Heise Reads & Recommends – A School Librarian Sharing Books & #ClassroomBookADay

A #BookADay for Native American Heritage Month 2024

October 22, 2024

It’s November again, so time to share my recommendations for a picture book to read each day of Native American Heritage Month. This year I’m back with 30 new titles. Added on to my lists from 2021 & 2022 & 2023, there are now 120 picture books (!) I have recommended for teaching about Native heritage, culture, and peoples. There… Read More

Picture Books for the Spooky Season

October 21, 2024

It’s that time of year for some spooky reads & I found some new fun reads for the season this year! And in 2022, I shared my original list of some favorites…

Freedom to Read (Banned Books) Week

September 22, 2024

For the start of *Freedom to Read Week* I choose to put the focus on the main point of the activism week from the positive stance of what we’re promoting vs the negative actions of banning books and restricting access to stories and violating rights of readers to decide for themselves a reminder that one of the most often banned… Read More

Honoring Names at the Start of the School Year

August 5, 2024

Those first days are a critical time to set the tone for the whole rest of a school year. And one of the most important things to make sure to get right are students’ names. Someone’s name is an integral part of their identity, so ensuring classmates and teachers are using and pronouncing each student’s name correctly can go a… Read More

AANHPI Heritage Month & A New Resource for #ClassroomBookADay

May 15, 2024

I have two main goals for summer work around supporting educators doing #ClassroomBookADay: Creating resources to make it easier to find and display high-quality books + continuing to share title recommendations in ways that will be helpful and timely. I have done a lot of thematic lists over the years, but they are usually more limited in number; however, that… Read More

An Inclusive Look at Author/ Illustrator Studies

March 14, 2024

I was asked in a #ClassroomBookADay 101 session to recommend author / illustrator studies that would provide more inclusive representation than what is often seen in schools. Requests for ideas for such studies frequently appear in librarian groups on Facebook, and the names that come up most often are straight, cis, white authors and illustrators. As librarians and educators, we… Read More

2024 READ ACROSS the Diverse Regions of AMERICA

February 21, 2024

I have been sharing titles for Reading Across the Diverse Regions of America for several years now. To help in efforts to have a more diverse & inclusive focus for students, in 2020, I shared a list of 50 inclusive picture book read aloud alternatives. In 2021, I selected 5 titles for each of the 5 regions of the United States (Northeast, Southeast,… Read More

Black History Month & Beyond – A Virtual Picture Book Read Aloud Library – Newly UPDATED for 2024

February 8, 2024

Newly updated for 2024! A Google Slideshow covering 233 titles, in 7 categories, with book covers linking directly to copyright-compliant video read alouds of recommended picture books. Use for Black History Month & all year! Categories include:(a purposeful, intentional start with positive portrayals)Black Joy & Magic FamiliesNatural HairEmpowering StoriesBlack HistoryExcellence / Innovators / History Makers (Biographies)Racial / Community Awareness Direct… Read More