Grant County Reading Council

Our very own GCRC President is the Sheridan School District’s Teacher of the Year for 2026!!! Congratulations Tara Walters Derby!!!

Tara Derby, a Reading Interventionist at East End Elementary School, was named the 2025-26 Sheridan School District Teacher of the Year last night at a meeting of the district’s Board of Education. (She is pictured receiving her award from Jeff Lisenbey, president of the board.)

Derby has dedicated 23 years to teaching students in the Sheridan School District. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education, a master’s degree in Reading, National Board Certification in Reading, and recently earned designation as a Certified Academic Language Therapist. She has served a combined 20 years as President of the Grant County Reading Council and is a board member and past President of the Arkansas Literacy Association, where she works to promote literacy and support educators across the state. The list of awards for her work in literacy is too long to name them all.

Derby is well known for her community outreach efforts, regularly distributing free books to families and promoting a culture of reading throughout the East End and Sheridan communities. Through her leadership, advocacy, and innovative approaches to literacy instruction, she works to ensure every child has the opportunity to become a confident, lifelong reader. Her coworkers say that she shows up early and stays late, and always has a smile on her face and is willing to help anyone.

East End Elementary Principal Tamara Strawn says what truly sets Derby apart is “not only her expertise, but her heart… She teaches with her heart and lives out the belief that every child matters.”

We love our school libraries and librarians!! 📚📖

April is School Library month, which is the American Association of School Librarians' celebration of school librarians and school libraries. Thank you to all the book-pushing, book-talking, research-teaching teacher librarians! You make a difference!📚

We were able to pass out lots of books today!! Happy faces and empty boxes! Thanks Mrs. James for your generous book donations!!

East End students will probably recognize her as their beloved substitute teacher, Mrs. Ashley! 🤩 Local writer, Tonya B. Ashley, has a new book coming out this fall!! Pre-orders are now available. Links are in the comments.

Fireflies in Sacred Shadows - Scrivenings Press LLC A hidden message. A broken past. A chance to begin again. Van Buren, Arkansas, 1853. Rebecca Hogue is doing everything she can to hold her family—and their boardinghouse—together. But when a mysterious spyglass surfaces and her reputation is called into question, the danger becomes far more pers...

We had the best time spreading the love of literacy at the Back to School Bash in East End!! Lots of smiling faces!

Come see us at the GCRC table tomorrow and pick out a free book!! (We love when members join us and help spread the love of literacy!) 🤩📚👍🏼Read More Books!!!!

Reminder!
Join us for our Back to School Bash tomorrow, August 2nd at the
East End Ballfields from 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM.
We’d love to see you there!

Celebrating literacy today with state and local literacy leaders as well as some amazing Arkansas Authors!!!
J&K Creations came and made sure we had cute new reading shirts to wear!
Mallory Elledge’s flowers were a beautiful addition to the President awards!
GCRC had the highest percentage of membership growth this past year!!! Woohoo!!