About
ReadKiddoRead
While James and Judy select the books guaranteed to make your kids' mouths water, they are backed by The ReadKiddoRead Board, a group dedicated to get kids reading. Read more about the people involved with ReadKiddoRead below.
James Patterson has been the number-one
selling author in
Patterson is a champion of reading and
for several years sponsored the James Patterson Pageturner awards, which
rewarded people and organizations that spread the excitement and joy of books
and reading. Through this and other efforts he has given millions of dollars to
people and causes that are working to spread the joy and excitement of reading.
READKIDDOREAD—which
helps parents and educators connect their children with the books that will
turn them into lifelong readers—is his latest innovation in this area.
His foray into writing books for
all ages was the critically acclaimed Maximum
Ride series, which debuted on the New
York Times bestsellers list at #1 and remained there for twelve straight
weeks. The series has so far made appearances on The New York Times bestsellers lists ninety-four cumulative times,
proving that kids of all ages love page turners. Maximum Ride was an American Library Association 2005 Teens Top Ten
pick and was a London Times Book of the Week selection and a Book Sense 2007
Children’s Pick.
Patterson is the creator of the #1 new
detective series of the past dozen years, featuring Alex Cross and including
the Hollywood-adapted "Along Came a Spider" and "Kiss the Girls,"
starring Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman. He is also the creator of
the #1 new detective series of the past five years, featuring Lindsay Boxer and
the other members of the Women's Murder Club, from which the ABC television
drama series is adapted. He has authored books behind six films on the
He is the author of novels—from The Thomas Berryman Number (1976) to Honeymoon (2005)—that have won awards
including the Edgar, the BCA Mystery Guild's Thriller of the Year, the
International Thriller of the Year award, and the Reader’s Digest Reader’s
Choice Award.
In 2008, he also began authoring graphic
novels for young readers, and is releasing editions in both the Daniel X and
Maximum Ride series.
James lives in
You can find out more information about James and his books at www.jamespatterson.com.
Judy
Freeman (www.JudyReadsBooks.com) is a well-known consultant, writer, and
speaker on children's literature, storytelling, and all aspects of
librarianship. She is a visiting lecturer at the
Judy’s books include Once Upon a Time: Using Storytelling, Creative Drama, and
Reader’s Theater with Children in Grades PreK-6 (Libraries Unlimited, 2007);
Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3 (2006) and its popular companions Books Kids
Will Sit Still For: The Complete Read-Aloud Guide (1990), and More Books Kids
Will Sit Still For (1995) all considered indispensable resource for
literature-based classrooms and libraries; and the yearly The Winners Handbook,
based on her Winners Workshops, reviewing her top 100 children’s books of the
past year. She also writes several online book review columns, including
“Desperate Librarians" for the online fiction database NoveList, and
"What's New" for School Library Journal's Curriculum Connections. Her
latest and most exciting project is writing children’s book reviews and other
content for READKIDDOREAD.
Some of the reviews on this site have been adapted from entries in Judy Freeman's books, including the "Books Kids Will Sit Still For" series and "The Winners Handbook" series, and from her monthly "Wild About Books" columns for School Library Media Activities Monthly, all published by Libraries Unlimited, a Greenwood Publishing Group Imprint. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., Westport, CT.
In
1991 Michael joined Little, Brown and Company and was appointed Editor in
Chief in 1999 and Publisher in 2001. In 2000 he was honored for
Editorial Achievement in the annual LMP Awards. Some of the writers he
has worked with are the novelists Martin Amis, Jimmy Buffett, Michael
Connelly, Janet Fitch, John le Carre, Rick Moody, Walter Mosley,
Megan Tingley is
Publisher of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers where she
publishes books for children ages 0-16 and Senior Vice President of
Hachette Book Group. During her tenure as publisher, LBYR has published a
number of award-winning titles including the National Book
Award winner The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman
Alexie and NBA finalists Luna by Julie Anne Peters, Story of a Girl
by Sara Zarr, Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem
Renaissance by Laban Carrick Hill; and the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award winner
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. Other
distinguished authors include Ed Emberley, Woody Guthrie, Robie Harris, Mary
Ann Hoberman, Holly Hobbie, Patrick McDonnell, Stephenie Meyer, Todd Parr,
James Patterson, and Jerry Spinelli.
Having worked with
preschool children throughout high school and college, Megan began
her publishing career in the children's book department at Little,
Brown in 1987. In 1993, she was selected as the first children’s
book editor to win the Tony Godwin Award for promising young editors. She
is also the recipient of the Time Warner Andrew Heiskell Award "for
exceptional contributions to equal opportunity and human rights" in
recognition of her work establishing a children's library and reading program
at two family homeless shelters in Boston, MA. Some favorite books
from her childhood include: the picture books A Snowy Day, The Nutshell
Library, and Ferdinand, and the novels Charlotte's Web, James and the Giant
Peach, The Little Princess, Anne of Green Gables, The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe; and Watership Down. Megan lives with her husband, a
writer, and her two young children in
Andrea
Spooner is Senior
Executive Editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, where she acquires
and edits picture books and fiction for children and young adults as well as
select nonfiction titles. Prior to joining Little, Brown in 2003, she worked in
the children's book departments at William Morrow, Simon & Schuster, and
Macmillan, and she was a partner in the launch of SeaStar at North-South
Books. She has worked with a number of award-winning and bestselling
authors and artists including Molly Bang, Marc Brown, Patrick
Carman, Jules Feiffer, Michael Hague, Robie Harris, Alice
Hoffman, Steven Kellogg, James Patterson, Jerry Pinkney, Stephenie Meyer,
and Rosemary Wells. She is the editor of James Patterson's Pageturner novels including
the Maximum Ride and Daniel X series.
Ned Rust has his M.A. in English
Education from
Kyle Zimmer has focused on the intersection of policy, business and social sectors throughout her life. Early in her career, Kyle worked in the political arena and then went on to practice law, representing a wide spectrum of corporate and social sector clients. During this time, Kyle began volunteering to mentor a child at a local shelter. It was here that she became painfully aware of the limited resources and almost nonexistent access to books children in local mentoring programs battle.
Her firsthand experience working with local
heroes committed to improving opportunities for low-income youth inspired Kyle
and two colleagues to found First Book in 1992. Three years later, Kyle began
serving full time as President of the organization. Under her leadership, First
Book has distributed over 60 million books to children in thousands of
communities in the
Kyle’s commitment to innovation and
integration across sectors has earned her a reputation as a social sector
leader. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Ashoka
which works to ensure that social entrepreneurs and their innovations continue
to inspire a new generation of local changemakers to create positive social
change. She was also named 2007 Outstanding Social Entrepreneur of the Year in
the
Mark Nichols is the Senior Director,
Publisher Initiatives, at the American Booksellers Association, the national
trade association for independent booksellers.
After 18 years as an independent bookseller in various locations in
Mark has edited two collections,
Book Sense Best Books (Newmarket Press, 2004), and Book Sense Best Children’s
Books (Newmarket Press, 2005), and serves on the Advisory Council of the New
York Center for Independent Publishing as well as on the Advisory Board of
Reading Group Choices.
Pam is a motivational speaker for audiences of teachers, administrators, librarians and parents on best practice methods for improving children's skills in reading and writing, and has authored The Complete 4 for Literacy (Scholastic 2007), The Complete Year Series (Scholastic 2008), and What to Read When: The Books and Stories to Read with Your Child and All the Best Times to Read Them (Penguin 2009), the winner of the Gold Award for the National Parenting Publications.
Pam is on the advisory board of the Dream Charter School in Harlem, the Leadership Council of Global Action for Children, the Advisory Board of the Amherst College Center for Community Engagement and the English Language Arts Scope and Sequence Advisory Group for the New York City Department of Education.
Lauren L. Wohl has been working in children’s books… well … always, or so it seems. Primarily, she’s been involved on the marketing side of publishing, but her most recent position is as Associate Publisher. She’s worked for companies big and small, including some notable start-ups: Disney Press, Hyperion Books for Children, Jump at the Sun, Roaring Brook Press, and First Second Books.
Lauren has an MLS and has been a school librarian in the New York City public schools. And she’s taught marketing at NYU and is currently mentoring students in the masters program at Simmons College. Lauren and her husband owned a children’s bookstore on Long Island, New York, where she was the Saturday morning storyteller and the summer evening PJ parties’ host. She’s proud to be the local “book lady” — the neighbor to whom kids come when they want a book; the person local schools call on when they need a guest storyteller or reader; the “expert” friends trust to find the absolutely perfect match between a child and a book.
It’s that last experience that led her to READKIDDOREAD, a tool parents can use to find that perfect match, a tool teachers can rely on to pinpoint books their students will love. Lauren’s seen this work time and again: when a child finds books he or she loves, the habit of reading is established. And with nurturing, that habit becomes a life-long pleasure.
