Encourage your Young Readers

BUILDING YOUR CLASSROOM COMMUNITY SHOULD COME FIRST

We all put in hard work to establish classroom community and character building. How many of you use picture books in your classrooms for this? These are a great way to teach LIFE skills, and it is up to us to give our students access to these stories!  Below is a list of books I highly recommend. Some are new and some are older. Maybe one or two will speak to you and your class this year! Can't afford them all? Youtube it and play it for your classroom. 

—Community: Nimoshom and His Bus, You Held Me Up,  Blue Sky,

White Stars, Not Quite Narwhal, The Field.

—Identity:  Julian is a Mermaid, The Day You Begin, Beautiful, Cece loves Science,

I love My Purse (boy who gets made fun of and has a purse)

—Anxiety/Depression:  After the Fall, Small things (wordless picture book),

The Rough Patch (dog lover’s book), There Might Be Lobsters (underrated)

—Compassion/Empathy: Adrian Simcox Does Not have a Horse, I’m Sad, Teddy’s Favorite Toy,

Words and Your Heart, The Rabbit Listened, The Bad Seed (another book coming)

—Kindness:  I Walk With Vanessa(wordless picture book), Be Kind, Where Oliver Fits,

The Neighbor Kid, Albize Newton—that kid in your classroom that no one understands and impacts the other kids in a negative way,
The One Day House, Pipsqueaks, Slowpokes, and Stinkers: Melissa Stewart (celebrating animal underdogs - NONFICTION)

—Acceptance & Inclusion:  Mixed: A Colorful Story (mixing colors in a segregated city),

All of Us, All Are Welcome (Aug 20) true story of a school that is super inclusive and diverse,
The Big Umbrella (doesn’t matter, umbrella is big enough for all), Strictly No Elephants (first day book)Emily Arrow video to go with,
Night Out

—Family:  Alma and how she got her name, Always Anjali,

Ocean meets Sky (pair w/ Drawn Together), Drawn Together,
Carried Away, Meet My Family (Family is Family is Family—paired with)

—Self-Concept:  Rainbow Weaver, Our Children Can Soar (different illustrator every page),

That Is My Dream (Langston Hughes poem), The Bad Seed,
Crown & Ode to the Fresh Cut (black barbershops), Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy (multiple illustrators),
My Hair is a Garden (how to take care of your hair), Hey Black Child

—Empowerment:  Don’t Touch My Hair, I am Enough, Rock What Ya Got, What If,

The Little Red Fort, Mae Among the Stars(Mae Jamison), Pearl

—Bravery:  Malala & the Magic Pencil, Brave, Rescue & Jessica, Off & Away, Jabari Jumps

—Cultural Awareness/Understanding:  Bow WOW & Pow wow, Dreamers, All Around Us ,

All the Way to Havana

—Activism & Social Justice:  Let the Children March, The Youngest Marchers,

The Rooster Who Would Not be Quiet, Here We Are

—Processing the World: The Breaking News, The Water Princess, Now,

Ten Cents a Pound, Her Right Foot

—Doing Right/Responsibility: We Don’t eat Our Classmates, Penelope the T-Rex,
Issa Gizmo, Shelter, When We Were Alone, Alfie, Hello, Hello

—Fun & Laughter & Surprises: The Itchy Book, Out, Festival of Colors, Dude!, Misunderstood Shark, Rapunzel, Creepy Pair of Underwear