“Books are a students’ passport to entering and actively participating in a global society with the empathy, compassion, and knowledge it takes to become the problem solvers the world needs.” –Laura Robb   Research shows that reading and literacy directly impacts students’ academic success and personal growth. To help promote the importance of daily independent

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, and we are sharing books from AAPI creators to be read and celebrated by students all year long.   My Year Abroad My Year Abroad is an entertaining story of a young American whose life is transformed when a Chinese-American businessman suddenly takes him under his

On April 8th, the nation observes Days of Remembrance in an effort to remember the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust as well as honor survivors and pay tribute to liberators. To learn more about Days of Remembrance, click here.   Franci’s War The engrossing memoir of a spirited and glamorous young fashion designer who

April is National Poetry Month, reminding us of poetry’s important role in our culture and in our classrooms. We are celebrating by appreciating a few titles that highlight the lives and work of inspiring poets.   The Hill We Climb On January 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman became the sixth and youngest poet to deliver a

In How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, Bill Gates shares what he’s learned in more than a decade of studying climate change and sets out a vision for how the world can build the tools it needs to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions.   Bill Gates explains what needs to be done to make a world

March is Women’s History Month, which recognizes the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields. Beginning as “Women’s History Week,” a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California in 1978, the movement spread across the country as other communities initiated their own Women’s History Week celebrations the following year.

The United Nations recognizes February 20th as World Day of Social Justice. This year’s theme is a Call for Social Justice in the Digital Economy. Read more about the importance of social justice for peace and security in today’s world. We’ve provided a few books centered on social justice issues including disability justice, antiracism and

The American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter announced their 2021 literary award winners and honorees at its virtual annual meeting. Below you can find which Penguin Random House titles appropriate for Middle School and High School students were among the winners.  To see which Elementary School titles were honored, click here. Printz Honor Every Body Looking

Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Find more on the

Written by Lia Bengtson and Tarja Lewis from Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, Washington DC As teachers of English Language Arts (ELA) and Social Studies for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, we are always looking for resources and collaborative projects that can provide meaningful and accessible learning opportunities for our diverse students whose primary languages

Transcendent Kingdom, Yaa Gyasi’s stunning follow-up to her award-winning novel Homegoing is a powerful, raw, intimate, deeply layered story about a Ghanaian family in Alabama.   Transcendent Kingdom Gifty is a sixth-year PhD candidate in neuroscience at the Stanford University School of Medicine studying reward-seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and

A Burning is a novel about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise—to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies—and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India. Jivan is a Muslim girl from the slums, determined to move up in life, who is accused of