When we’re feeling anxious or sad, sometimes we need to pause, escape reality for a moment and give ourselves time to find calm. Isn’t it wonderful just to soar above it all? In these two books, that’s exactly what the characters do, as they ride on the wings of birds and planes through the dazzling landscape of imagination.

When You Need Wings
Oh, that flittery-fluttery feeling inside! It’s the one we all get when we’re nervous. Maybe we’re too excited, or we’re afraid something won’t go well, or we just don’t want to do whatever it is we’re about to do. In When You Need Wings, author-illustrator Lita Judge’s evocative, expressive pencil-and-watercolor art shows a little girl who transforms her anxious energy from distressing to enervating, as the narrator encourages and motivates: “That isn’t your heart. It’s the sound of your very own wings, beating within.”

And so, the little girl who wordlessly resists entering the cacophonous playground at Little Dreamers Preschool takes a moment to focus inward. Ethereal white doves fly her away, and suddenly, she’s in a forest, cavorting with wild animals. The Maurice Sendak-style boogieing scenes are joyous and detailed, providing much to discover on repeat reads, from an alligator’s backward baseball cap to a squirrel’s chunky-knit sweater.

Confidence restored, the girl dashes onto the playground, where a gaggle of new friends welcome her. Attentive readers will notice that each new friend is wearing something reminiscent of the forest animals. Clever! It’s a happy, reassuring ending for a beautifully rendered tribute to the quiet kids whose imaginations help them find real-world tranquility and delight.

Paper Planes
In Jim Helmore and Richard Jones’ Paper Planes, we meet best friends and neighbors Mia and Ben, two kiddos who are really, really into making paper airplanes. They frolic with their dogs (who show adorable and assiduous interest in everything the children do), swing on tires, go sailing and plot to build an airplane that’ll make it all the way across the giant lake behind their houses.

Readers will love the kids’ bobblehead-esque proportions—all the better to showcase Mia’s red beret and Ben’s aviator goggles. Dramatic, chalk-textured sweeps of verdant landscape and fish-filled water beckon readers to contemplate what it would be like if (oh, no!) their best friend were to move far away. When it happens to her, Mia feels abandoned and angry, but then she has a wondrous dream: A flock of geese invite her and Ben to climb in planes and join them as they fly through the sky. When Mia awakens, her emotional storm has passed—and a package from Ben arrives in the mail. Won’t she help him finish the airplane he started?

It’s fun to follow Mia’s determined quest as she realizes that strong connections aren’t easily broken. After all, “not even an ocean could keep them apart.” Paper Planes is a meditative, uplifting tale about imagination, resourcefulness and new beginnings that’s sure to inspire an uptick in paper-airplane making.

Tips for Teachers is a monthly column in which experienced teacher and children’s librarian Emmie Stuart shares book recommendations and a corresponding teaching guide for fellow elementary school teachers.

In my first year of teaching, I taught fourth grade in a school where the students were mostly African American. My students familiar with the names Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln and Ruby Bridges. They connected these names with African American history, but their understanding was fragmented. When one of my students asked, “Was Abraham Lincoln at the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech?” I knew that something needed to be done to clarify—and more importantly, to honor—these figures and the history they represented.

An oversized hallway timeline was the answer. I started in February, and for the next three months, I shared books that recounted the contributions of African Americans to our shared history. After each title, my students and I printed pictures and wrote down facts to add to our timeline. This was the beginning of a tradition.

For the past ten years, when February arrives, I pull out the pieces of the timeline and coordinating books. But now, the row of books is far longer than the timeline. Each year brings new stories. There are stories of hatred and heroism, of injustice and integrity, of bigotry and bravery, of pain and perseverance. The stories in the following three books were new to my students—and new to me as well. Share them knowing that stories can be the most powerful weapon in our fight against injustice and the most effective tool for raising compassionate human beings.

Overground Railroad
written by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by James Ransome

One morning, Ruthie and her Mama and Daddy wake early to board the Silver Meteor, which will take them from North Carolina to New York. Author Lesa Cline-Ransome tells of their journey through simple poems, each describing significant moments of their Great Migration. Though they are “free,” Ruthie’s family continues to face persecution; for example, they are not allowed to eat in the dining car and are ignored by some passengers. Their dream of a life with new freedoms helps them persevere with optimism and hope. The Great Migration is a period often overlooked in African American history curricula, and my students were full of questions sparked by Ruthie’s odyssey.

• Compare & Contrast

Most students are familiar with the Underground Railroad. On a piece of chart paper, write “Underground Railroad,” then create a list of what students know about it. Supplement a few details if needed. After reading Overground Railroad, explain that Overground Railroad is a term that refers to a historical period known as The Great Migration. I told students, “At the end of World War I, many African Americans left their homes in the South and traveled North for a better life in cities, where most of them had better chances of finding work. Ruthie’s family was going to New York. Other families went to big cities in Illinois, Pennsylvania or Michigan.” Read aloud Jacob Lawrence’s The Great Migration: An American Story and Eloise Greenfield’s The Great Migration: Journey to the North. On another sheet of chart paper, write what the students know about the Overground Railroad. Using the class’s information, create a Venn diagram comparing the Underground Railroad to the Overground Railroad.

• Biographies

Ruthie’s teacher gives her the a copy of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. It becomes her companion as she undertakes a journey much like Douglass’. Though they lived many years apart, Douglass and Ruthie both share feelings of hope and trepidation. Like Douglass, Ruthie is “running from and running to at the same time.”

Gather several picture book biographies and place them in a designated spot in your classroom. For the next few days, encourage your students to read several (ideally more than 10). Prompt them to consider which biography resonated with them. Ask, “How is this person’s life like your life? How is this person like you?” Turn this into a larger biography project with the understanding that, as a part of the project, students must connect this person’s life with their own.

A Ride to Remember
written by Sharon Langley and Amy Nathan, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

In this biographical picture book, Sharon Langley recounts the story of her monumental carousel ride. Prior to 1963, children like Shirley and their families were not allowed to enter the local amusement park because of a segregation law. The process of integration was not easy; it included peaceful protests and a series of arrests before the park became open to everyone. The narrative thread, a conversation between Sharon and her mother, makes the Civil Rights Movement accessible for the youngest of readers. By focusing on a small yet universal childhood experience, Sharon’s story will spark empathy as students see the weight and grief of injustice and how segregation affected the daily life of all African Americans.

• Significance of Objects

The Gwynne Oak Amusement Park carousel, renamed the Carousel on the Mall, was installed on Washington’s National Mall in 1981. Using Google Earth, show students the carousel. Ask, “Why is this carousel so important that it is deserves a place along the National Mall?” Guide them to the idea that historical objects are valuable and special because of what they symbolize. The carousel itself is just painted wooden horses, but it serves as a reminder of the our Civil Rights journey. It is a tangible representation of the idea that equality means “nobody first and nobody last, everyone equal, having fun together.” Show students other historical objects that are significant for what they represent. Using the Smithsonian’s online collection, we looked at the Greensboro lunch counter and a broken bus window and discussed what these objects represented in the fight for Civil Rights.

• Local Civil Rights History

A Ride to Remember focuses on an incident in a local community that was a small representation of what was happening on larger scale around the country. Contact your local library and ask if they have any Civil Rights resources that tell stories from your community. If possible, invite a guest speaker to come share their experience of growing up during this time.

• The March on Washington

Sharon’s historical ride occurred on Aug. 28, 1963—the same day that Martin Luther King addressed the crowd at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Give your students more context about this event by watching footage and reading aloud two excellent picture books, Shane W. Evans’ We March and Angela Johnson’s A Sweet Smell of Roses. Both books are told through the eyes of a child. Invite students to use what they have learned to write a first-person narrative imagining what it was like to be part of the march. Encourage them to include the sights, sounds, smells and sensory details of the day.

Big Papa and the Time Machine
written by Daniel Bernstrom, illustrated by Shane W. Evans

When a young grandson expresses first-day-of-school nerves, he becomes a passenger in Big Papa’s vintage car on a journey through the past. Together, the pair visits the places that formed Big Papa and determined the course of his life. Each stop shows Big Papa taking action despite his own nervousness and fear of the unknown that accompanies all significant transitions. Bernstrom writes dialogue between the two that’s honest and full of wisdom. Without veering into didactic or overly saccharine territory, Big Papa shows his grandson that courage is not the absence of fear, but the choice to carry on through it. Both the textual story (the journey through historical events) and the subtextual story (acknowledging and facing our fears) are strong testaments to the courage and sacrifices of older generations and will help students understand that the freedoms and privileges they enjoy today were hard-earned.

• Time Travel

Oh, time travel, that most magical of concepts! Invite older students to plan their own journey though the past. As a class, brainstorm historical events to get ideas flowing, then let students take over with their own ideas. My students’ journeys included everything from “The 1998 National Championship game,” “my mother’s high school graduation,” “the 1960 Olympics, so I can watch Wilma Rudolph” and “my first day of kindergarten.”

Use butcher paper to create a long timeline. Let students work together to determine the earliest year of their journeys and then to decide how to mark the other years. After the timeline structure is in place, let each student add their journey stops to the timeline.

• Bravery Interviews

Big Papa acknowledges his fear and nerves at each new situation, but he explains, “ . . . sometimes you have to jump in an ocean of scared.” Later, Big Papa tells his grandson that being scared never goes away.

When I was in elementary school, I thought adults were never afraid. After I read this book to my students, I shared a few understandable instances in my life when I felt nervous and scared. Like Big Papa, persevering through these fears resulted in growth and joy. Ask students to interview parents, grandparents or other adults in the school. As a class, create some questions so that students will have purpose and clarity in their interviews. Realizing that everyone has fears and uncertainty can be a liberating concept for children. This exercise gives them assurance that their personal fears are not unusual or wrong.

Tips for Teachers is a monthly column in which experienced teacher and children’s librarian Emmie Stuart shares book recommendations and a corresponding teaching guide for fellow elementary school teachers.

In the spring of my junior year of high school, I was assigned The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. But staying true to form, I went rogue. My wayward book of choice was Anna Quindlen’s How Reading Changed My Life, a slim book I discovered nestled on my mom’s bookshelf. And change my life it did. In her personal love letter to reading, Quindlen writes:

“In books I have traveled, not only to other worlds, but into my own. I learned who I was and who I wanted to be, what I might aspire to, and what I might dare to dream about my world and myself. More powerfully and persuasively than from the ‘shall nots’ of the Ten Commandments, I learned the difference between good and evil, right and wrong.”

I have never posted rules in my library. I have never delivered an anti-bullying lecture. I have never given a child a “you can be anything you want to be” pep talk. But I believe deeply in library behavior, compassion for all and student empowerment. So how do I address these issues with my students? Through bibliotherapy.

Bibliotherapy uses books to create an entry point into the social and emotional lives of students. Any teacher will tell you that SEL (social emotional learning) is a hot topic in the education world—as it should be. Children often have trouble naming and expressing their emotions. Sometimes they express their feelings in ways that violate the peace of the library and of other students.

Books offer children places to see feelings validated through characters and story. Stories help children encounter issues from an objective viewpoint before gently guiding them to personal application, sparking self-awareness and empathy. For teachers, books can be nonthreatening points of entry, doorways into sensitive discussions. When unkindness or deliberate exclusion occur among our students, we can stand and lecture like Charlie Brown’s teacher, or we can gather the children around us on the rug with Eleanor Estes’ The Hundred Dresses: “Today, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in her seat. But nobody, not even Peggy and Madeline, the girls who started all the fun, noticed her absence.”

In the spirit of Quindlen’s description, the following books invite students to travel through words and pictures into the worlds of others, as well to the worlds of their own minds and hearts. These books help them discover who they were, who they are and who they aspire to be, whether in the next hour or in their dreams. They serve as validation, affirmation and excellent launching points for classroom discussions.

Paolo, Emperor of Rome
written by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Claire Keane

Paolo the dachshund lives in Rome, the Eternal City filled with “fountains, food, and music.” It is, “above all, a place of freedom”—but for Paolo, Rome is not a place of freedom. He is confined to Signora Pianostrada’s hair salon, where he sits with his nose pressed against the window and longs for a chance to explore the city. One morning, someone leaves the salon door ajar, and Paolo escapes into the beauty and chaos of Rome. He scampers around the city, visiting cafes and cathedrals, temples and statues. When challenges (city cats, alley dogs and falling nuns, among others) arise, Paolo confronts them with a tenacious spirit and heroic energy. With a lovable pup at its heart, this cinematic tale heralds bold self-assurance and valor.

• Self-perceptive art

Signora Pianostrada calls him “Lazy Paolo,” but Paolo’s heart and self-perception is the opposite. In his dreams, he zooms around on a scooter and balances trays of Italian food on the tip of his nose. (Be sure to show children this illustration.) Discuss how our self-perceptions (try using the word “view”) are sometimes different and much more important than how others perceive us.

Ask the following questions: “Can you think of a time when someone called you something that hurt your feelings because it wasn’t true? Maybe they called you lazy, mean, shy, dumb or too rowdy? Do you see yourself this way, or do you see yourself differently?” Tell students that they are going to be like Paolo and draw versions of “their best self.” Before having this discussion with a first grade class, I drew a picture of myself as a first grader. I was holding a book and looking down at the floor, but in my dreams, I was building my own backyard flower shop and running track like Wilma Rudolph.

• Peaceful hearts

When he watches the sunrise wash the city in a pink light, Paolo’s heart is “at peace.” Walk your students through a peaceful heart mindfulness activity. Before beginning the exercise, invite students to articulate why they think Paolo’s heart is at peace. I made a script to use with my students. You can find it here.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our starred review of Paolo, Emperor of Rome.

An Ordinary Day
written by Elana K. Arnold, illustrated by Elizabet Vukovic

At first glance, it seems to be another ordinary day in the neighborhood. Mrs. LaFleur waters her roses, Kai and Joseph hunt for reptiles, and Magnificent the Crow caws in disapproval. Amid the morning neighborhood bustle, two houses sit “unusually quiet.” A car pulls up in front of each house, and two stethoscope-wearing visitors emerge. A female doctor quietly knocks on the door of one house, and a male veterinarian quietly knocks on the other. Two stories unfold simultaneously. What is an ordinary day for most of the neighborhood becomes an extraordinary day for these two families.

In one house, the doctor helps a mother as she brings new life into the world. In the other house, the veterinarian oversees the death of the family’s pet dog. When the “final breath was exhaled” and the “first breath was inhaled,” each is surrounded by family and love. Spare and sensitive, An Ordinary Day gently addresses the fragility of life, the nature of love and the power of small moments.

• “I spy” awareness activity

Without fail, when I pull out blocks or building logs and let students have free building time, an unfortunate event inevitably follows: One student always accidentally knocks over another student’s creation. I always wonder, how did they not see that tower in the middle of the floor? Many children have trouble noticing their environment. Use an awareness game to help students practice social and spacial awareness.

An Ordinary Day begins with small, ordinary neighborly activities. Ask children, “What are some of the things on your street, in your home or in our classroom that happen every day?” List student responses on the board. Invite children to wonder with you. “I wonder if we are forgetting things because they are so ordinary that we don’t even notice them.”

Take students to the playground or another school room or hallway. Tell them that it is their job to “spy” the details that are happening around them. When you return to the classroom, help students connect their observations with an appropriate behavior. For example, “I spy a long line by the slide. Maybe I should go to the fort first.” If you observed a hallway, you might say, “The first graders’ artwork is hanging on the wall, so I’m not going to lean against this wall.”

• Bibliotherapy

The birth of a sibling and the death of a beloved family pet are enormous and impactful events in the life of a young child. The classroom can be a safe place for them to discuss the big feelings that accompany these changes. Hearing friends share similar feelings can be comforting. Encountering these experiences and feelings in the context of a book can be equally comforting.

If possible, purchase or check out books that deal with new siblings, the death of a pet and other common changes. Keep them in a special basket and encourage children to read them whenever they are sad, confused or frustrated because of changes in their lives. Some of my favorite titles include Judith Viorst’s The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, Corinne Demas’ Saying Goodbye to Lulu, Bill Cochran’s The Forever Dog, Susan Eaddy’s Poppy’s Best Babies, Kevin Henkes’ Julius, the Baby of the World and Russell Hoban’s A Baby Sister for Frances.

Are Your Stars Like My Stars?
written by Leslie Helakoski, illustrated by Heidi Woodward Sheffield

This lyrical concept book invites children to consider how families around the world experience color. Each double-page spread showcases a color through a sensory-filled stanza that concludes with a refrain in the form of a question. A family picking apples begins the red exploration: “When you stroll in an orchard, / do sweet smells fill your head? / Is the fruit bold and flashy? / Is your red . . . ” The page turn reveals a family surrounded by red Chinese New Year lanterns and finishes the refrain, “ . . . like my red?” Without resorting to didactic or heavy-handed prose, the book invokes curiosity, empathy and global unity. To quote one of my kindergarteners, “The world is big. Huge. I mean, it’s the whole universe! But we all see colors, so it’s actually really small.”

• Color association

Gather oversized sheets of colored paper. Have students sit on the floor with clipboards or at their desks. Stand or sit in front of your students and tell them, “Close your eyes. When I say open them, I want you to look at me. In my hand will be a piece of colored paper. Write down one or two images that come to mind when you see the color that I am holding. For example, when I first saw this dark green paper, I thought of my ivy plant and the couch that was in my family’s den for years.” After the exercise, invite children to share their associations. Remind them that this is not a time to think of the funniest thing to share, but rather a time to understand how colors represent different things for all of us.

• Culture study artwork

Provide children with photo atlases and books with vibrant and clear photographs of children and places around the world. National Geographic Kids has a great collection of online videos, as well. Let students choose a country and create a piece of artwork based on a color association that represents the country. For example, for a child living in England, red might mean the color of double-decker buses, while for a child living in India, blue might be the color of a peacock. Incorporate social emotional learning concepts by discusing how daily life is different for children around the world. Use the discussion to introduce the understanding that, although these differences can seem big, the similarities in our lives are even bigger. For further reading, I recommend Jenny Sue Kostecki Shaw’s Same, Same but Different and Norah Dooley’s Everybody Cooks Rice.

When there’s thunder and lightning, people and wild creatures alike head for safe places to stay dry and ride out dangerous weather. Two beautiful and reassuring new picture books relate stories of characters who shelter together during summer thunderstorms. 

Together We Grow is the debut picture book from Susan Vaught, neuropsychologist by day and author by night, who has something to say about inclusion in this tale of barn creatures facing a harsh nighttime storm. In spare, eloquent rhyming couplets—“Lightning gash! Windy lash!”—the book opens as fierce weather drives a frightened fox and its cubs to a barn full of animals. After the animals tell the fox to scram (“Go away! We’re full today!”), a small, unassuming duck heads outside to assist the fox family and convince the other animals to allow some space in the barn—and in their hearts. 

Illustrator Kelly Murphy employs a color palette of deep, rich blues that juxtapose marvelously against the vivid oranges and yellows of the foxes, the duck and the warm light of the barn’s interior. Several spreads, including those toward the end of the book when the storm has passed, are lush and cinematic, and Murphy wields light and shadow to dramatic effect. The two-page spread in which the duck calls to the fox and its family to invite them inside is particularly striking; the duck stands in front of a block of yellow interior barn light, which accentuates the hope and promise embedded in an otherwise foreboding scene. Unusual perspectives and angles, many of them aerial, make for visually dynamic moments. 

Vaught’s depiction of furry farm life leans toward anthropomorphism, avoiding the messy biology of the food chain as it delivers a poignant message about embracing those who are different and caring for neighbors during difficult circumstances: “Learn and show / together we grow.” 

When the Storm Comes also unfolds in rhyming couplets, but author Linda Ashman adds a call-and-response structure: “Where do you go when the sky turns gray— / When the grasses bend and the treetops sway? / We gather here below the eaves. / We roost beneath some sturdy leaves.” Ashman’s use of the first-person collective “we” suggests that we’re all in this together. Like Vaught, Ashman considers how various creatures, including humans, respond to dangerous weather. Some of these creatures—a house cat, a pet dog—dwell indoors, while others, such as a hive of bees and a family of rabbits nestled in a hollow log, make their homes outside. Ashman’s narrative continues into the storm’s aftermath, depicting both cleanup efforts and a communal celebration of sunny skies. 

Illustrator Taeeun Yoo sets When the Storm Comes in a coastal town; among the humans’ preparation efforts, boats must be latched and tied in this neck of the woods. The comforting curves of Yoo’s linework give way to harder lines of flashing lightning and driving rains as the tempest arrives. Though storms are scary, there’s a cozy feeling when all the humans, along with the pet dog, gather inside to play a game, share stories and “curl up tight.” Once the storm has passed, Yoo returns to her signature soft and warm illustrations in this satisfying story of community.

These two books offer children an empathetic look at what it’s like for animals who fear storms just like we humans do. Readers will be comforted to see communities come together to stay safe during wild weather.

Tips for Teachers is a monthly column in which experienced teacher and children’s librarian Emmie Stuart shares book recommendations and a corresponding teaching guide for fellow elementary school teachers.

I’ve been meeting with my students virtually for about eight weeks. Last week, I asked them to share what they miss most about school. Most of them answered without hesitation: They miss their friends.

Childhood friendships are some of the most formative, intense and enriching friendships we’ll ever have. My best friend from kindergarten came to town this weekend. Spending time with her renewed my weary spirit and reminded me that there is life beyond face masks and virtual happy hours. As Alexander McCall Smith writes in The Ladies’ No. 1 Detective Agency, “You can go through life and make new friends every year—every month practically—but there was never any substitute for those friendships of childhood.”

The following two books demonstrate the tenderness and joy of childhood friendships.

My Best Friend
By Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki

A little girl meets a new friend at a park. Her new friend “laughs at everything” and is “so smart.” The two girls learn more about each other as they twirl, create, pretend and explore the park together. Their adventures and commonalities lead the narrator to the conclusion that “she is my best friend / i think.” Only at the story’s end does author Julie Fogliano reveal that the girls have yet to know each other’s names.

Making predictions before reading
Students who are asked to make predictions before they read will form connections between their own personal knowledge and what they discover in a book. This is a great strategy for keeping readers actively engaged.

Before reading, hold up the cover of My Best Friend and ask, “What do you predict will happen to the two girls you see here? Why do you think the illustrator used only two shades of colors? Do you have a best friend? What makes a best friend? How do we make new friends?”

The whole book approach
Educator and children’s literature scholar Megan Dowd Lambert created the whole book approach as a way to invite children to engage with all the parts of a picture book—not just the story but also the illustrations and production and design elements—in order to support both visual and verbal literacy. My Best Friend provides ample opportunities to try this approach with young readers. Here are some elements you can discuss.

Typography
Text placement throughout the book varies; there are only a few capital letters (the words “LOVES” and “HATES” are written in all caps), and the only punctuation is a period after the book’s final phrase. Show students the page with “skeleton hand” leaves; the word “Boo” is capitalized and set in a larger size that spans across the page. Ask, “How does the size and shape of this word show us how to read it?” A few cursive letters illustrate the narrator’s “fanciest” handwriting. Ask students whether they think these letters are part of the book’s text or its illustrations.

Color
My Best Friend employs a limited color palette dominated by warm, rosy peaches and deep forest greens. Ask students why they think illustrator Jillian Tamaki chose these colors.

Lines and white space
The illustrations’ ample white space and the book’s white background keep visual focus on the book’s vignettes and full-spread images. Several of the vignettes run off the edge of the page. The illustrations contain many fine lines that add texture and movement, and the girls’ adventures are dominated by curves and swirling lines. Prompt students to speculate about what kinds of artistic materials illustrator Jillian Tamaki used to create the images. What is the effect of her choice to “cut off” some of the images on the edge of the page?

Production elements
Underneath the dust jacket, the book’s case cover features a wraparound illustration of the girls playing hide-and-seek. Ask students to reflect on this image before and after reading the book. The book’s front and back endpapers are a warm chestnut shade of brown, while its back jacket is forest green. Ask students to speculate about why these two colors were chosen. The book has a strong portrait orientation. Discuss why this shape was the best choice for the book.

Cross-curricular activities
With a little creative thinking, it’s easy to create activities that incorporate picture books into many parts of the curriculum. Here are a few ideas for activities to extend learning after reading My Best Friend.

Personal reflection
Discuss what activities students like to do with friends. What is something about ourselves that our good friends understand? Invite younger students to respond to these prompts and the discussion through drawings or other visual art. Invite older students to respond through journaling.

Nature art
The two girls in My Best Friend make skeleton hands out of leaves. Take students outside and give them time to create something from items they find. Divide them into small groups to share their creations.

Similarities and opposites
The narrator of My Best Friend hates strawberry ice cream, but her new best friend loves it. Divide students into pairs and let them interview each other. Each pair must determine one way in which they are alike and one way in which they are different. Gather students back together and prompt them to share what they learned about one another.

Creative movement
The narrator makes her new friend laugh by pretending to be a pickle. Divide students into pairs. Ask one partner to name a noun; their partner must act out the word.

How to Be a Pirate
By Isaac Fitzgerald, illustrated by Brigette Barrager

When her aspirations are squashed by neighborhood boys who tell her she can’t be a pirate, CeCe visits her grandfather. She asks him, “What’s it like to be a pirate?” Using his tattoos as inspiration, Grandpa tells CeCe that pirates are brave, quick, fun and independent—but the most important thing a pirate needs is love. Her spirit renewed, CeCe returns to the boys with an emboldened and tenacious spirit. How to Be a Pirate wonderfully explores themes of intergenerational friendship, self-confidence and imaginative play.

Dialogic read aloud
Read How to Be a Pirate once straight through without stopping. Then read it again and pause to ask the following questions and to discuss students’ responses.

• How do you think CeCe feels on the title page of the book? What makes you say that?
• Before CeCe goes inside Grandpa’s house, what do the illustrations tell us about Grandpa?
• Once the illustrations show us Grandpa’s living room, what clues can you find to tell you even more about him?
• Why does CeCe believe that Grandpa can teach her how to be a pirate?
• Are CeCe and Grandpa really on a ship or in a jungle? What evidence can you find in the illustrations?
• Do you notice anything about the dog?
• Grandpa says pirates must be independent. Do you agree? Why or why not?
• How does Grandpa show CeCe that he loves her?
• What other traits can you think of that would help CeCe face the boys and be a pirate?

Writing letters
Ask students to think about different types of friends. For many students, conceptualizing a grandparent, a beloved pet or a cousin as a “friend” will be a novel idea, so ask students to think about a friend who is not in their classroom or in their grade level. Give them time to make a list of the ways this friend enriches their life, then guide students in transforming their lists into letters to their friends. Be sure to provide logistical instructions on how to fold, address and mail the letter.

Future homes
Readers learn so much about Grandpa through Brigette Barrager’s illustrations of his home. Ask students about their goals for when they are older. Provide pieces of oversized drawing paper and drawing supplies and challenge them to draw a house that reflects their future aspirations. For example, a librarian’s house might have lots of bookshelves and a Little Free Library in the front yard. An artist’s or musician’s home might have a studio. Encourage them to add details to their houses’ interiors and exteriors.

Gender stereotypes
Children receive messages about gender norms from birth. Invite students to categorize imaginative play activities as “for girls” or “for boys.” Let their responses guide you toward questions that give them space to consider why they consider activities to be divided between these categories. Provide time for them to share moments when they were excluded from playing with others or stereotyped because of their gender.