Category: social-emotional

science, social-emotional, spotlight

Spotlight – Gardens Are For Growing/Your Fantastic Elastic Brain

Seth Harris

Gardens Are For Growing (Familus)
Written by Chelsea Tornetto
Illustrated by Hsulynn Pang

For ages: 5-8
This will be a tearjerker for those adults reading it to their little ones. The pictures tell us about a father teaching his daughter about gardening in their backyard. Through the images, each step shows how the garden starts small and blooms into a lush, sprawling growth. However, the little girl is also growing, and we can count the measure of time by watching her and the plants. The father as well, a little gray in his red hair until it’s all white. That’s when the daughter visits home with her spouse and their child, the man’s granddaughter. 

Continue reading “Spotlight – Gardens Are For Growing/Your Fantastic Elastic Brain” →
afro-caribbean, author spotlight, culture, social-emotional

Author Spotlight: Tami Charles

Seth Harris

Like many of you, Tami Charles was once a public school teacher. It was a natural fit, as he grew up with a mother who was a teacher, vice-principal, and even principal. So it’s also no surprise that Charles is an excellent writer with parents who encouraged learning and set the bar high. In her younger days, show business seemed possible as she was part of an all-girls singing group that even performed on BET. But ultimately, teaching kids won out, and she spent many years as a teacher, honing her craft and listening to the children she taught. As a woman of Afro-Caribbean descent, that cultural background has also profoundly affected her work. She debuted with a middle-grade book and still writes those texts, but here I will focus on her picture book work. Charles currently lives in New Jersey with her husband and son and loves Caribbean food, as seen in one of the books below.

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family, fantasy, science, social-emotional

Spotlight – Unicorns Are The Worst/The Great Whipplethorpe Bug Collection

Seth Harris

Unicorns Are The Worst (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Written & Illustrated by Alex Willan

For ages: 3-7
It’s easy to judge but harder to look at others with empathy. That’s a lesson the goblin narrator of this tale learns. He is sick of unicorns for many reasons, mainly because he feels that other magical creatures are ignored. The goblin also dislikes all the glitter the unicorns are sprinkling everywhere. He spends so much time talking to the reader about the unicorns he doesn’t spot the other magical creature stalking him. 

Continue reading “Spotlight – Unicorns Are The Worst/The Great Whipplethorpe Bug Collection” →
author spotlight, humor, social-emotional

Author Spotlight – Dan Santat

Seth Harris

With over 100 children’s books to his name, Dan Santat is one of the biggest names in the business. When not writing and illustrating his own, he is a regular collaborator with other author’s providing his stylish illustrations for their titles. Born in 1975 to Thai immigrants in Brooklyn, New York, Santat was raised in California. He studied microbiology at the University of California in San Diego but entered the Art Center College of Design immediately after that. While there, he befriended Peter Brown, author & illustrator of The Wild Robot. 

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art, community, social-emotional

Spotlight – How to Spot an Artist/Making a Great Exhibition

Seth Harris

How To Spot an Artist (Prestel Junior)
Written & Illustrated by Danielle Krysa

For ages: 4-9
They don’t get much better than this. Using a collection of wonderfully diverse artistic techniques, readers get a perfect explanation of who an artist can be. The answer is everyone. Author Danielle Krysa begins by taking readers through the ways artists can look, being big or little, young or old. Readers are shown various artistic mediums, and a big emphasis is on glitter, meaning an entire page is devoted to it. A warning about art bullies is also given, those voices that tell you that your work is no good and that you can’t get better. The solution to dealing with an art bully is to make more art.

Continue reading “Spotlight – How to Spot an Artist/Making a Great Exhibition” →
book list, humor, social-emotional

Book List: Bedtime Books

Seth Harris

The Going To Bed Book (Little Simon)
Written & Illustrated by Sandra Boynton

For ages: 2-5
The first books a child likely receives are thick, sturdy board books designed to stand up to teething toddlers and grasping hands. The Going To Bed Book is a bedtime routine delivered as a rhyming story for our littlest ones. Boynton’s illustrations are expressive and straightforward, with animal characters going about the steps of preparing for bed. We see them taking a bath, putting on pajamas, brushing their teeth, etc. The Going To Bed Book would make an excellent first bedtime book for any child. It will help reinforce the routine we work to instill in our children while giving them a sweetly written story before nodding off for the night.

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book list, race, social studies, social-emotional

Book List: Race in America

Seth Harris

I have been increasingly ashamed of the various state legislatures around America who have chosen to devote their energy to eliminating meaningful classroom instruction for people of color. Framed as “Critical Race Theory,” which is a legal theory, not an elementary school concept, these racists intend to hide the truth and promote white supremacy. While activism in some corners has been successful, sadly, in other spots, the majority seem to be clamoring for censorship. Not talking about race as an educator is to do a disservice to your students. Part of me is pleased I walked away from teaching in Tennessee when I did, but I can’t help but feel deeply saddened by the students who will have their history hidden from them. If you are a teacher who refuses to hide the truth, these books provide a fantastic jumping-off point.

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african, arabic, book list, culture, hispanic, social studies, social-emotional

Book List: Refugee Stories

Seth Harris

It’s calculated that at least 26.4 million people worldwide are classified as refugees, but the number of people displaced as a whole is closer to 83 million right now. If you live in North America or Europe, your life has been touched by these people seeking a safe place to live their lives. To not have the refugee experience represented in your school or classroom library is to do a disservice to the children coming in and out of your classroom. Adults often have the most difficult time getting outside of their comfort zone, and we see it so often with the most pressing human rights issues of our day. Children who are refugees and the children of refugees have a right to be seen in the literature they and their peers are reading. I hope you find some great selections here that you can add to your stacks.

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culture, lgbtq+, social-emotional

Book List: Gender Identity

Seth Harris

For the life of me, I can’t understand it. This month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order that criminalized parents helping their children transition. Framed as “child abuse,” the new directive allows Child Protective Services to investigate parents whose children are going through any level of transition, whether it be allowing them to wear clothing of their choice or taking hormones after consultation with doctors. The bizarre push for parents to make their love for their children conditional on societal norms is a dangerous idea. The large number of trans people who commit suicide or cannot find work/housing because of how their gender identities are received by society is heartbreaking. These books help to break down these destructive norms and embrace love. 

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social-emotional, spotlight

Spotlight – The Year We Learned to Fly/I Love You Because I Love You

Seth Harris

The Year We Learned to Fly (Nancy Paulsen Books)
Written by Jacqueline Woodson
Illustrated by Rafael Lopez

For ages: 4-8
With their last collaboration, The Day You Begin, Woodson and Lopez won readers’ hearts and are back at it again with another uplifting book full of love. This story features a girl with a beautiful Afro and her little brother who live in the big city. Summer storms have kept them locked up inside, but their grandmother suggests using their imaginations to escape their current world. Their imaginations are connected to the dreams of their ancestors, people who were enslaved and stolen from their homes but used their inner lives to escape. The girl and her brother reflect on their grandmother’s words and continue to use them as changes happen in their lives that put them in places where they feel like outsiders.

Continue reading “Spotlight – The Year We Learned to Fly/I Love You Because I Love You” →