The energy emanating from the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta last week—site of the International Reading Association’s 53rd Annual Conference—made it clear that while the end of school year is approaching, teachers and librarians are still generating ideas on how to get books into their students’ hands. This month’s enewsletter will bring you into June with suggestions on books that make ideal writing prompts for elementary students, humorous titles for a range of grades, fiction and nonfiction for teen readers, and made-to-order beginning chapter books. And don’t forget to read what Walter Dean Myers has to say about his latest novel, Sunrise over Fallujah. 

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

What's New

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  New Kids on the Block
  Over the years, we’ve become fast friends with many unforgettable characters who have lit up the literary landscape of easy-to-read chapter books. Now meet a couple of new kids on the block. more » » » 
• TeachingBooks.net resources » » » 

Nick's Picks

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  Nick's Picks: Selected Resources from TeachingBooks.net
  This month’s column highlights the wry humor of author and illustrator Arthur Geisert as he explains how his book Oink (Houghton, 1995) can be read in three languages, simultaneously; Ridley Pearson’s explanation of why he responds to the call of “Burp”; and K.M. Grant’s tale of a beheaded ancestor. Of course, the activity guide for Shel Silverstein’s Runny Babbit playfully reinforces what a “billy sook” it is. more » » » 

Make These Curriculum Connections

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  Written Anything Good Lately?
  If springtime alone doesn’t inspire your students to wax poetic, try using some great picture books to get their creative juices flowing. Coupled with mini-lessons on grammar, wordplay, vocabulary, sequencing, or point of view, these titles are sure to spark some original student writing. more » » » 
• TeachingBooks.net resources » » » 

Interview

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  Two Decades Later, the Angel Warriors Continue to Fall
  In 1988, Walter Dean Myers wrote Fallen Angels (Scholastic), a novel narrated by Richie Perry, just out of high school and off to Vietnam. Myers, like Perry, was very young when he went to Vietnam, and he lost a brother there. Twenty years later, Myers returns to the battlefield with Sunrise over Fallujah (Scholastic, 2008), a story set during the current Iraq War. more » » » 
• TeachingBooks.net resources on this interview » » » 

Professional Shelf

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  The Ultimate Teen Book Guide
  Sporting an eye-catching cover, packed with more than 700 reviews and suggestions, and written in a voice that speaks directly to teens, The Ultimate Teen Book Guide (Walker, 2008), offers young adults more than one summer’s worth of reading. more » » »