Inside Scoop: Raising a Rock-Star Reader
KidLit TV welcomes Amy Mascott, the creator of Teach Mama, and Allison McDonald founder and editor of No Time For Flash Cards, a parent and educator blog syndicated by Scholastic.com on their Raise A Reader blog.
In this interview, KidLit TV team member and Pinterest consultant Kim Vij chats with Amy and Allison about their new book Raising a Rock-Star Reader: 75 Quick Tips for Helping Your Child Develop a Lifelong Love for Reading (Scholastic).

About Raising a Rock-Star Reader
via Scholastic
Raising A Rockstar Reader – From the creators of the popular education blogs Teach Mama and No Time for Flash Cards comes a must-have parents guide for raising lifelong readers and learners. Written for todays time-crunched parents, this book is filled with easy-to-implement tips for creating a literate environment and fun, quick activities for building childrens oral language and early reading and writing skills. Just five minutes a day every day is all it takes to foster a childs love of reading and learning. For use with Grades K-5.
More About Amy:
via teachmama.com
Amy Mascott is the creator of teachmama.com, where since 2008, she has shared tools and resources parents can use to become the best teachers they can be for their children.
A Reading Specialist, writer, and literacy consultant, Amy’s work has been featured on dozens of online and print publications, including Scholastic Parents, PBS Parents, readwritethink.org, PBS Digital Studios, and more.
Amy is a former high school English teacher who has truly expanded the walls of classroom, sharing her expertise at local and national events and publishing her first book with Scholastic, Raising a Rock-Star Reader: 75 Quick Tips for Helping Your Child Develop a Lifelong Love for Reading in 2015.
Married to an elementary school principal, Amy resides in the DC Metro with her three crazy-cool kids (11, 10, and 8 years old), a dog, two birds, and one fish
More About Allison:
I have been teaching children in various capacities since 1993, so you can imagine I have done my fair share of crafts, songs, and circle times. I started as a day camp leader at a local recreation center while in high school. Taught various preschool age and after-school programs through university and worked as a reading tutor while pursuing a second degree in elementary education. After graduating with honors I set out to teach, ended up as a director of a large childcare center and preschool and returned to the classroom after a year realizing pretty quickly that I belong in a classroom, not an office. My son’s birth brought me home and my love of teaching and helping other parents sparked the idea for No Time For Flash Cards. Last fall I returned to the classroom teaching 2-3-year-olds. Now I use ideas I shared here with my own kids with my own students.
Since starting this blog in early 2008, I have had the opportunity to work with wonderful brands like Melissa & Doug, speak at conferences, and write curriculum for Itty-Bitty Bookworm a literature-based preschool curriculum and MeMeTales. I am also proud to have this blog syndicated by Scholastic.com and write about family literacy on their Raise A Reader blog. You can also find me over at PBS’s new Adventures in Learning blog where I share hands-on ways to learn.
This fall my book Raising A Rock-Star Reader was released, I am excited to share my knowledge and passion for books using a new platform! Read more about it here.
Early childhood education is my passion. Whether in a classroom or family room I want to help adults make learning fun and meaningful for the children they care for.
The entire KidLit TV team thanks Amy, Allison and Scholastic for this book, and we’re excited to tell every parent we know about it!
ACK! My error, remember? I KNEW Dan Brown didn’t sound right. . . WE knew it didn’t sound right! MARC BROWN is the author of ‘Arthur’!! *head hits desk*
So many Browns…we all know who you meant! No worries. You’re a mom and you’re allowed! That’s that.
Wow, girls, this was fanTASTic! I totally spread the word to my “Special Ed Teacher” daughter-in-law and her “Elementary School Principal” mom :D
Thank you so much Amy and Allie for taking the time to share with us. Was a treat to get to interview you.
Thank you for sharing such valuable advice and insight Amy and Allison.