Thanks to Jen Vincent at TeachMentorTexts and Kellee Moye at Unleashing Readers for hosting this great meme.

I cannot say enough about how great it was to be at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project’s Social Justice Saturday this past weekend. I’m going to gather my notes and post more about the speakers and ideas shared at the event, but today will focus on the amazing opening keynote by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney, #BooksBuildHope. Andrea called on us to “Wake up and get woke!” She talked about how she learned the difference between “empathy” and “compassion” and said that empathy is the ability to put yourself in the shoes of another, and compassion is empathy plus taking an action.

Andrea talked about what she calls her Page One Pact to her readers. It goes like this (from the first page):

Come with me on this journey ….

Stay with me ….

A few more pages, and you won’t even know you’re in a book…..

I loved her passion for her readers! As she read from a few of her books, she demonstrated how she hooks in a reader from the first page, and how she keeps her reader going in the book. These are some of her books I am re-reading this week:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrea talked about integrating words and images when teaching with her books. She also mentioned that, coinciding with the Birmingham church bombing in 1963, Ezra Jack Keats The Snowy Day, with “brown sugar boy Peter” was making its way into the hands of children all over. #BooksBuildHope.

Brian talked about “hands as the messengers of the heart.” This theme is present in many of his books. In Max Found Two Sticks, Scholastic notes that “Max’s quiet introspection turns into an exuberant celebration of the world around him.” This book is from 1994, and I did not know it. It is a beautiful story, told in words and illustrations.

There is so much more to share, but I need to get to school, so more later. Happy Reading!