Meet Diane

Welcome!NewDianePhoto_forweb

Thanks for being here and for being part of the team every child needs to become the reader they deserve to be. The information on my web site is designed to be useful to adults who, in one way or another, work to bring children and books together. For over 20 years, I have worked with teachers, parents, and educators to ensure that children view books and reading not as a chore, but as way to discover and learn.

Every adult has the opportunity to show a child how to love reading by helping them find great stories. Asking questions that jump start conversations—talking to children about the stories they read—show children how to find meaning and pleasure in reading. Children who get more from the books they read will ultimately become children who love to read.

Find out more about my Consulting work.

Read Diane’s recent Musings.

What am I looking for in the books I read?

For me, reading and travel are one and the same. The books I love take me places and introduce me to ideas, characters, and experiences that expand my mind and knowledge of the world. The best of books tell me something about who I am and who I might become.

Books Worth Knowing and Characters Worth Meeting…
Some of my childhood favorites:

  • Scheherazade from The Arabian Nights introduced me to the question: “And then what happened?”
  • I learned perseverance from Watty Piper’s The Little Engine That Could.
  • I fell in love with afternoon tea after meeting Leerie from Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem, “The Lamplighter”
  • I wanted Merlin, from The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle, to be my teacher
  • I love pudding today because of the pudding eating Pokey Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey.

Some memorable characters I met later on

  • Dominic from William Steig’s, Dominic
  • Reynie from Trenton Lee Stewart’s, The Mysterious Benedict Society
  • Nick from Andrew Clements’s, Frindle
  • Kate from Jean Little’s, Hey World, Here I Am!
  • Clara from Cynthia Rylant’s, The Van Gogh Café

For the curious…

I am forever trying to figure out a way to read every book in the Library of Congress, travel the world and still keep the chicken soup warm on the stove.

The best advice I ever gave my children: “Put on your roller skates and go and see the world!”