One of the most challenging projects I have managed is a series of books on using Google Earth to teach math, science, social studies, and language arts. Using Google Earth: Bring the World into Your Classroom, by NASA scientist JoBea Holt, earned a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of American Publishers, and I’m very proud of what we accomplished.

Our team put a great deal of effort and time into creating lessons and instructions that enable classroom teachers to use the highly complex and powerful Google Earth program to engage students’ curiosity and leverage technology to teach content. My greatest challenge was editing complex directions into clear, easy-to-follow procedures illustrated with multiple screenshots so that no matter teachers’ familiarity with the program they could use Google Earth with their students.
Lessons include:

• Using text clues in Make Way for Ducklings to map the route of the duck family through Boston (Grades 1-2)
• Measuring ocean depths and tracking the migration of sea animals (Grades 3-5)
• Tracking the path of Peary’s journey from Ellesmeer Island to the North Pole and using the sun slider tool to observe the light conditions during the trek (Grades 6-8).

Click each book cover to see a preview.

Reading With Pictures: Comics That Make Kids Smarter, published by Andrews McMeel, is a groundbreaking work which proves, once and for all, that comics belong in the classroom. The book features comics specifically designed to teach math, science, social studies, and language arts to students in grades 3–6.

In addition to working as one of the editors on this book, I edited the extensive teacher guide and wrote many of the lessons.

You can purchase Reading With Pictures: Comics That Make Kids Smarter here, and download the free teachers guide.

Many teachers would like to use graphic texts in their classrooms, but need to convince their administrators of the value these complex texts can provide in instruction and learning. This document is a summary of the latest research and rationale supporting the use of comics in education.

Click here to download a one-page summary explaining "Why Kids Should Read Graphic Novels."
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Click here to download an overview of the educational strengths of the comics medium for teaching and learning content.

Click here to download a summary of research supporting the use of comics in education.

One of the questions I get the most from teachers and parents is, “But how do I find graphic novels for my kids?”  Below are a few title lists that I hope you will find helpful. Please feel free to share!

ALA and Eisner Award-Winning Titles
A list of American Library award nominees and winners, including Caldcotts and Newberys, that are in graphic novel or prose/graphic novel hybrid formats, as well as a list of Eisner Award winners in the categories for "younger readers" and teens/YA. The Eisners are like of the Oscars of comics.

Comics in the Content Areas
A fairly comprehensive list, broken out by school level, of comics/graphic novels for teaching science, math, and history/social studies, as well as folktales & myths, business & economics, biographies, books about making and understanding comics, and books about using comics in education.

Science Comics
I started a list of science comics and related resources. Please jump in an add what I missed!

Graphic Novels with Female Leads
I'm often asked by parents and teachers for graphic novels with strong female leads for their daughters to read. Boys should read all of these as well -- they're great for everyone!

Tracy's Graphic Novel Recommendations
A list of the books that I love and that I know kids love. One side of the list is for younger readers (up to about age 8), all of which are also great for older readers, and the other side of the list is for ages 8+. There are old favorites in here, as well as some you may never have seen before. Have fun reading!