During my days as an elementary school reading specialist at the Brimmer and May School in Brookline, Massachusetts, parents often asked for book recommendations to support their child's home reading, both within and beyond the recommended twenty minutes. This request mirrored my previous experiences with parents in my first and second grade classrooms at Shady Hill School in Cambridge, Eliot-Pearson Children’s School in Cambridge, and the Buckley School of Manhattan.  After my last parent teacher conference of the semester at Brimmer, when yet another parent asked for reading recommendations, a lightbulb went off.

After many iterations and just shy of a decade later, I came up with the name “Booktrition” - fusing the words “book” and “nutrition” as you might expect.  In the same way young children grow their bodies and minds eating good food, so too can young readers grow their reading abilities with age- and level-appropriate books. Both mind and body need to consume thoughtful, intentional and specific content. And so, with this overarching goal of books and nourishment in mind, I got to work on what would ultimately become this website you’re reading now.

I taught reading groups in the morning at Brimmer & May School, then headed to Panera for lunch and website work. I can smell it now; the sourdough bread and butternut squash soup on the table in front of me, next to my laptop. I would put in several hours of work before returning home to relieve the babysitter and greet my then one-year-old, Cici, when she awoke from her nap. The days were long, but my passion for teaching reading and frustration at the lack of resources for young readers and their parents provided the motivation.

With Cici at home and my expanding pregnant belly soon to yield Sammy, I knew this endeavor would be a marathon and not a sprint.  What I didn’t foresee was a third child (Quinn) born just fourteen months after Sammy, Covid shortly thereafter, then finding a tumor on my brainstem.  While it wasn’t cancer, I’ll always remember hearing “when it is this big we don’t call it benign.”  The tumor was, as my neurosurgeon explained, the largest hemangioblastoma he had ever seen for its location.  I made it through a twelve-hour surgery, spent a week in the ICU, then another month in inpatient rehabilitation at Spaulding in Charlestown relearning to walk, turn my head and use my hands.

With the amazing team at Spaulding, and the support of my neurosurgeon (the wonderful Dr. Larry Borges at Mass General), family and friends, I literally began to get back on my feet. Coordination soon enough returned almost entirely to all parts of my body except for my hands (where I continue to have some residual dexterity challenges). But all in all, I felt lucky to be alive and excited to resume work on Booktrition. Having a purpose each day (and forcing my hands to type) was both productive and therapeutic. I felt so fortunate that my passion and conviction around developing content for this site was also part of my recovery and rehabilitation. Though it had been several years since I first set out on this journey, there was no way I was giving up! 

In 2023, stars seemed to align. Quinn began kindergarten, which provided time during the day to work. Squarespace had become more user-friendly and compatible with the way I needed to customize things.  Most importantly, the post-pandemic world had taken note of significant deficits in reading skills and the critical need for improved literacy. The 2022 Nation’s Report Card found that 37% of fourth graders scored below the basic level of proficiency on the reading test, worse than pre-pandemic levels by three percentage points. (Spoiler alert, the 2024 report does not look any better; almost 40% of fourth graders nationwide are scoring at a level below basic proficiency in reading).  This is all the more heartbreaking as the most critical years for reading development are kindergarten through third grade.

With reading proficiency at its lowest point since 2005 (and rivaling the rock bottom in 1992), many educators and reporters sought to find reasons.  Factors like increased absenteeism play a major role, but in terms of curriculum and instruction, the National Reading Panel found that lower performance was directly correlated with classrooms deploying little to no unstructured phonics instruction (an approach sometimes referred to as “balanced literacy”). Conversely, their study showed young readers who were systematically taught phonics made significant gains. The Science of Reading (research focused on evidence-based reading practices) further endorsed the importance of systematic phonics programs.

The renewed appreciation for phonics helped to pave the way for Booktrition. Our book recommendations for the youngest readers directly reflect the scope and sequence of the phonics taught in the classroom – this means the leveling of each book is scientific and data-driven, without the bias and inconsistency inherent to other rubrics.  And in addition to the science, our book recommendations are selectively and artfully chosen because of their child-friendly themes: friendship, kindness, sports, nature and empathy – in addition to growing young and well-rounded readers, we need to help grow young and well-rounded humans.

There still remains so much work to be done in the realm of reading curriculum and instruction, but I’m excited to offer one small solution to help improve book choices for young readers outside the classroom.  I am proud I persevered through unforeseen and challenging circumstances and modeled for my children what it looks like to find strength in adversity. This is Booktrition’s history and I so much look forward to its future.  I hope Booktrition can find a role on your team as you help your young reader’s development.