Welcome to Jessie's Book Picks

I am a huge advocate of reading. Not only am I a high school English teacher, but I am also working on my Master's Degree in Reading Education. I am a firm believer that once you learn to read well, everything else will take care of itself. We live in a literacy-based society. Words are everywhere we look: on billboards, on the bumper of the car in front of ours, email, work information...EVERYWHERE.

I am also a firm believer that the key to becoming a strong reader is reading often. The more we read, the better we become at it. You just need to find something you enjoy to read. That's why I've created the site. I read all the time. Most of the time it's good stuff, but every now and then I come across crap. I'd like to share with you what I am reading. Feel free to pass this site on to your friends and to leave comments about books you are reading. I will do my best to keep this updated every week or so.

Happy Reading!

"Adolescents entering the adult world in the 21st century will read and write more than at any other time in human history. They will need advanced levels of literacy to perform their jobs, run their households, act as citizens, and conduct their personal lives. They will need literacy to cope with the flood of information they will find everywhere they turn. They will need literacy to feed their imaginations so they can create the world of the future. In a complex and sometimes even dangerous world, their ability to read will be crucial. Continual instruction beyond the early grades is needed" (International Reading Association's Commission on Adolescent Literacy, 1999).