Homes Around the World

Wil Mara is an award-winning author. He has written extensively for children, including more than 50 titles in the Rookie Biographies and Rookie Read-About series, as well as five titles for the best-selling The Boxcar Children series.

Literacy consultant Stephanie Laird is an instructional coach at Mitchellville Elementary in Mitchellville, Iowa, and is currently serving on the International Literacy Association's (ILA) Board of Directors through 2019. She was the 2014 recipient of the ILA Technology and Literacy Award. Stephanie is the President-Elect of the Iowa Reading Association and was the 2017 Conference Chair of the Iowa Reading Association's annual conference. Along with being an ambassador and advocate for education, literacy, and teacher leadership across her state, Stephanie was a member of ILA's Literacy, eLearning, Communication, and Culture Committee and has contributed to the International Literacy Day Activity Kit, Literacy Daily, and ReadWriteThink.