If your teacher has to die, August isn't a bad time of year for it," begins Richard Peck's latest novel, a book full of his signature wit and sass. Russell Culver is fifteen in 1904, and he's raring to leave his tiny Indiana farm town for the endless sky of the Dakotas. To him, school has been nothing but a chain holding him back from his dreams. Maybe now that his teacher has passed on, they'll shut the school down entirely and leave him free to roam. No such luck. Russell has a particularly eventful season of schooling ahead of him, led by a teacher he never could have predicted-perhaps the only teacher equipped to control the likes of him: his sister Tansy. Despite stolen supplies, a privy fire, and more than any classroom's share of snakes, Tansy will manage to keep that school alive and maybe, just maybe, set her brother on a new, wiser course.

If your teacher has to die, August isn't a bad time of year for it," begins Richard Peck's latest novel, a book full of his signature wit and sass. Russell Culver is fifteen in 1904, and he's raring to leave his tiny Indiana farm town for the endless sky of the Dakotas. To him, school has been nothing but a chain holding him back from his dreams. Maybe now that his teacher has passed on, they'll shut the school down entirely and leave him free to roam. No such luck. Russell has a particularly eventful season of schooling ahead of him, led by a teacher he never could have predicted-perhaps the only teacher equipped to control the likes of him: his sister Tansy. Despite stolen supplies, a privy fire, and more than any classroom's share of snakes, Tansy will manage to keep that school alive and maybe, just maybe, set her brother on a new, wiser course.

2012 IRA-CBC Children's Choices 2012 Children's Choice Book Award Finalist My teacher's pretty slick, Has a hundred teaching tricks. Even in the bathroom stalls, She hangs poetry on the walls, And while I'm there all alone I can't help but read a poem. From "Gross" and "Flushophobic" to "There's a Sock in the Toilet," these poems will have kids laughing all the way to "The Bathroom Dance!"

A New York Times / New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book New York Public Library Best Books for Kids Ezra Jack Keats Award Honor Winner Norma and her parents are going to her great-uncle Frank’s funeral, and Norma is more excited than sad. She is looking forward to playing with her favorite cousin, Ray, but when she arrives at the church, she is confronted with rituals and ideas that have never occurred to her before. While not all questions can be answered, when the day is over Norma is certain of one thing — Uncle Frank would have enjoyed his funeral. This sensitive and life-affirming story will lead young readers to ask their own questions about life, death and how we remember those who have gone before us. Key Text Features speech bubbles Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7 With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7 Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

I have seen water move rocks. I have seen thistles break through boulders. If water and flowers can move stones, surely love can. Becca Stevens, from Funeral for a Stranger In this meditation on living and dying, Becca Stevens shares moving and hilarious stories about her life, love, friends, and our many families. This delicately formed narrative is also a window into the soul of a priest. I loved it and will hold it in my heart with gratitude for years to come. -Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why Loneliness finds connections, depair meets celebration, and fear discovers faith. Join Becca on her journey to a funeral for a stranger. God will be there. -Don Schlitz, Hall of Fame songwriter of The Gambler With elegant simplicity Becca Stevens escorts the reader to the banks of the deepest spiritual wellspring. Surely she ranks among our most gifted teachers on the things that matter most of all. -Stephen Bauman, author of Simple Truths: On Values, Civility, and Our Common Good

The death of a student, especially to gun violence, is a life-changing experience that occurs with more and more frequency in America’s schools. For each of these tragedies, there is a classroom and there is a teacher. Yet student death is often a forbidden subject, removed from teacher education and professional development classes where the curriculum is focused instead on learning about standards, lesson plans, and pedagogy. What can and should teachers do when the unbearable happens? An Empty Seat in Class illuminates the tragedy of student death and suggests ways of dealing and healing within the classroom community. This book weaves the story of the author’s very personal experience of a student’s fatal shooting with short pieces by other educators who have worked through equally terrible events and also includes contributions from counselors, therapists, and school principals. Through accumulated wisdom, educators are given the means and the resources to find their own path to healing their students, their communities, and themselves. “A dreadful script had been written for our school and town (and the world) but this did not mean that a new script could not be written by us. We didn’t have to subscribe to the tragic script beyond our control. It was time to rewrite.” —Lee Keylock, high school teacher, Sandy Hook, CT “This book is a meditation on the unspeakable horror and ensuing anguish that follows the death of a student. A heretofore taboo subject, teachers have much to share about their creative, improvisational praxes when shared cultural scripts in urban classrooms are unavailable. This moving and poignant text illuminates as much as it inspires. —Angela Valenzuela, Professor of Education, University of Texas, Director of the Texas Center for Education Policy “Written by the most important kind of expert, someone who has been there, Dr. Ayers candidly discusses his own struggles following the violent death of one of his students. This book serves as an invaluable guide, providing research and practical tools on how to respond to a student death and facilitate a safe space in the classroom where students can ask questions, express emotions, and process their grief. This is a must-read for every teacher, administrator, and counselor so that a school is well prepared in the event of a tragedy.” —Heidi Horsley, executive director, Open to Hope Foundation, adjunct professor, Columbia University School of Social Work “For those who teach, this book will likely evoke painful memories of loss and unrealized potential that accompanies the tragedy of any student's death. Classrooms and communities are worlds of their own, where saving one life or inspiring someone in even the most minute or momentary way can mean saving a whole world. Ayers's book honors the lives of both teachers and students. It is a book for all of us.” —Jack Weinstein, director, San Francisco Bay Area, Facing History and Ourselves

From the author of the poignant and provocative debut Anything Could Happen comes an astonishing novel in verse about love, death, and the poetry we find when we most need it. How do you deal with a hole in your life?Do you turn to poets and pop songs?Do you dream? Do you try on love just to see how it fits? Do you grieve? If you're Avery, you do all of these things. And you write it all down in an attempt to understand what's happened--and is happening--to you. I Felt a Funeral, In My Brain is an astonishing novel about navigating death and navigating life, at a time when the only map you have is the one you can draw for yourself.