Published In:

Books Published:
- Bess
Meant for 3rd and 4th graders, this guided reader (level P) tells the story of how girls aren’t allowed to act in Shakespeare’s London, so Bess pretends to be a boy to get a role. When it’s showtime, can she let her parents — and the Globe — know it’s her? BESS deals with the theme of how deep, societal change moves ever so slowly and how we can still play a part in it. - Snow Day
This early chapter book features full-color illustrations to capture the attention of 4th-6th grade children who enjoy modern retellings of classic tales. In this spin on Hansel and Gretel, Lia and Tim are playing outside on a snow day when they get lost in the woods. They find a candy shop owned by the mysterious Mr. Gretel, who gives them as much candy as they can eat. But they’ll have to rely on their own smarts when it comes to getting home! Kids will be captivated by this fast-paced adventure story that appeals to reluctant readers.
- Let’s Get This Day Started: Math Grade 5 and Math Grade 6:
The Let’s Get This Day Started series is a quick and easy way to enhance students’ proficiency in the content areas throughout the school year. Designed to be flexible enough for daily or weekly use, choose from various topics organized into themed units. Challenge students to learn and practice a variety of skills and strategies to help them succeed in the classroom and beyond.
- Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction: This
essential professional resource includes everything that teachers need to help students achieve digital literacy, and includes activities and easy-to-use templates to support teachers as they teach the key skills of analyzing and understanding online information.
California’s Complex Water System: Learn about the history of California’s water system with this primary source reader that builds literacy and social studies content knowledge! Primary source documents help students look at the world and current issues with a historical lens, and encourage them to consider bias and the validity and reliability of sources.
Select Writings/Interviews:
- Middle School Journal: Scaffolding adolescents’ critical thinking and disciplinary literacy skills in an in-person and virtual humanities class
- The Buffalo News: Some students rise to challenge of virtual learning
- The Buffalo News: Living with uncertainty in age of coronavirus
- The Osborne Association: The Endless Wait
- Teen Vogue: Family Separation Because of Incarceration and Detention at the Border is Taking a Toll on Children
- Interview with The Ryan Tubridy Show for RTE Ireland: A Murderer in the Family
- HuffPost (& republished w HuffPost Spain, HuffPost Mexico, and Your Tango): My Dad Killed 2 People When I was 15. Here’s Why I’m Finally Ready to Make Peace with Him
- Teen Vogue: Debtors’ Prisons, Explained
- The NY Times: ‘A Deep and Hollowing Pain’: Parents Share Stories of Caring for a Sick Child (my comment to the Reader Center starts the article)
- Motherly (originally published with Parent Co.): A Coffee Date at 40: Why Time for Ourselves is Essential
- Teen Vogue: How Social Media Played a Role in the 2016 Presidential Election
- The Osborne Association (#SeeUsSupportUs Campaign): The Attendance Note
- GoodHousekeeping.com: My Father Killed Two People—Could He Have Passed Down a Crime Gene to Me?
- NY Daily News: Young Casualties of Our War on Crime
- The Marshall Project and Vice: My Father Killed Two People
- The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: What I’ve Learned: Tips for Parents of Kids with A.L.L.
- News-O-Matic: The Science of Sport
Supportive Resources:
- I wrote an essay for Bright about using a robot to help educate my seriously ill child.
- I also wrote about ways to help a parent whose child has cancer for Scary Mommy.
- I wrote a narrative listicle for Bright during the focus on incarceration entitled Books for Kids with Incarcerated Parents.
Educational Resources:
Primary Source Readers: California Kit: I developed all of the educator guides for this kit. From the publisher: “This kit helps to build social studies content-area literacy by integrating dynamic primary sources into the classroom! This comprehensive kit uses original documents, maps, photographs, and other materials to engage students in learning the history of California.”
- Joining Forces: I co-authored this curriculum for schools to support children impacted by incarceration.
“Flopping Frogs,” about the evolution of the tailed frog, is one of the articles I sold to Highlights for Children. I also developed language arts resources to complement the piece.
Featured Blog Posts:
- Using From the Desk of Zoe Washington to Teach about Criminal Justice—HarperStacks
- Cutting the Deadwood — About making revisions on Laura Sassi Tales
- Monster Staying Power — What gives a picture book longevity? Pens & Brushes
- Thinking About Scrivener? — Kathy Temean’s Writing and Illustrating
- The Common Core for Kid Lit Writers — Pens & Brushes
- Mentor Text Help with Pacing in Picture Book Manuscripts — Marcie Finchum Atkins’s blog
- Why Mentor Texts Work: The Consume, Critique, Produce Model — Marcie Finchum Atkins’ blog