NCTE’s members are readers—for themselves as they seek to grow their professional knowledge, and for their students as they seek to find texts that will inspire—because NCTE members know: the right book in the right hands can transform a life.
This is why we started Build Your Stack®, an initiative focused exclusively on helping teachers build their book knowledge and their classroom libraries.
Upcoming Build Your Stack® Virtual Events:
We’re trying something new and holding a members-only Build Your Stack®-inspired event, led by members of the Middle Level Section Steering Committee. Learn more about Build Your Summer Stack with the Middle Level Section on May 16th at 7 p.m. ET.
Join us for Build Your Stack: Best Books of the 2023–2024 School Year. For the fourth year in a row, the committee has selected authors and educators to share their recent books, books they’ve shared with students this year, and others they think attendees will enjoy learning more about. As always, you’ll find new booklists to help you build your classroom and personal libraries. Please see the list of presenters below, with more to be added soon.
Thursday, June 6, 7:00–8:00 p.m. ET
Register here
Registration is open to the public. Email profdev@ncte.org with any questions.
FEATURED PANELISTS
Vera Ahiyya was raised in El Paso, Texas, with her wonderful mother and amazing grandparents. Ahiyya has taught Kindergarten and first grade for the last eighteen years. Her online presence is dedicated to collaborating with other educators by spreading her vast knowledge and love of inclusive children’s books. She is the author of Rebellious Read Alouds, a professional development book for educators. She is also the author of You Have a Voice, the KINDergarten series, and the Getting Ready series. Be sure to follow Ahiyya’s journey on social media: @thetututeacher!
Hala Alyan is a licensed clinical psychologist, professor at New York University, and writer. She is the author of the novel Salt Houses, winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Arab American Book Award and a finalist for the Chautauqua Prize. Her latest novel, The Arsonists’ City, was a finalist for the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize. She is also the author of four award-winning collections of poetry, including The Twenty-Ninth Year. Her work has been published in the New Yorker, by the Academy of American Poets, by Lit Hub, in the New York Times Book Review, and elsewhere. Her latest poetry collection, The Moon That Turns You Back, was recently published by Ecco. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Rifk Ebeid is a Palestinian American Muslim writer, attorney, and pediatric speech language pathologist. Ebeid has a JD from George Mason University School of Law, an MA in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University, an MA in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Northern Colorado, and a BA in Political Science and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of Florida. She is the author of three children’s picture books about Palestine, including You Are the Color; Baba, What Does My Name Mean? A Journey to Palestine; and Birthday Kunafa. She is also the producer of I Am from Palestine, an award-winning animated short film about the Palestinian-American experience in school.
Georgia Heard is the author of over 20 books spanning a range of genres. With an MFA in writing from Columbia University, Georgia has devoted her life to sharing the joys of writing across all age groups—from kindergarten students to adults. Her most recent children’s book, Welcome to the Wonder House (co-authored with Rebecca Kai Dotlich) won the 2024 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Children’s Book Council 2024 Favorites Award List, and the School Library Journal and Bank Street Best Poetry Book list. She proudly received the 2023 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children establishing her as a distinguished figure in the world of children’s literature. In her most recent beloved teaching resource, Awakening the Heart (second edition), she explores infusing poetry into the everyday life of the classroom. You can learn more about her work at Georgiaheard.com, and at @georgiaheard1 on Instagram and X.
Mona Mustafa is a Palestinian American educator with eleven years of experience, currently teaching at the high school level in Paterson, New Jersey. She is a graduate of Rutgers University with a focus on urban education. She has taught various subjects, which include English language arts, social studies, and, most recently, world language. She is a fellow of the New York University Kevorkian Center Global Nomads fellowship program, which seeks to build virtual exchange between teachers in grades 7–12 in the United States and classrooms around the world. She is passionate about culturally responsive curriculum building and global education. She believes strongly that through literature students can gain a more expansive and equitable worldview.
Nawal Qarooni is a Jersey City-based educator, adjunct professor and writer who supports a holistic approach to literacy instruction spaces across the country. Drawing on her work as an inquiry-based leader and as a mother, Qarooni’s pedagogy is centered in the rich and authentic learning all families gift their children every day. She is the author of Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations: Elevating Home Experiences and Classroom Practices for Collective Care, which connects home and school experiences to elevate the natural ways that families already grow their children’s literacy lives. She also serves on the Library of Congress Literacy Awards Advisory Board and the Reese Witherspoon LitUp Committee. You can learn more about her work at NQCLiteracy.org, and at @nqarooni on Instagram and Threads and @NQCLiteracy on X.
Previous Build Your Stack® Virtual Events:
(Click on the dates below to watch videos of some of our previous events.)
April 15, 2024
Build Your Stack®: Border Stories
Many of the books shared by the presenters can be found on this list. *
March 4, 2024
Build Your Stack® Time to Laugh
Many of the books shared by the presenters can be found on this list. *
October 18, 2023
Build Your Stack® with Middle Grade Texts
Many of the books shared by the presenters can be found on this list. *
June 13, 2023
Build Your Stack®: The Best Books of the 2022-2023 School Year
Many of the books shared by the presenters can be found on this list.*
April 27, 2023
Build Your Stack®: Poetic Possibilities
Many of the books shared by the presenters can be found on this list.*
NCTE members and presenters Kefah Ayesh and Darius Phelps wrote blog posts that tie in to this event’s theme and we encourage you to read them.
February 27, 2023
Build Your Stack® with Nonfiction Texts
Many of the books shared by the presenters can be found on this list.*
*NCTE and local bookstores receive a small commission when you purchase through these links.
June 15, 2022
Build Your Stack® Best Books of the 2021-2022 School Year
Many of the books shared by the presenters can be found on this list.*
Author Meg Grehan also wrote a blog post specifically for this event that was posted on June 14, 2022.
April 25, 2022
Build Your Stack® A Rainbow of Pride Books
Books shared by the presenters can be found on this list.*
June 15, 2021
Build Your Stack® with the Best Books of the 2020-2021 School Year
Books shared by the presenters can be found on this list.*
May 3, 2021
Build Your Stack® with Award-Winning Authors
Books from these authors can be found on this list.*
April 15, 2021
Build Your Stack® with Multilingual Texts
To see a list of most of the books discussed, to browse or to purchase, please click through to our Bookshop page for this event.*
June 30, 2020
Elementary and Middle Grade Focus
To see a list of most of the books discussed, to browse or to purchase, please click through to our Bookshop page for this event.* A. B. Majmudar’s book, The Torchbearers, is currently available here. You may also contact her directly for more information about how to purchase copies at ami.majmudar@gmail.com.
August 10, 2020
Secondary Focus
To see a list of most of the books discussed, to browse or to purchase, please click through to our Bookshop page for this event.*
*NCTE and local bookstores receive a small commission when you purchase through these links.
TEACHER EXPERTISE + BOOK KNOWLEDGE
We’re building NCTE into the place where you go to meet authors of significance, paving the way for knowledge and relationships that transform students and schools.
Our members’ knowledge of books should be celebrated and recognized, and this initiative offers just the right platform.
But, you might say, there are so many books out there, and I have so little time to explore them all. We know! Build Your Stack® will reduce the guesswork that goes into building a classroom library by creating a trusted connection to the best books, recommended by colleagues with deep expertise.
WHAT IS BUILD YOUR STACK®?
1. See our current Build Your Stack® Committee roster.
2. A set of dozens of unique sessions in the Exhibit Hall at the NCTE Annual Convention. Each 20-minute session will feature authors and educators talking about their favorite books and how to use them in the classroom.
3. Booklists and recommendations all year long, curated by NCTE members and shared via our member communications.
4. Periodic professional learning experiences in sites across the country and virtually that bring NCTE members together with authors and dynamic educators.
5. Blog posts from fellow educators with information about diverse books for you and for your classroom.
WE’D LOVE TO HEAR YOUR BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS! SHARE WITH US ON SOCIAL MEDIA USING #BUILDYOURSTACK.
Build Your Stack
Blog Posts
Check out the most recent #BuildYourStack posts featuring book recommendations curated by NCTE members and submit your own recommendations today.
Read Now Submit a Blog PostWHAT KINDS OF BUILD YOUR STACK SESSIONS CAN I EXPECT AT NCTE’S ANNUAL CONVENTION?
Join us each year at the Annual Convention for more than 30 sessions, taking place on the Build Your Stack® stage in the exhibit hall. We were proud to host many amazing educator and author sessions in Columbus, Ohio in 2023. We look forward to the 2024 Annual Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. If you are interested in learning more about presenting, please email us at buildyourstack@ncte.org.
To get a taste of some of the sessions from our 2020 Virtual Annual Convention, please click through to the videos linked below:
- “Unapologetically Me – Picture Books and Early Chapter Books/MG” with Jillian Heise and Aliza Riley Werner
- “HER-story, not History: Books that feature “Black and Brown” Females as Main Characters with Laura and Mary Haney
- “Imagining A Better World Through Stories of Love, Support, and Coming Together” with Kristine Schutz and Jen Vincent
- “Undaunted Voices: BIPOC Novels-in-Verse” with David Bowles
- “Using Poetry to Explore Our Intersectionality” with Gary Gray Jr. and Clare Landrigan
“Ever since I joined NCTE in 1991, the many ways in which our organization has connected me with books and authors have shaped me as a teacher. My knowledge of the content of our discipline is deeply intertwined with the powerful learning experiences NCTE has provided and this has had a huge impact on my students. This project serves to take those experiences and connections to a whole new level. Teachers who are readers have students who are readers.”
— FRANKI SIBBERSON
NCTE Past President and 2018 Program Chair
