According to family stories, I read my first word when I was two. Since then, I have been described as an avid reader who loves to start sentences with “I was reading about …”. Â I married another devoted reader, and we have a 1 year old son who insists that we read Eric Carle, Richard Scary, and Green Eggs and Ham at least 10 times a day. I have been teaching middle school for 10 years, and have always tried to keep up with what the students are reading. Lately I have realized that if I want to encourage literacy I must find new ways of making reading appealing to a variety of different learners. I hope to practice some “armchair professional development” by connecting with other readers and educators online so I can make my classroom a place for eager and active bookworms to explore their own love of reading.