You Say Potato…

Those bylines look harmless enough on a book cover, but should you read a great book and wish to suggest it to a colleague, student or friend, your tongue is sure to trip over some tricky-to-pronounce author names. Fear not! The days of mangling names such as, “Richard Egielski” and “Lisa Papademetriou” are numbered thanks to the website, TeachingBooks.net.

TeachingBooks.net is a database of instructional material designed to enliven any K-12 fiction or non-fiction readings and library activities. The website offers a host of user-friendly features and includes a two week free trial without obligation.

In addition to author pronunciations, meet-the-author videos are available for teachers to “host” award-wining authors and illustrators right in their own classrooms. Videos are also used to present author interviews and audio book readings/trailers. Users have the power to effortlessly search through a surplus of books and modify results depending on grade level and subject matter. With each book, TeachingBooks.net offers study guides, lesson plans and a plethora of professional evaluation material right at one’s fingertips.

This database makes teaching easier and gives students the opportunity to not only understand the books they are reading, but learn how the stories came to be. It gives students the ability to put a face behind the book.

Stuck on a name? Teachingbooks.net will help you out faster than you can say “Jon Scieszka.” (Clue: http://www.teachingbooks.net/pronounce.cgi?aid=2190)