GRADES K-3 books posted during the 2021-2022 school year:
The books and activities below are for K-3 classrooms. We do not own the rights to these books, but are providing links to publicly available videos. We think you should buy these wonderful books for your school or home library! Each book is categorized by its theme (WHAT IS RACE, MULTICULTURALISM, and TAKING ACTION).
Please feel free to use these links to copy-able letters to PARENTS or TEACHERS.
Click on the book cover or the enlarged title to link to the video reading. Requests to subscribe to the reader's website sometimes are embedded at the end of the story. We have used the Video Link system to present videos taken from You Tube without any other links at the conclusion of the video, so there is no possibility of sending students on to potentially inappropriate content.
WHAT IS RACE?
Our Diversity Makes Us Stronger
Written by C.M. Harris, illustrated by Eric Everett
Author: Elizabeth Cole
Illustrator: Julia Kamenshikova
Reader:
Reading Pioneers Academy (8:41 minutes)
Summary: This book is illustrated poetry. It begins with the main character worrying that he is going to be different from the others now that he has new glasses, and in words and pictures works through other ways that children could consider themselves different. The book paints with a broad brush, not singling out differences in just one area, such as race. On the last page, the message is diversity is about embracing one another’s uniqueness. At another point the poem says without diversity it would be boring.
Discussion: This book would make a good introduction to the concept of diversity in the primary grades in a way children can easily understand. Ask which difference they remember from the story. What is easy, or hard, or just plain cool about this difference? What might that character be feeling about his or her difference?
The author says differences make us stronger. What is a cool difference each person brings to the class, a strength? An adult could start the discussion by saying she is different from other people in the room because of her age and how that is cool. (Stick to “cool differences” or strengths to keep the discussion at a safe level, in which a child is only sharing a difference he or she feels good about. Model the type of difference you hope for so that the students won’t focus on something trivial like the color of their shirt.) How do differences make our classroom/ our community/ our world stronger?
Activity - Class Poster “Diversity Makes Our Class Stronger”: Follow up this discussion by making a class poster labeled “Our Classroom Is a Stronger Place Because…” or “Diversity Makes Our Class Stronger” with labeled illustrations from each child, such as “Maria speaks 2 languages” “Ian knows about ice-fishing.”
Written by C.M. Harris, illustrated by Eric Everett
About 3 minutes
Differences are important. What if we were all the same? How would you tell us apart? The author talks about houses and cars, stars, food, animals, and people. We are all different and we should celebrate the differences. Differences are good. Differences are exciting and beautiful. The books ends with the question: what are some amazing differences in you? This is a simple book, good for younger students.
DISCUSSION/ACTIVITY
Ask students what it would be like if there were a whole classroom of…. (pick one of their names, like Amandas). Would that be fun or boring after awhile? What if there were a whole family of just lots of dads, each one like the next, no sisters, no brothers, just 5 or 10 dads who all looked the same and acted the same and said the same thing. Would that be an interesting family to be in? What if you only had one kind of toy, but you had 50 of the same thing? What if the pictures you drew always had to look the same each time? Do you agree that differences are better than all the same?
Give each student a pre-made white paper-plate mask on a popsicle stick, with eyes cut out. Have students go around the room (or come to the circle) each holding the plain paper plate mask in front of them, and seeing everyone look the same. Then have students each color their own mask in any way they would like. Walk around the room or come to the circle again wearing the masks. Which was more interesting? What kinds of differences would be really nice to have in your classroom for real? Make a list of what students say. If they slow down, ask questions such as: Would it be interesting to have someone who uses sign language? Would it be interesting to have someone who can teach us all how to ………(fill in the blank)? Would it be interesting to have someone who knows all about ……? Would it be fun to have people from different places far away? Would you like to have some short people and some tall people, some with different color eyes and hair and skin? The teacher can also pick talents he/she knows are in the classroom such as one person who knows all about dinosaurs or taking care of a horse. A follow-up to this book could also be for each student to say what he or she brings to the classroom that is unique and special, say it aloud to the others, to applause from the class.
Written by Katie Kissinger, photographs by Chris Bohnhoff
This book presents a simple scientific explanation of skin color, explaining that our skin color comes from our ancestors, the sun, and melanin. It has wonderful photographs of lots of different kinds of people. The text is in both English and Spanish, though the reader only does the English text. The picturebook part of the book takes about 3 minutes, but then the reader includes the afternotes (mostly for teachers, but could also be interesting for grade 2-3 children). Use the whole thing, or just the first part, depending on your needs and that of the students.
DISCUSSION/ACTIVITY
It’s good to see and discuss different skin colors. At the beginning of the book, the author asks children to take a guess about where we get our skin color. This might be a good place to stop and write down everybody’s ideas – and to come back to that list later. At the end of the book, ask, “What are the three things we learned from this book about where skin color comes from?” Compare the lists and maybe talk a little bit about science and what it can tell us about how things work on our planet – and how beautiful that is!
A wonderful activity is to cut out pictures of different people from magazines, newspapers, etc. The press seems to be doing a good job trying to include more diversity in images used in advertisements and stories. If you can get a good selection of magazines, you can have kids cut out lots of different examples. You can use some of them for an immediate project and save the rest for use later in bulletin boards, story boards, etc. One project: On a big, green background (the “garden”), write “A beautiful garden has flowers of many different colors” The cutouts of people can be pasted on directly, or first glued to different flower-shapes of colored paper, to represent flowers.
MULTICULTURALISM
Author: Andrea Wang
Illustrator: Jason Chin
Read by: Cincinnati Museum Center (5 minutes)
Interviews with Author & Illustrator
Awards: Caldecott Medal Winner/Newbery Honor Book/ APALA Award Winner/New England Book Award Winner/A New York Times Best Children’s Book of the Year/ A Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book
Summary: In this book, children are embarrassed when their Chinese-born parents stop the car in order for the family to pick watercress by the side of the road in Ohio. The result is that the parents share more about their earlier lives in China, and how that makes them a blend of cultures, Chinese Americans. The children now glimpse the richness of being an immigrant. Who has not sometimes been embarrassed by the actions of their parents? Children will identify with this universal theme, but then learn there are many layers of why someone might act in a particular way. This is a glimpse into the immigrant journey of leaving treasured customs behind in the old country, and how those same customs could enrich the new country and give the family pride and tradition in this country.
Discussion: Have you ever been embarrassed by what someone in your family was doing? Do you ever worry about wanting to be the same as other people? Why might this happen more often to a family who is new to this country? Would there be advantages to keeping your original culture and learning a second one, knowing two cultures? Does your family still have certain customs from one of its original cultures? How would you be feeling now if you were one of the children in the story, once the parents explain about the watercress?
Activity 1 - Foraging: Talk about foraging for wild foods, including berries, by many cultures. Bring in some watercress to try, or other local seasonal foods like wild onions (ramps), edible flowers (Johnny jump-ups, day lily bud), mint, or even cattail parts.
Activity 2 –Chinese Culture: Share more about the richness of Chinese culture through whatever means are at hand: inviting a Chinese-American guest to visit the class; copying Chinese characters; asking students if they have ever eaten Chinese food; showing a map of China; etc.
Four Feet, Two Sandals
Authors: Karen Lynn Williams & Khadra Mohammed
Illustrator: Doug Charyka
Discussion: What would it be like to go barefoot until your feet are cracked? Why are these girls so poor they have no shoes, when you might have many pairs of shoes? Do you know what a refugee is? How can you tell that the refugee camp is a place where people are very poor? Why do the girls decide to share the sandals? What would you do if you were in their situation? Do you agree with the girl who is going to America taking the sandals?
Activity – Sharing Sandals: Draw around your left foot, or your right foot. Color the outline and cut it out and decorate it like a pair of sandals. Take one of your sandals and share it with a friend who also has only one sandal. One of you gets to take home the pair of sandals the first night and tell your family the story of the sandals. The next night the other one does, while the friend is “barefoot”. When you get home, count how many pairs of shoes you have in your closet!
Amos and Boris
Written and illustrated by William Steig
Reader: Mr. Paulson
About 13 1/2 minutes
A mouse, Amos, sets out to sail the seas. When he falls overboard he and Boris, a whale, are thrown together in the middle of the ocean by circumstance. Though they are nothing alike and grumble at each other in the beginning, they become fast and loyal friends and find a lot in common. The whale saves the mouse’s life; in the end, the mouse saves the whale’s life also. (Sounds like the mouse and the lion, right? But it’s funnier!) Written in 1971, this book is still vibrant, and still a dramatic and sensitive page turner.
DISCUSSION/ACTIVITY
Initial Activity: Before you read Amos and Boris, it’s good to ask children if they know why Reading to End Racism readers are here today (or why the book is being read to them online). Write the word “racism” on the blackboard, and ask if anyone knows what it means. Steer the discussion to a basic definition: when people think that one skin color or race, or where someone is from is better than another, and they treat people badly because of how they look or because they’re not the same as they are. Ask children if they think this is fair. Define a few other terms in the book that might be puzzling to very young children, like “phosphorescence” and “sextant.”
Then read Amos and Boris. This is a “go to” book for classrooms where there might be one or two children who are “different” either because of color or otherwise, and there is a fear of shining an unwelcome spotlight on them. This book has only two characters—Amos and Boris. If there’s time, it’s a great book to pair with “Same, Same, But Different (described below).
When you finish the book, ask “Who’s bigger, a mouse or a whale?” and “Who can squeeze into tight spaces and climb walls to carry sunflower seeds into your attic?” Then ask, “Who’s better, a whale or a mouse?” After discussion and perhaps argument, children conclude that like Amos and Boris, you can be different without being better or worse, and that being brave and loyal is far more important.
Things to do for fun: Children can and stretch out in a line until the line is as long the biggest blue whale ever recorded (98 feet). Then make a mouse from furry material, pompoms, construction paper ears, and string tail and whiskers. Or, draw your own cover for Amos and Boris.
Author/Illustrator: Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
Read by Madelyn Ross (5.34 minutes)
Two boys, one from a U.S. city, and one from India, become pen pals by exchanging pictures each draws. They discover all the ways they are the same and the ways they are different. It is easy to identify with each boy as his words are read off the page. The boys become best friends. Make sure to show the class where India is on a map or globe!
DISCUSSION/ACTIVITY
Ask how these two boys are the same, and how are they different. What makes them friends? What are some ways you are the same and different from your friends now? Can you imagine making a new friend the way these two boys did?
One activity option is to have each person in the class draw their families (or homes, pets, favorite activity, a favorite meal), and then talk about what is the same and what is different in all of their pictures. A second option is to have resources (books, safe websites, magazines) in which students can look up how a child in another country lives, and compare what is the same and what is different between that child and him/herself. Of course, this book also would make a wonderful lead-in to becoming pen pals with another class, if not to India perhaps just to another school district. Even a few exchanges would be exciting.
Written by Huda Essa, illustrated by Diana Cojocaru
Read by the author, Huda Essa (almost 12 minutes)
The author’s reading is a little hard to hear sometimes, so here’s another reading, by Ronda Taylor Bullock, that you may want to use instead https://video.link/w/lVYCc
Children can feel very uncomfortable about being different
in some obvious way from the majority of other children in school. They are
aware that others notice that they are different, and sometimes children may be
unkind or insensitive. This book shows how a girl, Kareemalayaseenadeen,
decides to teach her teacher and classmates how to pronounce her name. Before you talk with students about the book, you should practice saying her name yourself -- it's not easy for people who have not heard it before! You might even want to tell the class how long it took you go get it right!
From a literature guide by Kitlyn Pressnall: Many times a name is said wrong or shortened to make pronouncing it easier for us, but for the other person it feels as if we are dismissing them. The book is written by a Muslim author and features a child with a name that is difficult to pronounce that means "excellent guidance." We can all feel inspired and proud of our name and where we come from. Knowing the history of our name and being able to share that history with others if we so choose is important.
DISCUSSION/ACTIVITIES
Ask the class, “Have you ever had someone call you a name that isn’t the name you want to be called?” Sometimes people give other people “nicknames” that they might think are funny. Have you ever had that happen to you, or seen it happen to someone else? How did it make the person feel?” Sometimes it can hurt the feelings of the person whose name is being changed. Explore this with the class. What is the respectful thing to do about someone’s name?
How did the girl in this story feel? At first, she just wanted not to admit that her name was being pronounced incorrectly. Both she and the teacher were uncomfortable and just wanted the problem to go away. It takes courage to spend the time teaching (and learning) a name with a different sound, something you’ve never heard before. Often people want to just make the teaching and learning go quickly. But to really get it right, you have to see when you haven’t got it right yet, and keep trying and trying again, and not feel embarrassed or upset.
Have you ever had an experience when something was hard for you, but you practiced until you could do it right? Make a picture about what happened when you learned something new.
Written by Thelma Lynne Godin
Illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Read by Oprah Winfrey (about 13 minutes)
This book is read aloud dramatically by another hula-hoop lover, Oprah Winfrey. It is captivating story of a girl who is torn between proving to her friends she is the best hula-hooper on the street and needing to help her mother get ready for a birthday party for her honorary grandma. Students will identify with the main character’s feelings, as she is led astray, and then must apologize for the fact that there is no birthday cake to be had. While the hula hoop competition, the big city life, and the family culture may be a little different from their own experience, students will be drawn in. The purpose of working with this book is just that: talking about how a story about someone different from you may nevertheless cross that boundary to have universal appeal, and how humans have an interest in each other even when we are different.
DISCUSSION/ACTIVITY
Ask students what parts of the story were their favorites. In which parts could they imagine the feelings of the characters? Do they know anyone like one of these people? Could they imagine being in the story themselves? Good authors often try to write stories that appeal to all of us, that have universal appeal. Does this story fit that category? Would it appeal to a lot of people, even if their lives are not exactly the same as the people on this street? What makes it good? What other kinds of stories might be universal? (Help students if they are stuck: what are some things we all do… play sports, have a family, go to school, get in trouble, have fun, have a hobby, compete, etc.)
Have students pair to share a story from their own lives that would interest many people. After that practice, have students find a way to record that story by telling it to a small group, recording it on an electronic device, writing it, drawing a cartoon of it, or create some other way of sharing. Follow-this activity up by asking other students if they could relate to the child’s story and how. Extend this exploration to discussions of trade books read for another context, asking if a particular book has universal appeal or not, and why.
TAKING ACTION
Author: Lisa Mantchev
Illustrator: Taeeun Yoo
Reader:
Read Aloud for Kids (3:31 minutes)
When a boy’s tiny pet elephant is not allowed into pet club day, the boy creates his own club where all pets are welcome. Along the way, the narrative includes many other messages about what friends would do, such as “never leave anyone behind”.
Discussion: Review what the problem is (the elephant is not allowed) and how it is resolved. Is this similar to any real life situation they know about, when someone is not allowed into a club, or not included, maybe even an older sibling saying nobody allowed in a tree fort? Do you know of anyone who took action in such a situation to make it more fair, the way this boy does? He not only creates a new club, but he also states many rules about friendship. What are those rules? After hearing about the children’s experiences of not being included, talk about how people of color have also had many times they have been told they are not allowed to use a water fountain, enter many schools, go to the public swimming pool, etc. How do you think they felt? What kinds of rules do you think some people made to change what was happening? Something similar happened for people with disabilities. For instance, what happens to someone in a wheelchair who wants to get into a building that is up the stairs? What rules needed to be written then?
Activity Choices – Everyone Should Be Included Banner: Have students make banners saying “Everyone Should Be Included”, and decorate them with tiny elephants, and any concepts which came up in the discussions, including schools or treehouses. Alternatively have students make a poster of friendship rules, either from the book or from their own experience.
Author: Eve Bunting
Illustrator: Ted Lewin
Reader: Kinder Studios (6:47 minutes)
Summary: A girl new to living in America goes on a class trip to the apple orchard. Even the apple she picks, a green one that was different from all the others, goes into making a delicious cider, pressed by the classmates themselves. The book will help children identify with what it is like to be new, practicing English in one’s head, wearing a head covering, being tense, but also beginning to make friends.
Discussion: Have children review what Farah, the new girl, is experiencing. What else is she feeling and thinking? What is is like for her to be new? Why is this book called One Green Apple? How they would interact with Farah if she were to come to their class? What would it be like for them if they were to go to another country and not know the language, and maybe be dressed differently?
Activity Choices – Eating Apples, Drawing Character, Writing Poem:
1. Bring in apples with different color skins including green and red. Peel and taste. They are all similar under the skin. Serve cider, and explain cidermakers believe using multiple types of apples improves the taste of the cider.
2. Draw Farah (have photocopies of some pages of the book to share for reference). Drawing her face and headcovering gives time to get to think about Farah and her feelings and to become more familiar with her headcovering.
3. Write a poem based on the class discussion of Farah's feelings. Possible structures might include: writing lines each starting with "If I were Farah, I would feel..." OR use a string of adjectives "Quiet, shy, talking in her head..." OR write from Farah's point of view, saying why she is like a green apple.
Author/Illlustrator: Joseph
Kuefler
Read by Sheila Stafford (8:17 minutes)
A boy decides to be king of the playground. All the children end up following along, except one girl who decides she will be queen of the rest of the playground and all the children who want to use the swings or other equipment on her side must cross their heart and promise to obey her. Are the rulers perfect? What are the problems? How is it all resolved? Playgrounds are the places where many lessons about power sharing and friendship are learned, often the most important part of a child’s school day. This book will lead to discussion about similar experiences students have had and give them a point of reference for sorting them out together. Its theme is learning to work together.
DISCUSSION/ACTIVITY
Ask students if they have known any children who wanted to be the boss of everyone else. How does it feel? Does it work for the bossy one, or for the rest, for one person to have all the power? What goes wrong? How do the children in this book resolve the problem?
Try having a monitored role play. Have 4 students come to the front of the class. Tell one of them to be the boss and have the group act out a scene from the book, like using the slide. The boss directs everybody, and the others have to ask permission to even use the slide. Ask each of the four what it felt like in their role. Have another 4 students come up and give them a different playground scenario, also with a boss. Again discuss what each person felt like. Remind students that this isn’t what the students are really like. It was just a roleplay. “In the real world, we are all sometimes the one in charge, but we need to make sure to make everyone feels included. Let’s see if we can do that now.” Ask 4 more students to come up. Ask them to make a plan for what to do at recess together, how to share the swings, or some other collaboration. Ask what that felt like. Finally give everyone some practice collaborating in pairs back at their seats. Hand out some building blocks, Legos, Cuisenaire rods or the like and see what each pair can build together in a set amount of time. Finish with a quick word from each pair about what it was like to work together. Did each person have a part in making suggestions? On another day, try having larger groups of 3 or 4 students build something together and see if each person still feels included in the decision-making.
I'm New Here
Author/ Illustrator: Anne
Sibley
Read by “Teacher Tameshia” (about 5 minutes)
This book deals with the important topic of what it is like to be a recent immigrant, arriving in a schoolroom in a new country and not knowing the language, how to read or write in a new alphabet, or how to communicate enough to make friends. Three characters (from Guatemala, South Korea, and Somalia) tell their stories in simple words and text. This is a good book to create empathy for the challenges a new student from a different country might be facing. The author herself has an immigrant story referenced in the author’s note, although not on this video rendition. This book does jump back and forth between the different children’s narratives. It might be helpful to tell the students ahead of time that the books will show what it was like when the students first came, what it was like in the middle, and what it was like at the end.
DISCUSSION/ACTIVITY
How were the new students feeling in this book? What were their challenges? If you met a new student like this, how could you help? If you were a new student in a different country, what help would you want? When have you had the challenge of learning something new yourself? What did it feel like at the beginning? How did it feel at the end when you were successful? Do you have an admiration for others who face a tough challenge and keep working on it until they starting solving it? These new students are taking action. They are learning to belong in a new place. They are showing perseverance.
There are many ways to start anew. Perhaps some of the students have moved and know what it is like to come to a new school. How much harder it could be if you didn’t speak the language of the new place? Set up a situation in which your students will have the experience of trying to figure out what is said or what is written in a different language. The teacher can speak or write a few sentences in a different language, giving clues by acting them out, to see what the children can understand. Ask how many students can speak a little bit of another language. Could they imagine learning more of it? Mention that in many countries children their age go to school in at least 2 languages. If possible, find a guest speaker (perhaps even a student from another class), to talk about what it is like to come to a new country. In particular, if your guest speaker happens to be a student, make sure to structure the situation in a way in which the conversation feels respectful and stays on safe ground. For instance, avoid general questions such as, “Why did you come here?” and stay on more concrete ones such as what were your first days here like? Focus the questions more specifically about adjusting to a new school.
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