These are part of an ongoing series that I will be starting here on this blog. I will not be linking any books to amazon, because you can find that easily. Instead, I encourage you to find these in your local book store. If you don't have one, my links below each picture will lead you to one of my local book stores.
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| Order Here from Old Town Bookstore |
The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig, and illustrated by Patrice Barton is a book that was recommended by a teacher friend of mine. This story is about a boy named Brian who feels invisible at school. He is always picked last for teams, not invite to other parties because no one seems to notice him. When Brain is left to his own devices though, he likes to draw and create his own stories.
One day, a new kid named Justin comes to the class and the students in the class tease Justin about his lunch. Brain knows how this feels and ends up writing a note to Justin to make him feel better. Justin finds the note the next day and likes it.
Justin slowly becomes welcomed by the class, but he makes sure that Brain is included in all of the class activities too and gets Brian to show off his amazing drawing skills to the class. Slowly Brian becomes accepted by the others and starts to feel not so invisible after all.
What I like about this book is the central message that when you show someone patience and kindness, anyone can flourish and show off their special talents. You just have to be kind and brave enough to include others so they can show off what they can do.
The other part of this book that I like are the illustrations. In the beginning, all of the kids are in color and Brian is in grey scale. However, the more Brain is seen by the other kids, he begins to come into color just like the other kids, showing that he is indeed becoming not invisible anymore.
My favorite way to use this book is as a catalyst to talk about empathy or being a "Bucket Filler", by taking time out to get to know all of the kids in the classroom and making them feel included as a part of the community. By asking these questions, you are teaching your students empathy by thinking about how other kids feel and what they can do to improve someone's day.
Upper Grade Book
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| Order Here from Loyalty Bookstore |
Blended by Sharon Draper was recommended by my friend and school librarian who started a teacher book club and this was one of her suggestions for the year.
Blended is timely and relevant because more and more kids are coming from blended families and can relate to this book. This story is about an eleven year old girl named Isabella (or Izzy) who's mom is white and dad is black and her parents are divorced. They have joint custody of her so one week she lives with her dad, his girlfriend and her son, and the next week she lives with her mom and boyfriend.
Isabella loves both of her parents and their significant others, which is why it makes her unhappy when her parents fight with each other. She feels stuck in the middle. Isabella also struggles with her identity, being blended herself, having a white mother and a black father. She tries to figure out her identity while hearing comments from other people such as "You're so exotic" which really make her feel they are saying "You're different".
Blended resonates with students on so many levels. First, for those kids out there who come from a divorced family. They can really relate to what Isabella is going through and feeling. There is also a connection for those kids out there who are blended and are trying to find their own identity. Blended gives a voice to the kids in these situations and shines a light not only on their struggles in life but also in their joys.
Sharon Draper does such a fantastic job with this book, She really gives a voice to Isabella and makes her relatable to her audience.
To use this in the classroom you can always go to Sharondraper.com with some awesome extension activities.
My favorite activity though is to have students think about what is special about themselves, or as Ms. Draper's website put it their own identity. Students could do this in any number of ways using and essay, a drawing, any number of google apps, the list goes on. Again, it would give an insight into each child and talking about their hidden talents (for example, from the book, Isabella might do a youtube video of her playing the piano because she is an accomplished pianist).
I hope that you check out these books. I encourage you to visit a local book store and support local business. If you don't have a local bookstore, I am leaving the links of two awesome stores in my area if you'd like to support them!
To listen to the full podcast on Open House, check out One Basic Teacher Podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast and Spotify.
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