooks, discussion guides, thematic booklists, and much more. In addition, Nick Glass, founder of TeachingBooks.net, will share his favorite new sites, videos, and guides.

In our next issue, guides to booktalking, titles about peace, and teen novels featuring plots where reality and fantasy intersect are among the topics and genres we explore.

Daryl Grabarek,
Editor, Curriculum Connections
dgrabarek@reedbusiness.com

Make These Curriculum Connections...

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  Back to School with a Bang: Books for the Eager and the Apprehensive
  Gear up for the school year with a pile of colorful picture books guaranteed to grab the attention of summer-saturated students. Written and illustrated in a kaleidoscope of styles, these titles will ease anxieties, introduce classroom routines, describe behaviors, and generate enthusiasm among elementary students everywhere.
  
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Nick's Picks

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  Nick's Picks
  I'm delighted to bring you this e-newsletter, offering relevant, multimedia online resources in support of Curriculum Connections's authoritative content. My goal is to provide you with opportunities to enhance your lessons by integrating quality materials and technology into your curriculum. I strongly believe that the more methods and approaches we take to introducing books into our classrooms, the more enthusiastic our students will be.
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Interview

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  Peter Sís and the Building of The Wall
  In his new children's book, Peter Sís, twice the recipient of a Caldecott Honor Award, and a MacArthur "genius" fellowship in 2003, reflects on his experience growing up in Prague under a repressive Communist regime.
  
  
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What's New?

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  America's Pastime: Baseball Read-Alouds from the '07 Season
  He's back for another swing at the old ball game. Who? Casey, of course, in Dan Gutman's droll narrative poem book, Casey Back at Bat (HarperCollins, 2007; Gr K–8). In this new encounter with baseball's legendary blunderhead, it's the last game of the season, and with Mudville tied for first, it's once again up to Casey to hit in the clutch. Will he blow it this time, too?
  
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Professional Shelf

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  Teen Lit: Books That'll Rock 'em
  Looking for surefire recommendations to add oomph to the perennial genre study? If you're a teacher or librarian, keeping up with young adult literature can be a daunting pursuit, especially while juggling a million other daily tasks. Fortunately for us, there are wizards in the field who make it their business to keep us informed. more » » »