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About this Site
By teachers. For teachers.

It was Christmas Eve, and as usual, we were talking books. As a family of teachers and certified bibliophiles, our family get togethers always eventually result in a discussion of great books. Finally (and perhaps somewhat bored), our father suggested we make a website to share our recent book discoveries with the world, and thus, the idea for this website was born.

We've had a tremendous amount of input from teachers across the nation and across the curriculum, so this site is much more than just the work of three sisters who happen to love books. But in case you are curious 'Who would go to all this effort?"...here's a little about ourselves:

		Betsy Parkes The youngest of the sisters is Betsy. Before going back to school to be a teacher, Betsy was a manager at a non-profit organization and did a little graphic design on the side for her husband's company. She uses these skills on this site as the web-design and techie one of the group. In fact, she finds this website to be a really fun marriage of her interests and skills. Betsy has an MA in Education and an MA in Geography.

		Cindy Skillicorn Cindy is the middle daughter, and since the age of five, she knew she wanted to be a teacher. Still today she can't imagine enjoying a job more than she enjoys teaching her first grade students. With seven years teaching first grade and four years in Early Childhood Education before that, Cindy is drawn to books for lower grades and has made many great finds for our website. In 2005, Cindy received her MA in Education.

		Virginia Herbst Virginia is the oldest daughter and has been teaching at the elementary level since 1989. She has taught at several different schools, but she especially loves teaching at her current school--Donnelly Elementary-- where she has been teaching since 2002. Virginia has an MA in Education and a Reading Endorsement. She has taught in the classroom for ten years and worked as a Reading Specialist for eight.

And, to make it truly a family affair, our mother is very involved as well. She's our 'Chief Idea Generator' and is very involved in gathering the data we need to bring this all together. As with so many other things, we couldn't have done it without her or our father, who together raised us to be
a family of readers and support us in all that we do.

our family of readers

And...our users help create this site too! This website wouldn't be possible without all the input we've received from other teachers, homeschoolers, and involved parents. We're just the organizers! Your input is what makes this site most helpful to us all, so please keep the book suggestions, reviews, and lesson ideas coming.

Questions or Comments: Please feel free to contact us by clicking here.

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