CIRG 653

Module 9

1. Title: The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His Name

Author: By: Sandhya Parappukkaran

Citation: Parappukkaran, Sandhya, and Michelle Pereira. The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His

Name. USBBY, 2023. 

Annotation: Zimdalamashkermishkada is aware that he will have to make a lot of new

friends when he enrolls in a new school. He decides to shorten his lengthy name to Zim

after tripping over it. Although the moniker is appropriate for introductions, it doesn't

feel natural to you. Zimdalamashkermishkada doesn't gain the self-assurance to step

confidently into his lengthy name until a new buddy recognizes him for who he really is.

A heartfelt and inspiring tale, The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His Name declares that

nobody should ever have to reduce themselves in order to fit in. It inspires young

readers to celebrate their true selves.

Ideas: Have the children create a quickwrite. Read the book as a class, The Boy Who

Tried to Shrink His Name. Students will then be asked to write about: What makes them

different? What makes them who they are? What they love about their name? They will

then be given 5-10 minutes and then discuss with the class. Next, they will write again

and use it to further lesson.

Author: Refiloe Moahloli

Citation: Moahloli, Refiloe, and Zinelda McDonald. I Am You: A Book About Ubuntu.

Amazon Crossing Kids, USBBY, 2022. 

Annotation: The idea that we are all connected is known as “Ubuntu” in southern Africa.

No matter who we are or where we come from, a person is defined by the relationships

they have with other people. The concept of Ubuntu is introduced to young children in

this picture book, which was initially published in South Africa. The book demonstrates

to kids the numerous ways that we are all one as it celebrates friendship and kindness.

A beautiful examination of emotional intelligence can be found in I Am You: A Book

About Ubuntu. It teaches kids and adults compassion, empathy, friendship, and taking

responsibility for one's own thoughts and deeds.

Ideas: Read the book as a class, I am You: A Book About Ubuntu. Then children will be

asked throughout the reading: What’s the author trying to tell us on this page? What’s

the author talking about here? How does what you see here go with what the author

mentioned earlier? Why is the author trying to tell us these things? Next, they will go

through 6 discussion moves for questioning the author: Marking, Turning-back,

Revoicing, Recapping, Modeling, Annotating

3. Title: Lubna and Pebble

Citation: Meddour, Wendy, and Daniel Egnéus. Lubna and Pebble. Oxford University

Press, 2020. 

Annotation: In a world of tents, Lubna resides with her father and brothers. She has a

shiny, smooth, gray pebble for a best friend. She decorates it with a smiley face and

keeps it warm in a shoebox with a tea towel wrapped around it. She speaks to the

pebble about her house, the conflict, and her love for it. A young boy will arrive shortly.

At first, he is speechless. He sneezes and coughs as he grinned and introduced himself as

Amir. Amir and Lubna become pals. The father of Lubna makes the announcement that

they are moving since they have found a house one day. Later, Lubna experiences

happiness but also sadness and notices Amir crying. Lubna gives Amir her pebble to

make him feel better since she realizes he is more in need of it than she is.

Ideas: Students retrieve journals to participate in response/character journals. They will

write their perspective of a character within the story: Lubna, Pebble, Amir, etc. They

will be asked to put themselves in their shoes and draw picture of character. This will

help them build connections to the story.

4. Title: A Year in Our New Garden

Author: Gerda Muller

Citation: Muller, Gerda. A Year in Our New Garden. Floris Books, 2021. 
 Annotation: The family of Anna and Benjamin has relocated to a new home in the city,

and they have lofty goals for their garden. They sketch out their gardens on maps,

assemble their gardening equipment, and then get to work planting and digging. In

addition to learning about birds and insects, they plant flowers and veggies. They

produce toys, jewelry, and lemonade out of leaves and acorns. There is a recipe and

instructions provided. Tips for gardening are also provided. A poem written by Benjamin

is included.  The exploration of one's own garden will be encouraged among the

students reading this book.

Ideas: Teacher presents students a goal with a topic or question. (Ex: “What is a

garden?) Before meeting students will read extensively and then discuss. Once in groups

students will: Exchange Facts, Discuss Relationships, Offer Explanations Discuss Topics

Deeply, Challenge One Another, Clarification, Find Textual Evidence. Teachers will vary

level of scaffolding throughout this idea circle experience. Groups will then work

together and contribute important details.

5. Title: All Through The Night

Author: Polly Faber

Citation: Faber, Polly, Hobday, Harriet. All Through The Night. 2021.

Annotation: This book describes multiple professions that work throughout the night.

The concept behind this is to show children how those who work during the night
 prepare everyone for a new day during the day time. This gives children a better idea on

the people who work while they are sleeping and the importance of them.

Ideas: Dramatic play are for different occupations that could eventually lead to a job fair.

6. Title: Time is a Flower

Author: Julie Morstad

Citation: Morstad, Julie. Time Is a Flower. Tundra, 2021.

Annotation: This book is a great way to see how time is viewed in the eyes of a child.

There are many comparisons throughout the book of time connecting to other things.

One example being time and the growing of a seed.

Ideas: The beginning of a science lesson for growing flowers. You can go through the

plant cycle.

7. Title: Inside the Suitcase

Author: Clotilde Perrin

Citation: Perrin, Clotilde, and Daniel Hahn. Inside the Suitcase. Gecko Press, 2021. 

Annotation: A young boy is packing his suitcase. When he is unpacking it, it takes him on

a journey through the forest, under the sea, and over mountains. The youngster must
 make choices with each step of this difficult journey that will either take him on a new

adventure or help him return home.

Ideas: Have children create a “Beautiful Things” bag. Students will take home a bag

where they will collect different items from their homes, they consider beautiful but also

recyclable (ex: water bottles, cardboard, string, etc.) They will then bring it to school and

the class will organize all the of the beautiful stuff everyone brought and turn it into

different things.

8. Title: The Girl Who Thought in Pictures - The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin

Author: Julia Finley Mosca

Citation: Mosca, Julia Finley, and Daniel Rieley. The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The

Story of Dr. Temple Grandin. Scholastic Inc., 2018.

Annotation: The story of a renowned animal scientist, Dr. Temple Grandin, with a rough

upbringing is who this book is written after. She was often overstimulated as a young

child in Boston who had been diagnosed with autism and was unable to relate to other

kids or common difficulties. This book goes through the story of her life.

Ideas: Teaching children that everyone thinks differently. You can have children create a

graphic organizer describing all the different ways they learn or think. You could also
 make this an assignment describing differences as well where everyone would write a

paper or create a painting on what makes them unique.

9. Title: The Most Magnificent Thing

Author: Ashley Spires

Citation: Spires, Ashley. The Most Magnificent Thing. Kids Can, 2017.

Annotation: A little dog and girl become best friends. From adventuring to racing, to

crafting, they do it all together within this book. So the dog has no issues when the girl

has an idea for "The Most Magnificent Thing that they can create together. Plans are

made, materials are obtained, and work is started to create this Most Magnificent Thing.

Ideas: Have the students take a nature walk around the school to collect recyclables.

Have the children turn the recycled materials into a structure they choose. Teach them

the importance of recycling, great Earth Day lesson.

10. Title: Be A Maker

Author: Katey Howes

Citation: Howes, Katey, and Elizabet Vuković. Be A Maker. Carolrhoda, 2019.

Annotation: Be a Maker celebrates the beauty inherent in the maker movement and all

the ways that making can be a source of personal and communal fulfillment, regardless
 of whether a child's wild new invention is ground-breaking or quirky, successful or a

failure.

Ideas: Research historical people who were a “Maker” in history. Create brochures

describing their “Maker.”

11. Title: Rainbow Hands

Author: Mamta Nainy

Citation: Nainy, Mamta, and Jo Loring-Fisher. Rainbow Hands. Lantana Publishing Ltd.,

2022. 

Annotation: The most significant thing of all is revealed to a small child when he uses his

mother's nail polish to paint his nails. He refers to this being the magic of being himself.

A young boy anticipates his favorite time which includes painting his nails as the long

late summer day stretches out before them.

Ideas: Have student’s use the different colors of the rainbow to describe them as a

person. (Example Red=radiant, orange=ordinary, yellow=young, etc.) This builds the

students sense of meaning.

12. Title: My Grandma’s Photos

Author: Ozge Bahar Sunar

Annotation: Ali's grandmother guides him through a miraculous journey through her

life. She does this as she looks through a wooden trunk full of old

photographs. This ends up being a joyful celebration of love that is found within this

family.

Ideas: Children can participate in a show in tell where they bring their own pictures from

home and create a scrapbook about them. This can include their history or family tree.

13. Title: The Witness Blanket

Author: Casey Newman

Citation: Newman, Carey, and Kirstie Hudson. The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and

Reconciliation. Orca Books Publishers, 2022. 

Annotation: A book written about the Indigenous children who were set to schools all

across Canada after they were taken away from their families. This book spreads

awareness for those children so that they are never forgotten. Different materials that

were found from these schools are described in detail within the book.

Ideas: Students can use square pieces of paper to create their own witness blanket. They

can draw what they would want everyone to remember or know about their school.
14. Title: This is Our Place

Author: Vitor Martins

Citation: Martins, Vitor, and Larissa Helena. This Is Our Place. Push, 2022. 

Annotation: The residence at 8 Sunflower Street chronicles the tales of three kids who

have lived there in the twenty-first century. This includes Beto, a prospective

photographer, Greg, a teenager who was originally sent to live with his aunt after his

parents got a divorce, and Ana, who was expelled from her home. This all took place

during the COVID pandemic as well.

Ideas: Students will create different things that can make them feel like their classroom

is “our” place as in to make them feel like it is their own because it is. You want them to

feel as at home as possible.

15. Title: With A Butterfly’s Wings

Author: Pilar Lopez Avila

Citation: Ávila, López Pilar, et al. With a Butterfly's Wings. Cuento De Luz SL, 2021. 

Annotation: A girl learned to pay attention to bird music from her grandma. She was

able to discover how they tiny birds could understand things. She also discovered what
 made them unique. Together, the grandma and girl tried to determine the location of

the blackbird by listening to its song among the rumble of the city.

Ideas: Students can learn the life cycle of a butterfly. They can also grow butterflies

within the classroom and participate in butterfly crafts as well by maybe creating a

butterfly sculpture with clay

16. Title: Telling Stories Wrong

Author: Gianni Rodari

Citation: Rodari, Gianni. Telling Stories Wrong. Enchanted Lion Books, 2022. 

Annotation: A granddaughter and grandpa built a connection through telling jokes that

are wrong. The grandpa would mix up stories to make them sound crazy in order to

make the granddaughter laugh. A tale that was not expected comes to life throughout

the story.

Ideas: Having children understand that it is ok to have fun and tell stories that aren’t

true. This can lead to children writing a fairytale story to focus on the steps in the writing

process.

17. Title: Dreams of Near and Far

Author: Martin Widmark

Annotation: Noah and Mia dream of meeting one another. With Mia not having a home

and Noah being heartbroken after his pet dog dies, an unexpected journey begins. The

question is, will they meet?

Ideas: Children can begin a pen pal lesson and find a pen pal from a different part across

the world. They can share how different parts of the world are, etc. This will lead to

them understanding different traditions in different cultures.

18. Title: Playing With Lanterns

Author: Wang Yage

Citation: Yage, Wang. Playing with Lanterns. Amazon Crossing Kids, 2022. 

Annotation: Zhao Di expresses her excitement for the Chinese New Year coming up.

Paper lanterns are created to celebrate with many different colors are used to decorate

them. Traditions are done and fun is had amongst Zhao Di and her friends.

Ideas: Children can create their own paper lanterns and learn more about the traditions

and customs of the Chinese New Year, this promotes inclusion.

19. Title: A Place For Pauline

Citation: Mahiout, Anouk. Place for Pauline. Groundwood Books, 2022. 

Annotation: Pauline lives in a home where she loves all her family members. However

she isn’t so sure that being the oldest sibling is the best despite what everyone tells her.

She decides to make her own hideaway to see if she feels like she fits in more.

Ideas: Have children to create their home and incorporate everyone who lives in their

home. This promotes inclusion, differentiated home/lifestyles, and acceptance.

20. Title: It’s So Difficult

Author: Nieto Raul Guridi

Citation: Guridi, Nieto Raúl, and Lawrence Schimel. It's so Difficult. Eerdmans Books for

Young Readers, 2022. 

Annotation: A book that describes how difficult and overwhelming a day in school can

be. It goes over the anxiety a child can have followed by a day at school. It doesn’t

always come easy to people and this book shows that.

Ideas: Children can work in groups to come up with different things that make school

difficult to them. Then they can work together to discover strategies to prevent them.
Then they will share with the class how to implement these strategies to help all

students feel like school is less difficult.