In the tranquil setting of an eerie night The thought of my love guides my pen with ease and swiftly strokes. Words and senses take over the moment and my soul is lifted to soar like an eagle's majestic flight in search of high ground. The echo of my heart repeating my deepest desires, pictures of past emotions render my mind, only to discover new and endless obsessions that create a balance between madness and sanity.

What if we viewed every read aloud as an invitation to learn more about literacy and ourselves? When we layer together the two ideas that the books we share not only serve an academic purpose, but they also convey big, affective messages, our classroom conversations become richer and student learning becomes more meaningful. Layers of Learning explores read-aloud strategies designed to enhance your reading and writing standards by capitalizing on the way literature can impact caring communities. With over 200 picture-book suggestions, author JoEllen McCarthy introduces the Heartprint Framework, which demonstrates how you can layer literacy and life lessons throughout your day using multiple connections across learning. Inside, you'll find the following: 60 read-aloud-based connections that support caring classroom conversations, lesson planning, and extensions Instructional opportunities for nurturing readers and writers during workshop, small-group, and individual conversations Literacy Snapshot photo essays with ideas to adopt or adapt Continuing connections with additional resources and invitations for further learning Layers of Learning is structured around four key elements: Community, Agency, Respect, and Empowerment, or CARE. Inside you'll discover the tools you need to emphasize reading and writing connections, character education, and culturally responsive teaching, while championing the power of read alouds to affect independent readers, writers, and thinkers.

A MEMOIR BY THE YOUNGEST RECIPIENT OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE As seen on Netflix with David Letterman "I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday." When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she became a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize. I AM MALALA is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons. I AM MALALA will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world.

Renee's Poems with Wings are Words in Flight are a plethora of poetic thoughts penned to: I nspire and N urture K indreds, while P reparing and E mpowering the N ations.

This book is a compilation of inspirational prose and poems that I have written over the last twenty years. These are all stories that are relevant to my life and hopefully will bring you as much peace and contentment as they brought me.