AdLit Blogs

Keiana Mayfield knows books are magical mirrors and windows that support adolescents’ social and cognitive development, but how do we get them to… read books? Keiana will be your guide. She will use her expert knowledge of adolescent development, family dynamics, academic functioning and motivation, and insane bookishness to help you through the labyrinth that is Kidlit. Together you’ll explore new and old titles that will captivate and intrigue our middle grades and young adult readers. She will provide you with potential discussion questions, themes to explore, and assignment suggestions. 

Dr. Joshua Lawrence is a professor at the University of Oslo. His research interests relate to adolescent literacy development, second-language acquisition, hybrid learning, and improving instruction through coaching and leadership.

Josh and colleagues will provide insights from their ongoing support of state, regional and district literacy initiatives. All posts are reprinted with permission.

Literacy expert Timothy Shanahan shares best practices for teaching reading and writing. Dr. Shanahan is an internationally recognized professor of urban education and reading researcher who has extensive experience with children in inner-city schools and children with special needs. All posts are reprinted with permission from Shanahan on Literacy.

Gene Luen Yang  began drawing comic books in the fifth grade. In 2006, his graphic novel, American Born Chinese — a memoir about growing up as an Asian American — became the first graphic novel to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award. He is the author of the Secret Coders series and has written for the hit comics Avatar: The Last Airbender and Superman. In 2016, Yang was named the 5th National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. 

Karin Chenoweth is writer-in-residence at The Education Trust, a national education advocacy organization, and author of It’s Being Done and HOW It’s Being Done and co-author of Getting It Done, all published by Harvard Education Press. Her columns originally appear on The Huffington Post.