Meet Mrs. Cropper

  

I’m Anne Marie Cropper.  After teaching 2nd grade for a couple of years I decided to stay at home with my new baby, Blaine, who is now 13 months old.  I love spending my day with Blaine, and wouldn’t have it any other way, but OH, how I miss my 2nd-graders!  I’m passionate about teaching and I love each subject for a different reason.  Teaching literacy is the best there is.  Once a child learns to read he or she can go anywhere, learn anything, become anyone.  I love books and I am so excited to share my favorites with you!  Have fun poking around my blog and then go to your local library or fave bookstore and find these greaties!  Even if you don’t have children or if your children are too little for some of these books, you should read them!  (Truthfully, I don’t really even know what adults read!  I always have a list a mile long of children’s novels that I want to devour, so I’ve never in my life cracked a John Grisham, Tom Clancy, or Nicholas Sparks.  I’m more interested in Jerry Spinelli, J. K. Rowling, Katherine Paterson, Tomie dePaola, Kevin Henkes, and Dr. Seuss!)  Good literature can enrich our lives in a way nothing else can.  It helps us learn, imagine, and dream.  My hope for this blog is that it will introduce you to new books and authors, and that it will spark more enthusiasm about reading.  Read by yourself, read with your family, read with your bookclub friends!  And please-share your comments!  Tell me what your faves are, what books inspired you as a child, what fabulous books I should be highlighting on this blog…      

You can  email me at mrscroppersbooks@gmail.com. 

Some Fun Facts About Me:

Favorite Human: My husband, Taylor

Favorite Color: Red, though green has been my fetish for about two years

Favorite Food: Pretty much all things Mexican.  I lived in Guadalajara for a while so in my book you can’t beat Tacos al Pastor.  Also pasta.  Taylor makes AMAZINGLY delish Italian food.

Favorite City: San Francisco.  The architecture, the streets, Chinatown, Pier 39, the seafood, the shopping, the seals, the memories of family trips, dance competitions, and my honeymoon….

Favorite Movies: Dead Poet’s Society, Moulin Rouge

Favorite TV shows: The Office, Gilmore Girls

Favorite Books: Yeah, right!  I could never choose…

Favorite Subject to Teach Besides Literacy: ART.  I don’t just teach crafts (though there is a place for that).  I teach art theory and criticism.  All year we try to answer the question, “What is art?”  My favorite thing is teaching about various artists.  We look at their work, learn about their lives, and then create our own work after the style of that artist.  And the kids just die about it!  They eat it up.  It’s awesome.

Favorite memories: Picking blackberries in my yard in Oregon (where I grew up), being a missionary in Ohio, my long and complicated courtship with my husband, having a baby wriggle inside me, hearing things like, “This is fun, Mrs. Cropper!” during a lesson or “Mrs. Cropper, I wish you could be my teacher for 3rd and 4th and 5th and 6th grade!”