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Reading has been one of my passions since....well...since I could read or even earlier... since my parents began reading to me.  Sharing books, trips to the library, communicating, understanding, laughing, crying, diving in, escaping.  Stretched out on a towel on a summer day, next to the cool pool in our yard or at the beach.  Curled up in an easy chair in winter or on a sick day from school, in bed late at night.  Read alouds as a family.  Those books where I kept reading to find out what happens but didn't [...]

Teachers, Parents, Readers, You are invited to visit www.karenlynnwilliams.com and check out the Teacher Guides for my newest books.Find discussion ideas, themes, vocabulary, art projects, recipes and games.  Expand the reading experience.  Enjoy!

Sara Palacios has collaborated on many different books including, Between Us and Abuela (FSG), ‘Twas Nochebuena (Viking), One Big Family(Eerdmans), and many other books for children. In 2012, she received the Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor for Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match(Children’s Book Press). Sara was born in Mexico City and earned BFA and MFA degrees in Illustration from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. What is your favorite image from Facing Fear? SP: I like the scenes inside the family and the aunt’s house. I like creating and seeing the family’s personality. Story-wise, it’d have to be when [...]

Just in time for Read Across American Day 2021. Facing fear is out with a nice review from Kirkus. The son of undocumented immigrants learns about what threatens to tear apart his family. Hooray! Enrique’s soccer team is going to the tournament. There’s only one problem: Enrique must get his permission slip signed by his father, who refuses to sign it for fear of what will happen when Enrique travels through the checkpoint. “If they find something on your papers, they could send us back across the border, split us up,” says Papá. [...]

How Does Snow Make You feel? Look What a Book can Do! Try building your own snow man or woman.  Dress him or her in any style.       You Don't Even need Snow. Look  What This ESL Class Did.   What does snow mean to you? What does it make you think of? How does it make you feel?   Snow almost always makes me feel HAPPY!

Check out The Tiny Bookstore.  Black owned bookstore in Pgh. See this review: Young Roblay runs through his Somali village practicing for the big race, where only the fastest runners will be declared men. He turns for advice to his grandfather, who tells Roblay of the mighty Shabelle River, which is strong and swift like a cheetah. Roblay must capture that spirit if he is to finish among the winners of the race and become a man. Inspired by her father's storytelling, Khadra Mohammed joins Karen Lynn Williams in retelling this Somali coming-of-age [...]