Interview with Michelle Dufresne

AEF: You were an elementary school teacher for many years. Can you tell us about that, and about how you became a book publisher?

Michele Dufresne: I was a classroom teacher and reading specialist for over twenty years. I did my student teaching at Fort River School and after teaching in Orange, Ma, Maryland and South Hadley, MA, returned to Amherst Public School where I was the Title I Director and Reading Recovery Teacher Leader (an intensive intervention for helping struggling first grade readers) for the district until I retired in 2008.

As a reading specialist/Reading Recovery teacher I worked mostly with children who were having a hard time learning to read. I found that most of the books we had to use to teach with were either boring or too difficult. A teacher friend and I started writing some stories to use with the children we were teaching. In 1998 we printed ten little books illustrated with black and white photos of family and friends. Pioneer Valley Books was born. We had no marketing plan and the books sold mostly by word of mouth. To our surprise teachers loved the books and demanded more. Pioneer Valley Books now has over 400 stories with both color photographs and illustration all written for readers ranging from 5 to 8 years old. The most popular stories are stories I write about our two little dogs, Bella and Rosie. The books sell all over the United States and Canada as well as countries around the world. Teachers write me wonderful letters about how the stories about Bella and Rosie are helping their students learn to read! Bella and Rosie also get fan letters written to them almost every day in the mail. Most recently we made an IPad app so children can both read and listen to our stories using an ipad.

AEF: Why do you value public education?

Michele: I strongly believe that children are our greatest resource. Through good education a child's life can be changed. All children deserve a great education, regardless of background, and strong public schools can make that a reality. Every child comes to school ready to learn and hopeful for their future and as teachers we need to contiguously strive to do our best for those children, no matter what differences they bring to the classroom in terms of experiences and knowledge. That means being open to new teaching strategies and sharing ideas with our colleagues.

AEF: Why did you choose to make a donation to AEF?

Michele: I feel blessed that we have been so successful and feel it is important to give back to the community. We have begun to do some charity work focused mostly on education. Most recently we have donated several scholarships to train new Reading Recovery teacher leaders, and a matching funds grant to the Reading Recovery Council of North America. AEF plays an important role in providing teachers with both professional development and resources to help them do interesting and innovative things to improve education for their students. We hope our donation to AEF will be used creatively by teachers to help children who are learning to read.