In Halfway to Perfect, Dyamonde’s best friend Damaris starts losing weight when girls in their 3rd grade class make fun of her for being fat. When another classmate faints on the playground because of her diabetes, the kids ostracize her. In this, Nikki Grime’s 4th book in the award-winning Dyamonde Daniel chapter book series, she… Read more »
September 2012
Flying the Dragon by Natalie Dias Lorenzi
Debut novelist Natalie Dias Lorenzi crafts a beautiful multi-layered story told in the alternating points of view of fifth graders, Skye and Hiroshi. The two are cousins who’ve never met until Hiroshi’s family leaves Japan so Grandfather can receive a new innovative cancer treatment in the United States, where Skye’s family lives. Thrust together by… Read more »
The Thing About “Different”
For Teachers BULLYING HURTS:Teaching Kindness Through Read-Alouds and Guided Conversations by Lester L. Laminack and Reba M. Wadsworth (Heinemann, 2012) I’m starting today’s post with a book I’ve not actually read yet. It’s newly published and I only just received the flyer in the mail. But in my years of teaching, I’ve always found Heinemann… Read more »
Ostrich and Lark by Marilyn Nelson
Some books are extraordinary, even haunting. OSTRICH AND LARK is one of these books. This picture book by Marilyn Nelson with illustrations by the San artists of Botswana is unforgettable. The story of Ostrich and Lark is a variation of the universal story of finding one’s own voice regardless of the physical limitations and physical… Read more »
Bluish by Virginia Hamilton
ZEELY was the first book of Virginia Hamilton’s, published in 1967. BLUISH was her twentieth, published just two years before her untimely death in 2002. Each book has its own strong and unique voice, a strong and unique theme. But each book, each story, successfully reflects Virginia’s goal: “she saw her work as helping to… Read more »
Resources that Support Inclusion
Photo by Cohdra Upon reading Palacio‘s WONDER, the reader is struck by how ‘normal’ protagonist Auggie is in almost every way. He’s a regular kid who likes regular things like eating ice cream and playing X-Box. Despite his lifetime of countless painful surgeries, the kid has a great sense of humor and a fairly positive… Read more »
Wonder – The Book Trailer
This one line sums up the book’s entire premise. You can’t exactly blend in when you’re born to stand out. ~ Auggie Find a ReaderKidZ review of Wonder HERE.
