Books That Heal Kids: community builders

Showing posts with label community builders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community builders. Show all posts

Book Review: Together We Grow

Author: Susan Vaught
Illustrator: Kelly Murphy

From the Book Jacket: A storm drives all the farm animals indoors except for a lonely fox family. The barn isn't there home. But where will they go for safety? Can the animals come together despite their differences. Together We Grow explores the power of compassion and kindness. 

Why It's On My Bookshelf: Such a wonderful picture book that explores themes of acceptance and belonging. It's really a must read that celebrates inclusivity, acceptance, and the importance of rebuilding a community in the wake of disaster. 

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Book Review: You Hold Me Up

Author: Monique Gray Smith
Illustrator: Danielle Daniel

From the Book Jacket: This vibrant picture book, beautifully illustrated by celebrated artist Danielle Daniel, encourages children to show love and support for each other and to consider each other’s well-being in their everyday actions.

Consultant, international speaker and award-winning author Monique Gray Smith wrote You Hold Me Up to prompt a dialogue among young people, their care providers and educators about reconciliation and the importance of the connections children make with their friends, classmates and families. This is a foundational book about building relationships, fostering empathy and encouraging respect between peers, starting with our littlest citizens.

Why It's On My Bookshelf: I think this is another important book on kindness and compassion. This would be a great one to read to your classroom community on how can we remember to support and take care of one another. It's a really simple book with a lot of heart. Beautiful!

A Link to This Book: 
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Book Review: The Buddy Bench

Author: Patty Brozo
Illustrator: Mike Deas

From the Book Jacket: When it's time for recess, Miss Mellon's students pour through the school doors and swarm over the playground. They fly make-believe planes, tame dragons, and ride elephants. But wait- why are there a few kids standing alone and watching? Why aren't they joining in?Why do they look so forlorn? They all have their reasons, but all they really need is a little encouragement. They need a kind word. They need a buddy bench.

Why It's On My Bookshelf: This year our school got a buddy bench. We were really excited to get one to help kids have a place to make new friends. The only problem we were having was trying to figure out how to introduce it to the students and make sure it was being used appropriately. The Buddy Bench was an EXCELLENT resource to teach everyone about it's purpose and also introduce rules of the bench. In the back of the book there are seven rules you can use to teach the expectations of the buddy bench. It was much appreciated!

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Book Review: Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You

Author: Sonia Sotomayor
Illustrator: Rafael Lopez

From the Book Jacket: Sonia and her friends are planting a garden, and each one contributes in his or her own way. Rafael has asthma and sometimes has to stay calm so he can breathe better, which gives him time to paint beautiful rocks for the garden. Anthony uses a wheelchair to get around and can move super fast, directing the group. Anh has a stutter and prefers to listen, so she knows just how to plant each flower. All of the friends are different, but they all have one thing in common: They like to ask questions and learn about one another. 

Why It's On My Bookshelf: This book should be in every classroom. We need to create a community where kids can be more transparent and not made to feel that differences are bad. This is the perfect resource to teach children the message of acceptance and it's okay to be who you are and be proud of it!

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Book Review: The Jelly Donut Difference - Sharing Kindness with the World

Author: Maria Dismondy
Illustrator: P.S. Brooks

From the Book Jacket: Leah and Dexter are brother and sister. They don't always get along. In fact, there are times they can be down right mean to each other. They ooey, gooey jelly donuts in this story are a testament to the power of kindness, caring and generosity. 

Why It's On My Bookshelf: Our school will be participating in The Great Kindness Challenge and this is such a wonderful book to help us teach our students about good deeds. Leah and Dexter both learn about the power of kindness by extending themselves and doing caring acts for their elderly neighbor. She teaches them about a baking tradition in her family and that's when they begin about the power of paying it forward. So happy to add this to my collection!

A Link to This Book and Others You Might Find Useful:


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Book Review: Mixed - A Colorful Story

Author/Illustrator: Arree Chung

From the Book Jacket: In the beginning, there were three colors...Reds, Yellows, and Blues. All special in their own ways, all living in harmony - until one day, a Red says, "Reds are the best!" and starts a color kerfuffle. When the colors decide to separate, is there anything that can change their minds? A Yellow, a Blue, and a never-before-seen color might just save the day in this inspiring book about color, tolerance, and embracing differences. 

Why It's On My Bookshelf: My daughter has read this book about ten times since we got it. I cannot wait to share it with students. The message of kindness, getting along, and respecting one another is exactly how I would like kids to start their school year. Too many times our differences keep us apart and can sadly create an environment that does not feel inclusive or accepting. Building a positive school community is what matters most to me. Mixed - A Colorful Story supports that mission and will help children to be kind and caring towards one another. This one is a must for your home, classroom, and counseling curriculum!

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Book Reviews: The Fox Wish and The Snail and the Whale

Found both of these heartwarming books in the Spring and they are such great choices for read alouds about kindness, generosity, and friendship. I used them as reinforcement s when I had teachers asking for extra lessons around being caring and kind. Many times when I read books I am very focused on skill building. These ones helped students develop character and opened up a space for discussion on acts of kindness. Loved them!

Author: Kimiko Aman
Illustrator: Komako Sakai

From the Book Jacket: Have you ever had a wish come true? Have you ever felt the hand of a kid smaller than you? Have you ever found something you didn't know you believed in? Have you ever talked to a fox? In this subtle, sensitive glimpse of magic, sister, brother, and reader alike find that the trusted familiar often lives right next to the truly extraordinary - if only you have the eyes to see it. 

Author: Julia Donaldson
Illustrator: Axel Scheffler

From the Book Jacket: When a tiny snail meets a humpback whale the two travel together to far-off lands. It's a dream come true for the snail, who has never left home before. But when the whale swims too close to shore, will the snail be able to save her new friend? This is a touching tale of adventure and friendship that reminds us that even the smallest creatures can help others in a big way. 

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Book Review: All Are Welcome



Author: Alexandra Penfold
Illustrator: Suzanne Kaufman

From the Book Jacket: Follow a group of children through a say in their school, where everyone is welcomed with open arms no matter their race, religion, or background. All Are Welcome celebrates kindness, inclusivity, and diversity in a joyous read-aloud that is a must for every child's bookshelf. 

Why It's On My Bookshelf: I would love to read this in our first school assembly. It has the best community builder message I have ever read in any book. It will also work for ALL grades. Often times our beginning of the year assemblies revolve around teaching the kids school expectations and rules. How about we first let them know they have a place in our school? No matter their background, color of skin, culture, etc. their school is welcoming to them. Cannot wait to share this with my staff and students! 

A Link To This Book and Others You Might Find Helpful:


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Book Review: Be Kind

Author: Pat Zietlow Miller
Illustrator: Jen Hill

From the Book Jacket: When a young girl named Tanisha spills grape juice all over her new dress, her classmate wants to make her feel better and remember that Mom always says, "Be kind." But what does it mean to be kind?

As the child ponders everything from asking a new girl to play to standing up for someone being bullied, this moving and thoughtful story explores what kinds is, and how any act, big or small, can make a difference - or at least help a friend. 

Why It's On My Bookshelf: This is such a lovely story on the incredible power of kindness. The story centers around another child witnessing unkindness. From that moment, she starts to think of how important daily kindness is when it comes to all of our interactions with one another. Through empathy she does something to bring joy to the child who was originally hurt. 

I love this book so much. One of our school rules/standards is "BE KIND" so this fits right in with what we are trying to teach children. It was refreshing to see this book and I will be using it TONS in the beginning of the school year. 

A Link to This Book: 

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Book Review: I Walk With Vanessa - A Story About a Simple Act of Kindness

Author/Illustrator: Kerascoet

From the Book Jacket: Vanessa is the new girl in school. A boy is not very nice to her. But a girl helps Vanessa - and stands up for what's right. This is a simple but powerful picture book about how the actions of a single person can inspire an entire community. 

Why It's On My Bookshelf: It only takes one person to change things. In this wordless picture book a child named Vanessa is on the receiving end of mean behavior. What she doesn't know is someone witnesses the unkindness and comes to her rescue later. By being an upstander she brings all the children together in a positive movement. I loved this uplifting book and it is at the top of my list to share with students as a reminder that we all have personal power to better each others lives.  

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Book Review: Strictly No Elephants


Author: Lisa Mantchev
Illustrator: Taeeun Yoo

From the Book Jacket: When the local Pet Club won’t admit a boy’s tiny pet elephant, he finds a solution—one that involves all kinds of unusual animals in this sweet and adorable picture book. Today is Pet Club day. There will be cats and dogs and fish, but strictly no elephants are allowed. The Pet Club doesn’t understand that pets come in all shapes and sizes, just like friends. Now it is time for a boy and his tiny pet elephant to show them what it means to be a true friend. This sweet story captures the magic of friendship and the joy of having a pet.

Why It's On My Bookshelf: This was such a helpful book to teach our K-1 kids how exclusion is a hurtful behavior. We focused on the words INCLUDE and INVITE. I feel like we need to flood our younger grades with these community builders. Early childhood is when we want to help instill those strong values of friendship and caring about others. Love this one.  

A Link to This Book:
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Book Review: Where Oliver Fits

Author/Illustrator: Cale Atkinson

From the Book Jacket: Oliver is a little puzzle piece who is excited to find out where he fits. Will he be... In the mane of a unicorn? On the tentacle of a pirate squid? Part of a beautiful sunset or a fiery volcano? A member of a monster rock band? But when he goes in search of his perfect place, Oliver discovers that finding where he belongs is harder than he thought...

Why It's On My Bookshelf: I'm really excited about this book. Kids really struggle with finding their place in friendship circles and often times give up a piece of who they are just so they can fit in. Oliver discovers you can't rush or force your fit. All you can do is be yourself! I like the message that you are not alone and others are also searching for a friend. Find others who represent your same values and appreciate who you are.....love! Don't be something you are not. Be you. 

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Book Review: Sumi's First Day of School Ever

Author: Soyung Pak
Illustrator: Joung Un Kim

From the Book Jacket: When Sumi arrives at school on her first day, she sees a big building. She sees strange children. (Some are big.) She sees wide stairs and a big metal fence. School is a lonely place, she thinks. When Sumi enters the noisy classroom and hears loud children saying things she doesn't understand, Sumi feels even worse. School is a scary place. And when a little boy squishes his eyes and makes a face at Sumi, thats when she decides school is a mean place. 

This is a thoughtful picture book about a young Korean girl trying to find her place in a new classroom on the first day of school. For Sumi, the first day is extra hard because she doesn't know the same language as everybody else. But with some help from a kind teacher and the fortunate acquaintance of a friendly girl at recess, Sumi realizes that maybe school is not as lonely, scary, or mean as she thought.

Why It's On My Bookshelf: What a wonderful read aloud for the first month of school! This is a time when we are building community around new students and making sure everyone is feeling welcome and included. We also have students from different countries and this is their first school experience. Students get to experience the feelings of fear and loneliness through Sumi's eyes. There is a boy who displays mean behavior but turns his actions into kindness thanks to his teacher. But a friendship begins to bloom when another little girl approaches Sumi and introduces herself. Loved this story and the impact it is having on our students. 

A Link to This Book and Others You Might Find Useful: 

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Book Review: Wild About Us!


Author: Karen Beaumont
Illustrator: Janet Stevens
Interest Level: Ages 4 and Up

From the Book Jacket: Warty Warthog may have warts and tusks, but he likes himself that way! Join him as he celebrates all of his animal friends and the attributes that make each one unique. Whether it’s Crocodile's toothy grin or Kangaroo’s huge feet or Leopard’s spottiness, each animal is different. Wouldn’t it be dull if all the animals at the zoo—and all the people in the world—looked alike? A joyful picture-book celebration of everything that makes us individuals!

Why It's On My Bookshelf: With everything going on in this world right now we need books that teach differences, acceptance, and diversity more then ever. Those are our strengths! I love this picture book. It's a celebration of how we are all different which makes life beautiful. I see myself using this to start a discussion and then move into a creative art project where students can show their own uniqueness while learning to appreciate every ones differences. Love!

A Link To This Book and Others You Might Find Useful: 

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Book Reviews: Rulers of the Playground

Author/Illustrator: Joseph Kuefler
Interest Level: Ages 4-8

From the Book Jacket: One morning, Jonah decided to become ruler of the playground. Everyone pinkie promised to obey King Jonah's rules...Everyone except for Lennox, because she wanted to rule the playground too...

Why It's On My Bookshelf: This book tackles a lot of the issues we've been dealing with on our playground lately. There seems to be a few students who have been using bossy behaviors as a way to be in charge of other friends or dictate what games will be played. So I appreciated seeing this new book as it will go a long way in helping children remember to be flexible friends. Jonah and Lennox both try and "rule" the playground but the ending result is they are left with no friends. They realize that being bossy and demanding with others is actually very exhausting so they come up with an apology plan to make things right. I'm so delighted to have this new one on my bookshelf. It's going to definitely help make a positive behavior impact. 


A Link to This Book and Others You Might Find Helpful: 
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Book Review: Kindness is Cooler, Mrs Ruler


Author: Margery Cuyler
Illustrator: Sachiko Yoshikawa
Interest Level: Ages 5-8

From the Book Jacket: When Mrs. Ruler asks five of her kindergarteners to miss recess, she's got a special plan up her sleeve. She's about to teach a new golden rule: Kindness Is Cool! Soon the entire class is doing so many good deeds that their kindness bulletin board barely fits their classroom!

By clearing the table after dinner to helping the elderly, one kindergarten class is proving that kids really can make a difference. Count along with Mrs. Ruler's class. Can all their good deeds really add up to 100 acts of kindness?

Why It's On My Bookshelf: Love this book so much! It starts out with a teacher being frustrated with her students being unkind to one another and her way of dealing with them is by teaching them about acts of kindness. She asks each student to go home and do five acts of kindness for their families. Then in show-and-tell they will share what they did. Their experiences inspire the rest of the class to also try acts of kindness. Soon it becomes a class project. 

I feel this should be a staple in a classroom teacher's library when it comes to building community and managing behaviors. As a school counselor this is a wonderful addition to my bucket filling books and working on school kindness projects. I'm also excited to read this to my daughter because she would love to learn about acts of kindness and this is such a perfect resource. 

A Link to This Book:
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Book Review: The Word Collector


















About This Book: Luna is passionate about words. She loves their light and becomes tickled with laughter from them. But one day she realizes that, little by little, the beautiful, gorgeous, and fun words are disappearing from the world—so she decides it's time to act. A poetic tale about the magic of words, this delightful story invites readers of all ages to enjoy the power that positive words can have.

Why It's On My Bookshelf: This book is really timely right now for my students. It's easy to fall back into the habit of using unkind words to try and solve problems or bucket dip. We do a lot of community building in the beginning of the year around being bucket fillers and trying to uplift one another through our actions and words. It's good to reintroduce this message through a story like this to encourage students to continue to build relationships with each other. Our words can heal or harm. Luna discovers people are forgetting to use all of the wonderful positive words with each other. She gathers up all of her words and puts them in a suitcase to share with everyone. I just loved this story and it is a great reminder to not fall into name calling or using our words to hurt. 

A Link to This Book: 
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Book Review: School's First Day of School

Author: Adam Rex
Illustrator: Christian Robinson
Interest Level: Ages 4 and Up


About This Book: It's the first day of school at Frederick Douglass Elementary and everyone's just a little bit nervous, especially the school itself. What will the children do once they come? Will they like the school? Will they be nice to him? The school has a rough start, but as the day goes on, he soon recovers when he sees that he's not the only one going through first-day jitters.








Why It's On My Bookshelf: I've been emailing all of the teachers at my school and telling them to GET THIS BOOK! Such a creative way to talk to kids about how they might be feeling those first few days of school. Books help normalize behaviors and this one will be a great ally to your discussion. It's also kind of funny to think it's the school that is feeling so nervous. I can see kids giggling about this - a great way to minimize fears. The book ends focusing on the positive and kind things that happened throughout the day. Love.

A Link to This Book and Others You Might Find Helpful:




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Book Review: Who We Are! All About Being the Same and Being Different


Author: Robie H Harris
Illustrator: Nadine Bernard Westcott
Interest Level: Ages 4 and Up

From the Book Jacket: Young children are curious about almost everything. Asking questions is one of the many ways they learn about themselves and the world around them. The Lets Talk About YOU and ME series provides our youngest children with easy-to-understand facts and fascinating answers to their delightful, thoughtful, and often nonstop questions. 

Join Nellie, Gus, baby Jake, and their parents at Funland as they go on rides, watch performers, and play games with many other children and grown-ups. This enjoyable excursion can help children understand that people are the same as one another in lots of ways and different from one another in lots of ways. 

Accessible, humorous, family-filled illustrations; conversations between Gus and Nellie; and matter-of-fact text help children to realize why treating other people the way they want to be treated - and the way you want to be treated - matters, whether a person is a lot like you or different from you or is a friend or someone you have met or seen for the first time. 


Why It's On My Bookshelf: I'm adding this one to my kid's bookshelf at home and also here at school to use in lessons on differences. I see books like these as community builders. The more we teach and remind children how important, wonderful, and normal differences are - the more we become connected on a deeper level. 

A Link to This Book and Others You Might Find Helpful:
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Book Review: If Kids Ran the World



Authors: Leo and Diane Dillon 
Interest Level: Ages 5 and Up 

From the Book Jacket: All roads lead to kindness in this warm, uplifting celebration of generosity and love. In simple words and fanciful illustrations, Caldecott Medalists Leo and Diane Dillon present a rainbow of children who lend a helping hand to make our global village a happier place. And who better to show the joy of giving than kids? With their boundless imagination and enthusiasm, children know that anything is possible - including building a peaceful world where food, shelter, medicine, and education can be had by all. If you ran the world, what would you do?

Why It's On My Bookshelf: This is a great community builder. I read it once and had all kinds of ideas of how I would do a lesson with it. You could bring the message of this book to the school and classroom and really narrow the focus to character traits you want to build. If Kids Ran the World is such an inspiring read aloud and will be impactful to your community of learners. I have such a desire to see kids grow during the school year - this is your kick start to that growth!






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