Shirlee Royal

Background

About Shirlee Royal

We lose ourselves in books. We find ourselves in them, too." The first time I discovered Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was at the age of 12. I lost myself in the world of master sleuth Sherlock Holmes while sitting under a tree in my backyard. It was a long journey from those those dappled green pages to the soft rays of sun illuminating my weekly lesson plans. But my classroom library became and remains the most planned and treasured part of my classroom. This losing of myself became a life long pursuit and the reason behind my passion to teach children how to read fluently and for the pure joy of it. Along the way I was inspired by the most important adults in my life aside from my parents: my teachers. My only clear memory of my elementary years was those precious 30 minutes after lunch when Ms. McCool read to us from Where the Red Fern Grows, Little Britches and The Streetcar Children. I learned that reading is a passport to worlds beyond my own.