This year, I am decididng to take things a little more slowly in order to really relish who the choices are. So little by little, the chosen books and authors will be revealed, I hope you don’t mind.

In a world that is upside down, still, I have found myself reaching for fantasy books more and more. As a way to learn about our past and consider our future, the realm of fantasy allows us to escape, dig in, and dream of what can be. While the worlds may be unfamiliar, their messages are not and we can find comfort, hope, joy, even in the darkest parts of their stories. Our Global Read Aloud choices offer up hope in the most human way; tales of overcoming, tales of finding your own strength, tales or relying on community to come together in order to defeat a common enemy. It is what the world has shown us in the past year as well, it is what has kept many afloat, many alive. And so we shall gather around these books and continue to build community. We shall share these read alouds as way to connect across city lines, country borders, and oceans. We shall hopefully find similarities within the heroic journeys of the stories we read that let us see how we, too, can be heroes in our way.

WHAT IS INFORMATION YOU MAY WANT RIGHT NOW?

• Kick off will be October 4th and the project will run for six weeks as usual, ending on November 12th. You can absolutely fall behind or start later, just don’t read ahead.
• The official hashtag for the year is #GRA21, other hashtags will be announced once the books are.
• The hashtag for Duncan Tonatiuh will be #GRADuncan
• For a comprehensive FAQ post, go here
• To join the main Facebook group, please go here. To join the picture book author Facebook group, please go here. This is where news will be posted for the most part.

So who is this year’s picture book study….

This year’s chosen creator is Duncan Tonatiuh!

Duncan was born in Mexico City and grew up in San Miguel de Allende. He graduated from Parsons The New School for Design and from Eugene Lang College in New York City in 2008. His work is inspired by Ancient Mexican art, particularly that of the Mixtec codex. His aim is to create images that honor the past, but that address contemporary issues that affect people of Mexican origin on both sides of the border. His book Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant’s Tale is the winner of the 2014 Tomás Rivera Mexican American children’s book award. It is also the first book to receive two honorable mentions, one for the illustrations and one for the text, from the Pura Belpré Award for a work that best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in children’s books. The book was featured in USA Today, The Chicago Sun, The Houston Chronicle among other major publications because it deals with the controversial topic of immigration. His book Diego Rivera: His World and Ours won the 2012 Pura Belpré illustration award. It also won the 2012 Tomás Rivera. His first book Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin received an honorable mention from the Pura Belpré Award in 2011. It was named an Americas Award Commended Title and a Notable Book for a Global Society list.

Week 1:

Week 2:

Week 3:

Week 4:

Week 5:

Week 6:

Your Choice

I am so excited to dive into the fantastic world of Duncan Tonatiuh, there is just so much to uncover. Because Duncan has so many incredible books to choose from, you can also feel free to substitute other of his books in for the ones chosen above, some of his picture books are geared a little older so feel free to make the selections work for you. Please consider following Duncan’s work on social media and supporting your local independent bookstores with your book purchases. If you want to support the Global Read Aloud, please consider purchasing your books through the links placed here, the GRA gets a small affiliate percentage whenever books are purchased through Bookshop.org – a website that sends orders through local bookstores. If your school requires you to use Amazon to order the books, please consider using this link to place your order and support the GRA.

I hope you like these choices, and if not, that’s okay too, then come back next year.

In June 2020, I wrote a post saying that perhaps 2020 would be the last year. for the GRA That after 11 years, perhaps it was time to say goodbye, end on a high note, move on to other things. Mired by the pressures of the world, bogged down by the usual emails and comments disparaging the choices of books, overwhelmed by the world, that decision felt like the right decision at that time. In June, 2020, I could not have imagined how I would feel now in February 2021, in a world that still feels extraordinarily heavy. That is still moving at a very slow pace as we look for small glimpses of hope in the form of a vaccine, in the form of brief moments of togetherness that has eluded us for so long.

And so as I sat across from my husband last night, celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary at home pretending to be at our favorite restaurant, he brought up research that is being done right now on the power of hope and having things to look forward to. That for the first time in a long time researchers are noticing that people are not planning for things in the long-term because COVID has bogged us down for so long. That we are not planning trips, we are not making plans in the future and that they wonder what not having things to look forward to will do to us as human beings. And it made me think once again about the power of the GRA. About the many emails, comments, and reach outs I received after announcing that 2020 might be the last year. How some of you told me that it was the one constant in your year, that it was one of the biggest things that you looked forward to, that there had to be some way to keep it going. And you kept telling me, periodically an email would show up asking if I had made a decision, would I reconsider? And I had been thinking of it, after all, due to COVID teaching I didn’t even get to do it with my own students this year, it felt unfinished in some ways.

And so last night I made the decision that I have been pulled toward for a long time. The Global Read Aloud will be back, albeit a bit more streamlined, but it will happen in 2021. I feel a bit like a flake, like I played with a lot of people’s emotions, but in June it didn’t feel possible, now it does. And I hope you can forgive me for that.

So a few changes you may notice for this year are:

• There will be no sign up, just join the Facebook community or stay tuned to this website for updates. That way I don’t have to send out emails all of the time to all of the new sign ups.
• There will be no voting. Having contenders meant a lot of people got mad when they didn’t feel the right book was selected, so this way it should feel more streamlined; if you don’t like the choice, simple, don’t do the GRA this year.

What is information you may want right now?

• Kick off will be October 4th and the project will run for six weeks as usual, ending on November 12th.
• The official hashtag for the year is #GRA21, other hashtags will be announced once the books are.
• Books will be announced end of March, beginning of April.
• I will continue to try to find books that speak to a broader world experience, whether set somewhere outside of the US or with a broader global appeal, I am still looking for suggestions, so please consider nominating books here

I hope you consider joining me again as we continue to connect around the world, as we continue to create larger conversations centered in understanding, in acceptance, in empathy. I am excited for another year of reading together, I hope you are as well. If you have other ideas or questions please leave them in the comments.

Stay safe,

Pernille

Time is ticking and the kick off to the 2020 Global Read Aloud is nearing.  I hope this collection of information is helpful!

For a comprehensive FAQ post, go here

The dates are October 5th – November 13th, 2020 –   you can fall behind, just don’t read ahead.

PICTURE BOOK STUDY

This year’s chosen creator is Juana Martinez-Neal!

Juana Martinez-Neal is the recipient of the 2019 Caldecott Honor for Alma and How She Got Her Name, her debut picture book as author-illustrator, which was simultaneously released in Spanish as Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre. She was also awarded the 2018 Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration for La Princesa and the Pea, written by Susan Middleton Elya.

Juana is the illustrator of La Madre Goose: Nursery Rhymes for los Niños, Babymoon, Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, and Swashby and the Sea. She was named to the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Honor list in 2014, and was awarded the SCBWI Portfolio Showcase Grand Prize in 2012.

Juana was born and raised in Lima, Peru. She is the daughter and granddaughter of artists. She now lives in Arizona, with her husband, three children and two dogs.

Week 1:

Week 2:

Week 3:

Week 4:

Week 5:

Week 6:

Your Choice

EARLY READERS

Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet by Zanib Mian and illustrated by Nasaya Mafardik!

Welcome to the imaginative brain of Omar!

Omar and his family have just moved, and he is NOT excited about starting at a new school. What if the work is too hard or the kids are mean or the teacher is a zombie alien?!

But when Omar makes a new best friend, things start looking up. That is, until a Big Mean Bully named Daniel makes every day a nightmare! Daniel even tells Omar that all Muslims are going to be kicked out of the country . . . Could that possibly be true?

Luckily, Omar’s enormous imagination and goofy family help him get through life’s ups and downs.

Reading breakdown for Omar:

Week 1:  Beginning – Chapter 4

Week 2:  Chapter 5 – Chapter 8

Week 3:  Chapter 9 – Chapter 12

Week 4: Chapter 13 – Chapter 16

Week 5: Chapter 17 – Chapter 20

Week 6: Chapter 21 – End

UPPER ELEMENTARY/MIDDLE GRADE

Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis and Traci Sorell!

Educator’s Guide can be found here

Resources will be shared in order to navigate the use of the “N” word in the book.

Reading breakdown for Indian No More:

Week 1:  Chapter 1 -5

Week 2:  Chapter 6 – 11

Week 3:  Chapter 12 – 15

Week 4: Chapter 16 – 19

Week 5: Chapter 20 – 23

Week 6: Chapter 24 – 26

MIDDLE SCHOOL/INTERMEDIATE

Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park!

Educator Guide can be found here

Resources will be shared in order to discuss Indigenous portrayal in the book as well as educate further.

Reading breakdown for Prairie Lotus:

Week 1:  Beginning – Chapter 5

Week 2:  Chapter 6 – Chapter 8

Week 3:  Chapter 9 – Chapter 13

Week 4: Chapter 14 – Chapter 18

Week 5: Chapter 19 – Chapter 23

Week 6: Chapter 24 – End

YOUNG ADULT

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi!

Educator Guide created by Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul can be found here

Reading breakdown for Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You:

Week 1:  Introduction – Section 1

Week 2:  Section 2

Week 3:  Section 3

Week 4: Section 4

Week 5: Section 5 until page 218

Week 6: Page 219 – end

To order your books:

Please consider ordering the books from Bookshop.org– an independent bookstore that partners with local independent bookstores to sell books. You can see the winner list here and support The Global Read Aloud at the same time.

If you need to order through Amazon, please order it through this affiliate link, the cents earned from it goes to purchasing and shipping books to those who cannot get them.

Facebook groups to connect with other educators:

Main GRA Facebook group

Picture Book Study Group

Early Reader Book Group

Upper Elementary/ Middle-Grade Book Group

Middle School Book Group

YA Book Group

Twitter hashtags for the year:

Picture book author study – #GRAJuana

Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet– #GRAOmar

Indian No More – #GRAIndian

Prairie Lotus – #GRAPrairie

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You – #GRAStamped

Global Read Aloud Merchandise:

T-shirts and other merchandise supporting the project can be found here

Resource Sharing – add your ideas

Please remember and respect that the Global Read Aloud is trademarked and is established in the spirit of free collaboration.  Please do not create resources to sell for the project – it goes completely against the nature of the work and will result in you being barred from the project.

Do please share resources on this spreadsheet, make sure to not delete anything off it.  Also, please do not change the sharing settings on it.

To see the spreadsheet and add your own free resources, go here

Author Websites:

Juana Martinez-Neal

Zanib Mian

Nasaya Mafaridik

Charlene Willing McManis

Traci Sorell

Linda Sue Park

Jason Reynolds

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

PS:  If you still need to sign up, please go here.