Diversifying Your Read Aloud Collection: Self-Regulation and Self-Awareness
At the beginning of the school year, I started sharing with you the picture books that I found to add to my classroom in order to ensure that my collection of read alouds was representative of a diverse group of characters and authors. This post is the last of four where I share picture books that will help to make your read aloud selections more diverse. In this post, I focus on books that touch on the themes of Responsibility, Managing Emotions, Happiness, and Integrity. If you missed my first three posts where I shared read alouds that are great for teaching about building community and empathy, relationship skills, and managing motivation and goals, click here.
A NOTE ABOUT DIVERSITY IN BOOK COLLECTIONS
In my quest to maintain an inclusive collection of picture books, I relied heavily on research from The Conscious Kid, “an education, research, and policy organization dedicated to equity and promoting healthy racial identity development in youth.” The Conscious Kid has created “a curated list of teacher-facing materials and evaluation criteria to affirm and reflect students’ identities and to help facilitate important conversations about equity, racism, and belonging.”
The Conscious Kid has 14 helpful guidelines and questions to consider when selecting inclusive books. I found the guidelines to be extremely helpful and enlightening. I recommend checking out the entire 9 page document, but I thought I’d highlight some of the guidelines to note in reference to themes like growth mindset, perseverance, intrinsic motivation, goal setting, and courage:
Watch for Invisibility: Having an absence or minimal portrayal of different groups teaches young people about their perceived worth by showing whose stories and lives are worthy of being celebrated (Many of the books in this list do this!)
Support Counter Stories: Include texts that oppose deficit narratives of people of color and that instead center the knowledge and experiences of marginalized groups
Beware of tokenism in books: Avoid books that only show “one” person of a given group
Foster healthy racial identity: Counter whiteness as the norm or definition of success; avoid books where characters only succeed when conforming to white values or norms
Choose social justice books: Push back against embedded biases and reinforced values of sexism, racism, or ableism
Consider the author’s background: Choose books written by authors who are members of the community they write about (These have been noted in the list)
Seek out specificity: Avoid books that generalize experiences of race, culture, or ethnicity and instead select books that provide specific and nuanced experiences (Many of the books in this recommended list CENTER a person of a marginalized race, culture, or ethnicity and give us SPECIFIC insight into their experiences).
Note: Links to the suggested read alouds in this post are affiliate links. This means that I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Read my full disclosure here.
RESPONSIBILITY PICTURE BOOKS
But It’s Not My Fault by Julia Cook (BIPOC)
Noodle struggles to take responsibility for his actions. He is constantly making excuses and blaming everyone else around him for things like not finishing his homework or forgetting his library book. In this book, readers learn the importance of accepting responsibility, how to use mistakes as opportunities to solve problems, and how to turn negative situations into positive ones.
MANAGING EMOTIONS PICTURE BOOKS
Why is Jane so Mad? by Jeffrey Cheatham II* (BIPOC)
Two friends, Jane and Chad, are at the park when Chad notices Jane is mad about something. Chad tries everything he can think of to make her feel better but nothing works. This book is simple, yet provides a great jumping off point for upper elementary students to discuss what happens when we can’t shake an emotion as well as how to best support friends when they are emotionally unavailable to us.
The Boy with the Big, Big Feelings by Britney Winn Lee* (POC)
This book is about a young boy who has “extra big” feelings. When he feels an emotion he experiences it in an extreme way. The boy tries to hide his extreme emotions for fear of being made fun of, but this makes him feel more alone than ever. One day the boy meets a girl who shares that she too has “extra big” feelings. This story is great for discussing the range in which people feel emotions, the importance of not hiding one’s emotions, and being accepting of others.
Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts (BIPOC)
Jeremy desperately wants a pair of shoes like the ones that many of his peers at school are wearing. However, his grandma only has enough money to buy Jeremy a new pair of boots for winter, something he really needs but doesn’t want. Even though the money isn’t there to buy the popular shoes, Jeremy can’t get them off his mind. One day Jeremy finds the shoes he wants at a thrift store, but they are too small. He buys them anyway and is faced with a conflict between altruism and selfishness when he discovers that another classmate desperately needs shoes and the thrift store pair are exactly his size. This read aloud is an excellent catalyst for discussions about jealousy, compassion for others, and being true to oneself.
My Mei Mei by Ed Young* (POC)
All Antonia can think about is how much she wants a Mei Mei, a little sister. However, when she flies all the way to China with her mother to adopt her new sister she is surprised to learn that her sister is very different from what she had pictured. She can’t walk, talk, play, and she cries a lot. My Mei Mei is a great read aloud for portraying the conflicted feelings we experience when change is introduced into our lives.
Ruby’s Worry by Tom Percival (BIPOC)
Ruby is a typical little girl who enjoys exploring outside. One day she discovers a small worry and it begins to follow her. At first, it’s no big deal, but it soon begins to grow rapidly and take over all of Ruby’s thoughts. Ruby’s Worry is an excellent metaphor for students when discussing how to handle emotions and the natural consequences involved when we try to ignore them instead of deal with them head on.
The First Strawberries by Joseph Bruchac* (POC)
The First Strawberries is a re-telling of a Cherokee legend explaining how strawberries came to be. The story takes place when man and woman were first created to live together. One day the man and woman get into a disagreement and the woman angrily leaves with no intention of returning. As the man follows his wife to seek forgiveness, the sun tries to help slow down the woman’s pace by placing various ripened fruits in her path to try to distract her. This book is a simple, yet captivating story that has themes of forgiveness and anger management strategies weaved throughout.
HAPPINESS-THEMED PICTURE BOOKS
The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds (BIPOC)
Jerome loves words. They make him so happy that he begins to collect them and sort them into books as he hears or reads them. He discovers that words have power in their syllables, rhythm, and meaning and decides to share the power of words with others. Not only is The Word Collector an excellent example of happiness and the beauty of sharing one’s happiness with others, but students will be introduced to a plethora of wonderful vocabulary words along the way.
Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth* (BIPOC)
This story is about a young black girl who sees only ugliness around her in the neighborhood. When her mother says that “everyone should have something beautiful in their life”, the girl decides to look for her “something beautiful” in her neighborhood. She visits several of her neighbors on her quest and they share what is beautiful to them. The girl decides to take matters into her own hands and make her own “something beautiful”. This book touches on themes of gratitude, happiness, and the power of hope.
INTEGRITY-THEMED PICTURE BOOKS
A Bike Like Sergio’s by Maribeth Boelts (BIPOC)
Ruben sees a woman at the grocery store drop what he thinks is a dollar bill and picks it up to keep it. When he gets home he realizes that it is actually a one hundred dollar bill. Ruben spends the next two days conflicted between doing the right thing and doing what he wants, buying a new bike so that he can be like all of his friends. This book portrays the gamut of emotions one experiences when faced with an ethical dilemma and would be a great catalyst to classroom discussions about integrity.
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe* (BIPOC)
This African tale is about two beautiful sisters, who have starkly different personalities. One day the King summons for the daughters to appear before him so he can choose his queen. Along the path there are multiple obstacles that reveal one’s true character. The theme of altruism versus selfishness is woven throughout the story and makes a great read aloud for quality classroom discussion about integrity.
A Hen for Izzy Pippik by Aubrey Davis* (POC)
When Shaina discovers a hen, a sign, and a broken crate in her yard she concludes that the hen has fallen off the truck of a farmer named Izzy Pippik. Shaina decides the right thing to do is to care for the hen until Mr. Pippik returns for it. However, others in the town disagree. Money and resources are tight and others see the hen as a potential food source. Nevertheless, Shaina stands her ground and deems the hen and its offspring off limits. Students will be thoroughly engaged as tensions between Shaina and the townspeople grow along with the flock of chickens. This is a beautiful story about doing the right thing, even in the face of hardship.
The Empty Pot by Demi (POC)
Ping is a Chinese boy who has a green thumb and can make anything grow. One day the Emperor distributes one seed to each child in the land and announces that whoever can grow the biggest, most beautiful flower will become the Emperor’s successor. Ping is sure he will become Emperor and is crushed when nothing grows compared to all the other children that have grown huge, beautiful flowers. But to everyone’s surprise, the Emperor tricked everyone and gave out seeds that were unable to grow. Ping, with his empty pot, was the only honest person, and therefore deemed the winner. This story is a classic tale teaching that honesty always comes out on top.
WHERE TO FIND MORE SUGGESTIONS TO ADD DIVERSITY TO YOUR BOOK COLLECTIONS
I am very appreciative of the following teachers and websites who do the hard work of sharing represent diversity and inclusivity in their picture book recommendations.
Jillian Fine-Heiss’s #classroombookaday Facebook Group
We Need Diverse Books on Instagram
The Conscious Kid on Instagram and Facebook
Click here for all of my blog posts for recommended read alouds
Regardless of whether you find yourself teaching in-person or virtually, this year has looked and felt very different from all others. I hope these suggested read alouds give you some new ideas and new energy that will help you to continue to build and grow your classroom community.
This free theme unit is packed with lesson ideas, student journal pages, discussion prompts, self-reflections, bulletin board materials, and more! YES! Everything you see below for the belonging theme is FREE!
If you need resources for virtual morning meetings or remote learning, I’ve got you covered with Google Slides versions of each theme set. Grab your FREE slides for belonging here.
Reading aloud picture books is one of the key strategies I use to engage students in discussions during morning meetings. I connect my morning meetings through theme-based units where I’m able to teach social emotional skills, character education, and strengthen the classroom community.
THEMES TO GUIDE YOUR MORNING MEETINGS ALL YEAR
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