Shannon Grogan

Shannon Grogan is a 2nd grade teacher who writes at night, and at Starbucks or the library while her kids are at ballet and baseball, in a tiny logging town east of Seattle, WA. She holds degrees in education and graphic design/illustration. When she isn’t writing or teaching, she likes baking (gluten-free), shopping at Target, losing to her kids at Skip Bo or Apples to Apples, camping, or wishing she was on a beach. But usually she’s reading, or watching scary movies like Jaws, or reality TV like Cake Boss or Long Island Medium.

Grogan's new YA thriller is From Where I Watch You.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

Since I teach 2nd grade, I read for school, usually about 45 minutes a day to my class, and for fun at home, of course!

For my 2nd graders, I usually pick illustrated middle grade books with lots of humor for my classroom read-alouds, like Cecil and Anton: Cats at Sea, and Flora & Ulysses.

I also read picture books and usually pick ones I can use as mentor texts for our own writing. Our favorite this year, because we focused on opinion letter writing, was The Day the Crayons Quit. For both MG and PBs, humor and pictures definitely capture and keep my student’s attention. Good example: when Peach Crayon in The Day the Crayons Quit hides in the crayon box because he’s naked! Nothing gets attention and a laugh in a room of 7-8 year-olds like the word naked!

All books I choose to read in class have to have that the ‘we-can-read-it-over-and-over’!

For fun I’m all about YA!

I stick primarily to darker, pacier contemporary YA, but I love ‘quieter’ character-driven books too. I have too many favorites and favorite authors this year to name them all, but one of my favorite books, that I just finished was The Cost of All Things by Maggie Lehrman.

I usually do not like multiple POV books, and Maggie’s had 4 POVs! But she did such a fantastic job of writing this so seamlessly that I was sucked into the story quickly and couldn’t put it down!

Right now I’m reading The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes. It’s based on Grimm’s The Handless Maiden. Loving it so far!

Bottom line, whatever I read, I have to be captured by the characters to keep reading. The characters, no matter what book, will keep me reading!

Visit Shannon Grogan's website.

My Book, The Movie: From Where I Watch You.

The Page 69 Test: From Where I Watch You.

--Marshal Zeringue