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 will never forget the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. Two solid weeks of laptop distribution, intense virtual training, online courses construction and constant communication with school families and co-workers had my mind spinning. Like most teachers, I thrive on routine and love starting each school year with at least two or three months of lesson plans. This school year has forced me to loosen my tight grip and perfectionist tendencies. My district started the year teaching remotely, but students might return to the school building after the Labor Day holiday, or we could shift to a hybrid model. And, yes, there are about a dozen other possible scenarios!

Navigating the new and submitting to the unknown can be hard for teachers. Yesterday, three of my teacher friends came, individually, to the library, laptop in hand and tears in their eyes. I offered them chocolate and a place to express their frustrations and then reminded them that their frustrations and tears are caused by the grief of being separated from their students and not knowing how to best teach, guide and love them over the next few months. Teachers all around the world are working hard to overcome to 2020’s challenges and to master its new learning landscape, in which almost nothing goes as expected.

For the week ahead, I have a full schedule of synchronous classes, where I will be in the digital classroom at the same time as my students. Naturally, I have everything ready, planned and prepared. But I know that the next five days will bring an assortment of frustrations as my students and I attempt to connect with each other and build community through our screens. I’ve stuck a Post-it note with the word “grace” next to the keyboard on my laptop. It reminds me that I need to have grace for computer failures and slow Wi-Fi, grace for students who can’t (or won’t) mute their microphone or who constantly change screen backgrounds, grace for parents who email me multiple times a day, grace for applications that freeze in the middle of a lesson and grace for myself as I learn how to teach through a computer.

During the first month of teaching, I will focus on forming connections, building community and embracing change—ideas that are everywhere in the books in this column. Below, I’ve provided suggestions for how to use these books as foundations in virtual learning settings. But the most important virtual learning suggestion I can offer? Teach from a place of grace. Godspeed, teachers!

Playing Possum
by Jennifer Black Reinhardt

Alfred, a lonely possum, has trouble making friends because his “nervous nature” causes him to “freeze and play dead.” One day while browsing an outdoor bookstore, he notices Sophia, an armadillo with a similar problem. When they initially encounter each other, Alfred plays dead and Sophie roles up into her shell. After they unfreeze and unfurl, Alfred and Sophia bond over their anxious natures and reach out to other woodland creatures with similar defense mechanisms. An empowering story of empathy, Playing Possum will resonate with and reassure shy students and offer insight for more outgoing spirits.

• Emotion scenarios

Email emotion cards to families. (You can find a variety of versions for free online; choose the ones that work will best for your students.) Ask students to print and cut out their cards before the next class meeting.

At the next meeting, tell students to lay out their cards in front of them. Share emotional scenarios with students and invite them to hold up the card that best describes how they would feel in the situation. Discuss how everyone reacts to situations differently and how the same scenario can cause two people to have different emotions.

• Animal adaptations

Prompt students to discuss whether Playing Possum is a fictional story or an informational text. After they identify it as fiction, ask students if there are parts of the story that can be informational. Use this discussion to launch into learning about animal adaptations and self-defense behaviors and to read informational books on the subject. I recommend Showdown: Animal Defenses by Jennifer Kroll and Animal Defenses: How Animals Protect Themselves by Etta Kaner.

• Mindfulness routine

Ask students how humans can “play dead” or “curl up” like Alfred and Sophia. Share strategies we can practice when we feel nervous or scared, then lead them through a mindful breathing exercise. Begin and end your next few virtual class meetings with a mindful breathing routine.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Get ready to return to the classroom with four picture books that capture the excitement, trepidation and curiosity of the first day of school!

Southwest Sunrise
by Nikki Grimes,
illustrated by Wendell Minor

Jayden is not happy about his family’s move from New York City to rural New Mexico. With his baseball hat pulled over his eyes, he pouts for the entire plane ride. He falls asleep under a picture of Lady Liberty, convinced there is nothing great about New Mexico. When he wakes up the next morning, he is surprised by the beautiful mountain outside his bedroom window. Guidebook in hand, he ventures out for a walk and his preconceived notions about the his new home begin to change as he discovers colorful flowers, towering rock structures and desert creatures. Lyrical language and sweeping illustrations will capture children’s attention in this story of how unexpected change can be surprising and beautiful. Southwest Sunrise will help students cultivate wonder and an appreciation for new circumstances.

• Reframe our perspective

Jayden did not want to leave New York City and move to New Mexico. Ask students if Jayden’s emotions reflect how they feel about virtual learning, cancelled plans or separation from their friends and teachers. Let each student share something that makes them sad, frustrated or disappointed. Using Google Slides, Padlet or another online learning space, record students’ disappointments. Share your screen so that your students can see one another’s responses.

Revisit Southwest Sunrise and Jayden’s experience with his new home. Ask whether Jayden’s new environment was as terrible as he had anticipated it would be on his plane ride. Invite students to shift their perspective on remote learning by sharing positives about this new way of learning. Record these responses and share your screen with the class.

• Google Earth explorations

Google Earth can be a fantastic virtual learning resource. While sharing your screen, show students some well-known streets in New York City, such as Broadway, Fifth Avenue and Canal Street. Then “fly” to the New Mexico desert and let students help you hunt for some of the wildlife that Jayden discovered on his nature hike.

• Otherworldy visitors

Ask students to consider your region of the country. What are some features that make it unique? Remind them to consider climate, geographical features and wildlife. Give students this writing prompt:

You are an alien from another planet, and you have just landed in [your hometown]. You stay here for two months. Write a letter to your friends back home describing your vacation in [your hometown]. Be sure your letter includes the unique features of our region.

Invite students to type their letters on a shared class document. Encourage them to include photographs to support their writing.

Our Favorite Day of the Year
by A.E. Ali,
illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell

On his first day of kindergarten, Musa is skeptical when his teacher says, “Look around the room. You don’t know them now, but these faces will become your closest friends this year.” He guesses that Moises, Mo and Kevin, the other students at his table, are also doubtful about this proclamation. For show-and-tell, each student is asked to share their favorite day of the year so that the class can celebrate it with them. The children become close as they learn about favorite days including Eid al-Fitr, Rosh Hashanah, Los Posadas and Pi Day. Brimming with energy and cheer, Our Favorite Day of the Year is a classroom story celebrates diversity, acceptance and friendship.

• Favorite day bags

Ask students to think about their favorite day of the year. It can be an official holiday, but it can also be an informal day like the first day of school, the birthday of a personal hero or a specific observance such as National Pancake Day.

Have students to fill a brown paper lunch bag with items that explain or represent their favorite day. For the next few class meetings, allow students to virtually share their favorite day bags and explain why this day is special for them and their family. Encourage students to add music or movement to their presentations.

• Celebration days

Students (and their teachers) love daily class routines. Make every day a holiday by starting each class meeting with a slide that explains the significance of the day. Like the favorite day bags, each day doesn’t need to be an official holiday. Include the birthdays of significant historical figures, international cultural celebrations and quirky observations. It’s a festive way of marking each day and exposing students to a wide variety of new information.

Ordinary city life becomes extraordinary when seen through the eyes of talented author-illustrators Chris Raschka and Christy Hale.

Two-time Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka’s In the City celebrates the joys of newfound friendship. Two girls, one Black and one white, make their way separately through a city while pigeons circle overhead. “Could a friend be waiting for me?” they each wonder.

As the girls walk, pigeons soar above and settle down to roost on a statue in a park. The girls sit on the same park bench and watch the birds. “Now we see them one for one,” the text says, highlighting differences among the birds, including gleaming rainbows of colored feathers. A turn of the page finds the girls facing each other, reaching out to hold hands as the flock takes flight around them. Raschka asks, “How do two friends find each other?”

Raschka’s watercolor city teems with color and movement. Reddish buildings give way to park trees in myriad shades of green. He unites the girls and the birds through a similar shade of blue, seen on one girl’s glasses, the other girl’s hair scrunchie and the pigeons’ neck feathers. Raschka’s plain-spoken prose forms rhyming couplets that never feel forced, and his refrain evokes the coos of pigeons and is sure to be echoed by engaged young readers.

Combining all the ingredients for a perfect read-aloud picture book, In the City is a visual feast and an introspective meditation on the rewards of noticing what’s right in front of us.

The streets of Brooklyn snap into focus on the very first page of Christy Hale’s Out the Door, a salute to the daily routines that define our lives. A girl walks down the front steps of her home, heads down the sidewalk with her father and rides the bustling subway to school. Minimal text and bright, cheerful illustrations reveal every step of the journey. Tree branches arc overhead as she walks down her street. She crosses beneath a traffic light, walks down the subway station stairs, waits on a crowded platform and strolls past shops and skyscrapers.

The book’s prose is spare. “Through a tunnel in the dark” is the only text on a page with a cross section of the city, depicting the girl’s train as it travels beneath the streets. Hale styles prepositions in bold and uses different colors to set them off from the rest of the words, emphasizing the motion of the girl’s journey. Her collage illustrations initially appear as deceptively sparse as her prose, but a closer look reveals skillful use of pattern, texture and detail that brings the city to life as the girl travels through it to school and back home again.

There’s great comfort to be found in such routines, and youngsters will be riveted by the sights and sounds of Hale’s city. Out the Door is a charming read that will prompt readers to reflect on their own daily rituals.

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 his sometimes overlooked but oh-so-good collection, On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature, C.S. Lewis writes,

“The value of the myth is that it takes all the things we know and restores to them the rich significance which has been hidden by ‘the veil of familiarity.’ The child enjoys his cold meat, otherwise dull to him, by pretending it is buffalo, just killed with his own bow and arrow. And the child is wise. The real meat comes back to him more savory for having been dipped in a story . . . by putting bread, gold, horse, apple, or the very roads into a myth, we do not retreat from reality: we rediscover it.”

The lives of the protagonists in these three picture books are changed when they are visited by the fantastical. Children understand that an alien spaceship will never land in a forest. They know that unicorns don’t exist and that the likelihood of a bear befriending a balloon is slim. But it’s through these mythical elements, through story, that truth is uncovered. The veil of familiarity lifts, and by looking through the lens of the imaginary, children can see the impact that one individual can have on the life of another. Each of us can add light, beauty and direction to someone else’s path, whether they’re someone we see every day or someone just passing through our life for a short season.

Lights on Wonder Rock
by David Litchfield

Young Heather, who has “read all about outer space, and how sometimes aliens came down to Earth and took people away in their spaceships,” longs to be taken away herself, so she sits on Wonder Rock and beams her flashlight into the night sky. Her wish is fulfilled when a flying saucer, bursting with light and radiant color, descends, and a friendly alien shuttles her off into space. But when she catches a glimpse of her worried parents on the ship’s monitor, Heather decides to return home. But she can’t forget her extraterrestrial encounter, and for decades, Heather continues to visit Wonder Rock in the hopes of reuniting with her alien friend. She tries various methods of signaling to the vessel, but all her attempts are unsuccessful. Just when Heather, who is now a grandmother, has lost almost all hope, the flying saucer reappears. As she catches the alien up on all the ways her life has changed since childhood, Heather realizes that hiding behind the veil of familiarity is the true magic of family and the love of her children and grandchildren.

• Gratitude jars

The Stoic philosopher Epictetus is said to have written, “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not but rejoices for those which he has.” Share this with students and ask them to share their thoughts. Define the words grieve and rejoice for younger students. Ask open-ended guiding questions to help students form connections between Epictetus’ sentiment and Lights on Wonder Rock.

Invite students to create a gratitude jar. Provide ribbon, buttons, markers and other art supplies so they can personalize their jars. Designate “gratitude jar” time each day. Turn on soft music and let students write something they are grateful for on a small slip of paper. Provide examples so that students understand they can write something big and intangible, like the love of a family member, or something small and tangible, like finding a special rock during recess. Encourage children to write something different each day. At the end of a month, let students open their jars and read all their slips. This daily exercise will cultivate a mindset of thankfulness that will last students a lifetime.

• Illustration narration

Several of the pages in Lights on Wonder Rock are wordless, so readers must “read” the illustrations. If possible, display a few panels or wordless spreads and let students narrate aloud what they think is happening in the illustration. Invite them to elaborate using prompts such as, “What makes you say that?” or “Tell us more about . . .” This simple organic visual thinking exercise build students’ oral, comprehension and inference skills.

• Extra-extraterrestrial

Provide time for older students to research aliens and society’s endless fascination with all things extraterrestrial. With younger students, read additional science fiction picture books that feature UFOs and aliens.

Margaret’s Unicorn
by Briony May Smith

When her family moves “to a faraway place, to a cottage in the mountains, to be near Grandma,” Margaret is unsure about her new home with its different smells and empty spaces. While her parents unpack, Margaret ventures out to explore the area around the cottage. On her return journey, she discovers a baby unicorn tangled in the weeds and takes it home. Over the next year, Margaret and the young unicorn become close companions, experiencing all the delights of their small mountain village together. They chase waves along the rocky beach, decorate a Christmas tree, build snow unicorns and enjoy picnics under the apple tree. With each passing season, Margaret feels less lonely and becomes happier in her new home. When spring returns, the unicorn’s mother comes back for him and the two friends must say goodbye. As she hugs her small friend, Margaret whispers, “Please don’t forget me.” Readers will be delighted to discover that he doesn’t. Margaret’s Unicorn is a warmhearted and timeless story that shimmers with the magical power of companionship.

• Relationship reflection

The baby unicorn helped Margaret adjust to her new surroundings. Ask students to think about a time when they felt lonely or scared and they were comforted by a family member, friend or animal. Begin a discussion that leads children to understand how loneliness or fear of the unknown can be assuaged by the presence of a companion. Pair students up and let them share a time when someone or something else helped them feel less alone.

• Imaginary adventures

Living in the country and finding a baby unicorn who eats flowers and drinks water touched by moonlight was the stuff my dreams were made of when I was in elementary school (and let’s be honest, are still). Invite students to create the imaginary friend of their dreams.

Use this as a creative writing exercise for older students. Encourage them to include details about their friend’s appearance, appetite, sleeping habits and personality. For younger students, provide a plethora of art supplies and let them create a visual representation of their friend. Extend the activity by asking students to describe four meaningful seasonal activities they will do with their friend.

The Bear and the Moon
by Matthew Burgess,
illustrated by Catia Chien

A red balloon catches the attention of a young black bear cub. Fascinated by its light, buoyant movement, the bear grabs hold of the balloon’s string and ties it to a stone. When the sun rises, the bear gives his new friend “a tour of his whereabouts.” After the pair climbs a tree, rolls down a hill and sits next to a waterfall, the bear hugs the balloon and it pops. Grief-stricken, the bear feels guilt and shame (“Bad Bear, he thought”) until he is touched by the light of the moon and the moon tells him, “Good bear. Kind bear. Don’t worry, bear,” and his heavy heart is lifted. Simply told but deep with transcendent truth, The Bear and the Moon demonstrates the value of shared grief and the importance of forgiving ourselves.

• Balloon play

The Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori famously declared, “Play is the work of the child.” Provide a helium-filled red balloon on a string to each student and have some fun emulating the bear’s balloon play.  

• Paired reading

After sharing The Bear and the Balloon, share Komako Sakai’s Emily’s Balloon. Ask younger students to articulate first some similarities between the two books, then some differences between them. Create Venn diagrams with older students and ask them to compare the two books independently.

• Mindfulness

Bear’s grief turned into feelings of guilt and shame and negative internal dialogue. Begin a discussion by asking, “Why is being kind and forgiving of ourselves important?” and “How can we practice overcoming negative thoughts about ourselves?”

Bear’s internal thoughts are reset and his spirit is restored by the moon. Remind students that sometimes self-doubt and despair can’t be overcome solely through our own efforts, and when we have a “heavy heart,” it’s important to reach out to a family member or a friend. “Good bear. Kind bear. Don’t worry, bear” is the moon’s message for the bear. Help students create a short mantra they can recite to themselves when they are feeling self-doubt or sadness.

Two picture books inspired by real-life community organizations demonstrate the great things we can achieve when we all pitch in.

Based on Jillian Tamaki’s experience of volunteering at a community kitchen in Brooklyn, Our Little Kitchen follows a mother and child who help a group of volunteers prepare and serve a meal for their community.

As the story begins, everyone springs into action to assemble ingredients from a garden as well as the kitchen’s cupboards and refrigerator. The group’s leader heats up day-old bread until it’s “soft and warm, as good as new!” then ponders what to do with canned beans for the third week in a row. Once the cooking starts, the pages burst with onomatopoeias in huge, sprawling letters (“glug glug glug” and “chop chop chop chop chop”). When the leader shouts “FIFTEEN MINUTES!” in a spiky speech bubble that nearly fills the whole page, the energy and urgency is palpable.

Every page sizzles and pops as Tamaki captures the kitchen’s hustle and bustle. Lively, detailed visuals abound, often depicted from unusual perspectives such as extreme close-ups and overhead angles. Even the book’s endpapers feature illustrated recipes. Tamaki’s thoughtful author’s note is the icing on this treat: “We are often told that a single person can change the world. Just think what many of us can accomplish—with our bodies, voices, votes, and hearts—together.” Our Little Kitchen is an inspiring call to action that will warm readers’ hearts and tummies.

Cooking a community dinner can be a haphazard, improvised affair, but stitching a community quilt is a measured and precise endeavor. Such contrasting processes make The All-Together Quilt the perfect counterpoint to Our Little Kitchen.

Lizzy Rockwell has more than 30 books to her name, but The All-Together Quilt is especially personal. Her author’s note describes her involvement with a Connecticut-based quilting group called Peace by Piece. Senior citizens, kids from the neighborhood and adult volunteers like Rockwell meet two afternoons each week at a senior housing facility to stitch. Their quilts hang in public libraries, a community college and a children’s museum.

Zeroing in on small acts of collaboration between kids and adults, Rockwell depicts the group making a quilt from start to finish. Her images are informative as well as narrative and include labeled diagrams of sewing tools and illustrations of classic quilt blocks. There’s even an explanation of the origins of each fabric used, from an African wax print to a Scottish plaid. The strong how-to component may encourage young readers to learn to make their own quilts.

The book’s communal spirit is epitomized in a glorious spread that shows a diverse group of people of all ages gathered around a quilting frame, working together to create something beautiful. “It takes a long time to quilt the quilt,” the text reads. “Everybody lends a hand.” The All-Together Quilt is an exemplary, colorful and moving blend of fact and fiction.

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.

The books we read in childhood hold immense power. True, many will be forgotten, but some stay lodged in the heart and forever influence the way we see the world, even as we grow into adulthood. In the words of You’ve Got Mail’s Kathleen Kelly (a character created by the inimitable screenwriters Nora and Delia Ephron), “When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.”

Four childhood books that formed my identity are Emily Arnold McCully’s Mirette on the High Wire, Charlotte Zolotow and James Stevenson’s I Know a Lady, Michael Bedard and Barbara Cooney’s Emily and Cynthia Rylant and Kathryn Brown’s The Old Lady Who Named Things. Each of them extended my understanding of childhood friendship by helping me see that I could be friends with a talented acrobat, the elderly lady next door, a community eccentric or the dog down the street.

Unexpected and unconventional friendships are also at the heart of the three picture books below. Through words and pictures, they tell stories that show children the daily joys and comfortable companionship of serendipitous friendships.

Starcrossed
by Julia Denos

Eridani is a human girl “made of blood and bones.” Her best friend Acamar is “more of a constellation than a boy . . . made of space and stars.” Every evening, the two friends share their longings and questions with each other. Eridani wonders about comets and flying while Acamar wonders about sunsets and sand. Curiosity sparked, they make wishes upon each other and embark on an altogether magical experience. Alight with warmth and wonder, Starcrossed is a story of intergalactic friendship and cosmic wishes. An author’s note in which Julia Denos explains that Acamar is an actual star within the constellation Eridanus is sure to delight students.

• Stories behind the stars

Read the author’s note aloud, then show students photographs of Eridanus and the star Acamar. Explore the scientific story of the stars, then explore the connections between constellations and mythology.

• Night sky art

Denos’s full-bleed watercolor, ink, pencil and digital collage illustrations capture stunning nightscapes that set off luminous constellations that explode with astronomical energy. Give students an opportunity to emulate Denos’s striking night skies with a resistance watercolor exploration. Watercolor sets or liquid watercolors work best for this activity.

Provide students with watercolor paper, white crayons or oil pastels and various star-shaped and round stickers. The inexpensive foil star stickers and punch-hole reinforcements I bought at a local office supply store worked wonderfully.

Using the crayons and stickers, ask students to create constellations or a starry design on the watercolor paper. Then show them how to use a foam brush or thick watercolor paintbrush to paint over their design in shades of blue, green and purple. Incorporate color theory by telling students how to mix colors to create different shades, as well as how to control color intensity by using water.

After the paint is dry and the stickers are peeled off, the constellation designs will pop against the darker watercolor skies.

• World-crossed reflection

Eridani and Acamar dream of a life far different from their own. Ask students to think of a place, anywhere on Earth, that fascinates them. Provide atlases and other books with strong photographs as well as geographical and cultural information, or use Google Earth to show unique places around the world. Once students have decided on their world-crossed location, give them time to research it further.

Next, invite them to create a dialogue that resembles the conversation Eridani and Acamar share. What would they tell a friend about their current home? What do they most want to experience about their world-crossed location?

Neighbors
by Kasya Denisevich

“I know my new address by heart,” explains a little girl who has just moved to a new apartment building in the heart of a big city. Excited about her new room, she reflects, “My ceiling is someone’s floor and my floor is someone’s ceiling.” As she continues to muse about her new surroundings, the black and white illustrations shift to a cutaway view of the apartment building that reveals its tenants engaged in their daily various activities. The little girl’s thoughts head in a philosophical direction, until she finally wonders, “Do they even exist? Or maybe my building is my only neighbor. What if there is nothing at all beyond the walls of my room?” The next morning, another little girl emerges from the apartment next door. As the pair head to school, color floods the black and white illustrations, signaling the hope of new friendship. Many children will see their own thoughts and questions reflected in the little girl’s honest ponderings of the public-private dichotomy that’s part of life in a big city.

• Reminders of home

As soon as the little girl moves into her new apartment, she begins unpacking her special objects. Show students some personal items that make your classroom or house feel like home for you. Give time students time to reflect on some objects or nontangible things (for example, a particular scent, or a type of music) that make a place feel like “home” for them.

Lead a discussion to help students understand that these things can be comforting when they find themselves in a new place. Invite students to bring one of their “home objects” to share with the rest of the class. This reflection exercise will be particularly helpful for children who struggle with homesickness when they are away from home.

• Cutaway comparison

Neighbors includes three double-page cutaway illustrations of the apartment building. Define “cutaway” for students and show them a few cutaways from other books. Lead them in a discussion about the purpose of these type of illustrations, then compare Neighbors’ first two cutaways illustrations. The first shows the apartment building’s residents in their various routines. The second reimagines the neighbors as storybook characters, woodland creatures or fantastical entities. The comparison will delight students. If it’s not possible for the illustrations to be enlarged or shown on a projector, create a small center in the classroom and let students study the illustrations up close.

• Address addresses

The book’s opening lines—"I know my new address by heart: 3 Ponds Lane, Building 2, Apartment 12”—are not as simple as they might initially seem. Last fall, one of our school’s buses broke down at the beginning of its afternoon route. A new bus had to come pick up the students and take them home. A few of us went to go help with the details of the transition. I was shocked to discover that most of the students did not know their home addresses!

On a Monday, announce a class address challenge. Give each student an index card with their name and full address. Provide younger children with multiple opportunities to practice reciting their address throughout the day. Older children can practice writing their address. At the end of the week, celebrate the students who have memorized their address.

Nothing in Common
by Kate Hoefler,
illustrated by Corinna Luyken

Two children live in adjoining apartment buildings, but each assumes they have “nothing in common,” so they never acknowledge each other. However, they both love watching an elderly man play with his dog. When the dog goes missing, the two neighbors are pulled out of their solitude and united in their quest to help find the dog. Finding much more than the dog, the two children discover that they share more than just an apartment view. The search for a beloved pet will resonate with children, as will the warm reminder that reaching out can be hard, but often results in genuine connection.

• New window views

The two children live in different buildings, but when they look out their windows, they share a similar view. Show students a glimpse of what people around the world see when they look out their window by visiting the website Window Swap. It’s a simple platform that lets viewers peek out windows around the world. Each view is a small video with the name of the window’s owner in the top left-hand corner and their location in the top right-hand corner.

• Finding common ground

So often children (and adults) gravitate to children who are most like them. They quickly become friends with those who share the same interests and temperament. Before class, purposefully pair students who are not friends with each other. Give them 10 to 15 minutes to talk to each other, then ask them to write down a list of their similarities. For the next few weeks, let these pairings work together for other classroom activities. Students will discover that working together on a common goal can create a unique bond and an unexpected friendship.

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 recently found myself feeling uncharacteristically blue. In fact, to borrow the words of my literary heroine, Anne Shirley, “I was in the depths of despair.” My tried-and-true mood lifters had done little to raise my spirits, so I did the unthinkable: I opened the music app on my phone and scrolled down to my playlist of Christmas tunes. As soon as the familiar opening notes of one of my favorite seasonal songs filled my living room, I could feel the burden on my heart lightening as the melody restored my sense of hope.

Music has the power to carry our souls through our darkest times. It can be a companion when we are alone or a motivator to keep going in the face of disappointment and discouragement. In 2020, many students have faced a year of unique disappointments, uncertainty and fear, yet a moment my students and I shared this week reminded me how much joy children can experience through music.

My first graders and I have been working our way through a unit on our home state of Tennessee, and we were wrapping up by learning about eastern Tennessee and one of its patron saints, Dolly Parton. We ended our lesson by reading the picture book adaptation of her song, "Coat of Many Colors," and then I put on my playlist of Parton’s music while my students browsed to select their new library books. A few minutes later, I looked up from my book scanner to see my students dancing blissfully around the library to “I Will Always Love You.” It’s a scene I’ll never forget and a reminder of music’s transcendent gifts.

These three books will make hearts sing as they offer musical moments, melodious memories and merry moods.

Eugene and the Sounds of the City
by Sylvie Auzary-Luton

Eugene, a city-dwelling bear, loves to dance. Dancing “all the time, anywhere, to any noise,” Eugene hears the natural rhythms of urban life and longs to share his dancing joy, “but the busy city folks aren’t interested.” Even his sidewalk pirouettes don’t garner much attention from hurried bystanders. When his uninhibited dancing causes a traffic jam, animals emerge from their cars to express their indignation. Eugene is dejected and confused by their reactions. As he trudges home, he notices that his footsteps are becoming quieter. He looks up to see snow “covering the city’s noises in a blanket of stillness.” The peace of the newly fallen snow prompts him to start dancing slowly. Soon the other animals join him and “in the silence of a winter evening,” they all experience the rhythm of the city. Ringing with a cheerful sense of community, Eugene and the Sounds of the City will prompt children to listen for the rhythms to be found in their daily routines.

• Dance party

Purposeful movement in the classroom is always a good thing. Remind students that Eugene could not stop himself from dancing. As a class, write down Eugene’s dance moves and then perform them together. Afterward, play different types of music and let students dance and move in response to however the music makes them feel.

• Onomatopoeia

Provide students with a simple definition of the word “onomatopoeia.” I explained that it’s “a word that names a sound, but also sounds like the sound.” Ask students to think of an example of onomatopoeia to share with the class.

Reread Eugene and the Sounds of the City and write down all of the onomatopoeias in the text (there are many!). Point out how author Sylvie Auzary-Luton uses typography to highlight each sound. For example, the bicycle bell’s “ting ting ting” is delicate, while the traffic jam’s “BOOOM” is bold and big.

Provide colored pencils, crayons, markers and three index cards per student. Write an onomatopoeia on the board and invite students to rewrite it in accordance with how it sounds and/or how makes them feel.

• Daily rhythms

Eugene hears rhythm and music in everything. Just before dismissal for the day, challenge students to listen for musical rhythms or melodies in their afternoon or early morning routines. Repeat this exercise every afternoon for a week and collect a list of the sounds of life.

The Story Orchestra: Carnival of the Animals
by Katy Flint,
illustrated by Jessica Courtney-Tickle

The latest book in the Story Orchestra series presents composer Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Carnival of the Animals” in a picture-book format. Bored indoors on a rainy afternoon, brothers Thomas and James pick up a book of animals and discover a secret door in the bookcase. They go through the door and embark on a fantastical musical journey. As they travel across hot deserts, through tropical forests, among bright coral reefs and inside dusty museums, they encounter many different animals. At each stop in the brothers’ journey, readers can press a button on the page and hear a 10-second excerpt from the “Carnival of the Animals” that coordinates to what’s happening in the scene. Vintage-style illustrations fill the book’s oversized pages and aptly convey a sense of wonder. The book’s final spread includes information about Saint-Saëns, a musical glossary and a succinct guide to each of the musical excerpts. Accessible, informative and downright magical, The Story Orchestra: Carnival of the Animals provides an unforgettable introduction to this well-known piece of classical music.

• Introducing: the orchestra!

Some students may not have a concept of what an orchestra is. Before reading The Story Orchestra: Carnival of the Animals, read some books that introduce the orchestra aloud. I highly recommend Karla Kuskin and Marc Simont's The Philharmonic Gets Dressed and Carolyn Sloan and James Williamson's Welcome to the Symphony.

If possible, consider arranging a videoconferencing visit with a member of a local orchestra, or show clips from a local symphony performance. The New York Philharmonic has excellent introductory digital resources. Providing this background information will give students a foundation for the more in-depth experience of The Story Orchestra: Carnival of the Animals.

• Musical matching

Read the story once and listen to the coordinating musical clips on each page. Next, play the clips individually and out of order. Can students match each clip with its page in the book?

• Story extensions

“Carnival of the Animals” has 14 movements, and The Story Orchestra: Carnival of the Animals includes clips from nine of those movements. Play excerpts from the other five movements not included in the book. Inviting younger students to close their eyes while they listen to the music may help them focus. Play each excerpt twice, then instruct studunts to let the music inspire them to create a new piece of the book’s story. Be sure to allow time for students to share their story extensions with the class.

The Oboe Goes Boom Boom Boom
by Colleen AF Venable,
illustrated by Lian Cho

Mr. V addresses his new band students with excitement. “There is a perfect instrument for everyone. Let’s find yours!” he says. With accurate, precise imagery, he introduces eight instruments to his students. He describes each instrument’s history (“Armies used to charge into battle to the sounds of triumphant trumpet toots!”), sound ("Listening to a clarinet is like eating rich chocolate cake, bold and sweet at the same time”) and mechanics (“You blow ACROSS it, like when you make music by blowing across the top of an empty glass bottle”). But when it comes time for a student to demonstrate each instrument, young Felicity interrupts by banging, “Boom! Boom! Boom!” on a large red drum. Each member of the band is named after a real-life musician, and brief biographies are included in the book’s back matter. Venable’s pitch-perfect prose pairs with Cho’s lively illustrations to create an entertaining and memorable read-aloud experience.

• Cover conversation

Show students the book’s front cover and read the title aloud. Point out the oboe in the top left corner of the cover and ask, “Does the oboe actually go boom boom boom?” Allow time for discussion, then play a short clip of an oboe so that students can hear what the oboe sounds like. Ask students to consider why Venable decided to title her book The Oboe Goes Boom Boom Boom when the oboe does not actually make that sound.

Invite students to consider the purpose of a book’s title and front cover. I tell my students, “The job of a book cover is to grab our attention, pull us in and make us really want to read the book.”

Next, slide the book’s dust jacket off with drama and flair, revealing an illustration on the book’s boards of a beaming Felicity holding two drumsticks while bursting out of sheets of musical scores. Ask students to imagine the connections between the dust jacket and this image and to predict what Felicity’s role in the story might be.

• Musical similes

Introduce students to the literary device of the simile and read several examples from the book. Ask students to articulate how similes help us understand new concepts by comparing a new sound to a familiar sound. Play clips of instruments and invite students to come up with their own similes for each one. After generating five similes, let students illustrate their favorite one.

Invite the music teacher to the classroom (or visit the music room) for a musical guessing game. Students will read their similes aloud, and the music teacher will try to guess which instrument the simile describes.

• Classroom concert

Use the biographical sketches in the book’s back matter to create a playlist of YouTube clips of musical performances. Replicate the concert experience in the classroom by reading each biographical sketch, then playing a clip of the musician.

Kind and generous mice are the stars of the show in two sparkling picture books that prove that no heart is too small to spread the joy of Christmas.

When Clement Clarke Moore penned his famous holiday poem in the early 19th century, he had no way to know that “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” as it was originally titled, would become one of the most beloved Christmas verses of all time. He certainly couldn’t have imagined how famous the lines “Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse” would become.

But according to Tracey Corderoy and Sarah Massini’s Mouse’s Night Before Christmas, there was, in fact, a mouse stirring on that Yuletide evening. In this alternate version of events, a lonely mouse is spending the night gazing in awe at the tree, decorations and gifts of the human family whose house he shares while wishing he had a friend to celebrate with. When Santa lands (with a clatter, naturally) on the lawn, having lost his way in a snowstorm, Mouse offers to act as his guide and help save the day. Will Santa make Mouse’s Christmas wish come true?

Corderoy recounts her heartwarming mouse-capade in rhyming verses that reflect the spirit of Moore’s original poem. In lines such as “He was quiet, and careful, and ever so neat— / quite the best little helper that Santa could meet!” she strikes the perfect balance between honoring Moore’s phrasing and adding her own lively twists.

Illustrator Massini’s wonder-filled images anchor the book in gorgeous pastel hues with splashes of holiday red on Santa’s suit, the reindeer's harnesses and Mouse’s dashing scarf. As Santa’s sleigh soars across the sky, it leaves a trail of bluish-white stars in its wake that contrast beautifully against the dark and wintry night sky. Massini’s work is filled with texture: the spiky needles of the Christmas tree, the curly wisps of Santa’s beard, the colorful knits of the handmade stockings hanging from the mantel.

Mouse’s Night Before Christmas is a joyful addition to the canon of Christmas picture books. It’s steeped in tradition, holiday magic and the happiness that comes from helping others and sharing joy with someone special.

A mouse named Mistletoe already has a best buddy, an elephant named Norwell, in Tad Hills' Mistletoe: A Christmas Story, a tale of unlikely friendship that will call to mind Arnold Lobel’s beloved Frog and Toad adventures.

Lively and determined, Mistletoe is an avid knitter whose lace collars, jolly striped tights and matching red cap, coat and boots epitomize prim-and-proper fashion. Norwell is a thoughtful artist who loves to stay cozy indoors, while Mistletoe loves nothing better than being outside in the falling snow. Try as she might, tiny Mistletoe can’t convince her friend to join her. Sitting by Norwell’s fire and enjoying each other’s company, they each begin to plan a Christmas surprise for the other.

Like Lobel, Hills uses understated humor throughout the story to underscore the differences between his two characters and highlight their friendship in ways guaranteed to bring a smile to readers both young and old. “Just a drop for me, and a cookie crumb, please,” Mistletoe says when offered tea. Later, as Mistletoe works night and day to knit a gift for Norwell, she “realizes two things: one, sometimes you don’t have enough yarn, and two, elephants are big!” The creator of the bestselling Duck and Goose series, Hills is hardly a stranger to odd-couple friendships, and his lively prose energizes this otherwise quiet tale.

Using a palette of bright, bold colors, Hills skillfully alternates lively panels, full-page illustrations and double-page spreads to depict Mistletoe’s holiday mission and reveal how she transforms her giant rainbow-colored balls of yarn into an enormous present for Norwell. Mistletoe knits everywhere—even in the bathtub ("which isn't easy")—in order to finish on time. Her efforts to haul her massive creation to Norwell’s house are especially comical.

A timeless story about appreciating and honoring differences among friends, Mistletoe merrily conveys the seasonal feeling of joy we experience when we share gifts from the heart.

Ezra Jack Keats set the gold standard for snow stories with his Caldecott Medal-winning book, The Snowy Day, in 1962. Two picture books are worthy additions to his legacy.

A cold and snowy day has never been so cheery as in the delightful A Sled for Gabo, which contains a winning combination of picture and prose. Author Emma Otheguy’s rich text conveys both narrative and mood in an evocative but spare style, beginning with the opening spread: “The day it snowed Gabo followed the whistling sound of an old steam radiator into the kitchen.” Illustrator Ana Ramírez González paints the large, inviting kitchen in bright colors and includes a red table, a purple and orange stove, and walls covered in light blue paint and red, green and yellow tiles.

Gabo can’t wait to head outside to play, but he doesn’t have snow gear or a sled. His mother reassures him by saying, “Vamos a resolver”—Spanish words and phrases are skillfully sprinkled throughout the story—and equips her son with his father’s hat, multiple pairs of socks and plastic bags over his sneakers. With understated, matter-of-fact determination, she sends Gabo outside to solve his own problem.

Otheguy perfectly captures the meandering freedom of a child on the hunt for fun and adventure. Gabo, who is “much too shy for anyone just his age,” roams his lively neighborhood in search of a sled and encounters a variety of friendly adults, a stray cat and a frolicking dog. When one adult joyfully presents him with a cafeteria tray, Gabo can’t help feeling “very small and very sad” because he desperately wants a real sled. But before long, Gabo finds a new friend, a girl named Isa who quickly shows him that his tray will make an excellent sled.

Ramírez González bathes Gabo’s snowy outdoor world in warm tones. The sun gleams bright yellow, the houses sparkle with a multitude of colors, and reds, oranges and pinks burst forth from everything, including Gabo’s hat and his shoelaces. The illustrations accentuate how, in this welcoming neighborhood, everyone looks after one another—even the stray cat.

By the end of the day, Gabo has learned an important lesson about the joys of friendship and about sharing and making do with what you have. A Sled for Gabo’s friendly spirit will wrap itself around your heart like the warm helping of dulce de leche that Gabo and Isa share after their perfect day of sledding.

In Ten Ways to Hear Snow, a blizzard helps a young girl understand how her beloved grandmother copes with the difficulties of aging. Lina has been looking forward to making warak enab (stuffed grape leaves) with Sitti, her Lebanese grandmother. An evening snowstorm has left their city “muffled and white,” but that doesn’t stop Lini from heading to her grandmother’s nearby apartment.

Author Cathy Camper transforms Lina’s journey into a sparkling study of both keen observation and onomatopoeia. “Ploompf!” goes the powdery snow falling from a pine tree, and “swish-wish, swish-wish” is the sound of people brushing snow off their cars. Basking in every moment of this winter wonderland, Lina tallies nine different snowy sounds during her walk. Illustrator Kenard Pak’s images are full of muted tones and plenty of white space, which emphasizes the vast, quiet mood created by the newly fallen snow. His art sets the perfect stage for Lina to hear so many different and unfamiliar sounds.

Once Lina reaches her destination, the joy of her relationship with Sitti takes over the tale. Although Sitti is losing her eyesight, grandmother and granddaughter work side by side in her kitchen, filling grape leaves with lamb and rice. When Lina holds a grape leaf up to her nose and suggests that it looks like a mustache, a cheerful illustration shows the pair clowning around and taking selfies. Sitta may be getting older, but she remains independent, energetic and full of fun.

In a final, touching scene, Lina asks Sitti how she can see snow with her diminished eyesight, and the two discuss the importance of listening. Finally, hand in hand, they venture outside, where Sitti teaches her granddaughter one final way to hear snow. Ten Ways to Hear Snow is a quietly powerful story about the ways that both young and old can help each other adapt to a changing world, told with care and insight.