Marc Aronson
Marc has a doctorate in American History and teaches in the graduate school program of the Rutgers University School of Information and Library Science, but he has built his career over the past two decades as an editor, author, and publisher of books for younger readers. The winner of the first Robert L. Sibert medal from the American Library Association for excellence in nonfiction, he is a frequent and passionate advocate for boys, reading, nonfiction, and history. He has been a national spokesman for the History Channel and frequently appears on Book-TV and in other media.
His most recent books are The Skull in the Rock: How a Scientist, a Boy, and Google Earth Opened a New Window on Human Origins co-authored with Dr. Lee Berger will be published this Fall 2012. Pre-order this title at www.bn.com or www.amazon.com. Master of Deceit: J. Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies (2012), Trapped: How the World Saved 33 Men from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert (2011) and Sugar Changed the World, which he co-wrote with his wife Marina Budhos, was a finalist for the 2011 LA Times Book Award and the 2012 YALSA Award for Excellent in Nonfiction.
For more information on Marc's work visit these two web sites: www.marcaronson.com and www.sugarchangedtheworld.com for more.
Mary Ann Cappiello
Mary Ann teaches content literacy and children's and young adult literature, including a course in nonfiction literature for children and young adults, at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. She spent over a decade teaching English-Language Arts in public schools in and outside of New York City and New Hampshire, and received her doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University. Mary Ann has been a guest on public radio, and her publication credits include: English Journal, The Dragon Lode, Language Arts, and The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. She is the co-author of Teaching with Text Sets (Shell Education, 2012) and blogs with Lesley colleagues Erika Thulin Dawes and Grace Enriquez at “The Classroom Bookshelf” every Monday during the school year. Mary Ann also writes regularly for the "Curriculum Connections" digital newsletter of School Library Journal.
Myra Zarnowski
Myra teaches courses in nonfiction literature and social studies at Queens College, CUNY and works with teachers and students in public school settings. She has been a frequent visitor to PS/IS 499, the Queens College School for Math, Science, and Technology where she has introduced children to a number of excellent nonfiction trade books. She is also the advisor to the graduate specialization in Children’s Literature at Queens College.
Myra’s two books—Making Sense of History and History Makers are based on her experiences working with children as they interpret history for themselves. These books show how to use a hands-on, sense-making approach to learning about the past. She is also a contributor to journals such as The Journal of Children’s Literature, Dragon Lode, Children’s Literature in Education, and Reading Teacher.
Myra served as chair of both the Orbis Pictus Award Committee in Outstanding Nonfiction and of the Notable Books in Social Studies Committee. A book she co-edited, The Best in Children’s Nonfiction, includes the thoughts experiences of the Orbis Pictus Committee members as they selected nonfiction winners and the winners themselves on the trends in nonfiction writing. She is passionately interested in bringing excellent nonfiction into schools to promote thinking and learning across the curriculum.
Sue Bartle
Sue is the Director of the School Library System at Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES in Fredonia, NY. She is a library weeding fanatic, technology ebook/ereader program developer and a Common Core Nonfiction Advocate. She is currently collaborating on a series of CC Workshops with Marc Aronson in New York State and Hawaii.
Kathleen Odean
Kathleen is widely known for her lively presentations on new young adult fiction and nonfiction. She has given hundreds of workshops for teachers and librarians throughout the U.S. Before turning to writing and public speaking, Kathleen was a public and school librarian for seventeen years. She has written four book guides, published by Ballantine, including Great Books about Things Kids Love and Great Books for Girls, for which Kathleen appeared on NBC’s Today Show.
Kathleen teaches Children's and YA Literature online at Mansfield University and YA Literature for U.R.I. She was the chairperson of the 2002 Newbery Award Committee as well as a member of an earlier Newbery Award Committee, Caldecott
Award Committee, Notable Children’s Books Committee, and Carnegie
Award Committee for videos.
Kathleen reviews children's and YA books for The Providence Journal and Kirkus Reviews. She is the YA fiction reviewer for Teacher-Librarian. She previously reviewed for School Library Journal and Booklist. She was the contributing editor for children's books for BOOK Magazine for five years. She blogs at GreatCommonCoreNonfiction.com