Welcome to TeachingBooks provided by TexQuest! TexQuest is a statewide digital resources program providing high-quality resources for Texas K-12 public schools and open-enrollment charters, supported by appropriations from the Texas State Legislature, a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and member fees.

Access to TeachingBooks is available many ways, from your campus or district webpages, through a single sign-on portal, through the TexQuest website, and simply from home. If needed, contact TexQuest Support for usernames and passwords. Go to the TexQuest website at TexQuest.net/welcome. Scroll down to see the menu of resources available.

Select TeachingBooks and you will be on your way to accessing the resources for most of your favorite children’s and young adult books.

And now, please enjoy this video.

Welcome to TeachingBooks! I’m Nick Glass. Over the next few minutes, I’m going to share a few ways that you can enrich and expand connections to the children’s and young adult books read in your classrooms, libraries, and communities.

Since 2001, TeachingBooks has existed for one primary reason -- and that is to enable every reader the opportunity to joyfully learn more and to deepen connections to the very books that they are reading. One way we do this is almost every day, we create original interviews with the very best authors and illustrators. For more than 21,000 titles, we have original interviews with these extraordinary book creators.

For example, we interviewed the author of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and include her in our collection of authors telling the stories of their names. Would you say her name as Maya Angelo or Maya Angeloo? Let’s learn directly from the author herself.

(Maya Angelou's voice) " Hello. My name is Maya Angelou. It's a very beautiful name. I know. I mean, I like it."

So with TeachingBooks, you have the ability to remove boundaries of access and enable each of your students unparalleled opportunities to learn the backstory, research, and inspiration for a book, directly from the author at the moment they are reading a text.

The easiest way to start is to go to the home page and begin by scanning a barcode or typing the title of a relevant book into the search box. On each book’s main page, TeachingBooks offers you a professionally curated collection of digital resources that includes a table of contents, some featured resources, and an accordion feature that you can use to explore: Author Interviews, Book Guides, Book Readings, Vocabulary Lists, Awards, Distinctions, and more.

Another powerful way to use TeachingBooks is to select Browse from the top of any page and then select Books, Authors/Illustrators, Awards, or the collection of resources that you want to explore.

For example, you are looking for nonfiction, then use the Filter Results tools on the left side to hone in on elementary school, biographies, that are about the African American experience, that are so good that they won a major award and that have lesson plans.

One powerful component of TeachingBooks is that you can align this collection of resources to the books that you are using in a class syllabus, a reading program, and even an individual student’s reading list. Use the orange and white plus sign to make your own custom booklists, and/or to add titles to existing lists. And then, using the sharing tools, indicated by the arrow, you can instantly collaborate and give resources to others via QR code bookmarks, emails, and embed them into your Google Classroom, or other learning management system. And no one will need to sign in or search the database to get these materials. Instant access is now available to exactly what you need, already collected, authenticated, and ready to be used.

A few other components to our service that you might find very valuable include: The Instruct section --has standards support that demonstrates a variety of jumping-off points to integrate literacy resources into many curricular areas. Literacy Connections provides pretty remarkable support for key facets of instruction, from comprehensive text complexity to providing culturally relevant, primary source materials that enhance the teaching of diverse books.

Help and Support gives the ability to keep learning how to best use this service, to train your colleagues, and to have unlimited professional support.

And know that in our quest to reach every reader, TeachingBooks works on any device from a computer to a tablet or a phone.

In 2001, I started TeachingBooks with a dream that every reader could learn from the author the moment that they are reading a book. And as you’ll see, we have made that vision a reality! With 44,000 schools currently having access to our service, we think this is powerful and magical stuff. So thanks for taking a look

Thanks again for learning more about TeachingBooks. We’re here to support the literacy connections in your community.

On the Help section of the site, you will find Quick Start & Training tools, options to request training, and more.

You can also request training through TexQuest going to TexQuest.net and submitting a TexQuest Virtual Training Request form in the training section. Thank you again, and enjoy.