The fire of literacy is created by the emotional sparks between a child, a book, and the person reading. It isn’t achieved by the book alone, nor by the child alone, nor by the adult who’s reading aloud—it’s the relationship winding between all three, bringing them together in easy harmony.

I have very little patience with children.

As everyone knows, nothing is sweeter than tiny baby fingers and chubby baby toes.

Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they’re four years old, they’re usually among the best readers by the time they’re eight.

I don't go to church much anymore, but Methodist values still wind me up and send me ticking into my daily life.

I was the most Australian child ever in the world, even though my home was in Africa.

I realized with grief that purposeless activities in language arts are probably the burial grounds of language development and that coffins can be found in most classrooms, including mine.