Rachael Walker is Belle of the Book.
The word belle comes from the French feminine of beau, which means beautiful. The phrase belle of the ball refers to the most attractive and charming lady at a social event. An early use of the phrase—the partner of partners, the belle of the ball—is found in an 1822 issue of the English journal The New Monthly Magazine.
Put this together with Rachael’s love of reading, her ability to develop fabulous reading events and reading motivation programs, and her expertise in bringing organizations together to support and promote children’s literacy and you get Belle of the Book.
Rachael is an architect of and the creator of content for the National Education Association’s Read Across America program, helping NEA transition Read Across America from a one-day celebration of reading and Dr. Seuss to a year-round resource to meet the growing need to connect kids of all ages with books where they can see themselves as the heroes of the story, while also showing them that all kinds of people can be the heroes too.
Rachael also works with the education initiatives of WETA, the leading PBS station in the nation’s capital: Reading Rockets, Colorín Colorado, AdLit.org, and Start with a Book, developing and promoting content for educators and parents. As an advisor for the CPB-PBS Ready To Learn initiative from 2011-2020, she was active in the development of new and innovative parent tools, including three award-winning apps.
She’s also created national reading reading parties like National D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) Day for HarperCollins Children’s Books and Get a Kick Out of Reading/¡Lee y Marca un Golazo! with Major League Soccer and the National Education Association.
She creates materials for Random House Children’s Books, Disney, Algonquin Young Readers, and other publishers so that educators will have resources to help them host their own book parties.
Rachael began her career in children’s literacy at Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) and was also the Executive Director of Reach Out and Read of Metro DC.
Rachael proudly serves on the Advisory Board of The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance.
Dear Ms. Walker,
Good morning! Just a quick thank you for creating the beautiful reading guide for “Black Dove White Raven.” I am an eighth grade English teacher and was perusing information concerning this book when I ran across your reading/discussion guide. Most reading guides are filled with low-level questions and fairly uncreative responses for book activities, but as I read through this guide, I was so pleasantly surprised by the discussion questions and thoughtful activities. Your guide would something akin to something that I would write and I absolutely loved it. Thank you for putting in so much time and effort into this.