With the rise of teacher stressors, new and changing state standards, and high-stakes testing, it is more important than ever to remind literacy teachers and teacher-librarians about the reason that brought them to this profession: the love of story. 

The Gift of Story: Exploring the Affective Side of the Reading Life, by John Schu (affectionately known as "Mr. Schu" all over reading communities), invites readers to consider literacy beyond its academic benefits and explore how universal truths found in stories can change us, inspire us, connect us to others, answer our deepest questions, and even help us heal along the way. Using his experience as a teacher, librarian, book lover, and story ambassador, Mr. Schu asks readers to reflect on what it means to share their hearts through stories and how it can connect us to individuals and learning communities.

The Gift of Story is presented through a study of five affective elements: Healer, Inspiration, Clarifier, Compassion, and Connector.  Along the way, readers will encounter insightful contributions from educators, children’s writers, and illustrators, as well as recommendations for sharing the gift of story with learning communities including: treasured book suggestions that stir reflection, engaging tips for celebrating literacy, and heart-growing applications to lift classroom and library practices.

Celebrate the way we define and imagine ourselves through literacy by using stories to connect to others, build and strengthen community, and honor the children we were called to teach. 

The Comprehensive Intervention Model: Fostering Self-Regulated Readers Through Responsive Teaching by Linda Dorn, Carla Soffos, and Adria Klein introduces educators to an innovative intervention model that puts theory to practice then gives that practice a framework. When implemented with fidelity, the framework has the potential to close the gap between low-progress readers and their grade-level peers.

The Comprehensive Intervention Model (CIM) organizes essential educational theory and effective instructional practices under a complete, layered intervention model. CIM includes both a professional book and resource manual that correlates the intent behind the Response to Intervention (RTI) movement. This well-researched and practical resource begins by laying the theoretical foundation for its methodology before describing its multi-tiered system of instruction across a range of components. The book concludes with a collection of examples that show the model in action.

The CIM professional book includes:

• High-quality, differentiated classroom instruction
• A portfolio of evidence-based interventions
• A seamless assessment system at an individual and system level
• School-embedded professional learning for increasing teacher efficacy and building capacity in schools

Beyond boxed programs and quick-fix options, the authors outline and advocate for an intervention approach that includes a commitment to systemic reflection, teacher development, precise assessments, and data-driven, responsive instruction—all centering on student needs.
 
The resource manual provides administrators, coaches, and teachers with the tools needed to implement the CIM with fidelity including planners, guide sheets, observation forms, data collection forms, phonics and word learning guides, and more. Use these two books together to support a Response to Intervention (RTI) method for closing the gap between low-progress readers and their grade-level peers.

In Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations: Elevating Home Experiences and Classroom Practices for Collective Care, Nawal Qarooni invites us to step beyond school-centric, one-off events and practices to create more authentic, engaging collaborations with caregivers. Instead of asking what families can do to support schools, Qarooni asks how schools can identify and celebrate what families already inherently bring to their children’s literacy learning.
 
Establishing this work in holistic teaching—a pedagogical mindset that affirms the importance of loving the whole child through compassionate, collective care—Qarooni explores five critical literacy tenets by highlighting opportunities to listen for, honor, connect to, and elevate family strengths while inviting them even further into our shared work and encouraging reflection around: 

• Recognizing the journey of process,
• Celebrating the role collaboration plays within the collective
• Using observational literacy to read the world
• Advocating for the power of talk to grow ideas and connect with others
• Giving children choice to make self-directed decisions

With moments of memoir woven in alongside diverse family examples and classroom stories connected to realistic instructional practices, Qarooni shows how all families contribute meaningfully to their children’s literacy lives. Discover how we can tap into those vast wells to support learning at home and in school while building positive, reciprocal relationships across both settings.
 
With an afterword by En Comunidad authors, Carla España and Luz Yadira Herrera, Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations is rooted in the simple truth that we cannot separate knowing our students from knowing their home, communities, and the people that they love. This book offers a toolkit for connecting with families and elevating the intrinsic strengths that reside in every child’s home.