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Author: David Ezra Stein
2010
Illustrator: David Ezra Stein
Published in Somerville, Massachusetts, by Candlewick Press.
Genre: Fantasy
Recommended Grade Level: pre-k-2
Themes: Manners, bed time stories, bedtime, parent child relationships
Major Awards: Caldecott Award Honors. The Caldecott Award Honor is given to an exceptional picture book for children. The pictures must provide a visual experience for children. Caldecott Awards are given to illustrators of books published the previous year  in the US first, and in English only. By using water color, water soluble crayons, markers, pen, and tea to create these pictures, he was able to include more details with every brush stroke than if he had used another media. Using tea to create his images, allowed for the books in the story to look older, like a fairytale would.
Summary:  While getting ready to go to sleep, Chicken asked for a bedtime story. Papa obliged, but warned her about interrupting. While reading Chicken’s favorite story, she interrupts to stop something bad from happening and ensuring that the characters arrive safely at their happy ending. After each story Papa reminds her not to interrupt, but during each story she does. Once they make it through all the stories, Chicken is still not sleepy, so Papa suggests that she tells him a story. As soon as the story begins, Papa falls asleep, and Chicken climbs into bed to snuggle, also falling asleep.
Caldecott Continued: Stein's use of rounded lines allowed for the characters to look and feel real, the reader would be able to understand that these are supposed to be living characters. Stein also created space and depth in the illustrations by creating shadows, and making the illustrations three dimensional.
Reader Response/Classroom Connection: After discussing how the illustrations were created, the students would be given the same materials and would practice making their own illustrations with tea and water colors. We could talk about how to make the water colors richer, and experiment with water-soluble crayons.
Using one illustration or double page layout, the students would create their own story based on the illustration. Their story should be completely different and independent from the original story.

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I know this book does not meet the criteria for anything, and I will be doing 20 books and this one as an extra. I just really liked it.
Other Caldecott Award Honor
Author: Kelly Starling Lyons
2019
Illustrator: Daniel Minter
Publisher: Peachtree Publishing Company Inc. Atlanta, Georgia.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Recommended Grade Level: k-3
Themes: Family traditions, family,
Major Awards: Caldecott Award Honor
Summary: During a family reunion weekend, Lil Alan goes with his family to his father's childhood home, where his family has lived for generations, even as enslaved people. Lil Alan enjoys visiting with his family, but is worried because he does not have anything to share for his great-grandmother and deceased grandfather's anniversary celebration. The worry of not knowing what to present to his great grandmother creeps into his mind while he is trying to have fun on the family property. Eventually Lil Alan brings items from the family's land to present, cotton, dirt, and pecans, all things that are important to the family. Eventually the weekend is over, and everyone leaves until the next year.
Additional Consideration: Going Down Home with Daddy won a Caldecott Award. This award is given to books from the previous year that were first published in the United States. This book illustrations like I have never seen before in a book. There were whimsical lines and movement in the background. It appeared that the illustrations were done with watercolors and a white ink to outline and add detail to the pictures. With the use of watercolor, the illustrator was able to create a dream like picture, which relates to  the character's feelings about the reunion every year.
Reader Responses/Classroom Connection: After reading this book, students could create their own family tree and think about traditions that their family has. To be sensitive towards students who do not have a good home life or students in foster care, they could create their dream family tree and some school traditions they have.
Going hand-in-hand with the first one the students could discuss the diversity with this text and how Lil Alan's family traditions differ from theirs. Individual venn diagrams could be made, after a class venn diagram is modeled.

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Wordless picture book
Author: David Wiesner
2006
Illustrator: David Wiesner
Publisher: Clarion/Houghton Mifflin, New York
Genre: Fantasy
Recommended Grade Level: 1-4
Themes: Discovery, adventure, imagination
Major Awards: Caldecott Award Medal, Best Illustrated Children's Book Award
Summary: A boy goes to the beach, and he brings along a magnifying glass to be able to see small animals. While looking at a crab, he gets hit by a wave and discovers an underwater camera. He goes to get the camera's film developed and finds that in each picture the subject is not what he would have expected. The fish are made of metal parts, the octopus have living rooms and homes, sea turtles are moving cities, and aliens live on starfishs' backs! In the last picture, he discovers a picture of someone holding a picture, of someone holding a picture, of someone holding a picture... He decides to take his own picture of himself holding the picture and throw the camera back into the ocean for someone else to find. The camera travels all over, and eventually lands on a beach in front of a child.
Additional Consideration: This book was presented with the Caldecott Award Medal. Since there are no words in this book, the pictures needed to move the story along. On each page, there is an incredible amount of detail, in some cases, multiple scenes. The illustrators use of color, space and depth, and just the amount of detail in each image make up for the fact that there are no pictures. The book references water color, and to have that much control over water colors is incredible.
Reader Responses/Classroom Connection:  After looking at the pictures, have students write the words for a few pages. They could either physically write the story or record a video of them "reading" the story.
This book could be included in an ocean unit in science. The ocean ecosystem and ocean currents could be pulled in. Students could classify what type of creature each animal is, crustacean, invertebrate, or vertebrate.

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Alphabet Concept Book
Author: Stephen T. Johnson
Illustrator: Stephen T. Johnson
Publisher: Penguin Group, New York,
1996
Genre: Nonfiction (alphabet concept book)
Recommended Grade Level: Pre-k-1
Themes: Alphabet, Capital letters in city settings.
Major Awards: Caldecott Award Honor
Summary: Johnson happened upon the letter A in a saw horse. Throughout the city, there are capital letters found in unexpected places and made of random things. Each letter has occurred without manipulation.
Additional Consideration: Alphabet City received a Caldecott Award Honor, the illustrations in this book were realistic to the degree that I forgot that they were not photographs. The illustrator's use of shading, contrast, and lines to create such life like illustrations enhances the idea of finding letters in the public, and shows children what they would actually look like in person. Since for some children the city is foreign idea, this is a way to expose them to the city, and a different way of life.
Reader Responses/Classroom Connection: After "reading" this book, students would be given a clipboard and piece of paper with each capital letter on it. We would go on a walk throughout the school's campus and look for the letters. If the school was in a city setting we could find them there. Students would check off each letter they find.
Each student would be assigned a letter, and would be asked to bring in an object/picture of the object that resembles the letter they were assigned. Once they were all in, the class would complete a parade of letter, where they walked around to see each letter and its object.

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Early Reader
Author: Geoffrey Hayes
Illustrator: Geoffrey Hayes
Publisher: Raw Junior, New York City, 2009
Genre: fantasy
Recommended Grade Level:1-2, 3 if a student is struggling
Themes: Friendship, Following rules, siblings, new friends.
Major Awards: Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
Summary:Benny and Penny are siblings, they find out there is a new next door neighbor and want to find out who it is. Benny wants the neighbor to be a boy, and Penny wants the neighbor to be a girl. Benny notices that he has lost his pail and tries to find it, he realizes that there are foot prints going away from the other side of the fence, and thinks that maybe the new neighbor has stolen his pail. When he and his sister go to the other side of the fence, which is a big no-no, they find the pail and the new neighbor. Their first meeting does not go as planned, and mud is thrown back and forth. When Benny gets his pail back to his side of the fence, he realizes that it was not his pail after all, and that his was in the sand box. Benny has to go back over and apologize for taking the neighbor's pail. Benny and Penny go over to apologize and falls into a mud puddle, when the neighbor sprays him with the hose to clean him off. This broke the tension, and they all became friends.
Additional consideration: Because this book is set up as a graphic novel, the picture would help if a reader needed some clues for some words. The words are all small words, that would be easy for a student in second grade to figure out.
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: This book could be used to open a lesson on friends. The students could write about a time when they made a new friend and something went wrong.
This book could be used during a responsibility lesson. Benny would have saved himself a lot of pain, anger, and frustration had he known where his pail was. Because he thought the neighbor stole it, they all got off on the wrong foot.

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Poetry
Author: Marilyn Singer
2011
Illustrator: Julia Cairns
Publisher: Lee & Low Books Inc, New York
Genre: Poetry, Free Verse
Recommended Grade Level: 1-4
Themes: Different Cultures, traditions, celebrations, the moon
Major Awards: N/A
Summary: This book is a collection of poetry about the full moon. In different cultures around the world, the full moon is celebrated in different ways. Not only do the poems represent what happens in different cultures, but they also include children thinking about jobs that include the moon, and how the moon has been useful in the past.
Additional Consideration: The poems in this compilation were different from other children's poems I have read/listened to. There were some poems that contained some rhyme, but most of the poems did not follow a rhyme pattern. When reading the poem in my head, it was difficult to understand how it should sound, but reading it aloud helped to clear that up. Because each poem was set in a different part of the world, it allowed for exposure and an insight to others.
Reader Responses/Classroom Connection: During a lesson on the moon or outer space, this book of poetry could be read so that children can see the importance of the full moon in other cultures. We would also discuss how the moon was used in the past.

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Poetry
Author: Nikki Grimes
Illustrator: E.B. Lewis
Publisher: HarperCollins, New York, 2006
Genre: Poetry, narrative
Recommended Grade Level:  k-3
Themes: New teacher, beginning of school year, friends
Major Awards: N/A
Summary: Danitra and Zuri are starting a new school year, and Zuri is not excited to have a new teacher. On the first day, Zuri is worried about when the teacher is going to call her name for attendance, wondering if it will be pronounced correctly, Danitra is there to calm her, and give her support. As they move through the school year, Zuri is worried about math, and how it just does not make sense to her, Danitra becomes her tutor, and helps to make sense of all the numbers, eventually Zuri passes a math test. When Zuri is worried about her mother's healthy, Miss Volchek comforts her, and Zuri realizes she is not so bad. As the school year progresses, Zuri discovers that it's not so bad, and she might even miss her teacher.
Additional consideration: Nikki Grimes' use of singsongy rhymes helps to keep little listeners' attention. The rhyming words would be beneficial for young students to hear, in order to develop their phonemic awareness. The poem reads best aloud, it is more difficult to get the grasp of how it should be said while silent reading.
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: This would be a great first day of school read,  it would allow for the students to understand that they are not alone in their worries about the new school year, this could open up the conversation about how the classroom would run, and what ideas the students had about the class. As a response to the poem, the students would use the poem, Danitra Brown as a model text, and write a poem about their best friend.
Each student could choose one poem to practice reading, and then present to the class, aloud. This would help in their understanding of meter. After each poem, students would be asked to highlight or point out the rhyming words in each poem.
An activity I could do as an educator is write a poem about each student throughout the year, with the poem, Danitra Brown as a model.

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Pura Belpré
Author: Angela Dominguez
Illustrator: Angela Dominguez
Publisher: Scholastic, New York, New York, 2013
Genre: Poetry (story in rhyme)
Recommended Grade Level:
Themes: Animals, music, culture.
Major Awards: Pura Belpré Illustration honor.
Summary: This is a spin on the original Mary had a Little Lamb. Instead of Mary, we have Maria who has a llama. Maira appears to be from Peru. Mary tries to take the llama to school, but the teacher made the llama leave. Since the llama could not be with Maria, it waited outside of the school for Maria to come out. All of the children were amazed with how much the llama loved Maria.
Additional consideration: Since this book is a spin on the nursery rhyme, it brings to attention how other cultures and countries in general can have different versions of the same story. Because this version draws more upon the Peruvian culture, students could explore how people live in Peru, and try to find other stories that we have in common that may be a little different.
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: With this, students could read/sing both the Mary had a Little Lamb and this version and talk about the similarities and differences.
When learning about different places around the world, Latin America specifically, students could hear about a story that children from Latin America may know.

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Pura Belpré
Author: Monica Brown
Illustrator: John Parra
Publisher:NorthSouth Books, New York, 2017.
Genre: Biography
Recommended Grade Level: prek-2
Themes: imagination, curiosity, perseverance
Major Awards: Pura Belpré
Summary: Frida has many pets, she has dogs, cats, monkeys, a parrot, turkeys, an eagle, and a fawn. Frida lived in colorful house with her mother, father, and sisters. Her father taught her to look at life with curiosity and how to paint. Frida used her imagination and some perseverance to get through some difficulties life threw at her.
Additional consideration: This story made me think of the similarities of childhood. Even though Frida Kahlo is a famous artists, children can relate to mischief and imagination. I  think sometimes famous people seem so far off, like there is nothing that normal people could have ever had in common with them, and this bridges the gap.
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: One way to use this would be when discussing character traits. Since the book talks about how Frida is like each of her pets, each would serve as a good example of who Frida was and what her character was like.
Another way we could use this would be to do an artist study about Frida. We could read this book and then look at some of her artwork. Since in the book it mentions how she incorporated her pets into her work, we could look for them during a gallery walk.

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Coretta Scott King
Author: Marion Dane Bauer
Illustrator: Ekua Holmes
Publisher: Candlewick Press, Somerville, Massachusetts, 2018
Genre: poetry, narrative nonfiction
Recommended Grade Level: k-4 because kindergarten students would like to just hear it. Older grades would be able to understand and pull information from the text
Themes: Big bang, creation of the world
Major Awards: Coretta Scott King illustrator award
Summary: In the beginning of the universe there was nothing, no planets, stars, sky, or ground. When the big bang happened, slowly those things began forming. First with the stars, some of the stars were so hot, they exploded. Then came the formation of the planets from the ash of the exploded stars. The planets closest to the star were very hot, while the planets far away were very cold, Earth was in just the right spot. On Earth, life was formed, dinosaurs came and went, and then there were people. Then you were created, from the stuff of stars.
Additional Consideration: N/A
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: As students are learning about space and the big bang theory, this book could be used to help students understand.
During a poetry unit, students could read this and realize that poems do not always have to be about emotions, that they can be about science, and they can be done in free verse.

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The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah

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The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah

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Traditional Literature
Author: Leslie Kimmelman
Illustrator: Paul Meisel
Publisher: Holiday House, New York, 2010
Genre: Traditional (fable)
Recommended Grade Level: 1-3
Themes: Friendship, kindness, traditions
Major Awards: N/A
Summary: The little red hen is trying to get everything ready for Passover. When she needs to plant the wheat, she is sure her friends will help her, but they do not. When it is time to harvest the wheat, the little red hen goes to ask her friends for help with the harvesting, they all refuse. As she was getting ready to prepare the Matzah, she again asked her friends to help her, and they all said no. When it was time for the Seder dinner all of the friends arrived ready to eat. The little red hen was not very happy since they would not help her prepare for the meal, but because she is a good friend and they looked hungry, she invited them to dinner, and the friends had to clean up afterwards.
Additional consideration: Traditional Literature such as this book can be used as a bridge between a child's culture and school. If children see their stories in their classrooms they will feel as if they are welcomed and meant to be there. Since Christian holidays are usually celebrated, or have been celebrated in the school I attended, it is important to include other religions and their holidays. Not only that, but the message of this book is one that all could benefit from hearing.
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: During a lesson about themes, this book could be used to showcase friendship and forgiveness. The little red hen could have turned her friends away and not let them eat with her, but she remembered an important lesson, "Let all who are hungry come and eat" she did not turn them away in need, even though they were not good friends.
Another way this could be used would  during the Passover holiday. Since this is an important Holiday in the Jewish culture, this book could be used to talk about the holiday.

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Traditional Literature
Author: Verna Aardema
Illustrator: Leo and Diane Dillion
Publisher: Puffin Books, London, 1992, (originally published 1975)
Genre: Traditional Literature (porquoi tale)
Recommended Grade Level: 1-3
Themes: Why things are, community,
Major Awards: Caldecott Award
Summary: The mosquito told a lie to the iguana, so the iguana put sticks in his ears so he did not have to listen to the mosquito. When the python saw the iguana and iguana did not say good morning the python got scared and hid in the rabbit's nest. When the python came into the rabbit's nest, the rabbit was frightened and ran away. When the crow saw the rabbit running, he knew it was his job to alert of danger. The monkey heard the alert and started moving through the trees, accidentally stepping on a rotten branch, killing an owlet. When the owl arrived and found her owlet dead, she did not wake the sun, and it was night for too long. The King Lion called a meeting to get to the bottom of everything, all the blame came back to the mosquito who had been listening from the bushes, hearing that everyone was mad at the mosquito, he only buzzed in people's ears to find out if everyone was still mad at him. Every time he goes to ask he gets his answer with a swat.
Additional consideration: Using traditional stories such as this one, the students could think about any traditional stories from their own cultures. Finding one story that is important to each culture and then discussing what the meaning or lesson is from that one, children would develop a better sense of connection and understanding to cultures that are not their own.
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: One way we could use this would be to talk about the theme and why this story would have been told, what was the author/storyteller's purpose for this story.
When studying different climates and ecosystems/ biomes we could discuss the different cultures and traditional stories that include the ecosystems/biomes. For this one specifically, it would be the tropical rainforests surrounded by grasslands and savannahs.

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Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera

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Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera

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Author: Candace Fleming
Illustrator: Eric Rohmann
Publisher: Neal Porter Books, New York, 2020
Genre: Narrative nonfiction
Recommended Grade Level: k-3
Themes: honeybees, life cycle
Major Awards: N/A
Summary: One the first day of the honeybee's life, it breaks out of the cell, it gets to work. On the first day, she will eat, and eat a lot. She will also clean off and change in color. The honeybee will begin its first job, cleaning. One the third day, she develops special glands, and then moves to her next job, taking care of larvae. On the eighth day she will finally leave the nursery, going to tend to the queen. The honeybees groom, feed, and inspect the queen bee, while doing this they pick up her scent and pass it to the rest of the hive. On the twelfth day, the honeybee begins to produce a waxy substance to make combs. On day fifteen, the honeybee begins moving and storing the nectar. On day eighteen, the honeybee moves to the outside to guard the hive from predators. On day twenty-five, the honeybee finally flies, she will go from flower to flower, pollinating, retrieving nectar, and finally returning. Every day, nine times a day,  she returns filled with almost her body weight in nectar. On that same day she moves around signaling to where the sweet nectar is. As she ages she loses hair and her wings tatter. Over her thirty-five day life she will have flown over 500 miles, producing 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey.
Additional consideration: N/A
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: This would be a good book to use when talking about lifecycles. Since it is a narrative nonfiction, children will appreciate its story like qualities. When discussing different insects this could be used to compare and contrast their life cycles.
Another idea would be to use this in conjunction with plant life cycles since bees are crucial for plants. Students would read this book and a book about the life cycle of a flower and discuss why bees are so important.

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Author: Barbara Kerley
Illustrator: N/A
Publisher: National Geographic Kids, Washington D.C., 2009
Genre: Nonfiction, Narrative
Recommended Grade Level: prek-2
Themes: world, day-to-day life, similarities
Major Awards: N/A
Summary: All around the world, children are waking up, getting cleaned up and ready for the day. Each morning, children will eat breakfast, that breakfast will look different depending on where you are, but they will all eat. On school days, all children will go to school, the way they get there or how long they must travel with vary, but they will all study reading, math, science, and history. After school, some kids with work, and others will play. All around the world, children will eat dinner, again, what they have to eat will look different, but they will all eat. As it gets darker, families will spend time together. Finally bedtime, all must get ready for another day.
Additional consideration: N/A
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: When discussing geography, this book could be used to see how people living in different places live. Must be careful to drive the fact that this is not how all children or people from these places live, just how one person lives in that area.
Another way to use this book would be for compare and contrasts. The students could create a Venn Diagram with similarities and differences between them and the children in the pictures.

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Biography
Author: Doreen Rappaport
Illustrator: Bryan Collier
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, New York, 2001
Genre: Biography
Recommended Grade Level: 1-4
Themes: social justice, civil rights, perseverance, strength
Major Awards: Caldecott Medal Honor, Jane Addams Children's Book award for Picture Books, Coretta Scott King Book Award for Illustrator Honor.
Summary: As a child living in the south, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. grew up in a segregated America, where there were white only signs, and places he was not allowed to go, he knew that he was good enough. When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a child, he use to sit in the church pew and listen to his father preach, he knew when he grew up that that was what he wanted to do as well. He did grow up to be a minister and began to study Mahatma Gandhi and his nonviolence teaching. In 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her bus seat to a white man, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. joined in the marches that were a part of the bus boycott. As history went on, he continued to fight alongside of many Black Americans that were being segregated and targeted in these racist acts. Even in the face of violence, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. continued to push nonviolence. Even in the face of threats on his life and the safety of his family, he carried on. In 1964, he won a Nobel Peace Prize for urging his fellow Black Americans to fight an honest and nonviolent fight. In 1968, he traveled to Tennessee to aid in strike when he was shot and killed. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., even though he is dead, caused a ripple effect that has been decades long.
Additional consideration: N/A
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: When learning about The Civil Rights movement, this book could be included to learn about the leaders of this movement. I would also include biographies of other leaders.
When learning about people that make a difference even with great opposition this could be presented, it is important to be inclusive when learning about leaders, they are not all white men.

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I dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark

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I dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark

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Biography
Author: Debbie Levy
Illustrator: Elizabeth Baddeley
Publsiher: Simon & Schuster, New York, 2016
Genre: Biography
Recommended Grade Level: 1-3
Themes: Equality, Perseverance, Gender Norms
Major Awards: N/A
Summary:  Ruth Bader Ginsburg grew up among immigrants in Brooklyn, New York, where people with different views and beliefs got along. In other parts of the country and city, this was not the case. Ruth overcame the prejudice against Jewish people. When she was a child, girls were supposed to grow up to become wives and mothers, and boys were supposed to have ambitious dreams. Into adulthood, Ruth had to overcome being one of a few women in most situations. She wanted to go to law school so she could fight against the inequalities. Even after graduating law school while raising her daughter along side her husband, Ruth struggled to find a job, eventually she did, and then became a law professor. She was changing the idea that men had to go to work and women needed to stay home and  raise children. Ruth made her way to be a supreme court justice where she fought for equality for all.
Additional consideration: N/A
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration:  This would be a good book to introduce a unit on the supreme court or the federal government. Through this, the students could see how far equality for women has come, bust still how far it needs to go.
Another activity would be for students to find a few other books about women who did jobs that they were deemed inferior for, or socially did not usually have. Astronauts, doctors, hopefully one day, presidents.

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oDiversity: Immigration
Author: Yuyi Morales
Illustrator: Yuyi Morales
Publisher: Holiday House, New York, 2018
Genre: Poetry, biography
Recommended Grade Level: 1-3
Themes: Immigration, Love, cultural differences, empathy
Major Awards: Audie Award for Young Listeners, Pura Belpré Illustrator Award.
Summary: Through poetry, the narrator tells the story of her and her baby coming to a new country as immigrants. Unable to understand or speak the language, and not knowing the cultural norms, they could not get around and bathed in the fountain. Eventually, they happened upon a library, in the library, they were exposed to ideas and worlds they had never imagined. Eventually learning the language through the books. Learning to read, to speak, and to write, bringing a new language into their story.
Additional consideration: This book will allow for students to see how coming into a new country where you do not know the language or norms can be isolating.
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: In social studies, students would be given this book and asked to create a character suitcase. Even though there is nothing explicitly stated that the narrator brings along, they could think about what one would/should bring when moving to a new country.
Students in 3-4 grade would be asked to write down their emotional response to the different parts of the book. They could then discuss how they thought the poet would have felt. This would go nicely with the poetry unit, when teaching tone and mood.

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Diversity: Immigration
Author: Jorge Argueta
Translated by: Elisa Amado
Illustrator: Alfonsa Ruano
Publisher: Groundwood Book, Toronto, 2016
Genre: Poetry
Recommended Grade Level: 2-5
Themes: Immigration, fleeing home, new places, fear, family, love
Major Awards: Américas Award
Summary: With a different narrator in every poem, or every page, the poet is able to tell of the experience of leaving one's own country to go to the United States. In one poem, it speaks on a child wanting to leave to escape the gangs, but not wanting to leave the only place he has every known. In another one, it tells of a child trying to make it to a relatives house. In most of the poems you can feel the fear, pain, and urgency of successfully making it to their destination without harm. Without immigration officers or minutemen or traffickers harming them.
Additional consideration: Through the point of view of children, this allows others to see what it would be like coming to the United States through the southern border. While these are not real stories, they are based off of stories told to the poet while working with children fleeing their homes, giving a true insight to their lives.
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration:  This would be a good book to read aloud in the event of a student bringing up people and families fleeing their countries. This book would good to lead into a lesson about empathy and caring for others. Students could write pretend letters to children in these situations, encouraging them to continue on.
With the poem, My Neighborhood, used a guide, students would write a poem about their neighborhood. Then they could focus on just one aspect and write a poem about it. In We are Like the Clouds, birds are used to announce the arrival of spring and winter, students could choose something related to that, or a place or person.

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Diversity: Immigration
Author: Maxine Trottier
Illustrator: Isabelle Arsenault
Publisher: Groundwood Book, Toronto, 2011
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Recommended Grade Level: 2-4
Themes: Migrant workers, nomads, family, poverty
Major Awards: Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award Honour Book
Summary: Anna and her family migrate from place to place as her family searches for work. Anna feels like different animals, some that migrate, some that sleep in homes that are not their own, some that sleep in piles with their siblings, and some that work long hours. Because Anna's family does not have their own home, they are often staying in empty houses near the fields, that her mother tries to make like home. Anna wonders what it would be like to be like a tree, with deep roots holding her in place, instead, she is constantly moving.
Additional consideration: This book would allow for students to see how children of migrant workers can live. Since many may not have exposure to migrant workers, this would act as a window into that life.
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: This would be a good book to open a lesson about empathy. Students could think about what it would be like to always be moving around, never having a place to call home. With this book, students could pick an animal and write a short story comparing themselves to that animal, using the book as a model text. This would tie into similes and metaphors.
During a lesson about community members, this could show students that not all community workers always live in the community, sometimes they travel for their work.
With this idea of people migrating to work, we could pick an animal that migrates and create a presentation about where it migrates, why it migrates, the route it takes, and how it migrates ( with family, community, alone...)

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Diversity: Immigration
Author: Wendy Meddour
Illustrator: Daniel Egnéus
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group, Westminster, London, 2019.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Recommended Grade Level: pre-k-2
Themes: Friendship, loneliness
Major Awards: N/A
Summary: When Lubna arrives to a new place with her father she finds a pebble on the beach. The pebble becomes her only friend. She tells everything to the pebble. Eventually a little boy arrives to the tent city, his name is Amir. Amir and Lubna become friends and play together. Lubna's dad announces that he has found them a home and they would be leaving. In order for Amir to still have a friend, Lubna gives him the pebble and instructs him to talk to the pebble when he misses her.
Additional consideration: This book would allow for students to see the hardships of moving to a temporary home while looking for a permanent home. Lubna must leave her friend behind because her father has found them a home. For students that have never moved before, this would be a difficult concept to  understand without a story like this.
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: If a student in the class was moving, this would be a good way to talk about the emotions the class could be feeling. The student that is moving could create one thing that the remaining students could talk to when they miss the student.
Another thing could be when talking about what friendships look like around the world. This would be a good way to expose children to refugee camps and the immigration crisis without being too heavy. This would allow for students to show empathy towards another's situation.

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Diversity: Immigration
Author: Khadra Mohammed and Karen Lynn Williams
Illustrator: Doug Chayka
Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2007
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Recommended Grade Level: 2-4
Themes: Friendship, Refugees, sharing,
Major Awards: California Young Readers Medal Nominee For Picture Books for Older Readers.
Summary: Lina is living in a refugee camp in Pakistan, in the camp, the workers throw clothes out of a bag for the people to grab. While trying to get the best clothes, Lina grabbed a sandal, but could not find the match. Eventually she found it on the foot of another girl, Feroza. They could not figure out who should get the sandals, Lina, who had not had a pair of shoes in two years, or Feroza who had just arrived. The girls decided to share the pair, everyday switching who got to wear them. One day, Lina's mom realized their names were on a list to go to America. The girls were upset to be leaving each other behind. Feroza gave Lina the other shoe because she could not go to America with no shoes. However, Lina's mom had saved enough money to buy them new shoes, so Lina gave the sandals to Feroza. Eventually, the girls decided to split the sandals, and each take one, that way they could remember each other.
Additional consideration: This would allow students to understand what living in a refugee camp is like, or sort of like. It creates a window for students to look through and see the hardships faced fleeing a home country and living in a camp.
Reader Response/Classroom Consideration: When talking about migration with different animals, we could discuss different reasons that people move. Fear and persecution are not easy topics to discuss with children, but this could be a gateway into some deeper conversations.
Another way to use this would be if a student is discussing immigration and refugees in the United States. This would be a book to help students understand that refugees are not mean, scary people as they are sometimes portrayed in the media. This would allow for some empathy from the students.