Category: middle grade

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Twice Enslaved


by Selene Castrovilla (Author) and Erin K. Robinson (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Henrietta Wood was born enslaved. As a teen she was ripped from her family and sold. Years later, a miracle happened, and she was given freedom papers. But Henrietta’s freedom was short-lived. She was tricked back into enslavement and sent to a Mississippi cotton plantation.

On June 19, 1865—Juneteenth—she was emancipated. Finally free for good, Henrietta Wood sued the man who had kidnapped her back into enslavement—and she won! Henrietta was one of the few people in United States history to ever receive a reparation payment for slavery.

Snippet:

The author, Selene Castrovilla, is one of my former students.
Copyright © 2026 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)

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Read and Write Sports

Read and Write Sports

Find at a library near you with WorldCat
@ Amazon | Books-a-Million | Bookshop | GooglePlay | Walmart

Use a classroom-tested “writing workshop in a book” with 10 sports –one for each month of the school year– with graphic organizers that guide students in grades 3-8 as they write expository paragraphs, narrative scenes, or action-reaction poems in a single class period.

This “writing workshop in a book” was created by/for author visits in Allen ISD, Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, Coppell ISD, Dallas ISD, Diocese of Dallas Schools, Duncanville ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Frisco ISD, Keller ISD, Krum ISD, Garland ISD, Highland Park ISD, Mesquite ISD, Plano ISD, Plano Public Library, Richardson ISD, Richardson Public Library, and Van Alstyne Public Library.

This book allows students to bring the energy of their everyday lives into the classroom via sports-based readers theatre and writing activities.

There are five team sports (football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer) and five individual athletic pursuits (skating, gymnastics, track, BMX, and skateboarding).

“The activities outlined in the book are helpful for writers who need structured support to help guide them, and the lesson plans are clearly laid out.” —School Library Journal

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Copyright © 2026 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)