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Title: My Brother is Different
Author: Esther Lutchie
Published: May 3rd, 2022
36 pages
Genre: Children's fiction
Artistic Media: Images
Theme: Acceptance

In this book a young child has a sibling with special needs and autism. The book talks about acceptance and a special bond between the two of them.

Personal response: Growing up I was never exposed to childrens books like this about disabilities. I like how these books are becoming more and more common, and are a great thing to include in our classroom library.

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Title: Same, Same but Different
Author: Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
Published: September 13th, 2011
Genre: Fiction
40 pages
Theme: The word might look different, but there are a lot of similarities with others

This book is about 2 penpals, one student lives in America, while the other lives in India. They share things about where they live, what they like to do, their family and realize that there is a lot of things in common, just different, so same same but different. For example they both like to climb trees, but the types of trees are different.
They soon realize that they are very similar even though they live in 2 different parts of the world.

Personal response: I think to explore diversity and different cultures this book does a great job. Young students might just think that every where is different, and they don't have similarities with their peers who may be from different countries, but this book would serve as a great opportunity and activity to have students share about their families, interests, etc. to find out what they have in common with their peers.

Resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdcn39f_NOA

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Title: Charlottes Web
Author: E.B. White
Illustrator: Garth Williams
Award: Newbery Honor Book
Published: October 15th, 1952
Chapter book- 196 pages
Genre: Novel, fiction
Theme: Friendships

During this story, Wilbur, the pig, just want a true friend. He soon has a life-changing friendship with a spider named Charlotte.

Having read this book when I was younger, I think from a teachers perspective it would be a good idea to explore the theme further with students. This is a great book to keep students engaged for longer and to dive deeper into the book as the theme takes some searching.

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Title: What If We Were All The Same!
Author: C.M. Harris
Illustrator: Eric Everett
Published: August 11th, 2019
Genre: Childrens literature
Artistic Media: Colorful Images
Theme: It is good to embrace what makes each individual unique

What if everyone was the same? What if all the food we ate was the same? Then that would make life very boring, as talked about in the book. It then goes on to talk about all the differences we have such as height, skin color, hair style, etc and how that makes the world more fun.

Personal response: I really enjoyed reading this book and especially loved the progression of it. I like how it starts off by talking about a very boring world, and then goes into starting to embrace the differences everyone has.

Resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Dum-OUpXg

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Title: You Are Just Right: Celebrating the Beauty of Diversity
Author: Joni Crimmins
Ilustrator: Julia Andrejewska
Published: June 21st, 2019
Artistic Media: Colorful images
Theme: Words are powerful

This book helps show children that words are powerful, and can be hurtful or useless if used the wrong way. This book also has a message about how everyone is a one-of a kind gift brought into this world. This book also touches on bullying and kids imaginations. There is a lot packed in the book!

Personal response: I really like the characters in this book. Children will be able to see the animals and immediately have interest in the book. It holds so many strong messages, and themes that it would be a great book to dive into and explore all those different themes.

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Title: What If Everybody Did That?
Author: Ellen Javernick
Illustrator: Colleen M. Madden
Published: 1990
Genre: Fiction
40 pages
Artistic Media: Sketches, drawings, images
Theme: Its important to think about how our actions affect others/the world before we do them

On every page in this book there is a scenario that is either harmful to others or the world, such as dropping a can out the window (littering) and somebody coming along and saying, "what if everyone did that?" The authors message that they were trying to get across to their readers was what that you might not think you are causing any damage because you are just one person, but once more people start doing it then it becomes even more harmful. The book then continues on and starts talking about nice things, and how much happier the world would be if everyone did those things.

Personal response: I really really liked this book and see myself having it in my classroom library. If I was working on social emotional learning with my class, or was teaching younger grades I would read this book to them and have them share out what they notice, and then connect it to our classroom environment and discuss what we could all be foinf to be kinder, and more respectful.

Resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD0apYFz5gg

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Title: It's Okay To Be Different
Author and illustrator: Todd Parr
Published: 2001
Theme: Embracing your own unique self

Each of page of this book it has the same sentence frame of "Its okay..." and then will have a following statement with an image. Some examples were silly and unrealistic but still prove a point while others had realistic meanings. It had sayings such as its okay to be a different color, or to have a different nose. These are powerful statements that hold a lot of meaning and I think are very important for students to hear. Embracing differences should be celebrated. Being YOU should be celebrated.

Personal Response: I remember reading this book at my job with young childrens and the message was very powerful even though the book had little words. I liked how it was very straight to the point but also the message was very clear.

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Title: The Proudest Blue
Authors: Ibtihaj Muhammad, and S.K. Ali
Illustrator: Hatem Aly
Published: September 10th, 2019
Genre: Picture book, fiction
Theme: Embracing culture

Faizah admires her older sister, Asiya who picks the most beautiful blue hijab to wear on the first day of school. Faizah thinks it's absolutely magnificent, blue as the ocean, and the prettiest shade of blue. However, Faizah notices some people making fun of it, but Asiya still always has a huge smile on her face. Faizah tries to ignore and feels better when she sees Asiya positive. Faizah cant wait to wear the same blue hijab.

Personal response: I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought how Faizah had so much admiration for her sister Asiya made the overall theme even more impactful. She fully got to see Faizah embrace her culture and that made Asiya even more excited to wear a beautiful blue hijab to school. I would defintely want to have this book in my classroom library as it shows how important it is to embrace culture, it also helps show others not in that culture a little bit more.

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Title: The Name Jar
Author: Yangsook Choi
Published: 2001
Genre: Fiction
Theme: Finding courage

A young girl moves from Korea to the United States, and once she gets to the US she starts thinking about choosing a new name because hers is to hard to pronounce. She feels so anxious about it that on the first day of school she chooses to choose an American name from a name jar, but she never finds any of these names to be fitting. She soon forms a new friendship who helps her appreciate her name and found out her name is the best name.

This book is all about finding the courage and embracing who you are. This book would be really good to have in a classroom to help embrace the culture and especially if you have students in your classroom that have unique names it can help them appreciate their name more. This book could also spark a really strong conversation about different cultures and names that are unique to those cultures.

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Title: We Are Better Together
Author: Bill McKibben
Illustrator: Stevie Lewis
Published: April 19th, 2022
17 pages
Theme: Humans are better when they are working together. Hope

This book is all about how humans should work together to help the planet and the community around us. It addresses how it is critical to protect our world. It shares how there is hope when people do beautiful things.

Personal response: It also interests me when I see childrens books about protecting the environment. Growing up I never read books like these but I see how much value they hold. If young kids are reading this types of books or have them read to them, then they will start to gain more knowledge of the world around them.

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Title: Waiting
Author: Kevin Henkes
Published: September, 1st, 2015
Award: Caldecott Medal
Genre: Childrens Fiction
Artistic media: Light drawings
Theme: Patience

This book about 5 animal friends sat waiting for something marvelous to happen. Some of the animals were waiting for things in particular, some of the animals like the rabbit were just waiting for anything. They were all content waiting, and happy when something marvelous happened.

Personal response: This book has a very calming presense to it which I enjoyed. I think young childrens would really enjoy it.

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Title: Where Are You From?
Author: Yamile Saied Mendez
Illustrator: Jaime Kim
Published: June 4th, 2019
Award Winning Book
Genre: Fiction
43 pages
Theme: You are from everything and everyone who surrounds you

A girl gets asked the question from her peers, where are you from? That simply can't be answered. She goes to her grandpa to try and get answers and he lists  all the things that make her her. What they are surrounded with, what they eat, places they have gone. It helps spread the message that you are from so much more than just a place or country. Where you're from is what makes you you.

Personal Response: I never thought of this question this way, so this book was really interesting to me. I loved the way the granpa answered her question

Activity: I think this would lead to a great activity of students going and interviewing their family to find out where they are from, beyond just the place or country. This will help build a stronger classroom community.

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Title: What's My Superpower?
Author: Aviaq Johnston
Illustrated by: Tim Mack
Published: 2017
Genre: Fiction
Artistic Media: Graphic images
Theme: You are unique in your own way

A young girl, Nalvana, starts talking about how all her friends around her have all these super powers. Like being able to run really fast, or jump really high, and just that all her friends are better than her. She talks to her mom about this, and her mom helps tell her that she IS special and unique, and she has her own superpower.

Personal Response: I think this would be a great book for young student's to help them find confidence in themselves. It shows them that everyone has their strengths and the things that make them special. Realizing yourself worth from a young age is really important and I think this book does a great job sharing that message to children.

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Title: All People Are Beautiful
Author: Vincent Kelly
Illustrator: Cha Consul
Published: November, 23 2020
Genre: Fiction, childrens literature
Artistic Media: Colorful images
Theme: Everyone is beautiful and unique!

This book discusses people of all different ages, sizes, shapes and hair colors, and also the different activities people enjoy to do based on different origins and cultures. A huge part of this book is talking about how dull and boring the world would be if everyone was the same.

Personal Response: I really love the idea of having this book in my classroom library. I think it helps show the community that differences are valued, and everything we do, wear, eat, etc makes us unique and should be celebrated.

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Title: Seeds and Trees
Author: Brandon Walden
Illustrated by: Kristen and Kevin Howdeshell
Published: April 3rd, 2018
Genre: Fiction
Theme: Words stick with you

This is a book about a special young prince who collected seeds from all the words he's had spoken to him, it didn't matter the word, he would always water them everyday. Seeds of green were the nice words, and not nice words were dark seeds. Trees of the dark seeds were painful, trees from green seeds made him feel safe and healed. His green trees were strong and could grow fruit. The dark seeds would start to take over the green trees, fighting to survive. These seeds were symbols and represented words. The prince soon learned that he could cut up the dark seeds and replace them with green seeds.

Personal response: This book is full of metaphors and I loved how they represented kind and not kind words through seeds that would grow to so much more then just words.This is truly representative of how words might affect someone. This would be a great book to read or have in your class if you notice some bad behaviors or not nice words being spoken.

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Title: Our Class is a Family
Author: Shannon Olsen
Illustrated by: Sandie Sonke
Published: April 7th, 2020
Artistic Media: Colorful Images
Genre: Childrens Fiction
Theme: Family is those you surround yourself with

This is a really sweet book that talks about who we might surround our selves with, and then at school since we spend so much time there it is like a family. As long as everyone treats each other with kindness and respect then you can build a really strong classroom community.

Personal Response: I envision myself reading this book during the first couple days of school in a k-2nd grade classroom. It sets the tone to talk about what kind of classroom we want to have and helps students realize they have people around them thats not their immediate family whom love them and will support them. I really liked this book!

Resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCnAvIapmtI

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Title: The Sour Grape
Author: Jory John
Published: November, 2022
Award: From the #1 New York Times Bestselling Team
Artistic Media: Images
43 pages
Theme: It is not fair to hold grudges

This book is about a grape, who calls himself the sour grape. He says all these things that he wont do, like he will not forgive, he will remember everything, and that he will always hold grudges! Soon he realizes how unfair grudges are  and the book goes on to see if the sour grape can turn sweet!

Personal Response: I really really enjoyed this book. I think the images paired really nicely with the words and is super accessible. I think reading this in a younger elementary class at the beginning of the year will resonate really well with them. It would be a very age appropriate book to help build a good classroom environment.

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Title: Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky
Author: Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
Published: February 15th, 2022
Award: Orbis Picture Award
Genre: Childrens literature, creative non-fiction
41 pages
Theme: Tradition and creativity

This book is all about the history of the color blue. It talked about how valuable it is, and how it demonstrates hard work, different currencies/things and so much more. It shares how one color can have so much meaning, and play such a big role in history.

Personal Response: I personally think it is really interesting to come across childrens books like this that hold such a powerful message and so much solid information, but still accessible to elementary aged children.

Resource: https://ncte.org/awards/orbis-pictus-award-nonfiction-for-children/

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Title: I Love My Colorful Nails
Author(s): Alicia Acosta and Luis Amavisca
Illustrated By: Gusti Rosemffet
Published: 2018
Genre: Fiction
Artistic Media: Sketches, drawings, images
Theme: Joy has no boundaries!

This book is about a little boy named Ben who would paint his nails all different colors, and he just loves having all the colors, not for any other reason. He soon starts to feel judged, and saddened from his peers and stops wanting to paint his nails. His dad to offer his support even starts painting his nails, but that doesn't help Ben. This book goes on to show that joy can come from anything and that it has no boundaries. If somebody likes doing something, boy or girl, and it makes them happy then there is no reason to hold back on a child's happiness.

Personal Response: I loved how positive and eye-opening this book was. If this was in a classroom library I think a lot of students would get courage from this book.
If you were to read this book to a whole class, I think paying extra attention at the part where the dad supports his child by also painting his nails would be a good theme/lesson to go over with young kids.

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Title: You Matter
Author: Christian Robinson
Published: June 2, 2020
Genre: Fiction
Artistic Media: Colored Images
Theme: You matter!

This book is all about giving constant reminders that even when something happens, or something bad happens, you still matter. It also gives reminders or talks about sometimes people have to move, etc but you always still matter.

Personal Response: I really love how positive this book is and how it is perfect to have in a classroom library. For young kids this would be perfect to help the community and help have more of a positive outlook.

Resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxMWstvGN3M

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Title: No Buddy Like A Book
Author: Allan Wolf
Illustrated by: Brianne Farley
Published: 2021
Artistic Media: Drawings
Theme: Books spark imagination

This book through rhyming and creative voice shares with readers how books stretch readers imagination, no matter what there on. Books spark imagination, and through this book, the author tries to share that message. It talks about ALL the different things you can learn from books.

Personal Response: I think this book has a very sweet and unique message. I have not really seen a book like this so reading it I was very intrigued.

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Title: You're All Kinds Of Wonderful
Author: Nancy Tillman
Published: October 3rd, 2017
Theme: You are you own self, and that is wonderful!
Artistic Media: Pictures, drawings

This book is all about discovering and embracing what makes you you. There is all sorts of abilities and personalities, but thats what makes everyone unique. This book is about affirmations, and encouraging empathy and kindness.

Personal Response: I first read this book while I was babysitting, and absolutely loved it. I think it has a very strong message but is given in a very delicate way. My young kid who I was babysitting loved this book, and I think it would make a great addition in a classroom library.

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Title: Pura's Cuentos
Author: Annette Bay Pimentel
Illustrated by: Magaly Morales
Genre: Childrens literature, nonfiction
Published: September, 7th 2021
42 pages
Artistic Media: graphic images

This book is about Pura's abuela sharing stories to preserve their culture and to share fascinating things about it. She tells these stories in English and in Spanish. This book has a lot of passion and some great images to go along with the words.

Activity: An activity that you could do with students for this book would have them reach out to their grandparents or parents and have them story tell to them about either their culture or their home life growing up, then the students can come to school the next day and write about their conversations.

Resource: https://www.annettebaypimentel.com/

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Title: Tooth by Tooth; Comparing Fangs, Tusks, and Chompers
Author: Sara Levine
Published: 2016
Genre: Informational
Ages: 1st-4th grade
36 pages
Award: Childrens Science Picture Book Award

This book is about comparing human teeth to teeth of all sorts of different animals. It would describe a mouth with different teeth, and ask the reader, what kind of animal would you be with those teeth. It was very informative but also given in a child friendly way. There was lots of informational facts and cool/interesting facts. Lots of pictures and graphics to go along with the descriptions which I feel like kids would love to look at.

Personal response: I personally think a lot of young kids would love this book, I think if kids show an interest in certain topics it is very important as teacher to represent those books in your classroom library for them. It also is educational to have informational books in your classroom library as it will help engage the students more.

Resource: https://www.sbfprize.org/childrens-science-picture-books

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Title: Love is Powerful
Author: Heather Dean Brewer
Illustrated by: Leuyen Pham
Published: 2020
Artistic Media: Media, drawings
Theme: Love is powerful!

This book is about a young girl named Mari who feels nobody will hear her message, or read her sign. Her mother kept reassuring her that they will hear, because love is powerful. So this young girl kept going out with her sign, activating for change.

Personal response: I love how positive this book is and how it is all about activism. It is also a book that is perfect for younger audiences but still holds such a powerful message. I think this could lead into a really positive activity with a class to all create posters with a positive encouraging statement on it to share with the school.

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Title: Fighting for YES!: The Story of Disability Rights Activist Judith Heumann
Author: Maryann Cocca-Leffler
Published: August, 9th 2022
48 pages
Genre: Picture book biography
Awards: Ortis Pictus Awards
Artistic Media: Graphic images
Theme: Fighting for change

This is a picture biography book. From a young age Judith was always hearing the word "no." No to everything, even the fact that she was in a wheelchair made her a fire hazard. She couldn't attend public school and was told no to her dream of being an educator. There was the historic 504 sit in in 1977 where Judith had a major achievement. This was the foundation for the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Personal Response: It was really cool to read a biography book in terms of a picture book aimed for younger audiences. I usually associate biographies and books with such strong actions and achievements to be aimed for older audiences so it was really interesting to see this book aimed for younger kids but show a really good achievement and something extremely prominent

Activity: An activity that could go along with this book is to have students all research a different act that has been passed that has changed the course of history to be more inclusive to everyone and then present their presentation to the class.

Resource: https://ncte.org/awards/orbis-pictus-award-nonfiction-for-children/

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Title: Ban This Book
Author: Alan Gratz
Published: August 29th, 2017
Genre: Fiction
Theme: Standing up for what you believe in
257 pages

This is a book about a student who when she finds our her favorite book is banned from her school library, she gains the strength and courage to speak up and demand for change. She reached out to facility and peers for support.

Personal Response: I really thought the plot of this book was interesting because I have never seen a childrens book, or younger audience book with this kind of message. This book was incredibly educational but was still portrayed in an age appropriate way. The story line was interesting and lays a good message to students that is worthwhile. Standing up for what you believe in is a great message that stems from this book, and just the knowledge about banned books and how some books are banned but really shouldn't be is important for students to be aware of.

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Title: Dust Devil
Author: Anne Isaacs
Published: 2006
Genre: Fiction, tall tale
Artistic Media: Images

This book is about a girl named Swamp Angel who outgrew Montana and moved to Tennessee. She was also to big for any horse, but once a tornado came she finally found a horse that could fit her. They ended up becoming a little team.

This book I feel is definitely for older elementary as the message is kind of hard to understand. I think this would be a book that as a teacher you would want to spend a lot of time on to gain full understand. Doing an activity such as the journey map would help with this comprehension.

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Title: The Breadwinner
Author: Deborah Ellis
Graphic Novel
Published: 2000
Artistic media: Graphic novel, pictures, dialogue boxes
Theme: Being strong

This book was extremely powerful. It really gave the reader a true sense of what it is like in other parts of the world, specially in this book it was Afghanistan. Also the fact that it is a true story, but also a graphic novel I think students will be able to access the message and story in this book easily.

Resource: https://www.getepic.com/app/read/58350

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Title: Zonia's Rainforest
Author: Juana Martinez-Neal
Caldecott Honor Winner
Published: March 30th, 2021
Genre: Fiction
Artistic Media: Shading, nature
Theme: Help the rainforest, responsibility, friendships

This book is about a young girl named Zonia. Everyday Zonia visits the rainforests, says hi to all the animals, and spends some time with them. She soon discovers that there is a responsibility to help and protect the rainforest, so she gives a call to action to her mom and baby brother to help protect the rainforest.

This book is very lighthearted, but also has a theme that I have not seen much in childrens literature. I think this book is very age appropriate for younger elementary to teach them about calls to action, and the responisbility for the community around them.

Resource: https://wowlit.org/blog/2022/09/01/wow-dozen-responsibility-to-others/#more-43055
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZVM-oTYLpY

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Title: The Big Umbrella
Author: Amy June Bates
Published: February, 6th 2018
Artistic Media: Shading, coloring, blending
Theme: Inclusion, room for everyone!

This is a very cute childrens book where there is this little red umbrella opens up and gets bigger and bigger to fit everyone. Anyone is welcome under the umbrella. It is a book all about inclusion, and it doesn't matter what you may look like or come from, you are still welcome under the umbrella.

Personal response: This book is definitely geared towards younger children just because of the lack of words, but the message is so strong and meaningful that I think it would be impactful for all elementary aged children to read. Being welcoming and inclusive is how school and people in the community should be, so I absolutely love this message.

Resource: https://wowlit.org/blog/2022/09/01/wow-dozen-responsibility-to-others/#more-43055

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Title: Hildie Bitterpickles Needs Her Sleep
Author: Robin Newman
Illustrated by: Chris Ewald
Published: 2016
Ages: 4-8
Fantasy and Science Fiction
Theme: Talks things through

This book is about a sleep deprived witch who keeps moving houses so she doesn't have loud neighbors, but in all the new houses she moves to, there is noise inside the house. She finally decides there are no more options but to move home, so she finally learned to talk to the neighbors about being quiet, she even gave them some people she met to fix the loud things in their houses, once she talked to her neighbors she was able to sleep in silence.

This book was very entertaining and then ultimately developed into a deeper meaning. I think kids would really enjoy this book surface level but I like the idea if you wanted to to explore the deeper meaning behind this book and maybe trying to see what it is the author is trying to teach us.

Resource: https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-now/2016/06/27/falling-into-a-world-of-fantasy-and-science-fiction

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Title: Baby Dragon, Baby Dragon
Author: Melissa Marr
Illustrator: Lena Podesta
Published: 2019
Ages: 4-8
Genre: Fantasy
Artistic Media: Colorful images
Theme: Fascinating friendships, exploring

This book is about an unusual friendship between a little girl and a dragon. The dragon is always off to new adventures, traveling so far, going so high, and seeing so much. The girl is fascinated by this. Today they explore together!

Personal response: I really loved this light hearted book. It has a little girl with a very creative mind, which I feel like all kids are super creative so they would probably really really like this book.

This book can be used to explore friendships and that you can be friend's with anyone or anything!

Resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMFgAjG9kfQ

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Title: Laurel Goodluck
Illustrated by: Jonathan Nelson
36 pages
Published: October 4th, 2022
Award: Charolette Huck Award

This is a Native American story where 2 young girls who are best friends and cousins. One of them has to move away and they are scared their friendship wont be the same. Once they reunite they realize  they are forever cousins.

Personal response: This was a really sweet book! If students are going to be moving away or are new to the school I think this would be a really good book to read, and to just have in my classroom library!

Resource: https://ncte.org/awards/ncte-childrens-book-awards/charlotte-huck-award/

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Title: My Brother is Away
Author: Sara Greenwood
Published: October 11th, 2022
Award: Charolette Huck Award
Theme: Love is still there, no matter the distance
Artistic Media: Drawings, emotions in people

This book is about a young girl whose brother got incarcerated. Everyone would ask where he was, and she missed doing all the things with him, such as flying her kite with him. Once she finally got to see him, she realized the love was still the same, and there were others who brothers were also away, this gave her comfort.

Personal response: I have never see or read any childrens books with this big of a topic, incarceration. I think the book did a good job sending a positive, uplifting message across to their readers.

Resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAtM2U32sN4

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Title: Give up, Gecko!
Retold by: Margaret Read MacDonald
Illustrator: Deborah Melmon
Genre: FolkTale
Published: 2013
Artistic Media: Cartoon-ish drawings
Theme: Don't give up!

This book is about these animals who wanted to find water, and whoever found the water first would be chief. Soon all the animals gave up, big and small, but then Gecko came along. He was so tiny and everyone made fun of him and kept telling him to give up, but he never did, and soon he found the water and everyone was so happy and proud of Gecko!

Through determination, chants, and songs this book was really interesting and represented culture in a child friendly way that was really engaging. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I think students would have a lot of fun with it and will be exposed to culture in a unique, kid friendly way

Resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY39DEzw_CY

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Title: El Deafo
Author: Cece Bell
Published: September 4th, 2014
252 pages, graphic novel
Award: John Newbery Medal
Artistic Media: Cartoons

The use of bunnies being used as characters in this book I think could really capture in young students to at least just want to read this book. Cece becoming ill and becoming deaf is something that I feel most people would not handle well, but seeing her learn to cope and the progress she made in processing this information was really empowering. This is the second book I have read recently that has showed young children turning their sudden deafness into something powerful. Her superhero, Cece created, El Deafo was a really unique way to cope with her new hearing aids. She gave herself that power that she could do anything and it helped her gain confidence. Having this book in your classroom will expose students to things maybe they didn't even realize their peers might go through. I think it shares an important message and opens up awareness to the deaf community.

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Title: Ice! Poems about Polar Bear Life
Author: Douglas Florian
Published: December, 2020
Award: Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award
Theme: Humor, learning

Climate change was big focus in this book through poems about polar creatures, ice, and arctic regions. It takes an approach of being funny and light hearted, but also very informative. This book has rhymes, and lines of puns.

Personal response: I really liked the educational approach on this book, while also maintaining humor and ways for students to be engaged. This would be a great introduction to a unit involving ice, and different areas around the world with different weather and animals living their.

Resource: https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/awards-contests/lee-bennett-hopkins-poetry-award

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Title: Room For Everyone
Author: Naaz Khan
Illustrated by: Merce Lopez
46 pages
Published: November 9th, 2021
Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children
Fiction story with rhyming
Artistic Media: Colorful images, dialogue bubbles
Theme: Welcoming, inclusive

This is a fictional story that incorporating rhyming to show crowded bus driving down that there was always room for whoever they passed, as long as they wiggled and giggled, so their bus got super super full but they still made room for everybody.

I personally loved the images that went along with this book, and the way the words were formed on the book. Also, I think the rhyming that was incorporated into this book made it much more intriguing

Resrouces: https://ncte.org/awards/excellence-in-poetry-for-children-living-american-poet/

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Title: Love Violet
Author: Charlotte Sullivan Wild
Pictures by: Charlene Chua
Award: Stonewall Book- Mike Morgan and Larry Romans  Childrens and Young Adult literature award
Published: November 16th, 2021
Artistic Media: Pastels, Coloring
Theme: Courage, staying true to yourself

This story is about a young girl named Violet. She, at the beginning of the book is to shy to share her feelings to Mira, another girl in her class. As the book continues, Violet takes the courage to finally go up to Mira. This book has a very happy ending.
I really enjoyed reading this book. Books with this powerful of a message I feel are not represented as they should be in teachers library.

Resources: https://ilovelibraries.org/article/2023-ala-youth-media-award-winners/

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Title: Listen
Author: Shannon Stocker
Illustrated by: Devon Holzwarth
Award: Schneider Family Book Award
Published: April 12th, 2022
Theme: Determination, experiencing new things, listening

The young girl in the book was once of hearing, and loved listening to music. She soon became deaf, but never lost sight of music. She learned a new way to play, and grew extremely talented, all by listening and feeling. She encouraged readers that they to can be dream and hear new things, just by listening.

As I was reading this book, I could feel what the main character was feeling. The author did a great job with descriptive words and being very detailed. It was a very empowering story in my opinion. I think because of some of the vocabulary and sentence structures in this book, I would want to use it in older elementary grades. I think it would be more impactful and I think students will be able to appreciate the work of this author more if they understand some of the complex words.

Resources: https://ilovelibraries.org/article/2023-ala-youth-media-award-winners/

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Title: Vamos! Let's Cross the Bridge
Author: Raul the Third
Genre: Fiction
Artistic Media: Drawings
Published: September, 21st 2021

This book is about celebrating community and coming together. Stuck in traffic trying to cross the bridge, everyone gets held up. People decided to come together and host an epic party right there in the midst of all the traffic. Everyone came together to contribute something and to have a good time!

I loved how there was both spanish and english in this book, and how the author mentioned how on either side of the bridge there were people who spoke english and people who spoke spanish, but everyone still came together for a celebration. I think the use of both spanish and english can be used across curricular's, and can be a good way to show students how communities come together.

For students who are multilingual this book does a great job representing 2 cultures in 1, and is great exposure to all students in the classroom.

Resources: https://wowlit.org/event/imagination-friday-with-raul-the-third/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag-jgH_R4l8

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Title: Anita and the Dragons
Author: Hannah Carmona
Published: March 2021
32 Pages
Artistic Media: Pastel Drawings
Genre: Fiction
Theme: New places, courage

This books goes through a young girls perspective as she prepares for the move to a new country where she must learn a new language and start completely fresh. She works up the courage as she enters into the unknown.

The analogies in this book made it even more powerful. Referring to the plane as the dragon, and entering the unknown while leaving comfort behind is something I feel a lot of students at some point feel this feeling to an extent, whether its just moving from one state to another, or completely leaving their country

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Title: My Words Flew Away Like Birds
Author: Debora Pearson
Illustrated by: Shrija Jain
44 pages
Artistic Media: Drawings, shading, outlining
Genre: Fiction
Published: October 5th, 2021
From the 2022 Outstanding International Book Announcement

This story is about a young girl and her family who move to the United States. They were leaving their home, where they spoke a language that was not English, and could not read or speak English. As she made her move, and was surrounded by this new language where she felt lost and confused, she noticed her words "flying away." She struggled understanding people, and in school, and just feeling like she fit in. She referred to her new words, as "shiny new words." Soon after she met a friend, and even though she struggled with her words still, she was happy to find a friend, and hopeful for her new words she is learning! Watching the progression of this story I really enjoyed.

Personal Connection: I found this book to be super relatable to things I have experienced in my fieldwork here in Boise. I have been in classes where students have just recently moved to Boise, and know either very little english or no english at all. Seeing how common this is, in my immediate community, I really want to be able to make those students feel welcomed, and be able to access material, and find friendships, despite the languages spoken. This book does a really good job explaining the point of view from a school ages child.

Resources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2rse5efMVU

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Title: Drum Dream Girl
Author: Margarita Engle
Illustrator: Rafeal Lopez
Pages: 48
Published: 2015
Genre: Fiction
Theme: Courage
Artistic Media: Colorful drawings

In this book, girls cannot be drummers, but the drum dream girl changed this. She dreamed of playing the drums, but she always had to practice in silence. Soon her music was heard, and everyone loved it. They all danced and singed. Soon, boys and girls could play the drums.

I love books like this where it starts off in a very bad place, but with courage the book takes a turn and has a very postive ending.

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Title: the Words in my Hands
Written and Illustrated by: Asphyxia
Publisher: Annick Press, published: November 2nd, 2021
Chapter book, 388 pages
Genre: Fiction
Theme: Taking action, determination, standing up for yourself

Piper, a deaf girl must navigate life. Being told to compensate for her deafness in a hearing world, and to just try and be normal in the mist of everything else in the world falling apart is extremely hard. As the book continues Piper meets a friend, Marley who completely changes Pipers life. She learns to celebrate her deafness. She knew she needed to take action, build a community, and believe.

Personal Response: I can see a lot of students finding interest in this book. It also being a chapter book, it has a lot more to it then just a normal picture book, and as students get older they find joy in reading a chapter book. I think the message behind this book, and the progression of the main character Piper, is really empowering.

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Title: Loujain Dreams of Sunflower
Written by: Lina Alhathloul and Uma Mishra-Newbery
Illustrated by: Rebecca Green

Awards: Middle East book awards
Published: March 2022
40 pages
Theme: Equality, follow your dreams
Genre: Fiction, childrens literature
Artistic Media: Digital media, lots of color
Age: K-3rd grade
Plot: This story is about a young girl named Loujain who everyday would watch her baba fly, when since Loujain was a girl could not fly. She dreamed of one day being able to fly over the field of sunflowers. With her determined attitude Loujains dreams become a reality, and she goes against what everyone tells her that girls can't fly, and she learns to fly and achieves her dream of flying over the sunflower field.

Theme: Determination

This book holds such a strong message and I feel is full of ideas that could hold lots of meaning for young kids. This would be a great lesson to bring up in my future classroom on how if you set your mind to something, you can achieve that, regardless of what others say. I want my students to strive and to try new things in regards to their education, and to not feel afraid or feel like they can't do something.

Resources: Youtube read aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zy0TsOFIC8&t=16s
Middle East Book Awards Information:  http://www.meoc.us/book-awards.html

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Title: Alma and How She Got Her Name
Author: Juana Martinez- Neal
Pages: 32
Published: April 10th, 2018
Awards: Caldecott Medal
Genre: Fiction
Artistic Media: Coloring, shading
Genre: Fiction
Age: 3-8 years
Theme: Family

This book is about a young girl who wonders why she has such a long name. Her dad takes the time to share with her each part of her name and where each part has come from. She learns the significance of her name, and why it is so special, and learns to love and embrace it.

Curricular Connections: At the beginning of a school year, I think it would be extremely significant to do a name sharing activity. This can be where students go home and have a conversation with thief guardians about where their name came from and the significance of it, then having students share out to the class with help students to get to learn their peers more, and will help individual students get to know themselves more. I think this book would be a great way to start this activity.

Resources: Youtube read aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py7_9ATJDkk
All about the Caldecott medal: https://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecott

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Title: A Sky-Blue Bench
Written by Bahram Rahman and illustrated by Peggy Collins
Awards: Schneider Family Book Award
32 pages
Genre: Childrens Literature: Fiction
Published: November 30th, 2021

Synopsis: This book is all about a young girl who lives in Afghanistan after the war, and has a prosthetic leg. She uses courage, peace, and wisdom to build herself a bench so she can participate in school.
Plot: Aria, a girl living in Afghanistan, had an accident and know has a prosthetic leg. She attends class, where, after the war there are no benches. She finds that she not only doesn't fit in, but she cannot learn in these conditions. She then sets out to gather resources and people to make a bench for her classroom. This inspires other students in her classroom to work together to build benches for the whole class.
Theme: Courage, peace, and wisdom
Curricular Connections: With the setting of this story being in Afghanistan, and the war playing a major part in why there are no benches in the classroom, this book can be tied towards learning about other cultures and what is happening in other parts of the world that may hinder students who live there learning.
Personal Response: I really liked how this book was not only about disability, but it incorporated other cultures and other issues such as war and gender equality. The book really comes full circle which I enjoyed.
Resources: Youtube read aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEaU9y_YZGI
Award information: https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/schneider-family-book-award

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Title: Be Your Own Best Friend Forever
Author and Illustrator: Gary Robinson
Featuring: Jayla Rose
Published: April 5th, 2021
40 pages
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: By Learning to love yourself and embrace the qualities that make you YOU, and surrounding yourself in areas and with people who appreciate you and love you, you will never feel alone.
Theme: Self love and positivity
Artistic Media: Colorful graphic images

Curricular Connections: I feel this book ties in to social emotional learning, and learning how to surround yourself with positive people, embrace the things about you and your culture, and to love what makes you you.
Personal Response: I love how this book encompasses self love, and turning negative thoughts about things such as body shaming, hair color, cultural background, into areas and things about our self that should be loved and appreciated. I also love the "tips and tricks" given.
Resources: Youtube Read Aloud Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62vDZBDUGhU