I try to teach my students that books are a mirror, reflecting their own lives, and a window, giving them a peek into someone else's.

Students will read if we give them the books, the time, and the enthusiastic encouragement to do so. If we make them wait for the one unit a year in which they are allowed to choose their own books and become readers, they may never read at all. To keep our students reading, we have to let them.

I am a reader, a flashlight-under-the-covers, carries-a-book-everywhere-I-go​, don't-look-at-my-Amazon-bill. I choose purses based on whether I can cram a paperback into them, and my books are the first items I pack into a suitcase. I am the person who family and friends call when they need a book recommendation or cannot remember who wrote Heidi. My identity as a person is so entwined with my love of reading and books that I cannot separate the two.

The purpose of schools should not be to prepare students for more school. We should be seeking to have fully engaged students now

Books are love letters (or apologies) passed between us, adding a layer of conversation beyond our spoken words.

I try to teach my students that books are a mirror, reflecting their own lives, and a window, giving them a peek into someone else's.

Failure is not an option, so why talk about it?