Fifth grade teacher Colby Sharp shares in this exclusive teacher-review video how he welcomes students back to school with Restart to kick off the year.

Jake Burt is a fifth grade teacher and middle grade author. I loved his first book, Greetings From Witness Protection, and I am really looking forward to reading his next book The Right Hook of Delvin Verma. I asked Jake to share how his work as a teacher helps him as a writer. Be sure to answer his question at the end of the video in the comments below. Click below to purchase Jake’s The Right Hook of Delvin Verma: https://amzn.to/2JFDw7i Follow Jake Online: Twitter: https://twitter.com/JBurtBooks Website: http://www.jburtbooks.com/ If you’d like to purchase my book The Creativity Project from Amazon, you can do so by clicking this affiliate link: http://amzn.to/2E74e2s Places to find me: Website: www.mrcolbysharp.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/colbysharp Twitter: www.twitter.com/colbysharp Thanks for watching. Please me know if I can help you in any way. colbysharp@gmail.com

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Peach Pie is a wonderful book that I think a lot of kids are going to LOVE. I know that I sure did! Affiliate link to purchase this book: https://amzn.to/3sIrA6c Check out my list of AWESOME 2021 books: https://www.mrcolbysharp.com/2021 Book description from the publisher: This charming, hilarious, and touching middle grade novel is about a family searching for a way to reconnect as a family after the loss of the kids' mother. They decide to honor her memory by living out one of Mom's lifelong dreams, taking a road trip and selling pies out of a newly-acquired food truck. ************************* Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids: https://bookshop.org/a/4866/9781338310597 The Creativity Project edited by Colby Sharp (ME!) https://bookshop.org/a/4866/9780316507813 Places to find me: Website: http://www.mrcolbysharp.com Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/colbysharp Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/colbysharp I started a newsletter! Click below to sign up. http://eepurl.com/c_gMYT Thanks for watching. Please let me know if I can help you in any way. colbysharp@gmail.com

Alyson Gerber’s Taking UP Space is amazing and important. Buy it. Read it. Share it. Affiliate link to purchase this book: https://amzn.to/3xVqub1 Check out my list of AWESOME 2021 books: https://www.mrcolbysharp.com/2021 Book description from the publisher: Sarah loves basketball more than anything. Crushing it on the court makes her feel like she matters. And it’s the only thing that helps her ignore how much it hurts when her mom forgets to feed her. But lately Sarah can’t even play basketball right. She’s slower now and missing shots she should be able to make. Her body doesn’t feel like it’s her own anymore. She’s worried that changing herself back to how she used to be is the only way she can take control over what’s happening. When Sarah’s crush asks her to be partners in a cooking competition, she feels pulled in a million directions. She’ll have to dig deep to stand up for what she needs at home, be honest with her best friends, and accept that she doesn’t need to change to feel good about herself. ************************* Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids: https://bookshop.org/a/4866/9781338310597 The Creativity Project edited by Colby Sharp (ME!) https://bookshop.org/a/4866/9780316507813 Places to find me: Website: http://www.mrcolbysharp.com Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/colbysharp Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/colbysharp I started a newsletter! Click below to sign up. http://eepurl.com/c_gMYT Thanks for watching. Please let me know if I can help you in any way. colbysharp@gmail.com

In this video I talk about the books: The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez Pelé the King of Soccer by Eddy Simon and Vincent Brascaglia The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser A Boy, a Mouse, and a Spider by Barbara Herbert and Lauren Castillo Falling Water by Mark Harshmanm Anna Egan Smucker and LeUyen Pham

What if you had no name, no past, and no home? Award-winning author Christina Diaz Gonzalez has created a twisty, action-packed story about a life on the run. Ivette. Joanna. And now: Katrina Whatever her name is, it won’t last long. Katrina doesn’t know any of the details about her past, but she does know that she and her parents are part of the Witness Protection Program. Whenever her parents say they have to move on and start over, she takes on a new identity. A new name, a new hair color, a new story. Until their location leaks and her parents disappear. Forced to embark on a dangerous rescue mission, Katrina and her new friend Parker set out to save her parents -- and find out the truth about her secret past and the people that want her family dead. But every new discovery reveals that Katrina's entire life has been built around secrets covered up with lies and that her parents were actually the ones keeping the biggest secret of all. Katrina must now decide if learning the whole truth is worth the price of losing everything she has ever believed about herself and her family.

Looking for great “sports books”? You are going to want to add Hena Khan’s Power Forward to your list. I read it one sitting. It was fantastic! Purchase the book through Indie Bound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781534411982 If you’d rather purchase the video from Amazon you can find an affiliate link for that here: https://amzn.to/2HRqYsw Check out my 2018 Middle Grade Novel Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM5ylqxs3RWhViM7BR0enfqBNMcZ_Jxpf Check out my 2018 Picture Book Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM5ylqxs3RWileOTtdP8cBQoFjI0ZtLwJ The Creativity Project edited by Colby Sharp (ME!) http://amzn.to/2pqudvN Book description (from the publisher): From the critically acclaimed author of Amina's Voice comes the first book in an exciting new chapter book series about a fourth-grader with big dreams of basketball stardom. Fourth grader Zayd Saleem has some serious hoop dreams. He's not just going to be a professional basketball player. He's going to be a star. A legend. The first Pakistani-American kid to make it to the NBA. He knows this deep in his soul. It's his destiny. There are only a few small things in his way. For starters, Zayd's only on the D-team. (D stands for developmental, but to Zayd it's always felt like a bad grade or something.) Not to mention, he's a bit on the scrawny side, even for the fourth grade team. But his best friend Adam is on the Gold Team, and it's Zayd's dream for the two of them to play together. His mom and dad don't get it. They want him to practice his violin way more than his jump shot. When he gets caught blowing off his violin lessons to practice, Zayd's parents lay down the ultimate punishment: he has to hang up his high tops and isn't allowed to play basketball anymore. As tryouts for the Gold Team approach, Zayd has to find the courage to stand up for himself and chase his dream. Places to find me: Website: http://www.mrcolbysharp.com Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/colbysharp Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/colbysharp I started a newsletter! Click below to sign up. http://eepurl.com/c_gMYT Thanks for watching. Please me know if I can help you in any way. colbysharp@gmail.com

Drawn Together by Minh Le and Dan Santat is BEAUTIFUL. I think every classroom, school, and public library needs to own this book. Purchase the book through Indie Bound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781484767603 If you’d rather purchase the video from Amazon you can find an affiliate link for that here: Book Mentioned In This Video (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/2IYaH1M Check out my 2018 Middle Grade Novel Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM5ylqxs3RWhViM7BR0enfqBNMcZ_Jxpf Check out my 2018 Picture Book Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM5ylqxs3RWileOTtdP8cBQoFjI0ZtLwJ The Creativity Project edited by Colby Sharp (ME!) http://amzn.to/2pqudvN Book description (taken from publisher’s site): When a young boy visits his grandfather, their lack of a common language leads to confusion, frustration, and silence. But as they sit down to draw together, something magical happens—with a shared love of art and storytelling, the two form a bond that goes beyond words. With spare, direct text by Minh Lê and luminous illustrations by Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat, this stirring picturebook about reaching across barriers will be cherished for years to come. Places to find me: Website: http://www.mrcolbysharp.com Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/colbysharp Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/colbysharp I started a newsletter! Click below to sign up. http://eepurl.com/c_gMYT Thanks for watching. Please me know if I can help you in any way. colbysharp@gmail.com

Gordon Korman’s Restart is awesome. I think most kids think about what it would be like to have a fresh start. This book will make kids think and feel so many things. Purchase the book through Indie Bound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781338053807 If you’d rather purchase the video from Amazon you can find an affiliate link for that here: https://amzn.to/2K2dtY5 Book description (from the publisher): Chase's memory just went out the window. Chase doesn't remember falling off the roof. He doesn't remember hitting his head. He doesn't, in fact, remember anything. He wakes up in a hospital room and suddenly has to learn his whole life all over again . . . starting with his own name. He knows he's Chase. But who is Chase? When he gets back to school, he sees that different kids have very different reactions to his return. Some kids treat him like a hero. Some kids are clearly afraid of him. One girl in particular is so angry with him that she pours her frozen yogurt on his head the first chance she gets. Pretty soon, it's not only a question of who Chase is--it's a question of who he was . . . and who he's going to be. From the #1 bestselling author of Swindle and Slacker, Restart is the spectacular story of a kid with a messy past who has to figure out what it means to get a clean start. Check out my 2018 Middle Grade Novel Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM5ylqxs3RWhViM7BR0enfqBNMcZ_Jxpf Check out my 2018 Picture Book Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM5ylqxs3RWileOTtdP8cBQoFjI0ZtLwJ The Creativity Project edited by Colby Sharp (ME!) http://amzn.to/2pqudvN Places to find me: Website: http://www.mrcolbysharp.com Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/colbysharp Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/colbysharp I started a newsletter! Click below to sign up. http://eepurl.com/c_gMYT Thanks for watching. Please me know if I can help you in any way. colbysharp@gmail.com