What I’m Reading: Ruth Culham

If��I try to read at night, I fall asleep and wake up at about 2:00��AM with my glasses askew and the book or journal on��the floor. I read on the plane — which is the best part��of flying — or in my comfortable chair in the living room. But I read. I��read all the time. I���m hopelessly addicted and I pray I will never recover.

Here are a few of the current fiction and nonfiction texts I���ve enjoyed of late.

The House of the Scorpion��by Nancy Farmer

This book is dystopian fiction and my favorite genre right now. It���s part of my newly acquired collection of Latino literature: picture books, chapter books, and YA. These books are the core of a new annotated bibliography I���m creating to support Latino students and their teachers in the classroom and beyond.

The Lightning Dreamer��by��Margarita Engle

With every text, I recognize the importance of readers having books in which they see themselves and that grow our understandings of culture and language.��The Lightning Dreamerdoes exactly that. I dare you to stop reading once you start and raving about it once you finish!

Craft of Revision��by Donald Murray

I read a lot of nonfiction as well. The fifth edition of Donald Murray���s��Craft of Revision��is a must-read, I mean a MUST read for every writing teacher. I have every edition, 1-5. Like I said: addicted. But every time I read any Murray masterpieces, I am gobsmacked by the truth of what���s important about writing: rewriting.

Letters of Note: ��An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audiuence, edited by Shaun Usher

I am about two-thirds of the way through this, regularly dipping in and out for joy and amazement.

Open��a World of Possible, edited by Lois Bridges

Finally, I recommend to you��Open a World of Possible.��Begin with any essay, but my not-so-secret favorite is Naomi Shehab Nye���s�����I Will Float Through This Day.��� Her writing blows me away���sings across the page, transforming my view of life with every phrase.

(Reblogged from��Scholastic Publishing: ��here.