Keeping Up With Roo

Author/authors: Sharlee Glenn (Dan Andreason)

Type of emotional/crisis issues addressed: Intellectual disability, respect for differences

Year of publication: 2004

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

ISBN#: 9780399234804

Age level: Lower Elementary

# of pages: 32

Quality of illustrations: Excellent

Brief summary: Gracie and her Aunt Roo, who has an intellectual disability, used to always play together. Then Gracie grows up, goes to school, and brings a new friend home to visit.  Gracie is embarrassed by her aunt, but eventually introduces her aunt to her friend.

Activity: Make a class friendship chain.  Each student can write a way to be a good friend to someone else.  Staple the chains together and hang in the classroom.  Read one each day.

The berenstain bears and the In-crowd

Author:Stan and Jan Berenstain

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Group differences, peer pressure

Year of Publication: 1989

Publisher & Location:Random House New York

ISBN#: 0-394-83013x

Target Age Level: 4-8

# of Pages:32 pages

Quality of Illustrations: Good as B and B can Be

Brief Summary: Queenie McBear, the bossy new she-cub in town, tries to take over by putting other cubs down. But she's in for a lesson when Sister Bear decides not to give in to Queenie's peer pressure tactics.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children:

This is very kid friendly and has some good problem solving skills.

Activity: Talk about what it feels like to be left out, and then draw pictures of ways you can help others feel included.

Seedfolks

Author: Paul Fleischman
Type or emotional/crisis issue addressed: Disrespect and Insensitivity for Individual and Group Differences
Year of Publication: 1997
Publisher and Location: Harper Trophy: New York
ISBN# 0-06-447207-8
Target Age Level: Upper Elementary/Junior High
# of Pages: 70
Quality of Illustrations: B/W illustration on first page of each chapter. Helps reader visualize the characters.
Brief Summary: Each chapter is a vignette of a different character who lives in a poor, Cincinnati neighborhood. A little girl starts a garden in an abandoned dump, and other characters join them. Through this garden, friendships also grow and barriers are overcome.
Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: This book is very easy to read, but some students may have difficulty with the number of characters. For those students, consider using a character map or selecting just a few vignettes to focus on. Can also be used to help heal in other situations, such as a death, or illness.
Activity: 1) Create a worksheet with a chart so the students can write down the character's name, the problem they are having, and how the garden helps them. 2) If possible, grow your own "garden" with the students.

Tacky, the Penguin

Author: Helen Lester

Type or emotional/crisis issue addressed: insensitivity for individual and group differences.

Year of Publication: 2006
Publisher and Location: Houghton Miffin/Walter Lorraine Books - Boston, MA
ISBN-10: 0618737545
Target Age Level: 4-8 Kindergarden
# of Pages: 32
Quality of Illustrations: Excellent

Brief Summary:
Tacky doesn’t behave like the other penguins and his friends finds him annoying. But his unique personality and out-of-the-box thinking saves the penguin community.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children:
It’s a lesson of tolerance on differences and an inspiration to enjoy the uniqueness on every human being.

Activity:
Have children measure items in the room with different penguin feet, then write/illustrate in journals about what they did.
Posted by Nalu de Araujo Nunes

Accept and Value Each Person

Author: Cheri J. Meiners
Type or emotional/crisis issue addressed: Insensitivity for others
Year of Publication: 2006
Publisher and Location: Free Spirit Publishing, Minneapolis, MN
ISBN# 1575422034
Target Age Level: Elementary
# of Pages: 35
Quality of Illustrations: Good
Brief Summary: Each person is different, our differences are good. We also have similarities. We can accept and value each person for who they are.
Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: It’s a bit idealistic, but it could be a very good start to increasing acceptance among children.

Activity: As a class activity - Children can make a collage about them identifying their differences and similarities. Each child can then share their collage with other students.

The Sneetches

Type of emotional/crisis issues addressed: Disrespect and Insensitivity to Differences

Author/authors: Dr. Suess

Year of Publication: 1961

Book Title: The Sneetches

ISBN #: 0394800893

Age level: Lower Elementary

# of pages: 25

Quality of illustrations: Great

Brief summary (a short paragraph is sufficient): The Star-belly sneetches think the Plain-bellied sneetches are not as good. Then a salesman comes and gives them stars so that everyone is equal, but the original Star-bellied sneetches are upset and pay to have their stars removed. The others then pay to remove theirs. The salesman ends up making a lot of money just for the sneetches to try to prove who is better.

Activities: In a group of students, divide the students into two groups and assign stars to one group. Direct them to act out the story as you read it again and talk about how it felt to be left out and why it was silly to spend money to try to be better.