The 2019 Global Read Aloud (GRA) selections were announced this week. It is the 10th year for the six-week event that fosters global connections through shared reading, from picture books through young adult.

"The GRA is an invitation into a world that we can share together. An invitation into a story that will shape our experience, that will help us speak books with one another in order for us to understand each other better," teacher, author, and GRA creator Pernille Ripp wrote in her blogpost announcing the selections. "Every year I see the connections being made and think of each of them as a small chip in the many walls that seem to surround us around the world, I see it as one more step toward a more empathetic, understanding, and activist society.

"And so the books are at the center of it all which puts a lot of pressure on the selection of the texts. Hitting publish on this post will once again mean me holding my breath, waiting for the reaction to unfold worldwide. And yet, it also means that perhaps these books will change the way we think, the way we teach. That these books and the creators behind them will become part of the language of books that we speak with our students. I cannot wait for that to happen."

This year's choices—selected through a combination of public voting and Ripp's decision—are:

Picture books (weeks 1 through 5 are by Yuyi Morales)

Week 1:  Dreamers, in English or Spanish

Week 2:  Just A Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book

Week 3:  Nino Wrestles the World

Week 4:  Viva Frida

Week 5:  Little Night/Nochecita

Week 6, voter’s choice: Stella Diaz Has Something to Say by Angela Dominguez

Middle Grade

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Middle School

The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman

YA

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

The event begins September 30. Each educator decides how much time they would like to dedicate to it and what they would like to do with their students. In the past, teachers and librarians have used Twitter, Skype, Kidblog, Write About, Padlet, email, even regular mail, to make connections with other classes around the world, according to Ripp's blog.

Anyone interested, can sign up to receive updates and information.