It’s All About the Books: How to Create Bookrooms and Classroom Libraries That Inspire Readers

The term “lifelong reader” is more than a slogan or jargon in a mission statement. Lifelong readers need passion, agency, and a sense of inquiry in their reading lives. They also need books.

In It’s All About the Books, Tammy Mulligan and Clare Landrigan share the systems they have developed over the last 15 years to create classroom libraries and book rooms that support both student choice and instructional goals.

Getting started with designing and provisioning classroom libraries and bookrooms to support lifelong readers involves collaboration, planning, and some elbow grease! It’s All About the Books is a practical yet detailed guide to creating a system where classroom libraries and bookrooms work seamlessly together to make it easy for teachers to find books to engage and scaffold all students in a school community. Each chapter includes photos, resources, book lists, and a step-by-step outline of the process so you can get started right away. From design, to inventory, to organizing, purchasing, and using these books in the classroom—they demonstrate how to make the most of what you have, and how to get what need on a budget.

Every child deserves the opportunity to become a lifelong reader. It’s All About the Books will help you transform how you organize books across the entire school to make each teacher’s book supply seem endless in the eyes of a reader. Teachers must have easy access to what they need, when they need it, because in the life of a reader the right book at the right time makes all the difference.

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Tammy and Clare want this book to impact the lives of teachers and students directly so they are donating all author royalties it generates to the Book Love Foundation.

Book Love is a not-for-profit organization founded by Penny Kittle with one goal: to put books in the hands of teenagers. Our book will now expand that goal and put books into the hands of elementary and middle grade students as well. Thank you, Penny, for allowing us to bring the heart of this book to life through your hard work and vision.

—Tammy and Clare

Tammy Mulligan and Clare Landrigan are staff developers who are still teachers at heart. They began their work together twenty-four years ago co-teaching in an integrated first and second-grade classroom at the Eliot Pearson Children's School in Medford, MA. They now lead a private staff development business, Teachers for Teachers, and spend their days partnering with school systems to implement best practices in the field of literacy. They believe that effective professional development includes side by side teaching; analysis of student work; mutual trust; respect; and a good dose of laughter. You can find them online at Teachers for Teachers where they blog about books and the art of teaching, and on Twitter.

Clare Landrigan is a staff developer who is still a teacher at heart. She began her work as an educator over twenty years ago, teaching in an integrated first- and second-grade classroom at the Eliot Pearson Children's School in Medford, MA. After a long journey serving as an educator and administrator in elementary public schools, she now leads a private staff development business and spends her days partnering with school systems to help them implement best practices in the field of literacy. Clare is the coauthor of the book, It's All About the Books: How to Create Bookrooms and Classroom Libraries That Inspire Readers. She believes that effective professional development includes side-by-side teaching, analysis of student work, mutual trust, respect, and a good dose of laughter. Clare is on the board of The Book Love Foundation. You can find her online at Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and at her website, where she blogs about books and the art of teaching. Clare lives in Boston, MA with her family.