Elizabeth Maloney’s Book Descriptions.                              Return to Elizabeth's Reading Area

180 Days-Two Teachers and the Quest to Engage and Empower Adolescents by Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle. 

This book represents the collaboration of the master teacher authors over an entire school year: planning, teaching and reflecting within their own and each other’s classrooms in California and New Hampshire. Inspired by a teacher’s question, “How do you fit it all in?”, they identified and prioritized the daily, essential, belief-based practices that are worth spending time on. They asked, “Who will these students be as readers and writers after a year under our care?” Video clips of Kelly and Penny teaching in each other’s classrooms bring this year to life and show what a steadfast commitment to belief-based instruction looks like in action.

Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina and Passion in Adolescent Readers by Penny Kittle 

"In Book Love Penny takes student apathy head on, first by recognizing why students don't read and then showing us that when we give kids books that are right for them, along with time to read and regular response to their thinking, we can create a pathway to satisfying reading that leads to more challenging literature and ultimately, a love of reading. With a clear eye on the reality of today's classrooms, Penny provides practical strategies and advice on: increasing volume, capacity, and complexity over time, creating a balance of independent reading, text study, and novel study, helping students deepen their thinking through writing about reading, building a classroom library with themes that matter to 21^st century kids."

The Classroom Management Book by Harry and Rosemary Wong 

The information in this book shares useful solutions and is written for

• · For any teacher · In any school · at any grade level.

It shows how to create a safe and positive environment for student learning and achievement to take place.50 procedures that can be applied, changed, adapted, and incorporated into any classroom management plan 6 plans used by practicing teachers showing you how they get prepared for their first days of school 40 QR Codes to take learning beyond the printed page

Hidden Valley Road-Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

Hidden Valley Road is the story of an American Family with twelve children, six of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia. What took place on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary, that the Galvin family became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institute of mental health. Susannah Cahalan states that “Robert Kolker writes about the Galvin family with elegance and insight while weaving together the decades-long quest to understand the genetics of schizophrenia, somehow creating a story that is as haunting and intriguing as a great gothic novel.”  Hidden Valley Road raises the bar on what is possible in narrative non-fiction and was chosen for Oprah’s 2020 Book Club and was chosen one of 2020's top books by NY Times and others.

His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meecham 

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An intimate and revealing portrait of civil rights icon and longtime U.S.congressman John Lewis, linking his life to the painful quest for justice in America from the 1950s to the present—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Soul of America NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND COSMOPOLITAN

How to Be An Antiracist by Dr Ibram X. Kendi

National Book Award author Ibram X. Kendi's concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America--but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. Instead of working with the policies and system we currently have in place Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it. This powerful New York Times bestseller offers a refreshing approach that will radically reorient America on the urgent issues of race, justice, and equality.

Ikigai The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Hector Garcia and Francesc Mirailec

According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai—a reason for living. And according to the residents of the Japanese village with the world’s longest-living people, finding it is the key to a happier and longer life. Having a strong sense of ikigai—the place where passion, mission, vocation, and profession intersect—means that each day is infused with meaning. It’s the reason we get up in the morning. It’s also the reason many Japanese never really retire (in fact there’s no word in Japanese that means retire in the sense it does in English): They remain active and work at what they enjoy, because they’ve found a real purpose in life—the happiness of always being busy. 

In researching this book, the authors interviewed the residents of the Japanese village with the highest percentage of 100-year-olds—one of the world’s Blue Zones. Ikigai reveals the secrets to their longevity and happiness: how they eat, how they move, how they work, how they foster collaboration and community, and—their best-kept secret—how they find the ikigai that brings satisfaction to their lives.

I discovered Ikigai from a principal's recommendation and immediately felt it belongs in the hands of every educator stuck in the stresses and business of life. This is a great book to refuel and inspire. It provides practical tools to help you discover your own ikigai. Because who doesn’t want to find happiness in every day? Regardless of our role in education, we simply can’t take care of our students and families if we don’t pause and take care of ourselves.  

What’s your ikigai?

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

From a powerful new voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of growing up Black, Christian, and female in middle-class white America. Austin Channing Brown's first encounter with a racialized America came at age 7, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools, organizations, and churches, Austin writes, "I had to learn what it means to love blackness, a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America's racial divide as a writer, speaker and expert who helps organizations practice genuine inclusion. In a time when nearly all institutions (schools, churches, universities, businesses) claim to value "diversity" in their mission statements, I'm Still Here is a powerful account of how and why our actions so often fall short of our words."   Austin writes in breathtaking detail about her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial equality.

Living with Intensity by Susan Daniels, PHD. and Michael M. Piechowski, PHD.

Gifted children and adults are often misunderstood. Their excitement is viewed as excessive, their high energy as hyperactivity, their persistence as nagging, their imagination as not paying attention, their passion as being disruptive, their strong emotions and sensitivity as immaturity, their creativity and self-directedness as oppositional. This resource describes these overexcitabilities and strategies for dealing with children and adults who are experiencing them and provides essential information about Dabrowski s Theory of Positive Disintegration. Learn practical methods for nurturing sensitivity, intensity, perfectionism, and much more.

A Mindset for Learning by Kristine Mraz and Christine Hertz

We know how to teach content and skills. But can we teach the habits of mind needed for academic  success, a love of learning, and agency in the world? We can, and A Mindset for Learning shows us how!

Drawing on the work of Carol Dweck, Daniel Pink, Art Costa, and others, Kristi Mraz and Christine Hertz show;  us how to lead students to a
growth mindset for school-and life-by focusing on five crucial research driven attitudes:

                             Optimism; Persistence; Flexibility; Resilience; Empathy

This powerful book, will show you strategies to implement with students immediately and pairs research with practical classroom
help including instructional language, charts, visuals, teaching tips and more!

Not This, But That series of 15 short books published by Heinemann

Choose any two books to complete a Reflective Reading course section. (See booklist below)These short but powerful books have the ability to shift instructional practice in any elementary classroom. Much like the diet phenomenon Eat This Not That, this series aims to replace some common, existing teaching practices with approaches that are more effective—healthier, if you will—for our students. These books hope to aim the attention to widespread practices around important instructional topics that have little support in research or professional wisdom and offer alternatives that have greater support.

Each text is collaboratively written by authors representing research and practice. By the end of each book, you will understand both what not to do, and what to do, to improve student learning. This is perfect for any elementary teacher, instructional coach, or administrator seeking to empower teachers and colleagues with research-based tools and ideas to elevate the level of learning and engagement for every child!

Patterns of Wonder: Inviting Emergent Writers to Play with the Conventions of Language PreK-1 by Whitney LaRocca & Jeff Anderson

 ; _{Here, young, emergent writers are invited to notice the} conventions of language and build off them in this inquiry-based approach to instructional grammar. This book comes with standards-aligned lessons that can be incorporated into basal texts in just 10 minutes a day. Patterns of Wonder’s responsive, invitational approach allows young students to play and inquire about language and experiment, take risks, and have fun. 

Books in this series for other grade levels include: 

Patterns of Power Inviting Young Writers into the Conventions of Language Grades 1-5 by Jeff Anderson w/Whitney LaRocca

Patterns of Power: Inviting Adolescent Writers into the Conventions of Language Grades 6-8 by Jeff Anderson w/Travis Leech & Melinda Clark.

Reading Writing and Rising Up(2nd Edition) by Linda Christensen

"For almost two decades, teachers have looked to Reading, Writing, and Rising Up as a trusted text to integrate social justice teaching in language arts classrooms. This accessible, encouraging book has been called a profound work of emancipatory pedagogy and an inspiring example of tenacious and transformative teaching.  Now, Linda Christensen is back with a fully revised, updated version. Offering essays, teaching models, and a remarkable collection of student writing, Christensen builds on her catalog of social justice scholarship with a breathtaking set of tools and wisdom for teachers in the new millennium." Although this book is written from a secondary lens, many of the teacher-friendly ideas and templates can be scaffolded for upper elementary and middle school students. If you are seeking new ways to create an authentic culturally inclusive and engaging reading and writing environment, this is the book for you! 

Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow 

From a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, the powerful story of how a prominent white supremacist changed his heart and mind. This is a book to help us understand the American moment and to help us better understand one another. Rising Out of Hatred tells the story of how white supremicist ideas migrated from the far right fringe to the White House through the intensely personal saga of one man who eventually disavowed everything he was taught to believe, at tremendous personal cost. With great empathy and narrative verve, Eli Saslow asks what Derek Black's story can tell us about America's increasingly divided nature. 

Solitary: A Biography  Unbroken by Four Decades in Solitary confinement:My Story of Transformation and Hope by Albert Woodfox 

The unforgettable life story of a man who served more than four decades in solitary confinement - in a six-foot by nine-foot cell, 23 hours a day, in notorious Angola prison in Louisiana - all for a crime he did not commit. That Albert Woodfox survived was, in itself, a feat of extraordinary endurance against the violence and deprivation he faced daily. That he was able to emerge whole from his odyssey within America’s prison and judicial systems is a triumph of the human spirit and makes his book a clarion call to reform the inhumanity of solitary confinement in the US and around the world. Dwight Garner, New York Times, writes “Solitary is an uncommonly powerful memoir-and- a profound book about friendship.”