In October 2010, Good Morning America called YouAreWhatYouRead.com, Scholastic’s online book community, the “Facebook for readers.” Since the incredible shoutout from Robin Roberts, YouAreWhatYouRead.com has welcomed more than 15,000 book lovers (from all around the world and of all ages), who have joined the site to share their five most influential books.

This past Sunday, the American Association of School Librarians named YouAreWhatYouRead.com a 2011 Best Website for Teaching and Learning. Presented by the AASL, the “Best Website for Teaching and Learning” honors the year’s  top 25 websites that bring exceptional value to inquiry-based teaching and learning as embodied in the AASL’s Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.
Everyone — especially those of us who have been working on the site since it was just a small idea from our staff meeting — couldn’t be more thrilled and excited to see the growth of the site and to receive such wonderful recognition. Every day, we log on to the site to see what people are saying about their Bookprints and to see new members explore adding books to their favorites’ list and friends to their Bookmates.

The best moments of recognition though happen when we hear feedback from students and teachers. Many of them have used YouAreWhatYouRead.com in their classrooms as a learning activity. The site makes reading accessible and provides a kid-friendly environment for young readers under age 13. We’ve also created participation guides for teachers to use You Are What You Read with older and younger students.

You Are What You Read reminds us that we read for a reason and that books have the power to shape our lives. Take a moment (if you haven’t already) and join the site to add your Bookprint to the thousands of others. I guarantee that you’ll want to stick around for much longer.

Have you used YouAreWhatYouRead.com in a classroom or educational setting? We’d love to hear from you! Tell us how you used the site with students and your suggestions for ways we can improve the site in the comments below.

See for yourself!