We Wrote A Book!
Building on conversations from their podcast, Melissa and Lori’s The Literacy 50: A Q&A Handbook for Teachers provides research-backed answers to the reading questions that keep teachers up at night.
Grab your copy of The Literacy 50!
Order now on Amazon or Scholastic.
Why We Wrote This Book
We wrote this book for so many reasons, but here are the main 3:
1: We Have to Get Reading Instruction Right!
2: Good Questions Deserve Good Answers!
3: Research Needs to Be Translated in an Accessible Way!
About the Book
This book answers your questions about teaching reading, with a combination of research and practical applications. It’s an easy-to-read, flip-to-what-you-need resource packed with reliable advice informed by reliable research and voices in literacy.
Keep it on your desk to refer to as needed📚!
Each chapter includes 10 frequently asked questions related to each area of reading instruction as established by the National Reading Panel: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
For each question, you will see the following:
- Question and Answer: To answer the question, we synthesize reading research and the learning from our podcast in a brief, easy-to-follow answer.
- What You Can Do: For each question, we offer ideas for instruction that you can start applying immediately.
- Teaching Tool: For most questions, we include an organizer, image, or chart to help you plan instruction and implement it.
Wait, there’s more!
Download two companion resources: Effective Interventions and Tips from The Literacy 50.
Looking for more support? Check out our growing collection of literacy tools.
How You Can Use the Book
While writing this book, we envisioned you—whether you’re a teacher, coach, or school or district leader—using it in so many ways: in professional learning book studies and podcast listening groups, as an instructional planning tool, as a handy desk reference, and more. Because the book is organized according to specific areas of reading and designed to highlight questions, it’s easy to zoom in on what you need.
This book equips you with the science-based information you need to make decisions about instruction—and the resources you need to put that information into practice.
Is listening more your style?
Don’t miss our podcast episode on The Literacy 50—plus related episodes connected to effective interventions and everyday literacy decision-making.
About Scholastic’s
Science of Reading in Practice Series
The Science of Reading in Practice series bridges the gap between research and practice, offering educators the tools and knowledge needed to cultivate confident and skilled readers in the classroom. The books in the series include deep insights and practical start-today tips from literacy experts with decades of experience applying the science of reading to help students succeed in their literacy journeys.
More from Melissa & Lori
We have also contributed to The Science of Reading, a book featuring chapters by multiple authors. This book explores how the brain learns to read and why that understanding matters for classroom instruction.
In our chapter, we focus specifically on vocabulary instruction, examining how word knowledge develops over time and how intentional vocabulary teaching supports comprehension and meaning-making across texts.
Stay connected with Melissa and Lori!
