I'm glad you are here to celebrate!
Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link.
Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.
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I've been waiting for a very long time to share this little gem with the world. It is my very favorite of all my favorites. I know you're not supposed to have a favorite, but this one is a favorite.
I want it in your hands and in the teacher across the hall's hands and in principals', coaches', paraprofessionals', counselors', administrators' hands. If someone is in contact with a kid, I want them to read this book.
Sure, it's about teaching writers because that's what I do...but it's so much more. It's really about the power of an adult to help a child rewrite the way the story they are living can go. It's about understanding the way trauma changes brains and how brains can heal when needs are met. It's about my journey as a momma to kids from foster care. It's about my journey as a teacher and learning to love those who are hardest to love.
It's a call to action. We need more adults turning darkness to light. This little book does just that.
It's a professional book, but it's also a memoir and a persuasive essay and some parts even dance a little like poetry. It's skinny and only takes a few hours to read.
It's a professional book, but it's also a memoir and a persuasive essay and some parts even dance a little like poetry. It's skinny and only takes a few hours to read.
You'll laugh.
You'll shake your head.
You'll want to do something different.
(You might want to have a tissue or two handy.)
This is the best I have to offer the world.
I want to just give it away, but apparently publishers frown on this.
So I collected bits of it -- the intro and a chapter or two from each of the three parts -- and put it together in a little PDF. I'd love if you'd like to read the preview.
I imagine you snuggled in with my words and a mug of something warm. You can imagine me as I wrote it. Typically I'm under a quilt and it is black outside. In the wee morning hours, there's a cup of sweet coffee steaming next to me and when it's past bedtime, there's ice water on the bedside table.
I wrote it in the thick of the mess of life. I wrote it when things were too hard. I wrote it when I didn't have time...
Because this story matters...
Because we have the power to heal children from hard places...
Because educators might be the last hope for healing...
Because we can turn darkness to light.
Shoot me your email address in the box below, and I'll send you the preview copy. Click here if you want more information about the book.
Share your celebrations below!
Share your celebrations below!
Hurrah! Congratulations, Ruth. I hope many will read and love your book, realizing how important it is to everyone!
ReplyDeleteWhen I heard you read parts of this at All Write, I couldn't wait to read the entire book! Now, the time has come. Congratulations, Ruth! And thank you for all you do.
ReplyDeleteI just began reading your preview and am hooked! I can't wait to purchase your book. Your first few pages already speak to me and my classroom. What a blessing this book will be! Congratulations!!
ReplyDeleteI still remember hearing you speak at All Write (two years ago?) about this very same topic. Your words will be a blessing and inspiration to many. I love thinking of you writing in the early morning hours reaching out to help us turn darkness into light.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDelete"I wrote it in the thick of the mess of life. I wrote it when things were too hard. I wrote it when I didn't have time..." ...He carries us. Thank you for writing.
ReplyDeleteRuth, I saw an email from you announcing your new book. I am so excited for you and look forward to previewing it. The topic is one that will attract many teachers.
ReplyDeleteHurray! I checked out the preview and can't wait to read the entire book.
ReplyDeleteI've started reading the preview copy, and wow, what a great beginning! I am so appreciative of your honest journey. It gives hope for so many. Looking forward to reading all of it.
ReplyDeleteAll the best wishes for the success of your book, Ruth! My copy has been on order for weeks already, and I'm anxious for the release date. I loved reading the preview and in my mind's eye and in my heart putting myself back in the auditorium at AllWrite, hearing you share the story. This is an important book. Teachers need this message. I believe it will help many children who have been in hard places by helping the adults who care learn better ways to make a difference.
ReplyDelete