“What do you hope to accomplish?”

This would be a great book for the older kids, such as third through fifth grade. This would be a great book to use to introduce the civil right movement. It can highlight separate ideas that might not always be talked about in the history books. I think that the images used were really empowering and would be beneficial for children to see.

Published in 2020. Has won many awards. Biography about Ella Baker. Ella Baker was an activist fighting for freedom for black people. Throughout the storyline, it talks about the way she grew up hearing the inequality she was faced to live with. She fought with major known people, like Martin Luther King. She worked from the bottom to the top to find people to support and join her in fighting for freedom.

“Eventually Frida decided to show everyone her work. Her pictures caused a great stir in New York City.”

This book would be great for the older grades. When the books start to become more informational and in depth, I think that it would be beneficial for the older grades. This would be a great book to highlight the importance of women. It can be entertaining, but also seen as controversial, so take caution while reading through it with children. It is an easy book for children to identify the characters.

This story is an amazing one to use with older grades, 3rd-5th. The Holocaust is a heavy topic to discuss, but this breaks down some of those who lived through it, and also has an ending that is so touching. The pictures are wonderful and they draw the reader in to get to know both Nicky and Vera, and all that they experienced during those years.

“Nicky was the guest on a television show. He didn‘t know it, but the old friends he had been invited to meet were some of the children. Vera was one of them. She sat next to Nicky. When the host told her story, she stood up.”

Published in 2021. At the end of 1938, when the Germans invaded the border region of Czechoslovakia, a young Englishman named Nicky arranged for the transport of 669 children from there to England. The author weaves Nicky‘s story with Vera‘s, a Czech child who was one of those Nicky saved. This is a story told with a powerful combination of words and pictures to engage both those who know some history of the Holocaust and those new to the topic.

Frida Kahlo by Isabel Sanchez Vegara. Published in 2015. Biography of Frida Kahlo. This book follows the life of Frida Kahlo from her as a child to the impacts she made through her paintings as an adult. It doesn‘t stray away from the hardships she went through and how she overcame them. The illustrations are vibrant like her paintings a tell a beautiful story.

“Unique from the start, an unusual girl, she loved spinning in circles and watching things twirl.”

This book is very child friendly and covers topics that may be hard to talk in the classroom about like disabilities. I think this book can be used to start that conversation in the classroom.

The Girl Who Thought in Pictures about Temple Grandin by Julia Finley Mosca was published in 2017. This biography was also turned into a movie. This book is about Temple Grandin, a girl who had autism, and how she conquered the world! This book has a riming flow and the illustrations are drawn in a childlike way.

“Temple has made a lasting impact to the way that livestock are treated.”

This book does a great job with its illustrations. It provides an easy journey for children to learn about Temple‘s life. The way that the text is spread out makes it easy for children to read. This would be great for any grade level as a read aloud. This would be a great book to do a flip chart activity with.

Women In Science Temple Grandin was written by Ruby Cardona. Published in 2019. There are currently no awards. Based On Temple Grandin who was involved in progressing science and technology. She invented farm technology that has changed the way live stock was treated all over the world. Along side of changing the way live stock is treated, Temple also has autism. She supports autism awareness, she has impacted that community immensely.

“Just imagine, if you could, a creepy crawler crunching wood.”

This book would be great for younger grades learning about insects. A fun activity could be picking a bug to draw and write a fact about it. You could also take students outside to observe live bugs.

Cricket in the Thicket by Carol Murray. Published in 2017. Won the notable poetry and verse novels. This is a playful book with many poems about all different kind of bugs. The author also incorporates facts about each bug on each page. The illustrations are beautiful and give accurate representations of insects. They also incorporate collages of newspaper clippings and pictures that add a lot of texture.

“Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan;
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake-
Catch it if you can.”

The book starts with a poem about how to write a poem which would be a great introduction into learning how to write poems. Great for upper grades to use during a poetry unit or even for lower grade levels to learn about rhyming words and during units about animals. You can tie this into a lot of different units and grade levels!

The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How- to Poems by Paul B. Janeckzo. Published in 2019. The book has 33 different poems by a variety of different poets. Each poem covers a different subject including animals, food, and life. There are beautiful illustrations that help bring the poems to life. The poems are aimed or about children!

“The seeds of thoughts were planted. I had set my story free! That poem in my pocket turned into a.. POETREE!”

I Loved this book. I think that it did a wonderful job highlighting poetry. The journey that the child follows makes a great journey for children to follow along with. I think the ending is very fun and brings the whole story together. This would be a wonderful read aloud for all grades!

Poem in My Pocket by Chris Tougas was published in 2021. A child carefully written book falls out of his pocket. As the words from the poem begin to slip out of his pocket, they begin to write the town with words. As he begins to collect the words again, they are swopped back falling into the mud. But soon they form into a beautiful tree painting a wonderful POETREE!

“Sunlight and shadows danced through the leaves above them as they silently searched for the most marvelous words to describe it all.”

Great story for all grades! Can deep dive into nature and use this book to dive into any topic on weather/science. Would be a great introduction into Earth Day and the beauty around us and how nature can help fill a void you might be feeling.

Poetree by Shauna LaVoy Reynolds. Published in 2019. Sylvia celebrates spring by writing a poem, she decides to share it with the birch tree in the park, tying it around the trunk. The boom is about finding beauty in the world around you and finding new friends in unlikely places. Many people can find comfort in the natural world and embracing nature.

“Additional symptoms, you ask? I dunno
I guess otherwise I feel fine
But if I showed up at school like this
My teacher will loose her mind.”

These are fun and have to do with things that children face in their daily lives- sports, bath time, homework, bedtime and more. They take these mundane tasks and turn it into a fun poem to read and relate to.

This poetry book by Rhett Miller illustrated by Dan Santat has awesome poems that I know students of many different grades would find hilarious to hear/read. these poems are all about children and defy the rules of writing. There are some about tech devices and random events or things the children enjoy. The illustrations are amazing and elevate each poem and the feelings they convey.

“She carried more than
twelve hundred men
on deck, or working down below.
We didn‘t look up. We didn‘t know.”

I think that this was a great book, highlighting the importance that heroes can make in disastrous situations. One of the poems that resonated with me was “Aloha”. It talked about how a grandmother became a hero. This book highlights a tragedy, but it turns it into a way that we can make a difference. No matter how big or small. This would be a great book for older kids, not the younger kids.

On the Horizon by Lois Lowry. Was published in 2020. Won the Goodreads choice award. A memoir that looks back on the lives of people who were affected by the bombings of Pear Harbor and Hiroshima. The poems are separated into sections. Each sections is focused on the hero‘s of that day. No matter if the heroes were big or small they were highlighted and honored.

This book is contemporary realistic fiction and won the American Youth Literature Award for middle school books. This story follows a girl named Wesley Wilder as she gets her poem printed in the school newspaper. Wesley has encounters with emotional jitters, her crush, her teachers, and the acceptance from her indigenous heritage.

This book illuminates problems faced by children, especially challenges having to do with making your voice heard about things you are passionate about. This book will help readers connect to their cultural identities as well as learn about indigenous cultures. The author does not stray away from awkward situations or real topics. I would use this as an independent reading book or read aloud.

“This is a story of quiet determination and triumph, with well-defined characters who push each other and are there for each other.”

This book is a great pick for an option for a book club. This would not be book to read during read aloud for the whole class. This has important conversations about coming of age, but would not be appropriate to make a whole class read/listen to. Very relatable as someone who was once 11 years old!

“I can‘t go back, and I don‘t ant to stay here by myself without friends. I just wish I knew what to do.”

Realistic Fiction: It won many awards including outstanding book of the Year. 11 year old girl who is navigating puberty, relationships, peer pressure, curiosity about religion, and all the challenges that children go through. She uses prayer to God to express her questions and struggles. This book is relatable across generations and cultures because it talks about situations that all children go through and make it lighthearted.

“When given the choice between being kind of being right, choose kind”

AMAZING BOOK! Great for all children, but especially a great read aloud for upper grades. Children are able to create their own image of August in their head and fall in love with the kindness of his character. He is a great example of not knowing what someone else is going through and as a reader you are able to hear his thoughts throughout the chapters as his character develops.

Realistic Fiction: August a little boy has never been in a school setting before, he has always been homeschooled due to his medical issues and surgeries over the years. He looks different than other kids his age, so he feels his differences everyday while being at school. He has to navigate the social issues of 5th grade while also learning how to make friends! Amazing story to teach kids empathy!

“Ivy turned to Bean, ‘It worked!‘”

Awesome book! Great for children learning to read while still highlighting an important topic that is important in our society. Can we used in upper grades, not just for lower grade levels!

Realistic Fiction: Ivy and Bean are two 7 year old girls who are very different personalities and find themselves on adventures everyday. The girls decide they want animals to befriend them, so they have to be very bad then change to good so they will walk up to the girls. They find themselves in a sticky situation with the neighborhood bully due to their shenanigans.

I had two!

“Ivy turned to Bean. It worked! Bean elbowed Ivy. Of course it worked. It couldn‘t help working. It‘s science.”

“It would have been nice if we had found the one big solution to global warming, said Ivy. Yeah said Bean. But we had lots of good small ideas.”

I LOVED this book. I think that it is a great intermediate book for many children. It does a great job highlighting an adult real world problem to children. The vocabulary that is used is great for young children. Although this book is geared towards 1st grade, I think that it could be useful in 2nd or 3rd grade as well. I would love to use this book as a read aloud in my future classroom, because it is very relatable to young children.

Ivy and Bean-What‘s the Big Idea? Was published by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall. Published in 2010. Follows two very different second grade girls, who take adventures, trying to fix global warming. They face many challenges trying to come up with the best idea for the school science fair. But together they come up with something spectacular. Does a great job highlighting imagery, today‘s problems, and realities of a child.

This story would be great to use for a class of 4th or 5th graders. The storytelling in the book would be wonderful for those grade levels. This book follows a great journey with many twists and intense scenes that it would keep students interested, while also giving them an inside look on Thai culture.

A Wish in the Dark by Chistina Soontornvat was published in 2020. Won Newbery Award, Jane Adams Children‘s book award, and many more. This is a wonderful fantasy book that focuses on the issues of privilege, protest and justice. This book is set in a fantasy land in Thailand, where you are able to explore the Thai culture. It follows a young boy on the run, with a girl determined to find him, how will the story figure itself out.