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I have written extensively about the use of picture books within our classroom and yet there are still questions that keep coming up. No worries as I realized that I had yet to make a central blog post about picture books and how I use them with older students and so while this post may be long, I hope it is helpful. Note that really everything I write here about using picture books with older students also goes for using them with younger kids because as we all know there no is no too old for picture books.

I have written before of why I use picture books with my middle school students, the changes it has created for us as we build our community of readers. I have shared lists upon lists of our favorite books as well, hoping to help others find the very best value in the books they bring in, hoping to inspire others to make them an integral part of their classroom.

How Do I Know Which Books to Get?

I am connected. I am a proud member of the Nerdy Book Club and through Twitter I am connected to many picture book loving people; teachers, librarians, parents, and all of the other amazing people out there. I follow hashtags like #WeNeedDiverseBooks #Titletalk, #pb10for10 #classroombookaday and #nerdybookclub to stay in the know. And I tweet out asking for recommendations all of the time.

I keep a written list handy. I have a journal book with me at all times, and while I often add books to my wishlist on Amazon, I like having the list in my bag. I am always adding to it and will cross out as I either purchase or reject. This also makes it easy for me to recommend books to others that they may not know about.

I read them beforehand, most of the time. Many times we will wander to the nearest bookstore so that I can browse the books before purchasing them. How do I know that this will be a great one for our room, well there are few things I look for...

Do I react to it in any way? A picture book doesn't always have to have a deep message for me to react to it; was it funny, did it make me think, did it leave me with questions? All of these are things that I look for.

Is it easy to follow? Sometimes it takes more than one read to really get a book and while I love those books too, most of the time, I am looking for a book that my students will get rather quickly. At least most of them. However, I do purchase picture books to use with smaller groups that have layers we can peel away.

Is the language accessible? Yes, I teach 7th graders but their reading development levels range from 2nd grade to high school, so can all students access the text or will I need to "translate" it?

What purpose does it have? I often look for picture books that can be used as community builders, self-connections, or conversation starters. We also use them as mentor texts as we develop as readers and writers throughout the year. But I also look for picture books that will make my students laugh, make them reconnect with being a little kid again, or help them get out of a bad mood. I try to get a balance of all of these types of books in the hands of students.

Will we read it more than once? Because I buy most of the picture books in my classroom, I look for enduring books that we will return to again and again. Different things make books repeat reads; the illustrations, the phrasing, the story. Bottom-line: it is a gut feeling most of the time.

Do we have other works by the author? My students feel closely connected to the picture book authors and illustrators whose books we love so I try to expand our favorite collections as often as possible. Some of our favorites are Jackie Woodson, Julie Flett, Peter Brown, Mo Willems, Peter H. Reynolds, Ame Dyckman, Jon Klassen, and Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

How Do I Organize our Picture Books?

Every hardcover picture book is stamped on the inside with a custom-made stamp from Amazon, which has been easily one of the best purchases I have ever made.

They are then also labeled with the first letter of the author's last name on their spine. That way as long as I know the author's last name, I can quickly pull the book from that section.

Picture books are typically not checked out by students as they are easy to lose, however, others teachers borrow them freely.

Picture books are shelved together in our classroom but not organized by theme or author. I simply do not have room for splitting up the groups, so I try to display the picture books by theme in our classroom instead. For example, whenever it is a new month or after a break, our display is always changed out. I want students to want to read them as much as possible and a fresh new display helps entice them.

How Do I Select the Book to Use?

I first identify the purpose of the lesson of course and then go through either my lists of picture books or simply flip through our stacks. As our collection has grown, I have started keeping a better eye on picture books that can be used for more than one purpose.

Which book I choose to share depends on the lesson. I treat it much like a short story in what I want students to get out of it so it has to suit the very purpose we are trying to understand. I introduce the concept by sharing a story and then I ask my students to come as close as they can to the rocking chair in our corner. Once settled, whether on the floor, on balls or on chairs, I read it aloud. We stop and talk throughout as needed but not on every page, it should not take more than 10 minutes at most to get through an average size picture book. If it is a brand new concept I may just have students listen, while other times they might engage in a turn-and-talk. I have an easel right next to me and at times we write our thoughts on that. Sometimes we make an anchor chart, it really just depends on the purpose of the lesson. Often a picture book is used as one type of media on a topic and we can then branch into excerpts from text, video, or audio that relates to the topic.

Because I teach the same class multiple times in a row, I often switch out the picture books I use with the different classes. There are some that you can still love reading after 4 times, while others get to be a bit tedious, so I adjust as needed. This is why having a lot of great picture books to choose from is something I am committed to.

I do not have multiple copies of really any picture books, I don't see it as needed. Instead, I pick the picture book to read aloud and then find "companion books," other picture books that share the same concept, for example easily identifiable themes. These are spread out on tables, waiting for the students to select them. This way, when I ask students to work with them they are truly testing out the skill and not just whether they can spot the same things that we just practiced together. Often times, students can choose to work with a partner as they explore their self-selected books.

What Are Different Concepts You Can Use Picture Books to Teach?
Thematic statements
Using a picture book as an example, we read one aloud and work through the example together. While many of my students can easily pick up on the theme "word" (Death, love, freedom), they have a much harder stretching that into an actual thematic statement. So rather than just death, they have to write something along the lines of "In the picture book, Ida Always, the text is used to illustrate that the fear of death should not stand in the way of creating lasting bonds." While this may seem hard at first, the idea of doing this work with a picture book, rather than a longer book, alleviates some of the stress that my students have with the analytical work being done. After we write our thematic statement and turn it into a full paragraph, the students are then given a stack of picture books to choose from to practice on their own. This is, therefore, a way to assess their understanding without having to use a common text. Students can then either hand in their thoughts as a written piece of work or choose to discuss it with me or record it using their device.
Writers Craft
The writing skills used in a great picture book are worthy of our close analysis. I love finding a stack of small moment picture books and then having students really take the writing apart. How did the author move the story along with such few pages? If we were to remove the images would the story still stand on its own? Why? Other questions can be:

How does the author transition time or setting?

How does the author situate us?

How is the character described?

How are the words further explained through the illustrations?

How does the illustrator deepen the message?

How are words repeated?

How do we pick out symbolism and what does it signify?

How can we introduce all of the Notice and Note signposts through picture books?

These are just a few examples of separate lessons that can be done through a lense of writer's craft.
Plot and Small Moment Stories
While my students can write stories, they do not always write good stories. Sometimes they get bogged down in too many details, other times they have too few or their story is simply not interesting. Using picture books we can study the art of plot, as well as how to encapsulate an entire story in very little language. These are great primers for students to think of their own story craft.
Non-Fiction Focus
We have written nonfiction picture books in the past and one of my greatest joys is to get students read some of the incredible nonfiction picture books we have in our collection. I think of books like Pink is for Blobfish, Growing Up Pedro, Gorillas, Giant Squid, or How to Be an Elephant. These authors breathe life into their nonfiction texts and so I ask my students to study their craft. How did they take all of this research and create something so accessible yet information-filled? It is wondrous to see the lightbulb go off for my students when they can see what I mean right in the text.
Fluency and Expression
One of our favorite units of the year is when all of our students perform plays based on Mo Willem's Elephant & Piggie books. It is incredible to see these sometimes very cool 7th graders, truly connect with their silly side and go for it in their performance. Reading aloud picture books, performing them, and putting your heart into it helps with all public speaking skills.
Introductory texts.
In order for us to go deeper with text analysis and discussion, I need my students to sometimes gain some confidence. Picture books are not scary. They are inviting to kids. So as we begin the year with an introduction or reminder of the signposts as discussed in the book Notice and Note, I use picture books to introduce every single signpost. (To see the lists go here). It helps me break it down simply for kids, to give them confidence, and then also to be able to transfer it into their own reading.
Inferring.
One of my biggest tools for boosting inference skills is to use wordless picture books. After all, it is hard to read books like Unspoke n or The Whale and not have an opinion on what just happened. Another reason I love wordless picture books is that it levels the playing field for a lot of our kids. They don't have to decode the words to get to the story but instead have to decode the images. I have found that some of my most vulnerable readers are incredibly good at this as this is one of the reading survival strategies they use daily.
Introducing Hard Content
There are incredible picture books that discuss topics such as death, jail, suicide, war, and even drug abuse and so we use these picture books to broach harder topics with students. Seeing their stories or stories that are incredible foreign to them played out within the pages of a short book really allows for us to open up a discussion as well as connections to the pages.

As you can see, picture books are not just for show, and yet, even if they were, I would be ok with that. After all, how many times does a child just need to fall into the pages of a picture book to remember the magic that reading itself? What an incredible gift all of these authors and illustrators give us when they decide to spill their ideas into a picture book.

How Do you Assess Skills and Strategies Through a Picture Book?

Because we are a classroom driven by self-selected reading, it can be hard to figure out what students really know. Picture books are again a central tenet of this. Whether I have introduced a brand new skill or simply done a review, I can quickly assess students' knowledge and use of the skill through the pages of a picture book. All I have to do is gather up the picture books that all have the skill in them such as character development and then have students read them. After that, they can either write, discuss, or record a response to show me their understanding. That way I do not have to know the independent book they are reading but I can still see what they can do.

What Comes After the Reading?

Picture books are not just something we read, we write them ourselves in our epic nonfiction picture book project. We study them. We speak about them. We get ideas and inspiration from them. We carefully protect the time we have to read them. They are the mentor texts we shape our instruction around.

What Are Some Current Favorites?

And because I cannot write a blog post about picture books and then not share a few favorites, here are some that I love at the moment. For "live" recommendations follow my Instagram account.
Drawn Together by Minh Le and Dan Santat Heartbeat by Evan Turk I'm Sad by Michael Ian Black and Debbie Ridpath Ohi Prince & Knight by Daniel Haack and Stevie Lewis The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael Lopez
So there you have it, a little further explanation of how picture books are used in our classroom. They become part of the tapestry of our room and something the students search out for solace when they need to feel like they are readers again. As one child told me after I had shared our very first picture book, "Picture books make you remember your imagination again." And I knew that these kids got it. That they knew that this wasn't just me having some fun, but that picture books will teach us some of the largest lesson this year. That picture books are not just for little kids and laughter. They are for readers of all ages, and in particular, those who have gotten lost.
If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers - The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child Also consider joining our book club study of it, kicking off June 17th. This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block. If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book Passionate Learners - How to Engage and Empower Your Students. Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

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Using Picture Books With Older Students - A How-to Guide

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I have written extensively about the use of picture books within our classroom and yet there are still questions that keep coming up. No worries as I realized that I had yet to make a central blog post about picture books and how I use them with older students and so while this post may...

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PART ONE: Engaging
Middle School Readers

As we introduce our two-part series of articles focusing on the use of picture books with older readers, Jennifer shares a teaching experience:

The data meeting went something like this...
Principal: Let's take a look at ELA. The first standard is figurative language. What was the Teacher 1: We focused on similes and metaphors, but also worked with imagery using Teacher 2: Yes, and also alliteration and personification. Students use alliteration in Principal: Wow. Jennifer? Your students received mostly fours (scores 1-4). What did you Me: I read picture books every day. Picture books are perfect for studying figurative Principal: I'd like to hear more about that. Don't the kids think picture books are for Me: Yes, most people think that...at first. I show my students how those "easy" Principal: We need to talk about this more later. books are not that easy, but also make learning things like figurative language easier in middle school. Once they catch on, students ask for the read aloud if I forget. It really does help them to understand harder standards. babies? language. I can pretty much meet any standard using picture books in the classroom, and kids love them! do? writing pretty well. poetry. The test last year was heavy on poetry. focus?
I remember thinking, "Finally!" People can see from the data that using picture books in middle school is actually worthwhile and engaging for the learners. I told myself that I would keep using picture books in class and that I had proof that my "fun" method worked.

Why picture books belong in middle school

We posit that there are several reasons to use picture books in the middle school classroom; in this segment, we focus on student engagement.

"...the use of picture books increases motivation greatly for students of this [middle school] age." (Fitzgerald, p.3)

Students at ages 9-13 still want to hear their teachers read aloud, want to sit on the rug, want to engage in stories - even if they feign reluctance at first, reading a picture book is a powerful time for all children.

After the data meeting just recounted, I (Jennifer) was asked to share in classrooms - to model what I was doing to see if other teachers wanted to give reading picture books a chance. The first class I visited was a 7th grade ELA group who generally did not like reading time. Even with silent choice reading time, these students didn't spend time reading. Why?

I interviewed the students briefly. The volunteers said they couldn't focus, they didn't have enough time to get into the book, and/or they didn't have any good books to read. I told them I brought a few books with me, and asked them to choose one for that day's lesson.

"Why'd you bring baby books?" One girl yelled out.

"Yeah. We don't read those," agreed another girl.

"Hey! Let her try. Can we sit on the floor?" a boy asked.

The teacher's worried face became one of grave concern. Would these students waste my time? Would they laugh at me? Would they learn anything today?
"Within the pages of a picture book is the potential to entice, intrigue, and motivate...middle school readers as they vicariously experience times and places that make up their past, influence the present, and may have an impact upon their futures." (Farris & Fuhler, 1994, p. 47) What textbook can offer the same promise?"
I said, "Sure - IF you listen to the story and participate."

I read aloud Charlie Anderson by Barbara Abercrombie, about a cat who spends the days in the woods and comes home to sleep with his owner, only to leave again the next morning.

It's a parallel story and requires quite a bit of inferring on the part of the reader.

The students did listen and participate, asking questions and making inferences and predictions throughout the read aloud. I was happy with the discussion this little "baby book" started.
is currently a school librarian, teacher, and professional development presenter in South Bend, Indiana. She is an avid reader and will read anything her colleagues recommend. Jennifer's current passion is promoting her favorite authors' upcoming books on social media. Check out her posts on Twitter (@jdsniadecki) or follow her blog, Jason D. DeHart is an assistant professor of reading education at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. He taught 8th grade language arts for eight years in Cleveland, Tennessee. DeHart's research interests include multimodal literacy, including film and graphic novels, and literacy instruction with adolescents. His work has recently appeared in SIGNAL Journal, English Journal, and The Social Studies. www.readingteacherwrites.com.
I called the first girl over as the class headed back to their seats. I asked her, "So, do you still think this is a baby book?"

"No way," she said. "Babies wouldn't be able to understand that."

The boy who told the others to give it a chance approached me as I left the room and followed me into the hallway. "Thanks for reading to us today," he said.

As an instructional leader, if there's anything I've learned over the years, it's that education is about the students and their needs. These 7th graders were still kids, ages 11-13, and, developmentally, needed a teacher to pay attention to them and their reading in a different way. The read aloud of a well-crafted picture book not only motivated them, it helped them to discover that they could (and should) discuss books and learn with a purpose during reading time.

Why picture books work in middle school

In chapter one of The Power of Picture Books by Mary Jo Fresch & Peggy Harkins, we find the main reason for using picture books in the middle school classroom:

(Fresch & Harkins, 2009, p.15)

I don't know of an engaging textbook; picture books are perfect for middle school classrooms. The use of pictures and text, the deceptive simplicity, and the attractive layout of picture books act as a prelude or invitation to other reading experiences, and offer much to entice readers - even at the middle level.

NOTE: To build on this look at the power of picture books, this article series includes both an in-service teacher and instructional leader's observations (that's Jennifer) and reflections from a former middle school teacher and current reading professor (that's Jason). Watch for our second installment on June 23.

Feature image: YouTube, Charlie Anderson Read by Mrs. Arensdorf.

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Picture Books Are Perfect for Middle School Literacy

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PART ONE: Engaging Middle School Readers As we introduce our two-part series of articles focusing on the use of picture books with older readers, Jennifer shares a teaching experience: The data meeting went something like this... Principal: Let's take a look at ELA. The first standard is figurative language.

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Students in Scio, NY, discuss illustrators' choices.
Photo courtesy of Scio Central School District

Mary Zdrojewski was in for a surprise. Not long ago, the librarian in the Scio (NY) Central School District had been assigned a class of teens at her K-12 school. Zdrojewski asked the students what they wanted from their library class, expecting to hear requests for coding, robotics, or hands-on projects. "They just wanted me to read aloud to them," Zdrojewski recalls. "I tried short stories, including the 'Guys Read' series, because I thought they would be 'cool.'" But she soon discovered that "the students really wanted pictures to look at."

Picture books and older students: More educators are making this match in their teaching, with significant success. While graphic and illustrated novels gain traction among teen and tween readers, traditional picture books hold a place of their own and provide versatile, effective teaching tools for a range of students. The ubiquity of social media might explain why today's youth are particularly visually oriented, but that's only part of the picture, says Wendy Lukehart, youth collections coordinator at the District of Columbia Public Library's Penn Center. "People of all ages have always responded well to pictures," she says. For centuries, she notes, humans spent quite a bit of time gazing at art, and, in the 20th century, flipping through photography-centric magazines, such as Life, to engage with current events and culture.

During a partner reading activity at IS 289 Hudson Middle School in New York City,
students analyze a book's themes and the nuances of the writing.
Photos courtesy of IS 289 Middle School

Visual impact

Whether or not young people in 2018 more readily engage with pictures than their parents did, one fact is not debated: Older kids-in particular ELL students and those with special needs-can benefit from picking up a picture book, especially if they have a trusted educator to guide them in the process.

"Pictures are an immediate conduit to emotional connection," says Lukehart. "If you want people to really engage with a topic, whether you are publishing a newspaper, writing a blog, or teaching a class, show a picture from which a narrative can be inferred or imagined."

Picture books can also level the playing field. "Some students who may not have the strongest vocabulary, either from lack of exposure to a wide range of texts, or because English is not their first language, can do deep inference and interpretation when I'm reading a book to them," says Christina DiZebba, an eighth grade literacy teacher at IS 289 Hudson Middle School in New York City. "I'm doing the decoding and making the 'music' of the text, which helps students who struggle with fluency, vocabulary, and prosody [making the text sound like what it means]." Highly evocative illustrations can bring out more sophisticated observations from those students. DiZebba points to the mix of dramatic and subtle illustrations in Tony Johnston's The Harmonica. "Students who may not have background knowledge about the Holocaust can access the story's emotional components."

Zdrojewski, who works with students who have special needs, sees unique benefits of using picture books with this population. "They don't need to rely only on auditory information from the read-aloud. They need some guidance in visualizing the story; the pictures give them that. The pictures also provide a place to focus. They're less distracted."

These books are valuable teaching tools because they are short, notes DiZebba. "In one 40-minute period, we can read a whole text and have a discussion about it."

While graphic novels are popular, they represent a different experience from picture books, says Lukehart. "Picture books are uniquely designed to be a shared experience, whereas the multiple panels with small fonts in most graphic novels invite individual exploration," she says. But "the differences dissolve the closer you get to hybrid or wordless versions of either format."

Still, "picture books are incorporating many of the features of graphic novels," observes Myra Zarnowski, a children's literature and literacy professor in the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at Queens College in Flushing, NY. "There is an increasing use of speech bubbles, comic book-style inserts, diagrams, and so on." She points to picture books by Meghan McCarthy or the comic features in Kate DiCamillo's Flora and Ulysses. With teens, "I invite [them] to try their hands at writing picture books that incorporate the features of graphic novels."

Literacy teacher Christina DiZebba reads Jacqueline Woodson's Coming on Home Soon to students at IS 289.
Photos courtesy of IS 289 Middle School

Setting the stage for success

The way that educators introduce picture books to older kids can impact how fully students embrace and ultimately learn from them. For those who encounter resistance from students who think a picture book is "babyish," a good offense can be the best defense.

"The educator needs to take the book seriously and present the reason for sharing it, just as they would with a science experiment or anything else," says Lukehart. "If an educator believes [a book] presents a compelling perspective on a topic in a manner that will resonate with older students, there will be few problems."

DiZebba agrees. "If your students trust you, and you get up in front of the room with the belief that this, whatever this may be, is valuable, they'll go along with it. They may roll their eyes a little at first, but that's their job. They're teenagers. Believe me, they will be quickly won over by Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles or Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting or Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts."

Choosing the right titles

Books that are short on text with provocative themes are best for middle and high school students, says Lukehart. Her favorites include Margriet Ruurs's Stepping Stones; Walter Dean Myers's Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam; Christophe Gallaz and Roberto Innocenti's Rose Blanche; Tom Feelings's The Middle Passage; Anthony Browne's Little Beauty; Peter Sís's The Wall; Shaun Tan's The Red Tree; and Barbara Kerley and Brian Selznick's Walt Whitman. (Also see Lukehart's SLJ article, "Thought-Provoking Picture Books.")

High school students are fascinated by Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution by Steve Jenkins, says Mary Ann Cappiello, professor or language and literacy at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, and "Classroom Bookshelf" blogger. With a timeline that depicts the history of life on Earth within the confines of a 24-hour day, "the book provides fascinating content in a clear and digestible manner that can be used as a catalyst for in-depth research and classroom investigations," says Cappiello.

Recommendations aside, librarians should just follow their hearts, Zdrojewski suggests. "My first advice for my fellow librarians would be to pick books they love, not ones they assume the students will like," she says. "My students will sit through much more 'childish' books than I'd expect if they can tell from my face and inflection that I really like that book."

Zdrojewski had often heard that older students usually go for anything by Patricia Polacco, whose books Zdrojewski doesn't love. When she shared them, "I tried to be enthusiastic, I think the students could tell," she says. "Yet when I read Robert McCloskey's Blueberries for Sal, one of my all-time favorites, the students were super engaged."
Award-winning reporter and editor Christina Vercelletto is SLJ's former news editor.
English Language Learners: Tips

Judith B. O'Loughlin, education consultant at Language Matters Education Consultants in San Ramon, CA, has been working with K-8 English language learners (ELL) in public schools for most of her career. With her older students, she looks for picture books that provided both written and visual "language" to support learning in various content topics. She explains that picture books can "explode" a content topic that might only have been referenced in passing in another text.

"In learning about the Civil Rights Movement, for example, one can read Rosa by Nikki Giovanni and learn more about how this leader influenced the movement toward civil rights legislation," she says. "But if you read New Shoes by Susan Lynn Meyer, you gain a deeper perspective into what it meant to be African American under segregation and how it impacted the daily lives of children in America."

O'Loughlin notes that picture books meet the criteria for most reading standards, including the Common Core Anchor Reading Standards. But she urges thinking beyond standards when choosing picture books for ELL students-and keeping these three points in mind:

1. Text and illustrations should support one another and enhance an understanding of the topic. Illustrations should provide clear and accurate information, as well as ways to build content language and promote oral and written discourse.

2 Ideally, illustrations and text work together to introduce important and/or abstract concepts through controlled language that English learners can understand. "This does not mean using age and grade-level language that is meant for younger learners," emphasizes O'Loughlin. "ELLs need language development that meets their needs, not assumptions they are 'blank slates' with no knowledge or language at all."

3. Stereotypical behavior of characters, or assumed stereotypes, should be avoided at all costs.

Tips for engaging older students with picture books
"Reading Aloud to Teens" "Picture Books and Older Students" "Picture Books in the Dorm Room"

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Never Too Old: Embracing Picture Books To Teach Older Students

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Students in Scio, NY, discuss illustrators' choices.Photo courtesy of Scio Central School District Mary Zdrojewski was in for a surprise. Not long ago, the librarian in the Scio (NY) Central School District had been assigned a class of teens at her K-12 school.

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Diverse BookFinder | Identify & Explore Multicultural Picture Books

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Are you looking for multicultural children’s books? We’ve got you covered! You can search our circulating collection of picture books (2002-present), explore our quick lists, then borrow our books from your own library through interlibrary loan. We believe that too many children are left out of main…

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Never Too Old: Picture Books to Share with Older Children and Teens

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Curated Booklists Carefully selected multicultural and social justice books for children, young adults, and educators on 90+ topics. Reviews of Children's Literature Critical reviews of children's and young adult books from a variety of vetted sources, consolidated here for easy access. Articles & News Articles about selecting children's literature and news about Kid Lit.

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Picture Book List for LOC Grant Participants 

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Picture Book List for LOC Grant Participants 

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Picture Books are perfect for  Middle School Students

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Picture Books are perfect for  Middle School Students

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Children are still developing

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10 Criteria for Choosing Diverse Texts for Your Classroom - WRITING MINDSET

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Jason Reynolds in his keynote at the ALA Annual Convention this past summer talked about how we are all walking libraries. I loved this metaphor because it provided an image as to how each person is made up of a collection of their identities, experiences, and memories.

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'Why We Shouldn't Shield Children From Darkness'

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Maybe instead of anxiously trying to protect our children from every little hurt, our job is to simply support them through such experiences

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Why Children's Books Should Be a Little Sad

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In her response to Matt de la Peña: "I think our job is to trust our readers. I think our job is to see and to let ourselves be seen."