About Rita Soltan
Rita, an experienced children’s librarian, worked in public libraries in both New York
and Michigan for more than 30 years.  Rita holds a BA in Education/Spanish
Literature and a Master of Library Science, both from Queens College of the City
University of New York, and a MAT in Reading and Language Arts from Oakland
University, Rochester, MI.

Rita has conducted numerous workshops for librarians, teachers and parents using
literature throughout the curriculum.   She has organized and led many different
book discussions for groups including Mother/Daughter and Father/Son book clubs,
as well as, groups for children and family reading.  She has been involved in
planning and implementing numerous staff development programs including
literature conferences that incorporate provocative book discussion and was
responsible for initiating the annual "Literature and the Child" conference held,
under her direction, in southeast Michigan from 1995-2004.  

Rita is the author of
Reading Raps: A Book Club Guide for Librarians, Kids and
Families (Libraries Unlimited/Greenwood Press, 2005) and Summer Reading
Renaissance (Libraries Unlimited/Greenwood Press, 2008).  She has written two
articles for the
MLA Forum, an electronic journal for the Michigan Library
Association,  
Precocious Readers, and The Tween Market .  Her article, Fairy Tale
Characters Breathe New Life
, was in the ALSC journal Children and Libraries,
Summer/Fall 2007 issue.  Her newest book,
Solving the Reading Riddle :The
Librarian's Guide to Reading Instruction will be published in the spring of 2010.

Currently, Rita is a regular reviewer for
Kirkus Reviews, Horn Book Guide and
School Library Journal.  She teaches at Oakland Community College in southeast
Michigan in the English and Library Technician departments.