Sealed with a Kiss

Friendship

Sealed with a Kiss by Beth Ferry and French illustrator Olivier Tallec is a silly story about a seal who is new to the zoo. It teaches readers about friendship and forgiveness and is a blast to read. It has lots of fun vocab, alliteration and sprinkles of French. It's just a fun book to read!

The gist:

This book is about a French seal who is new to the zoo! She waits for the other animals to welcome her, but no one comes. Eventually, a sparrow flies by and gives her a peck on the cheek, which inspires her to go out and make friends herself! She tries to make friends but all the other animals run away because her breath smells fishy. This leaves her feeling sad and alone. When little bird scolds the other animals and reminds them of how they felt when they first came to the zoo, they decide to apologize and welcome her with open arms, and, some breath mints!

My favorite (and not so favorite) part(s):

This book is so goofy and I loved it. It's a blast to read aloud because it's littered with alliteration and sprinkled with French. It also has a lot of really fun vocabulary that could be fun to decode with students. Plus, it has a great message! Everyone's been the new kid at some point or another and it can be really hard. It's important that we remember that feeling and work hard to welcome new people to our communities. And, when we make a mistake or are not-so welcoming, it's important to always say sorry and try again.

I did have two reservations about this book, but I still like it enough to recommend. One, the seal's French accent is a bit cheesy and I'm not sure how appropriate it is to appropriate an accent of any sort. However, the illustrator is a French man, and because the French aren't historically and systematically marginalized, I saw this as "punching-up" kind of humor. Two, there's the issue of consent. People shouldn't go around kissing others without their permission. However, I think this is an opportunity to engage in a conversation about cultural customs. In France, and many other countries, it's perfectly normal to greet people (even people you're just meeting!) with a kiss on the cheek. Perhaps this book could also be used to facilitate a conversation about how to react when someone has different cultural customs.

What you can do:

I think this is a great book to read either at the beginning of the year or when you have a new student join your class. This book will help students remember how they felt when they were new and will remind them to welcome their new friends with open arms.

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend

 Doing the Unimaginable 

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat is a fantastic book about being brave and finding friendship. It won the Caldecott Award in 2015 and was very received for its ability to convey the anxiety that can come with forming new friendships. Because of this, I think it would be a great book to read at the beginning of the year as students are still settling in and getting to know one another!

The gist:

Dan Santat tells us the story of a magical island where imaginary friends are born. Over time all the imaginary friends are imagined by children and given special names -- except for one. He waits and waits, but his turn to imagined and go live in the real world, but his turn never comes. So, he decides to take matters into his own hands and find his child himself. He sets off on an incredible quest and eventually meets his special friend, who names him "Beekle."

My favorite parts:

The illustrations are gorgeous! They're half the story in and of themselves. Check out this page, where you can clearly see exactly how Beekle feels about not having been chosen yet. 

I read this book recently with a four year old I was babysitting and he loved chatting about all the illustrations. I would ask him to look closely at the pictures and ask him questions about how characters were feeling or what he thought might happen next. This book would work well in the classroom to help students develop their inferential skills!

What you can do:

I think this book could lend itself well to a creative writing exercise! Have children draw pictures of what they would want their imaginary friend to look like and have them use this book's illustrations as inspiration. Then, have the children write about the imaginary friend that they drew. What do they look like? What do they like to do? Do they have a name? Then, have an author's circle, where students can show off their work!

Happy Reading!

The Undefeated

A Love Letter to Black America

The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson might be my favorite book that I've found for this blog so far. It's a gorgeous tribute to some of the most influential figures in Black American History. The author, Kwame Alexander, is a New York Times best-selling author and past winner of the Coretta Scott King Book award. Illustrator Kadir Nelson is also well renowned, having written several distinguished picture books and won the Caldecott Honor for illustrators twice.

The gist:

Kwame Alexander describes this book is "a love letter to America. To Black America." It is an ode that highlights the strength, passion and perseverance of some of the greatest Black figures in U.S. history. It includes references to lyrics and lines of poets and musicians (like Gwendolyn Brook's We Real Cool) and beautiful portraits of influential figures.

In his afterword, Kwame Alexander writes "I wanted to establish from the very beginning that much of what I'm talking about in this poem, so much of American history, has been forgotten, left out of textbooks, and that to truly know who we are as a country, we have to accept and embrace all of our woes and wonders." This book does just that. This book highlights so many incredible Black figures in American History, and does not shy away from the "woes" of slavery and racism. Following the afterword, the book goes through each historical figure featured or referenced and gives a short, factually accurate bio. 

My favorite parts:

This book is unafraid to bring to light issues that too often people continue to push into the dark. Like Kwame Alexander says in his afterword, "...We have to accept and embrace all of our woes and our wonders." Our country must acknowledge the racist foundations of this nation and stop brushing them under the rug. We must acknowledge the horrors of slavery, of Jim Crowe, and the racist structures that continue to oppress Black Americans. This book is beautiful in so many ways, but perhaps my favorite part was the tribute to Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin. This page, and their short biographies written at the end of the book, is so incredibly powerful. I cannot do justice to it, so I'll just leave you with this image.

What you can do:

First off, please, please have conversations about race and prejudice with your children and your students. It's so important to begin having these difficult conversations at a young age. Not sure where to start? Listen to this NPR Podcast that provides strategies for talking about race with young children. Then, check out this PBS page, which has tons of articles for you to read as well as resources you can share with your child, including this Arthur video! Who doesn't love Arthur?

This book is designed to help guide your conversations. It will act as a jumping off point for you to lead conversations with your students about all these incredible Black figures. After the initial reading (let the kids just sit and bask in this book's glory the first time around!), you can go back to certain pages or sections and discuss who each figure it. Want to take a deeper dive into the artists highlighted (Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and more)? Great! Grab the art teacher and see what kind of project you can think up! Think your students would prefer learning about the athletes? No problem! There's tons to choose from -- Wilma Rudolph, Michael Jordon, Sheryl Swoopes and SO MUCH MORE. There are so many ways you could use this book as a starting point to bring these historical figures to life.

Happy Reading!

Mary Engelbreit's Nursery Tales

A treasury of children's classics!

Once upon a time, there was a book that contained every classic fairy tale from your childhood. The book was big, it was beautiful, and it brought joy to everyone who opened its pages... The name of that book? Why, it was Mary Engelbreit's Nursery Tales of course!

The Gist:

Mary Engelbreit writes and illustrates twelve classic fairy tales for children. These stories will ignite the imagination of young and old readers alike, whisking them away to a land of magic. The book includes Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Hansel and Gretel, Puss in Boots, the Ugly Duckling and more! The timeless stories in this collection teach children of the importance of bravery, generosity and friendship. They also warn of foolishness, greed and recklessness.

This book is very suitable for our younger elementary school friends! As the introduction by Leonard S. Marcus notes, this book is not scary at all. Engelbreit creates a world where kindness and comfort rule. Take the story of Little Red Riding Hood for example. Many versions end with a woodcutter coming to the rescue and killing the wolf, but this version avoids any such violence. Instead, the woodcutter gives the wolf "a big scolding." The wolf then lets Little Red Riding Hood and Granny set out of him, unharmed, and he runs away, embarrassed. 

My favorite part:

The text to illustration ratio! I looked at several different fairy tale volumes at my local library and was dismayed by the lack of illustrations in most of them. Most of the books had text that took up a full page! Illustrations are important for K-2 readers, even for read-alouds, which is why this book drew my attention.

The text in this book is broken into smaller chunks and each story has several pages of illustrations. In fact, many of the pages have multiple illustrations on them! This makes it perfect for our earlier elementary schoolers.

What you can do:

There are SO MANY fun activities that can be incorporated into a unit on fairy tales! A quick Google search will give you a million ideas! For example, there's this Little Red Riding Hood "letter hop", where students take turns following Little Red Riding Hood's path. As they hop over each letter in her path, they must say the letter name! (Feeling too lazy to search and compile a lesson yourself?... here's an entire unit for first graders.)

You can also have students write their own fairy tale! First, be sure to work with students to create a list about essential elements of fairy tales. Perhaps also talk about themes and morals. Then, brainstorm some common words in fairy tales and write them up, so students can use them as a resource for spelling. 

Fairy tales can also be a great way to talk about perspective. There are lots of fairy tales that are retold from non-traditional points of view. Author Nancy Loewen has several books that tell fairy tales from other characters' perspectives, like Believe Me, Goldilocks Rocks!: the Story of the Three Bears as told by Baby Bear or Honestly, Red Riding Hood Was Rotten: the Story of Little Red Riding Hood as told by the Wolf.

Happy Reading!

My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay

The importance of friendship and perseverance

My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay by Cari Best and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton is a beautiful book that highlights the importance of bravery and persistence, while crafting an incredibly diverse array of characters. The book follows Zulay, a first grader, who is blind and learning how to use her cane. It's an uplifting story that will surely spark conversation within your classroom about ability and perseverance. Though it's packed with great content, it is a bit long and could be broken into two readings for younger students, who may not be able to sit for the full story.

The gist:

The first half of the book highlights Zulay and her friends as they go about their day at school. They skip down the hall together and help each other with math and writing during class. Then, Zulay's special education teacher comes to help her tackle her "fold-ing, hold-ing, cold-ing cane." Zulay is reluctant to take on the challenge of learning how to use her cane, but she dives in when she decides that she would like to race in her "new pink shoes" in a Field Day event. It's not easy, but after weeks of hard work and perseverance, Zulay runs in the race as her friends cheer her on.

My favorite part(s):

Zulay's disability isn't her only character trait! I know, the bar is on the floor, but the truth is that in books and media, a character's disability is often painted to be their only defining feature. Zulay is a full fledged character in this book and it is never explicitly mentioned that she is blind! Instead, readers are given clues, like the cane she holds on the cover, or the fact that she often relies on her sense of smell and her hearing. This presents Zulay as a person, not a disability. This narrative is so important in that lets students know that a person cannot be defined by one thing.

Also, the Braille alphabet is featured on the book's back cover! The letters of the Braille alphabet are actually raised so students can really feel what reading Braille is like. Students may not have an understanding of what Braille is before reading the book, and this feature can help them understand it.

What you can do:

This book lends itself so well to having a thoughtful conversation about our differences! Identity is a great topic to talk about in all grade levels and can lead to some very necessary discussions. It's very important to talk about tricky topics like ability or race with our elementary schoolers. However, it's essential that we talk about these topics in developmentally appropriate ways so that students are able to understand. Teaching Tolerance is a great resource to use to tackle all sorts of tricky topics with younger students. You can sort texts and activities by grade level and various topics including ability and identity. For example, this page at Teaching Tolerance has some good suggestions of activities to do with elementary schoolers when having a conversation about sight and blindness. My personal favorite activity that they suggest is to have students write in Braille using Elmer's Glue or puffy paint. The glue or puffy paint will dry, leaving raised marks. For younger students, you could write out their names in Braille and then have them "trace" it by putting marks where you did. This seems like a fun and engaging activity that would help students understand how people with visual impairments can still "see" and understand the world around them.

Happy Reading!

Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer

What a heartworming story! 

Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer, written by Carol Brendler and illustrated by Ard Hoyt, is a fun story about a girl named Winnie Finn with unique love of worms! It sends a nice message about the value of hard work and helping others. This book is a nice addition to any classroom collection, as it can easily be integrated into a variety of units.

The gist:

Winnie Finn uses her passion for worms to make her own worm farm and help her neighbors win prizes at the county fair. For her help, her neighbors share their prize money with her and she is able to purchase a new wagon for her worm friends! This book includes accurate information on worms and highlights the value of setting goals and following through.

This book could easily tie into several different units. Though some classrooms may have a full unit on worms, this book could also be used in more general units about soil, plants, or simply environmentalism and composting.

My favorite part:

At the end of the book there are directions on how to start your very own worm farm! Starting a worm farms sounds like a blast and a great way to get students truly interested in how worms work and how they relate to other topics. I did a bit of research, and quite honestly, it seems a bit expensive (the average price of a pound of live worms looks to be about $45 nowadays). But, if several classes were to do a worm farm together, the cost becomes far more reasonable!

What you can do:

Like I said earlier, this book can tie into various science units! However, if you just want to stick with worms, that's fine too! This website has several suggestions for a larger unit on worms, including related books! You can also find very informative videos on YouTube, like this one, and lots of fun, worm-related songs that you can sing with your students!

You can also start a worm farm or a community garden with your class! The book includes directions for starting your own classroom worm farm, but starting a community garden seems equally engaging and likely more cost efficient! After reading Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer, talk to your class about how worms create nutrient rich soil and why that is important for plants. Plants are a common topic in many classrooms, and creating your own garden would surely make the material more engaging and real for students!

Happy Reading!

Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut

The Art of the Haircut

Since Black History month is coming to a close, I wanted my first post of the week to be by an African American author and relevant to African American culture. (Of course, black history is U.S. history and should be studied and celebrated throughout the year, not just during one month, but that's an argument for a different blog post!) I found just the book I was looking for with Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, written by Derrick Barnes and illustrated by Gordon C. James. This book celebrates the magic that happens everyday in barbershops across the country and the high that comes with a fresh, new haircut. Winner of the Coretta Scott King award, a Caldecott Honor and a Newbery Honor, this book is certifiably brilliant and a great addition to your classroom.

The gist:

Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut follows a young boy going to the barber's shop, and highlights the self-esteem and confidence that comes along with his new haircut. The book captures the feeling of invincibility, pride and self-assurance that comes along with feeling good. Those feelings are contagious, and as the reader, you can't help but feel just a little bit more pride in yourself with every flip of the page.

The illustrations, done by Gordon C. James with oil paint, are stunning. Each page is alive with color and the facial expressions of each character tell an entire story in and of itself. Just look at this beautiful first page!

My favorite part:

The final page of the book features a brilliant note from the author that explains his inspiration for the book as well as certain themes within it. Though students may not necessarily understand all the underlying themes of the book depending on their age and background, it is still an important book that can spark several different conversations.

In the author's note, Derrick Barnes explains that the book not only aims to capture the moment of extreme joy after a good haircut, but also it focuses on the "humanity of black boys... Deep down inside, they wish that everyone could see what they see: a real life, breathing, compassionate, thoughtful, brilliant, limitless soul that matters."

Barnes also explores the cultural relevance of the barber's shop in his note, explaining that it's often the place where "most of us become privy to the conversations and company of hardworking black men from all walks of life." He then goes on to note that, "other than the church, the experience of getting a haircut is pretty much the only place in the black community where a black boy is 'tended to'— treated like royalty." The importance of the barber's shop was something that I'd never thought about before, and I enjoyed reading Barnes's thoughts.

What you can do:

Crown is a great opportunity to talk to students about certain literary techniques. It is full of figurative language and lively metaphors. You can talk to students about what Barnes meant when he wrote: "You came in as a lump of clay, a blank canvas, a slab of marble." What's a metaphor? Did the boy actually come into the barbershop as a lump of clay? What do all three of these metaphors have in common? (Not sure how to tackle talking about figurative language with younger elementary schoolers? Check out this lesson plan on similes and metaphors designed for first graders!)

Want to just focus on critical thinking and reading comprehension instead? This website has some great discussion question ideas! As does this one, which features questions to get students thinking, like: What is something that makes you feel as good as the boy does in this story? What words describe you when you are feeling your best?

Want more information on the author and illustrator? Click here! This website links to several other websites that contain information on the author and illustrator, as well as further information on barber shops and their importance in the African community. It also contains potential discussion questions, suggested activities and similar books!

Happy Reading!