Links Worth Talking About 1-24-16

Links Worth Talking About is my weekly post of curated links about education, books, and apropos of nothing.

So this has been an interesting week in the world of Children's literature. Scholastic did something unprecedented. After only being in bookstores for a matter of days, they pulled the book A Birthday Cake for George Washington after furor of its overt racism. Lots of people seem to be weighing in on the topic without having actually read the book so rather than give my opinion, I just shared a link of someone who is more informed than I am.

Despite the unfortunate situation with a book being pulled from publication, this has been a rather prolific couple weeks in announcing children's literature book awards. In addition to the ALA Youth Media Awards, we also just learned the winners of:
Charlotte Zolotow (award for best picture book text)
Amelia Bloomer  (award for feminist literature from birth to age 18)
The inaugural Walter Award that was created by We Need Diverse Books 

Mr. Schu interviewed Newbery medalist Matt de la Peña this week and it was just as wonderful as you'd imagine.

This week I wrote a post about how a story in Elizabeth Gilbert's  Big Magic inspired my class to create a new mantra: Be the lobster.  

My friend Gary Anderson wrote this wonderful post about his top ten favorite interview questions for hiring English teachers. This post is so on point that the next time I have a job interview, I will ask these questions to myself and then answer them for the interviewers if they don't. :) 

I am a huge fan of the 826 organization that was founded by author Dave Eggers. We have one 826 location in Michigan, in my soon-to-be hometown of Ann Arbor, and I am elated to find out that Detroit will also be getting an 826 location.

This is an important article from the New York Times about Ivy League and other highly selective universities rethinking their admissions process.

Feeling burnt out? Pernille Ripp shares 12 ways she got her life back in balance as a teacher.

For those of my teacher friends who give their students choice and agency in their reading lives, you should be applauded. But Erica Beaton wonders what happens when we don't ask our students to push themselves and read hard things they wouldn't choose on their own. 

I need to put these words somewhere prominent as something to say the next time I have an anxiety attack.

This is an amazing TED talk by author Linda Sue Park: Can A Children's Book Change the World?

"In order to find yourself in a book you have to lose yourself in a book."

 Did you know you can order cards by beloved illustrators Jon Klassen and Christian Robinson? Check out Red Cap Cards.

And finally, if you haven't seen this parody of Adele's "Hello," but by a teacher wishing for a snow day, it's brilliant.