New design to enjoy

Welcome to the re-designed Nick's Picks, where each month we highlight favorite resources about children's and young adult books and authors.

Upgrades and new features are still forthcoming, so stay tuned! Our goal is to honour and reflect your needs and interests while sharing engaging, relevant materials to support your existing literacy work.

Please enjoy, and let us know how we can be of assistance.

Best,

Nick Glass, TeachingBooks.net Founder & Executive Director

Behind the Books: Laurie Keller on ideas for books

How in the world did award-winning author Laurie Keller come up with the idea to have blades of grass talk?

In this month's guest blog post, read about the variety of images and jokes that have inspired Ms. Keller's stories—including her 2017 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award-winning book We Are Growing (Disney-Hyperion 2016).

Read Ms. Keller's Guest Blog Post now.

Meet-the-Author Book Reading: Jenny Downham on identity and memory

When Jenny Downham started writing Unbecoming (Scholastic 2016), the first character to show up for her was Mary—and a family of three soon followed. These fictional characters led Ms. Downham into the story that became a 2017 Stonewall Honor book.

In this Meet-the-Author Book Reading, award-winning author Jenny Downham models a writing process filled with questions and "throwing words at the page day after day."

Listen to Jenny Downham introduce the backstory behind her young adult novel, Unbecoming.

Browse all TeachingBooks.net Meet-the-Author Book Readings.

Featured Booklist: Arab American Book Award

April is Arab American Heritage Month. Use this month—or any other—to explore the Arab American Book Award!

Thanks to the Arab American National Museum, everyone can learn about high quality books that have been written by and about Arab Americans.

Browse all national awards lists.

Contests & Giveaways

Check out our April Contests & Giveaways, accompanied by multimedia resources!

• One Last Word by Nikki Grimes
• We Are the Dinosaurs by Laurie Berkner
• The Animal Bites series from Animal Planet

See the April Contests & Giveaways on our blog.