Holiday shopping

Are you still looking for the perfect gift for the kids and adults on your list? Lucky for you, The Reading Connection (TRC) is here to help.

Books are a great gift for kids of all ages. Build a love of reading from the very start by giving infants and toddlers board books that were made just for them. Board books can stand up to the heavy love that babies give them.  They are resistant to tears and being chewed on, since their pages are made of cardboard.

Picture books can appeal to young people from toddlers and teens, depending on their design and content. Take the time to read through a picture book that catches your eye. You might be surprised at the wit or depth contained therein. Don't hesitate to ask a bookseller to recommend her favorite titles for the children you have in mind. 

"Early readers" are designed to help beginning and newly independent readers feel confident reading on their own. You'll know these books by the distinctive 6-inch by 9-inch size. Reading books on favorite subjects is a strong motivator for new readers; it's well worth your time to seek out early readers on your young reader's current passion. 

Novels and nonfiction books for older kids come in all shapes and sizes. Find out what gets your recipient fired up and go from there.  Some kids will want the newest book in their favorite series, and these series are available for all ages (one current favorite is Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck). Ask a booksellers advice about the best choices for the age and interests of the child for whom you're buying. 

For the readers on your list, check out the many lists of top books of the year. Some of our favorites from this year are

Picture books: The Day the Crayons Quit and Xander’s Panda Party

Early readers: National Geographic Readers

Middle grade: Wonder and One Crazy Summer

Young adult: Allegiant and The 5th Wave

You can also find year-end recommendations at Goodreads and Indie Bound or on our wish list.  When buying books, please support your local independent bookstores, who support TRC.

Consider honoring friends and family who love books by helping to provide free books and literacy-rich experiences for at-risk kids and families. A $10 donation to The Reading Connection can purchase and deliver a book to the home of one of our Book Club kids. 

Winter Wonderland Crafts

Cold and snow outside make excellent reading conditions inside. If you are looking for something hands-on to do after you read about snow or polar regions, go play in the snow! But if you don't have any snow, and you don't want to make another paper snowflake, try these frosty crafts. (Click on the name of each craft for a link to instructions.)


Marshmallow Snowman
When it’s too cold to build a snowman outside, craft one inside using mini marshmallows – and you don’t have to worry about this guy melting any time soon. This craft leaves room for a tasty snack afterwards!

Paper Plate Penguin
Making this adorable fellow is a simple but fun craft for a young crowd. With just two paper plates, scissors, glue and markers, everyone can make a penguin friend.

Popsicle Stick Snowflake 
Forget cut-paper snow flakes. Go for 3-D flakes made with craft popsicle sticks. Decorate the popsicle sticks with white buttons, beads, glitter or anything else you can find at the bottom of your craft bin.

Handprint Polar Bear
Handprints can turn into just about anything, including this fuzzy friend from the North Pole. Blue paper, white paint and a marker are all you need for this frosty craft.

To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

More Summer Read-Alouds

Sounds too good to be true. Reading research has demonstrated that having fun doing new things makes you a better reader. Really. Going to the zoo, having a picnic, learning to swim or ride a bike, going to the county fair — they all make you a better reader. 

Everyone is talking about summer learning loss these days, but summertime can also allow for new life experiences and vocabulary that translate into learning gains. Long days and no school can mean more time for adventure and exploration. Summertime provides many kids with the opportunity to have new experiences, building their bank of knowledge and vocabulary, which, in turn, can strengthen their reading comprehension.

At The Reading Connection, we try to build on kids’ personal experiences, and provide some new ones, to build both motivation for reading and reading comprehension skills. Here are four more Read-Aloud outlines about common summer experiences for you to try with the kids at your site or in your life. 


Carnivals, fairs and amusement parks Read-Aloud
What do you think of when you hear “county fair” or “amusement park?” Thrilling rides? Sticky foods? Games of chance? How about crowds, bright lights and giant vegetables? Explore this summertime phenomenon at your Read-Aloud with books about roller coasters, fairs and contests, and then play some games of chance, learn about centripetal force or judge a contest.

Picnic Read-Aloud
Eating outside is fun. And risky. Do your Read-Aloud picnic-style, with a blanket and snacks. Outdoors, weather permitting. The books explore the ups and downs of picnicking and the activities bring picnics, and the books, to life.

Summer sports Read-Aloud
Do you remember learning to swim, ride a bike or play baseball? Read about all kinds of summer sports and then PLAY for a super sporty Read-Aloud!

Zoo and Aquarium Read-Aloud
Kids love wild animals. Explore the world of zoos or aquariums (the animals, the people who work there, and the visitors) at your Read-Aloud session. Learn about specific animals or endangered species. Then let the kids try their hands at feeding the animals or making their own aquarium.



Whether you are creating an experience for a child for the first time, or reinforcing an adventure they’ve had this summer, these summer Read-Alouds will be sure to please the kids and boost their knowledge at the same time.


To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.
 

Focus on the process, not the product

“All young children are great artists. The importance of their art is in the act of creating with confidence and in using their imaginations. It is our sacred trust not to take away this gift from our children, but to encourage and nurture it at every opportunity.” ~ Susan Striker, creator of the Anti-Coloring Books.

All too often when planning art activities for kids, we focus on the finished product and forget to leave room for kids' individuality in their creations. Providing a model for an activity is a good idea because it provides guidance, but it is always best to encourage the children to follow their whims. Some kids will take just a few minutes to add just a bit to what you give them. Others will add and add and add more and more materials. Some of the difference is a matter of age. Some kids just love to manipulate craft materials and use their fine-motor skills. 

We believe open-ended projects help build children's confidence in their skills and their individuality. It is important to praise equally those children who make elaborate extensions to the activity AND those who seem to engage only briefly. Who knows what elaborate extensions may be being built in the second child's imagination?

Open-ended activities work well for Read-Alouds because they are easily adaptable to wide age ranges. A four-year-old will enjoy these projects as much as an 11-year-old, but will likely produce a less ambitious product and spend less time at it. At a recent Read-Aloud at Next Steps Housing, the volunteers read Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews and gave each child dots with which to create an image of their choice. All of the kids, ranging from four to fourteen years old were thoroughly engaged in their creations and loved the freedom of the activity. 

Here are some open-ended ideas that could be adapted to fit a variety of themes.

From ID Mommy blog.

Collage.  Save or collect old magazines, catalogues and newspaper pages. Cut out pictures, paste them together on a sheet of construction paper to make a collage. Kids can create their favorite meal, if reading about food, or their ideal vacation spot, if talking about travel. Libraries often have old magazines for sale for $.25 each. You can also include nonpaper materials. For example, beans and rice, add so much to this farm scene.

Paper cutting. The classic example of paper cutting is making paper snowflakes. Show children how to fold the paper and where to cut so the finished product does not fall apart. Then give them the freedom to create snowflakes in different shapes and colors. Copy paper, tissue paper and coffee filters are great for this activity. 

Papel Picado is another great example of paper cutting. It's a traditional Mexican decoration that is easily adapted for kids. Fold colored tissue paper much like you would for a paper snowflake and cut out designs. These are often strung together to make colorful banners.

Clay and other manipulatives. Give each child some clay, play dough or pipe cleanesr and let her to create something related to what you've been reading. A team at Virginia Gardens last year let the kids create dinosaurs out of pipe cleaners. The kids were so proud of their creations. Have a look here:

Creating a scene. Provide each child with a piece of heavier stock paper as the base and a variety of materials to create a scene based on your theme. If creating a winter scene, provide cotton balls, glitter, pine needles, colored construction paper and stickers and let the kids create winter vistas.

When doing open-ended crafts, there is no "right" or "wrong" result, and it is finished when the child decides it is finished. The focus should be on the process of creating, not necessarily the end product. To spark conversation, ask each child to tell you about his art and what he used to create it. Let each child's personality and skills shine through their art.

For more ideas for open-ended crafts, read this pamphlet by 123child.com.



To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Cooking Together

'Tis the season for large meals with family and friends, so what better topic for a Read-Aloud than cooking as a group? Cooking together with family and friends is a great way for kids to learn how to work together while having fun at the same time! 

Bring in props such as measuring cups and spoons, a whisk and a spatula and talk about their uses. Show the kids several cookbooks and talk about their differences. Be sure to bring one that's made for kids with lots of pictures. The kids will learn important vocabulary and background knowledge they'll use for the rest of their lives. 

Books

Feast for 10 by Cathryn Falwell

What does it takes to prepare a feast for 10 people? Follow this family from the supermarket to the table.

Eight Animals Bake a Cake by Susan Middleton Elya

In this bilingual story, several animals come together to bake a cake. What will they do when their cake is destroyed?

Cook-A-Doodle-Doo! by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel

In an adaptation of the folktale, "The Little Red Hen," Rooster and his friends figure out how to cook the most wonderful, magnificent strawberry shortcake.

Ugly Pie by Lisa Wheeler and Heather Solomon

Tired of pretty pies, 'Ol Bear embarks on a journey to find an ugly, yet tasty, pie.

Bunny Cakes by Rosemary Wells 

Max and his sister, Ruby, compete to see who will make the best cake for Grandma’s birthday.

Cooking Activities

Now that you've read about cooking, it’s time to give it a try. Creating one of these snacks to take what you've learned and put it into action.

Fruit Kabobs
Cut pieces of fresh fruit slide onto skewers to make colorful, healthy snacks. You will need wooden skewers or pieces of uncooked spaghetti and an assortment of fruit. 

Melon
Bananas
Seedless Ggapes
Pineapple
Strawberries
Blueberries

If time is tight, pre-cut the fruit and have kids do the threading. If you know you'll have a little more time, let the kids help prepare the fruit. Kids can wash the fruit, peel bananas and pull grapes off the vines. Have an adult seed and peel melon and let the kids cut it into smaller pieces with kid-friendly cutlery. Kids can slice the bananas and cut the tops off off strawberries. 

Most of the fruit will slice easily with a plastic knife. Older kids can cut fruits with a regular knife, with supervision.

No Bake and Decorating Foods
All of the stories listed above feature cakes or pies. Bring in the ingredients to make a no-bake cake or pie, such as a peanut butter pie. Be aware that many no-bake cakes require an electric mixer.

To avoid all that measuring and mixing, but still offer the opportunity to interact with food, let the kids decorate their snack. You can bring any variation of the following items to decorate or assemble the kids' own creations.

• Pre-baked cupcakes or cookies and frosting supplies
• Flavored rice cakes (like Quaker brand) with cream cheese and fruit or frosting supplies
• Pre-baked biscuits or store-bought shortcake shells, whipped cream and fruit
• Individual graham cracker pie shells and filling options such as pudding or whipped cream and fruit

To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Non-traditional Thanksgiving crafts

A Read-Aloud volunteer recounted that last year the kids whooped and hollered when they found out they weren't making hand-print turkeys as the craft at their Thanksgiving-themed Read-Aloud. Kids prepare for Thanksgiving at school and in other programming throughout the month of November, so chances are they've already done hand-print turkeys or that other classic craft you pull out every year. To help you mix things up a bit this year, we've provided several non-traditional Thanksgiving crafts.

Pilgrim hats:  Pilgrims often get overlooked in the realm of Thanksgiving crafts. This easy activity turns black cups into Pilgrim hats. They can also be turned into name cards by writing a person's name on the black circle. Kids may want to make one for everyone coming to their Thanksgiving meal.
Source: Origami Owls

Finger print turkeys:  Take the hand-print turkey in another direction by just using fingerprints. Offer several different colored ink pads to give the feathers variation. The instructions provide details on making front-facing and side-facing turkeys. Add some scenery around the turkey when it's all finished. 
Source: The Charmed Mom 

Pine cone crayon-holder turkeys:  Gather enough pine cones so that each child will have one. Transform the pine cone into a turkey by adding a face and feet using construction paper. The feet can be made by cutting out a heart and gluing it to the bottom of the pine cone. Tacky glue will probably work best for this project. The turkey's feathers are made by inserting crayons into the pine cone. Let the children choose their colors and let them take their turkey and crayons home.  
Source: Amanda's Parties to Go



Leaf turkeys:  Collect some fallen leaves and glue them to circles of cardstock to make the feathers. Cut circles out of two large leaves for the head and body. Add eyes and a beak and you've got a very natural turkey! 
Source: My Creative Stirrings

Paper plate turkey faces:  This is an easy craft for a young crowd. Kids can choose whichever colors suit them for the "feathers." The instructions say to use paint, but markers or crayons will work just as well. 
Source: Preschool Crafts for Kids





Pair any of these crafts with a great Thanksgiving book such as Gracias the Thanksgiving Turkey.



To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Election Day — Hold the Politics

In anticipation of Election Day, we organized a theme around elections, voting and democracy. We began the session by discussing ways in which the children already get to vote, whether for their favorite food at home, for a class representative at school, or about what to do with their friends. 

We first read Duck for President by Doreen Cronin, in which Duck is tired of doing his farm chores so holds elections to take over the farm from Farmer Brown. In an entertaining story, Duck continues to run for higher and higher offices to redress certain grievances.  

In Max for President by Jarrett Krosoczka, Max and Kelly decide they both want to be class president in a tale about election processes and compromise.  

Otto Runs for President by Rosemary Wells presents a similar theme of class elections, but shows what happens in a “race to the bottom” filled with unrealistic campaign promises. 

Books

Vote! by Eileen Christelow

If I Ran for President by Catherine Stier

Larue for Mayor by Mark Teague

I Could Do That! by Esther Morris

Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio

Woodrow, the White House Mouse by Peter and Cheryl Barnes

Clifford for President by Acton Figueroa

My Teacher for President by Kay Winters

D is for Democracy by Elissa Grodin

Why Are Elections Important? by Jacqueline Laks Gorman

Voting in an Election by John Hamilton

Activities

The team and children then demonstrated democracy in action by voting at multiple polling stations. To prepare for the voting, every child made a Voter Identification card and every volunteer an Election Official card. The children wrote their names on pre-printed identification cards, then hole-punched them and tied a yarn “lanyard” through them. At the same time, the Central Election Official also set up three separate tables for polling places. 

When everyone had their IDs, we assigned the voters and election monitors to their first polling place. To be successful, following directions is important, much like in real-life voting. The volunteers helped the children understand the voting question and method at each polling place.

• Favorite Color/Favorite Sport—Ballot Box
• Choice of Snack—Cast Lots
• Future Read-Aloud Topics—Computer Tabulation (requires a laptop)

At each station, the election monitors checked the voter IDs, verified that each child had not already voted, explained the voting question and helped the children cast their vote.  

At the first polling place, the children marked a paper ballot and deposited it in a box. At the second, a marble was added to the jar representing their vote and at the third, the voters selected from multiple options on a computer. The team used this last vote as a way of determining the interest level in certain topics we were considering for future Read-Alouds. 

About every 5 minutes, once everyone had voted at their polling place, the Central Election Official called time and each group moved to the next polling place. After everyone had voted at all of polling places, the volunteers and 1 to 2 Deputy Monitors tallied the vote, and then the deputies delivered the official results to the Central Election Official. 

We then discussed the differences of each voting method, revealed the overall results to all the children on a white board, and informed them that they (unknowingly) had voted for a treat at a future Read-Aloud (the snack choice vote). 

Everyone really enjoyed the voting. It was entertaining to see the children and volunteers take their roles seriously and to watch the children try to influence each other.  

Guest blog post written by Jason Dutil, volunteer at Woodbury Park.



To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Start With a Book offers a world of opportunities

With summer vacation around the corner and children promising to be as curious and eager to explore as ever (both in and out of Read-Alouds!)  StartWithABook.org by Reading Rockets presents a fantastic way to pair books and activities for any size group.  Not only could these pre-packaged Read-Alouds be used by volunteers in TRC's programs, but they were designed specifically for parents to use with their children at home so you can use them with your kids and friends at home too.

The main feature of StartWithABook.org, which is aimed at children ages three to nine, is a library of themes from art to weather, all of which come with pre-planned reading and activities. The five steps to discovering the theme with a child (or children!) are listed:

Art and Artists

Choose books and book-related activities

For each theme, Start With a Book provides a list of books, both fiction and nonfiction, with links to where you can purchase them--though you could also  head over to the nearest public library to get it started. 

 

Bugs, Birds and Animals

Explore more hands-on activities 

Family Literacy Bags on every theme are available for download.  Every Bag includes three activities: a Creativity activity (a hands-on craft project), an Imagination activity (with writing, drawing or creative play) and a Get Real Activity that emphasizes how to draw real-world experiences and useful information from the books you've read.  A page of bookmarks suggesting even more titles makes it easy for kids who get passionate about a topic to continue exploring it at the library.

Builders and Building

Try some summer writing

Encourage kids with vivid imaginations who are taken with a particular story to write their own! StartWithABook.org has an archive of kids' writing prompts that you can use to get started--but make sure that imaginations are running wild!

Detectives and Explorers

Dig deeper and play

Reading Rockets has provided links to more resources that kids and parents can use together.  On its homepage, Start With a Book has a list of games and apps related to the themes in its library--so kids can see how the subjects they're reading about are related to the rest of the world. 

The focus of Start With a Book is to keep minds active over the summer, and to do it through books.  Be sure to use it as a resource in the coming months--and recommend it to parents who are struggling to keep children occupied during a long summer.

Post by The Reading Connection intern Anna McCormally.


To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Use it or lose it! Tackling summer reading loss

Summer is officially here. We've had our Memorial Day cookouts and the temperature and humidity are ramping up. Kids are getting excited about school getting out and educators across the country are worried about how much kids' abilities will deteriorate over the summer.

Summer reading loss is a real and cumulative problem.   

Available research indicates that the reading achievement of poor children, as a group, typically declines during the summer vacation period, while the reading achievement of children from more economically advantaged families holds steady or increases modestly.            

(Richard Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen, Phi Delta Kappan, September, 2003.)

Moreover, researchers have found that these losses are cumulative over time. So if two kids are at the same reading level at the beginning of second grade, by the time they reach the end of sixth grade, the poor child can be nearly three years behind. Studies show that there is little or no difference between the children’s achievement while school is in session. It is what happens over the summer that sets poor kids back.  

This video from Education Nation demonstrates the contrast between the summer experiences of underprivileged children versus those of their more affluent peers:

What factors cause this phenomenon? Poor kids face a triple threat over the summer in relation to their more affluent peers. They experience the following: 

Lack of access to books.
Poor kids have fewer books in their homes and less access to public libraries than middle-- and upper -- income kids. If you don't have any books, you can't practice your reading skills.

Lack of encouragement and motivation to read during the summer.
Poor kids are less likely to be involved in programs sponsored by libraries, book stores and communities that encourage and reward reading for fun over the summer. If reading isn't fun, kids are less likely to do it on their own.



Lack of resources and opportunities to build background knowledge. 
Poor kids' families have fewer resources to send their kids to summer camps or enrichment programs or to take family outings and trips than more affluent kids. 
  

Why do real-world experiences matter?

Real-world experiences build both vocabulary and background knowledge. These two factors influence reading comprehension. The more background knowledge a child has, the better he will understand what he's read, even if his vocabulary is inadequate.

Summer reading programs have been trying to address the first two problems for years, with varying success. Some schools send books home with kids over the summer to provide book access. Libraries and bookstores conduct summer reading programs and challenges to motivate kids to read.

TRC's We Are Readers summer reading initiative works to address all three. 

Access to books:  We continue our Read-Aloud program during the summer with all of our partner agencies, including the weekly opportunity for kids to choose books to keep. We also continue our Book Club program, which provides children's books to families through the mail.

Motivation:  At our participating We Are Readers sites, we create a bulletin board system to track how much kids read for fun, and each site sets aside time every day for the kids to read whatever they want to (or be read to).  This year our theme is the Olympics, so kids will be adding flames to a torch for every ten minutes they read for fun. We also provide prizes for site staff to give kids when they catch kids reading for fun. Seeing the torch get bigger and accumulating prizes motivates the kids to read, read, read.

Real-world experiences:  TRC makes real-world experiences central to the We Are Readers program. We make the participating sites' summer events calendars and children's programming plans available to our volunteers so that they can plan Read-Alouds that correlate to the kids' experiences. For example, if a site takes the kids to Great Falls, TRC volunteers might do a Read-Aloud about hiking and camping. TRC also brings in special guests and creates opportunities for the kids to have new experiences, such as preparing the kinds of foods a visiting zookeeper feeds the pandas at the National Zoo.

What can you do to make this summer one with learning gains instead of losses?

Participate in a local reading program through your public library, bookstore or The Reading Connection. In one week in May, 123 kids read for 15,000 minutes in the Arlington Kids Read Read-A-Thon. Keep the momentum going by joining TRC's We Are Readers summer initiative through the Arlington Kids Read website. We'll post our Olympics theme tracking materials as well as outlines from some of our favorite summer time Read-Alouds for you to use with young readers starting at the end of June.

Make sure the kids in your life have lots of books available to them. Visit the library, swap books with friends and search your shelves for old favorites that have been buried behind more recent titles. Include newspapers and magazines in what you offer kids during the summer. Check out Reading Rockets' summer reading list for ideas.

Use great resources like James Patterson's ReadKiddoRead website. He provides easy steps to make reading the thing to do this summer as well as a great list of books. Reading Rockets also has a handy guide to make sure your kids have fun reading this summer.  Finally, Reading Rockets has created a new summer reading program called Start With a Book.

Finally, try something new with your kids this summer. Teach them to garden, cook or fix a bike. Explore your neighborhood or visit a museum. Listen to a new kind of music together. Gather family stories from your elders. Every new experience builds vocabulary and background knowledge, improving comprehension. And the more you understand what you are reading, the more fun it is to read!


To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

This ain't your ninth-grade English class: How to do poetry with kids!

April is National Poetry Month, providing TRC volunteers with a great excuse to delve into the world of children's poetry in their Read-Alouds. 

In addition to being different than the norm and therefore more likely to spark interest, children's poems have the plus of being short and often spaced widely on the page. The language used is usually repetitive, rhyming and unusually vivid. This (and the fact that there are poems written on nearly every subject you can imagine!) will appeal to all of the kids at your Read-Aloud.


Shel Silverstein's poetry is tried and true. Pick up a copy of A Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends or Falling Up and don't forget Silverstein's posthumous collection, released in 2011, Everything On It. His poetry makes great use of off-kilter or made-up words, plays on word meanings and onomatopoeia.

Jack Prelutsky, the United States' first ever Children's Poet Laureate, is another favorite: try The New Kid on the Block or Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face. 

For an example of what you're in for, here's an excerpt from a poem of Prelutsky's entitled "As Soon as Fred Gets Out of Bed:"

"As soon as Fred gets out of bed,
his underwear goes on his head. His mother laughs, "Don't put it there, a head's no place for underwear!" But near his ears, above his brains, is where Fred's underwear remains."

For older kids at your Read-Aloud, try Jabberwocky by Christopher Myers. This urban sports spin on the Lewis Carroll classic will surely get the kids talking. Hip Hop Speaks to Children, edited by Nikki Giovanni, may appeal to an older crowd as well.  

Of course, Poetry Month lends itself as much to activities as it does to reading ideas. Before you start reading, ask the kids what they think a poem is--you'll be surprised at how many people can't answer this question! 

Lists of rhyming words created by the Sullivan
House kids and volunteers.

Talk about rhyming and make a group list of words that rhyme. Use a white board, chalk board or flip chart. Start with a simple word and write down all the words that rhyme with it. Pick a few lines from your favorite kid's poem and clap your hands as you say them out loud to give everybody an idea of what meter is without even mentioning the term!

After reading as many poems as you and your audience can handle, put them to work writing their own! Have the kids work individually or in pairs to write poems on a subject that everybody knows about like a favorite food or outdoor place. Here are some tips about writing poetry about gardens you could adapt for your Read-Aloud.

If the kids are younger, write a poem or a story in a group. Pick a subject and have each child add one word that you write on a big sheet of paper in front of everyone. Jack Prelutsky's website offers more ideas for poetry activities, including How to Write a Funny Poem.

If you usually read storybooks at your Read-Alouds, the switch to poetry could be welcome! Take this month as an opportunity to shake things up and get silly with the combination of children's poetry and children.

Post by The Reading Connection intern Anna McCormally.


To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

TRC's 2012 Literacy Honoree: Jarrett Krosoczka

It’s a bird! It’s a plane!  It’s…the lunch lady?!  Serving sloppy joe’s one minute and justice the next, the protagonist of Jarrett J. Krosoczka’s Lunch Lady graphic novels takes down a league of librarians, a cyborg substitute, and many other middle school villains.  

The mastermind behind these action-packed, nationally adored, and deliciously witty novels is Jarrett J. Krosoczka. With the success of his Lunch Lady series and many of his picture books, Krosoczka is not only a talented writer and illustrator, he is one of today’s most popular children’s authors. It is no surprise that he was selected as the Literacy Honoree at The Reading Connection’s 2012 Of Wine & Words fundraiser. As the 2012 Literacy Honoree, Krosoczka will be giving a keynote speech and signing books at Of Wine & Words on March 9, 2012, as well as speaking with guests at the exclusive VIP reception.

Of Wine and Words will be held on March 9, 2012 at 7 P.M. at the Boeing Conference Center in Rosslyn, VA. The VIP reception will begin at 6:30 P.M. The night will include an appearance by our first ever Chef Chair -- executive pastry chef at Lyon Hall, Rob Valencia. Guests will enjoy an impressive wine and beer tasting, a selection of gourmet food from the area’s top restaurants and a silent auction. Tickets can be purchased here.

Krosoczka may be a best-selling author with two books currently being made into motion pictures, (the Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute and Punk Farm) but those aren’t the only reasons we chose him as our 2012 Literacy Honoree. Like us here at The Reading Connection, Krosoczka has a deep love for reading, illustration and children. To honor these passions, as well as the grandparents who raised him, Krosoczka established the Memorial YouthScholarships at Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, MA, where he himself took art classes as a child. To find out more about Jarrett, visit his website or check out his blog. 

Before the main event, Krosoczka will be reading with the kids at the Woodbury Park Read-Aloud program as a special treat. We are excited and honored to have him at this year’s Of Wine & Words and hope to see you all there! 


To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.