Meet the Netters

Our Implementation & Educational Support Team: Sandy, Mary Ellen, Kym, and Deb

As TeachingBooks.net concludes our 17th school year of connecting readers to resources and insights about children's and young adult books, I thought I'd take a moment to introduce the fantastic people who bring you this service.

Please enjoy our staff directory where you can read brief bios of each Netter, hear us pronounce and tell stories about our names, and learn about the influential books of our childhood.

This extraordinarily dedicated team deeply cares about the work we do for each and every one of you. I personally find it to be the pinnacle of professional fulfillment to collaborate and learn with them every day — striving to enrich the reading experience for everyone.

Feel free to send me a note with any stories about your interactions with these tremendous people, and know it is our true pleasure to serve and partner with you.

Nick Glass, TeachingBooks.net Founder & Executive Director

Behind the Books: Shaun David Hutchinson on creating LGBTQ characters

In this month's guest blog post, Shaun David Hutchinson reflects on the importance of representing the full spectrum of experiences and personalities of LGBTQ characters and moving past defining a character by their sexual identity. Hutchinson looks forward to a time when rainbow authors "are confident creating queer teens who are funny and talented and vicious and flawed and so real that they crawl off the page."

Read Shaun David Hutchinson's Guest Blog Post now.

Meet-the-Author Book Reading: Veera Hiranandani on representing global history

Veera Hiranandani's family history led her to write The Night Diary (Dial, 2018), a story set during the Partition. Growing up, Veera heard stories about how her father's family had to leave India during this time of conflict when the country was split into Pakistan and India. A lot of research along with her 12-year old narrator, Neesha, made Veera more confident writing about this "important and tragic historical event."

Listen to Veera Hiranandani share the inspiration behind The Night Diary.

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

Featured Booklist: 50 Multicultural Books Every Child Should Know

This classic booklist from the Cooperative Children's Book Center reminds us that every child should have the opportunity to see themselves, their families and their communities in the books they read. An engaging way to provide windows and mirrors to children, teens and families in your school or library community.

Explore resources for all the titles from the 50 Multicultural Books Every Child Should Know booklist.

Contests & Giveaways

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

• Brightly Family Summer Sweepstakes
• Sunny by Jason Reynolds
• Set of Aliens, Inc. series books

See the June Contests & Giveaways on our blog.