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Just a lovely story celebrating the amazing intelligence and feelings of an octopus who has been taken from his ocean habitat and put into a glass house in an aquarium. The illustrations are spot on and the author has captured the resilience and determination of this incredible creature. I can't wait to share this heartfelt story with my K-2 students when we study ocean conservation and plastic pollution during the month of April leading up to Earth Day. Even my 5th grade students would enjoy this picture book as an introduction to the documentary "The Octopus Teacher."

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A magical story to share with K-3 about a bear who is afraid of everything, but fortunately, he has a rabbit friend who is fearless.  As we follow these two friends on their adventure, rabbit is constantly challenging bear to face his fears.  The tables turn when rabbit finds himself in a difficult situation and bear has to pull from deep inside himself to go to the rescue.  Since the onset of the Covid pandemic we have put considerable time into Social Emotional Learning at my school, and this title will be a great addition for a lesson about facing your fears. As the authors ends the book, "Sometimes it's OK to be scared." A great lesson for all of us.

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A wild romp through a huge variety of zoo animals who will go wild if we wake the panda. So don't wake the Panda! The author uses rhyming words and a fast paced rhythm to create an exciting visit to the zoo. The illustrations are just as chaotic and match the text perfectly. This would be an awesome title to share with K - 1 before a trip to the zoo, or a great exploration of rhyming words during a poetry lesson.

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A totally silly story that kids will love to read over and over again especially if they are reading it out loud. Having to say all the silly sounds is completely entertaining, and pictures would add nothing to the story, so the story works perfectly. A great introduction to storytelling without the use of visual prompts. As well as a fun way to have students write their own stories using made-up words. A lesson could even be created asking the students to illustrate the book. Who would they have as their characters? Would they add anything to the story?

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A Caldecott gold medal winner and one of my favorite read-alouds for older elementary students. Everyone knows the Winnie the Pooh stories and learning that there was an actual bear named Winnie is fascinating. The story is told by the great granddaughter of the vet who rescued Winnie as a bear cub on his way to join WWI with his Canadian regiment. A.A. Milne and his son Christopher Robin join the story at the London zoo for the beginning of a special friendship and so the adventures of Pooh begin. With actual photos and diary entries the true story comes alive for readers. I love that this is a true story. I always encourage a conversation about the decision to leave Winnie at the zoo rather than take him on to the battle front. This also provides an opportunity to learn about WWI.

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Another great entry for Social Emotional Learning. Llewellyn the rabbit likes to store all his emotions in jars safely tucked away in a closet. Whether he is sad, angry, lonely, or embarrassed he doesn't want to feel these feelings, so he bottles them up and tucks them away until he feels nothing at all. Eventually he can no longer shut all those feelings away, and they come crashing down on him. Llewellyn learns to embrace his feelings and he is greatly relieved. The illustrations express his emotions perfectly, and we can relate to his many emotions as well as his desire to suppress them. A great choice for talking with children about their feelings.

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A treasure for the many children who struggle to learn to read. Aaron Slater has heard stories from the time of his birth, and he can't wait until he can read and write stories of his own. But reading does not come easily, and he has to find his own path using drawings to tell his story. His teacher, Miss Greer, recognizes his great artistic talent and helps him to navigate his reading challenges. This book is as much a tribute to excellent caring teachers as it is to the challenges of overcoming a learning disability. This is a great opportunity to talk about learning disabilities and to share the unique talents of all of us. There are multicultural characters included in the story and relatively simple illustrations until they depict Aaron's art. Then the illustrations bloom across the page using a graph paper background. Just lovely to see a child succeed!

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A Nautilus Book Award winner this book has beautiful illustrations that are still quite simple set against a white background. This story of the endless potential in all of us begins with the question, "Have you ever wondered why you are here?" As we are asked to consider what we may do with our lives, we are given the gift of a positive journey forward. I want to read this to my 5th grade students as they leave elementary school and head on to their next adventure. The greatest gift is to know that anything is possible!