This isn‘t even for the Litsy Reading Response project but I couldn‘t help but post this! At B & N right now reading this book from the Elephant & Piggie series... If anyone remembers from my Author Study, one of my fun facts that I shared was how the pigeon is secretly hiding in every Mo Willems book. When I read this part, I couldn‘t help but laugh! #ucflae3414su19

This RF is a lovely way to encourage your class or children! Each page starts off with “Have I ever told you?” and finishes with a statement that prompts readers to feel confident in themselves and their dreams. Love how this book is also geared toward EL‘s as it mentions how people of different backgrounds are ambassadors, Supreme Court justices, teachers, and many other noble professions! With the style of the book, it definitely calls for a RA!

This NF book won the Coretta Scott King Award as well as the Robert F. Sibert Medal. A very interesting read about the story of Negro League baseball which involves gifted athletes overcoming segregation, racism, horrible conditions and low pay. Driven by their love to play ball, they went through many defeats and triumphs on and off the field. Would be a great IR for a student who loves baseball and wants to learn more about its history!

This Jane Addams Children‘s Book Award winning B is about a pivotal point in history where Ruby Bridges begins attending an all-white school. She faces racism head on with nasty comments being thrown at her by mobs outside of school. This doesn‘t stop her from getting her education even if she is the only one there. A brave and inspirational read that should be in every classroom. LC could be used as it is a longer book and provokes discussion!

Winner of the 1964 Caldecott and the first book I remember reading holds a special place in my heart and will hold a special place in my future class library! This MF is about a mischievous boy being sent to his room early before dinner and going into the land where the wild things are. After a crazy adventure, he realizes maybe being king of the wild things isn‘t for him. DR could be used by having Max and the wild things played out by students!

This 2015 Caldecott award winning MF is a friendly story about an imaginary friend in his imaginary world waiting for his human friend to imagine him. After a long wait, he decides to go into the real world to look for her. Such a wonderful book with amazing illustrations about patience and making friends! This would be a great RA as it would allow for these creative illustrations to be showcased in front of the whole class!

A powerful RF about the road of being human. We learn, make mistakes, and grow from them. We find joy in friendships and may get hurt by them sometimes. But, being human allows us to make choices. We can move forward, choose to be thoughtful, kind, compassionate, and fair! Such a great book about morals and how we should respond to setbacks! Would be great for a SR or RA, as it is a book that needs to be heard by all and should invite discussion.

The E.B. White Read Aloud Award winning MF is the cutest story about angry crayons leaving letters to Duncan, their owner. Some crayons need a break from all their coloring, others want to be used more, and still others fight over whether they are the true color of the sun. At the end, Duncan figures out how to resolve the the issue! This book is perfect for RA and RT. Such a fun way to learn about colors while welcoming laughter in the classroom!

This Caldecott and CSK Award winning B is full of beautiful illustrations that depict the life of one of America‘s greatest composers, Duke Ellington. With rhythmic and swinging prose, Pinkney takes the reader right into these jazzy times in history to make his story truly come alive. Ellington wrote many pieces celebrating the life of African Americans which are still significant today. RA could double this story as a history lesson as well!

This Newbery Award winning RF was an accurate depiction of the struggle of a middle school girl! With health and financial issues in the family, bullies at school, and new responsibilities, Merci learns that change may be better than staying the same. Meg Medina did a wonderful job of painting the image of a Hispanic 6th grade girl; this book was a mirror for me! LC would be great to invite discussion on the deep/pressing issues in this book.

This MF brought me back to my elementary years! Jack and Annie go on a mission to help an artist bring happiness to millions by sharing their gifts with the world. After going back in time with their magic tree house, the artist they‘re looking for is not who they expect it to be! A great story about the importance of lending a hand to someone in need. This would be great for an IR assisted with discussion questions to answer while reading!

This Theodor Seuss Geisel award winning RF holds three short stories about three hilarious birds all in one picture book with flaps that feature surprise twists! The novelty of this book is how accessible yet entertaining it can be for students who are still learning to read! PR could be used to practice fluency for K-2/ ESOL students who may need a short, playful, yet educational book to practice their reading together.

This RF always brings me to tears! An inspirational story about Trisha, a little girl who gets bullied because of her struggle to read, but eventually learns through the help of her 5th grade teacher. Trisha turns out to actually be Patricia Polacco, the author of this book and many other successful children books! This book would be a great RA as students can discuss the effects of bullying as well as the significance of believing in oneself.

This wonderful easy-to-read biography of Anne Frank brought me right back to Amsterdam where I got to visit the Anne Frank House back in May! This book was flooded with so much detail of her life before and during the secret annex and what it was like to be in hiding during the Holocaust. IR would be a great teaching strategy as students who have a desire to learn more about this time in history will have freedom of choice to pick this book up!

This HF highlights the effects of the Jim Crow laws throughout the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of a 4-year-old girl, along with the strengthened African American community persistently fighting for their rights. This book would be great for SR to have group discussion about the similarities of this time in history to current events as well as teaching how the power of community can truly make changes in our society!

This Newbery award winning SF about a wise boy named Jonas living in a utopian society being controlled by The Elders‘ traditions and rules would be a great addition to a middle school classroom library. Through LC, students will be able to gain better understanding through group members sharing their interpretation of different topics such as the memories transferred to Jonas or the privilege of freedom that we have in the US!

A retold classic TL teaches readers the importance of being obedient to authority figures and cautious of talking to strangers, as they just might gobble you and your grandmother right up! RT would be a great teaching strategy to help bring this story to life. With the use of 5 students representing Little Red Riding Hood, her mother, the granny, the wolf, and the hunter, this TL can be made an enjoyable experience for everyone!

This historical NF provides great illustrations along with an asterisk on each page listing facts about the moon landing! A wonderful way to keep students involved in learning important times in history like these would be a DR, with three students playing the three astronauts: Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Neil Armstrong. With DR, the whole class can take part by representing the items the astronauts wore/needed to make this trip successful!

This Coretta Scott King Award winning poetry book brings about a variety of different pieces of work from African American poets in alphabetical order. With most pages just containing fragments of poems, intrigued readers are encouraged to continue seeking out the poetry. With PR, students could easily go back and forth reading the different poems on each page. Would be a great lesson for Black History Month as well!

Loved this MF that promotes confidence and diversity through a princess with magical curls who can do anything she sets her mind to! In a diverse classroom, PR could be a great tool to build community and celebrate differences. Pairing students from different backgrounds and having them share unique qualities about the other that makes them special could be a great way to help build the reading community and encourage one another.

Great RF about a boy who collects all types of words, accidentally jumbles them together & uses his mess to create powerful meaning and creatively express himself/inspire others. With a RA, this book could be a great tool to build vocabulary and highlight the power of words!