Dear Parents and Educators,

What can you do to support the success of the readers and writers?

What works best to motivate kids, tweens, and teens to love books of all kinds and in their writing and conversations to share the discoveries about themselves and others good books offer them?

These are questions I’ve been asking parents and teachers in schools and universities in the U.S.A., Turkey, Greece, and Albania for over fifty years. And I keep finding that the answers always come down to some pretty basic needs: Good books that interest and excite students; powerful student-centered activities that involve kids, tweens, and teens in lively conversations and writing explorations that help to make them skilled readers and writers; and, of course, parents and educators who work hard at creating an environment where kids are nurtured, challenged, and respected.