Tag: reading

  • February 27, 2024

    February 27, 2024

    On Saturday, I was with 500-plus educators at Anderson’s Children’s Literature breakfast in Chicago. I got a chance to talk one-on-one with many teachers and librarians. Again and again, I got to hear about the beauty and power of reading a story aloud. Reading a story to a classroom makes everyone feel less alone, more…

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  • February 14, 2024

    February 14, 2024

    Fifty years ago, when I was home sick from school on Valentine’s Day, my mother sat by my bed and read aloud to me from Paddington At Large. She read me the whole book. We laughed together. It was the best Valentine’s Day gift. Thank you, Betty DiCamillo, for reading to me. Thank you to…

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  • January 30, 2024

    January 30, 2024

    I received a letter from an eight year old who wanted me to know that her teacher read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane aloud to the class. “And my teacher cried at the end and I told my mother about the book and now guess what? My mother is reading the book too! We…

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  • November 28, 2023

    November 28, 2023

    Last week, I received a packet of letters from a class of fourth graders at Herrera Elementary in El Paso, Texas. Their teacher, Ms. Gibbens, read them The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and the kids wrote letters telling me all the different ways they connected with the story. Each letter included a piece of…

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  • October 24, 2023

    October 24, 2023

    In the airport last weekend: I was sitting and reading a book (an advance copy of a novel entitled Sandwich by Catherine Newman) and I kept laughing out loud. The woman sitting next to me said, “It must be a great book if it can make you laugh like that.” I said, “It’s wonderful. It…

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  • May 17, 2023

    May 17, 2023

    At a signing last weekend at the Barnes and Noble in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, a nine-year-old girl came through the line with a well-read copy of Because of Winn-Dixie. I said, “It looks like you’ve read this before.” And she said, “I’ve read it 32 times.” “Good grief,” I said. “Why so many?” “You know…

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