Raising Star Readers

Rare & Blue Finding Nature's Treasures

Constance Van Hoven and Her Reading Team 

In this lat­est post, con­trib­u­tor Con­stance Van Hov­en shares the ways that books helped her recon­nect with her Read­ing Team now that they are able to be togeth­er in per­son once again.

Go, Grandma, Go!

Catherine Urdahl and Her Reading Team 

It’s been a month since I’ve seen my grand­chil­dren, who live five hours away — a month since we’ve snug­gled up with our favorite books. For me, a month is a long time.

Ranger Rick

Constance Van Hoven and Her Extended Reading Team
March 2021

I’ll be hon­est, this install­ment of Rais­ing Star Read­ers should be called “Rais­ing Gigi’s Spir­its.” The thing I miss most about spend­ing time with my Read­ing Team is shar­ing laugh­ter — every­thing from gig­gles to rolling-on-the-floor bel­ly laughs.

Snow Uri Shulevitz

Deb Andries and Her Reading Team
February 2021

Read­ing teams do read togeth­er, and my Read­ing Team(s) and I have been doing just that. How­ev­er, as you view the pho­tos of the twins, Hayes and Myles, now sev­en­teen months, you see them read­ing by themselves.

Be Kind

Ann Angel and Her Reading Team
February 2021

Our Rais­ing Star Read­ers con­trib­u­tor Ann Angel always has a unique take on select­ing books for her Read­ing Team. Here, Ann talks about books that encour­age what she calls “mind­ful­ness moments” — titles that help kids (and adults) slow down and focus dur­ing our cur­rent “wild” times: Our house is home to three gen­er­a­tions. So hus­band Jeff and

Echo Pam Munoz Ryan

Anita Dualeh and Her Reading Team
January 2021

Rais­ing Star Read­ers is grate­ful to have reg­u­lar reminders from Ani­ta Dualeh’s Read­ing Team that read­ing aloud isn’t an activ­i­ty reserved only for fam­i­lies with small chil­dren. Instead, shar­ing and talk­ing about books as you read them aloud togeth­er is some­thing a fam­i­ly can grow into …

Great Wolf and the Good Woodsman

Constance Van Hoven and Her Reading Team
December 2020

As we bring this year-like-no-oth­­­er to a close, Rais­ing Star Read­ers con­trib­u­tor Con­stance Van Hov­en shares a reflec­tion on the pow­er that books hold to con­nect us in so many ways: across time, across space, and across gen­er­a­tions. Here is Connie’s mov­ing reminder that “’tis the sea­son for Read­ing Team angels”: Here’s my read­ing team ready to head outdoors.

cover image

Catherine Urdahl and Her Reading Team
December 2020

Rais­ing Star Read­ers is delight­ed to intro­duce a new Read­ing Team, this one led by children’s book author Cather­ine Urdahl. Here, Cather­ine shares some heart­warm­ing read­ing moments, with enough book-love and remem­bered sum­mer sun­shine to take the chill out of the cold­est of Decem­ber winds: I read to my daugh­ters from the time they were infants, and

Small Walt Spots Dot

Constance Van Hoven and Her Reading Team
November 2020

Despite the coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic and a way-too-long phys­i­cal sep­a­ra­tion from her Read­ing Team, Con­nie Van Hov­en has con­tin­ued to find cre­ative ways for them to enjoy books togeth­er. Here, Con­nie describes some of the tac­tics she’s using — includ­ing tech­nol­o­gy and canine love — to assist her in Rais­ing Star Read­ers: My Read­ing Team is going to the dogs! I have

Dancing Hands

Deb Andries and Her Reading Team
November 2020

Rais­ing Star Read­ers is delight­ed to drop in again on Deb Andries and her Read­ing Team as they cel­e­brate diverse new offer­ings from Deb’s local library. Here’s how Deb describes the books that are help­ing to bring her joy: Read­ing remains a joy. Read­ing remains a trea­sured moment and a teach­able moment. Read­ing is shared. Joy­ful read­ing occurs when

Yellow Elephant

Anita Dualeh and Her Reading Team
October 2020

It’s always fun to catch up with one of our Read­ing Teams and see what titles have become new favorites for them. This month, how­ev­er, Ani­ta Dualeh and her sons are revis­it­ing OLD favorites: pic­ture books that were once beloved by Anita’s boys, but that they have now out­grown at ages 10 and 12. Below,

On the Day You Were Born

Brenda Sederberg and Her Reading Team
October 2020

Rais­ing Star Read­ers is delight­ed to hear that Bren­da Sederberg’s Read­ing Team has added to its mem­ber­ship: wel­come, Baby Phoebe! Bren­da is also focus­ing on adding some­thing else — she is expand­ing on the list of her Team’s old favorites by inten­tion­al­ly look­ing for books that are diverse and inclusive

Soar High, Dragonfly

Ann Angel and Her Reading Team
September 2020

As our Rais­ing Star Read­ers col­umn kicks off anoth­er school year, edu­ca­tors and care­givers both con­tin­ue to face the kind of chal­lenges few of us could have imag­ined last fall. Here, Ann Angel describes how her Read­ing Team is coun­ter­ing the “pan­dem­ic bub­ble” by adding non­fic­tion books to their list of favorite reads:  Hey there,

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Ann Angel and Her Reading Team
May 2020

In this Rais­ing Star Read­ers update, Ann Angel shares how read­ing aloud helps car­ry on her family’s her­itage of sto­ry­telling. Here’s how Ann describes it:  With Stay-at-Home a require­ment in most states, mine includ­ed, I only see some of my grand­kids via Skype and Zoom. But I have a daugh­ter and grand­son liv­ing with us. That means we’re balancing

The Gingerbread Baby

Deb Andries and Her Reading Team
April 2019

We’re espe­cial­ly delight­ed to cel­e­brate with Deb Andries (a.k.a. Gram­my) this month as she launch­es her newest Read­ing Team. Here’s how Deb describes the expe­ri­ence: My heart has always felt this “explo­sion of love” when we’ve wel­comed a grand­child into our fam­i­ly. I vivid­ly remem­ber when our grand­son Park­er, now 14, was born, and the pure and

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