Our Projects

Welcome! The grade levels and ages listed here are estimates, simply meant to guide you. You know your kids and students best—every reader grows at their own pace. Many books are wonderfully universal and work well across multiple age groups, and some titles remain a perfect fit for readers who may still be developing their skills, especially with a bit of guidance or support. And remember: nonfiction picture books can be powerful tools at any age—even in high school—as supplements, mentor texts, or just great stories worth encountering. Thank you for sharing books with young people, embracing beautifully diverse stories, and keeping the magic of reading alive.

Feel free to use and share any of the educator materials provided here—just kindly credit Room 228, and please note that none of our resources are permitted for resale. Read away!

Educator Guide for Heather Murphy Capps’ The Rule of Three

Wyatt Cash has a three-part plan. Play travel ball in middle school. Letter on the high school varsity team. Play college ball at a Division One school. Step One: Make it through tryouts and earn a spot on the Tornadoes, where he faces intentional and unintentional snubs from peers and adults alike. There’s only one problem: Wyatt inherited a genetic trait from his dad that makes keeping his cool difficult. The more he learns about the past, the more Wyatt begins to question the rules he’s always followed to fit in. Will Wyatt be able to keep his stone cold facade and his personal dreams from going up in smoke? This educator’s guide creates opportunities for students to learn more about the historical events and injustices highlighted in The Rule of Three. The discussion questions and activities allow for text-to-self and text-to-real-world connections, making inferences, and practicing critical thinking skills.

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Educator Guide for Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s Middle Grade Novel The Night War

As seen in this middle grade novel, set at the border between freedom and fear in World War II France, teachers and students faced difficult choices in 1942 as Germany advanced their occupation of Europe through France; today, students and teachers face their own choices. This novel and this guide bring many important issues to the forefront and will help to facilitate essential discussions of themes, academic exploration, analysis of how history is constantly evolving, and text-to-self connections that encourage deeper understanding of characters, literature, students’ worlds, and themselves.

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Educator Guide for My Selma by Willie Mae Brown

In her memoir, Brown immerses her readers in the fear and uncertainties that the southern Black community experienced regularly in Selma, Alabama in the mid-1960s. Despite these many abuses, her memories of Selma are beautiful and filled with joy, love, and admiration for the people, for the locales she frequented, and for her family and home. In this educator guide, students will explore contextual vocabulary, the power of primary sources, and unique writing choices. Brown’s story teaches young readers today of the past, with the hope of changing the world of the future.

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Marcus Makes It Big by Kevin Hart

You better hold onto your socks because this book is about to knock them right off! Students are sure to love Marcus Makes It Big’s texts, emojis and realistic, REAL-LIFE conflicts. The activities in this guide give students a chance to dive deep into some big feelings, as well as get creative and cultivate a classroom community. Students will be reading, writing, analyzing, creating, and laughing the whole way. Happy reading!

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Educator Guide for Laura Shovan and Michael Rothenberg’s Poetry Collection, Monsterville

Monsters. We all know them. We’ve been taught to fear and even hate them. The monsters under the bed, in the closet, beneath us in the basement, or above us in the attic – they’ve all been given a bad reputation. In Welcome to Monsterville, award-winning author Laura Shovan and illustrator-extraordinaire Michael Rothenberg introduce us to their monsters and help us to reckon with our own monsters, too. Together they show us through humor, art, poetry, and heart that our monsters are deserving of empathy and acceptance.

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