Improve students’ well-being and academic performance with inspiring read-aloud and take-home books that nurture persistence, collaboration, problem-solving, and more.
Byron V. Garrett Life and Literacy Skills Library | Grades PreK–5
Where Literacy Meets Life Skills
Set your students on the path to personal and academic success with an empowering life skills collection curated by educator and advocate Byron V. Garrett.
Byron V. Garrett Life and Literacy Skills Library
Where Literacy Meets Life Skills
Set your students on the path to personal and academic success with an empowering life skills collection curated by educator and advocate Byron V. Garrett.
Build Skills That Last a Lifetime
“Survey employers and they will tell you that while technical skills are necessary, employability skills—including responsible behavior, interpersonal skills, and communication skills—are what they struggle to find, particularly in young workers.”
Byron V. Garrett
Why This Collection?
The books in the Byron V. Garrett Life and Literacy Skills Library have been selected because they demonstrate the importance of key life skills such as persistence, creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, and more!
Interactive Read-Aloud Titles
Lead dynamic conversations as students ground their talk in the text and expand their appreciation and understanding of life skills.
Curated Classroom Library Titles
Provide opportunities for a variety of literacy experiences within the classroom with high-quality, authentic texts.
Teaching Life Skills in the Classroom
Life skill themes provide springboards for reading and discussion, allowing students to connect to concepts that resonate with their lives.
Empowering Students to Read at Home
Empower students to revisit and analyze texts, while growing awareness of diverse book options.
"By introducing life skills in the classroom, children can set themselves up for success and lay the groundwork for success in their future careers."
Saravanakumar, A. (2020). Life Skill Education Through Lifelong Learning. Raleigh, NC: Lulu Press.
Our 5 to Thrive Framework
We use hundreds of skills to lead happy, successful lives. The Byron V. Garrett Life and Literacy Skills Library organizes the most important ones into five easy-to-understand themes.
Understanding Myself
Identify what we're good at and what we need to improve.
Managing Myself
Learn to manage behaviors and emotions in a productive way.
Respecting Others
Learn to accept others even when they disagree with us.
Building Relationships
Develop the ability to communicate and work together.
Making Decisions
Learn to make good decisions and improve critical thinking.
Research & Validation
Home Libraries Topic Paper
With the Byron V. Garrett Life and Literacy Skills Library, every student receives one take-home book for their home library. Learn about the importance of home libraries in this eye-opening research paper.
Reading for Life: The Impact of Youth Literacy on Health Outcomes Topic Paper
Discover the powerful connection between literacy rates and physical, mental, and emotional health.
About the Curator
Byron V. Garrett is the Executive Vice President of Government Partnerships at United Way Worldwide.
He's an Ed.D. candidate in Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy at Pepperdine University and holds an M.A. in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix and a B.A. in Human Relations from High Point University. He has served as a subject matter expert for national news outlets, and he has been recognized as one of Ebony’s Power 150 Most Influential Black Americans and one of Black Enterprise’s 100 Modern Men of Distinction.
Garrett is the creative force behind Scholastic’s Byron V. Garrett Life and Literacy Skills Library.
Life Skills for Your Literacy Block
How do you fit life skills into an already busy school day? Our grade-level libraries for PreK–5 integrate life skills into whole-class, paired, and independent reading for you!
40 Age-Appropriate Books
Each grade-level library includes 20 titles (2 copies each) for read-alouds and paired reading.
Take-Home Books
The library includes an anchor text with take-home copies for each student. Teachers keep one for classroom read-alouds and send the rest home with a letter and activities in English and Spanish.
Teacher's Guide
Learn all about your new collection and how to make life skills relevant to your students' lives.
The ABCs of Life
Get inspired with a copy of Byron V. Garrett's professional book about resilience and success.
Digital Resource Site
Watch empowering Byron V. Garrett videos and download step-by-step read-aloud lessons.
Professional Learning for Educator Success
Facilitated Implementation Support
Maximize Impact with Scholastic Professional Learning
Work with our certified Literacy Specialists onsite or virtually to build the capacity of your educators to embed our engaging stories and collections into your classrooms.
Want to take your practice to the next level? Put strategies into action with 1:1 job-embedded coaching!
More Resources for Life & Literacy Skills
Enhance your Byron V. Garrett Life and Literacy Skills Library with these teacher-recommended resources.
School Readiness Kits
Help families prepare their children for kindergarten with bilingual books and activities that introduce the reading, math, and life skills students will be learning in school.
School Success Kits
Prepare students for success in the elementary grades with bilingual books and activities that strengthen the home-school connection and reinforce the themes of the Byron V. Garrett Life and Literacy Skills Library.
