Are you ready for World Read Aloud Day 2021? We’ve put together a special video to share with readers this week, with a dozen award-winning authors sharing read-alouds from their new and soon-to-be-released books! We hope you’ll add these great titles to your classroom and home libraries!
Want to keep reading? Here’s where you can order (or pre-order) your own copies of the books!
History Smashers: Pearl Harbor (and the other History Smashers books!) by Kate Messner
Signed copies available now
Ways to Grow Love by Renee Watson
Available for pre-order – out 4/27
The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu
Available for pre-order – out 10/12
Merci Suárez Can’t Dance by Meg Medina
Available for pre-order – out 4/6
Almost There and Almost Not by Linda Urban
Available for pre-order – out 4/6
Amina’s Song by Hena Khan
Available for pre-order – out 3/9
It Doesn’t Take a Genius by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Available for pre-order – out 4/13
Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh
Available for pre-order – out 5/4
Just be Cool, Jenna Sakai by Debbo Michiko Florence
Signed copies available for pre-order – out 8/3
Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca – Signed copies available now
Much Ado About Baseball by Rajani LaRocca – Available for pre-order
Below is information about the World Read Aloud Day author volunteer list for 2021! If you’re new to this page, I’m Kate Messner, author of more than forty books for kids, including these recent & upcoming releases.
I’m also a former middle school teacher and a forever reader. For the past few years, I’ve helped out with LitWorld’s World Read Aloud Day by pulling together a list of author volunteers who would like to spend part of the day doing quick virtual read-aloud visits with classrooms around the world to share the joy of stories.
Before we get to the list, I want to share one other fun WRAD surprise. This is a busy time for many authors, and while we wish we could visit every one of your classrooms live, that’s just not possible. So this year, I’ll be posting a special World Read Aloud Day video here, with a dozen of your readers’ favorite authors, reading aloud from brand new books (most won’t even be out yet!).
I’ll be reading from HISTORY SMASHERS: PEARL HARBOR, the third book in my illustrated nonfiction series aimed at unraveling the myths we learn about history. (It’s out January 5th & is available for pre-order now!)
I’ll be joined by Tracey Baptiste, Debbi Michiko Florence, Hena Khan, Meg Medina, Ellen Oh, Dawn Quigley, Rajanni LaRocca, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Linda Urban, Anne Ursu, and Renee Watson. We’ll each read a five-minute sneak-preview from an upcoming book for readers in grades 3-7. The whole video will run just about an hour, and I’ll aim to have it posted at least a day early so teachers can embed into Google classrooms, use in lessons, and share the link with families celebrating WRAD remotely.
So bookmark this page and check back on February 3, and you’ll be the very first to hear read-alouds from some amazing upcoming books!
Okay…on to this year’s read-aloud volunteer list!
WORLD READ ALOUD DAY IS FEBRUARY 3, 2021!
The authors listed have volunteered their time to read aloud to classrooms and libraries all over the world. These aren’t long, fancy presentations; a typical one might go like this:
- 1-2 minutes: Author introduces himself or herself and talks a little about his or her books.
- 3-5 minutes: Author reads aloud a short picture book, or a short excerpt from a chapter book/novel
- 5-10 minutes: Author answers a few questions from students about reading/writing
- 1-2 minutes: Author book-talks a couple books he or she loves (but didn’t write!) as recommendations for the kids
If you’re a teacher or librarian and you’d like to have an author Zoom or Skype with your classroom or library on World Read Aloud Day, here’s how to do it:
- Check out this list of volunteering authors and illustrators, and visit their websites to see which ones might be a good fit for your students.
- Contact the author directly by using the email provided or clicking on the link to his or her website and finding the contact form. Please be sure to provide the following information in your request:
- Your name and what grade(s) you work with
- Your city and time zone (this is important for scheduling!)
- Possible times to connect on February 3rd. Please note authors’ availability and time zones. Adjust accordingly if yours is different!
- Your preferred platform (Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, etc.)
- A phone number where you can be reached on that day in case of technical issues
- Please understand that authors are people, too, and have schedules and personal lives, just like you, so not all authors will be available at all times. It may take a few tries before you find someone whose books and schedule fit with yours!
If you’re a traditionally published author or illustrator who would like to be added to the list, you can fill out this form to sign up. Once your schedule is full, please send an email via my website contact form, and I’ll remove your name from the list. Please note that due to deadlines and other obligations, it may take up to a week for me to update.
Dear Kate,
Thank you for sharing this AWESOME video of amazing authors reading snippets of their books~ what a treat! After sharing with my 5th graders this morning, I sat down for a listen. Reading teachers love to have a real ‘ole fashioned read aloud, too! Thank you!