Soar with Middle Grade Author Alison Green Myers

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Soar today with our  guest Alison Green Myers, whose first book for middle grade readers, A Bird Will Soar, received the American Library Association's 2022 Schneider Family Book Award and the Pennsylvania State Library Association's 2022 Carolyn W. Field Award. Alison is the program director for the Highlights Foundation, a national writing fellow, and an active member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. And beyond that, she's got a ton of classroom experience and has written strong STEM-based curriculum. 

[04:20]A Bird Will Soar One of the things  I noticed is that it creates space in the world for all kinds of families, all kinds of feelings, and all kinds of healings. And I found myself wondering, were there connections from your own childhood that informed the book? 

[04:53] Alison: My favorite part of the book is talking to kids about it, and the number one question they ask is, what parts are real? I think the thing about fiction that kids love is that they realize it's this suspension of reality as they're entering a story. But then they're like, but I'm talking to you right now, and I know you created this. So let me in on the secret. Like, what are the parts that are real? And there are parts that are very tangible to my life growing up.

[11:02] Alison: One of the things I love talking to kids about is most of the time when they hear the term bird brain, it's not always seen as a positive thing. But really, if we unpack a bird brain and we think about all of the messages going on in there, all of the information packed inside that side of a brain that's light enough for flight, it's like miraculous, right? Brains just are completely fascinating to me. And there's a heavy theme of that within the book about processing and about our minds, our brains, our instincts being the messages that are just right for us.

[18:25] Connecting STEM/STEAM to A Bird Will Soar -- a Teacher Educator Guide actually written by a teacher (who happens to be the author)

[21:16] What impact did winning the Schneider Award have on your writing?

[32:55} How did the Highlights Foundation shape your journey?

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