ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We’ve learned so much from so many. Foremost, the great Walter Kintsch. His patience with all our “what-if” and “what-about” questions knew no bounds. He died before this book came out; we hope he’d approve. “Reading has a lot to do with words!” We’re indebted to Chuck Perfetti for our deep understanding of that observation. His work with us in establishing the ladder of text complexity created the opening that helped move us away from the tyranny of leveled reading. Chuck reintroduced us to Moddy McKeown, our keenest-eyed reader. We’ll forever be grateful to Moddy for seeing what we were trying to do and claiming we accomplished it in her beautiful foreword. We were already big fans of her and Isabel Beck’s sweeping body of work. Thank you. We’re grateful to Keith Stanovich who, with Anne Cunningham, penned the best title ever for a piece of reading research: “What Reading Does for the Mind.” They established the importance of a volume of reading and how much it benefits even weak readers. To E. D. Hirsch, first in the literacy world to insist on the key role knowledge has in literacy. He trod a rocky road and smoothed it for the rest of us. Thanks to Sean Morrisey, who generously shared passion and ideas with us. Hugs to our fellow Vermonters, Joey Hawkins and Diana Leddy, who have collaborated with us on some of the best work we’ve gotten to do. Chapter 8 exists because of Joey’s feedback (“I know it’s a reading book, but…”). They remind us writing and reading are forever intertwined. Gratitude to Judith Hochman, first for Windward and helping us do better for our students and child. Then to Natalie Wexler and you for sharing those practices with the world. To Lily Wong Fillmore for insisting English language learners have as much curiosity and language aptitude as anybody. Thank you for juicy sentences and so much more. Eternal thanks to Sue Pimentel. Your dedication to equitable literacy and your friendship mean the world. Hugs to our patient editor, Ray Coutu, who managed to deliver sharp feedback with a velvet touch. To the talented educators who read early drafts closely: Julie Brown, Tori Filler, Callie Lowenstein, Jodi Rabat, Julie Robinson, and the oh-so-sharp crew at Imagine, Carey Swanson and April Thorburn. We appreciate you.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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