It’s been busy times around here. Last week I attended the annual National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) conference in Columbus, Ohio and being there among so many passionate educators, librarians, authors, editors, publishers, publicists, and booksellers is one of the reasons I’m feeling especially grateful this season.

Rather than sharing about one book this week, I thought I’d share a few photo highlights from the conference, along with a number of books that I picked up or plan to add to my collection in the near future.

This was my second time presenting at an NCTE conference, and my fourth attending, and I have to say that this year topped all the years that came before. One reason was the opportunity to present with two stellar poets, authors, and friends: Jyoti Rajan Gopal and Megan Litwin. It’s hard to believe we’ve only known each other for a couple of years, and entirely online, no less. We worked on Zoom for a good many months and had a great time putting together our presentation, The Promise the Poetry: Building a Connected Community of Learners through Poems and Picture Books. We’re already thinking ahead to next year!

Enjoy these highlights!

(And… if you happen to be reading this on your phone, you’ll notice the text and images are not mobile friendly! I had to disable that plug-in, but change is coming very soon and, when it does, things will line up again. Thanks for your patience!)

While in Columbus, we visited the most enchanting bookstore — COVER TO COVER. Their speciality?

Books for kids! We signed our books and bought a few new favorites to bring home.

And here are a few recently or soon-to-be published books on display in the exhibit area!