Diary of a Fairy Godmother by Esme Raji Codell

What an amazing book! It is so funny- an amazing book about a witch who goes to charm school to learn how to be a bad witch. Her dream however, is to become a fairy godmother. this book alludes to every fairy tale I know and is hilarious!

Sequoyah by James Rumford

This book would be wonderful to use when explaining to children why we read or in discussing writing with them. It's a picture book about a Cherokee man who created a system of writing for his tribe. The book is written in two languages- English and below it is the language that Sequoyah created.

Life in Outer Space by Kim McDonald

Aliens aren't green? They aren't from Mars. This book looks at people whose job it is to look at the possibility of life on other planets. It talks about what life is and what a planet needs to have to support life. The book is very scientific and interesting with lots of pictures.

The PlanetEsme Plan: The Best New Children's Books from Esme's Shelf

The PlanetEsme Plan: The Best New Children's Books from Esme's Shelf

Another wonderful blog discussing wonderful children's books written by an amazing author and former teacher.

The Night Crossing by Karen Ackerman

A wonderful book to teach young children about the Holocaust. It's a 3.5 reading level so it would be wonderful as a choice for older students who struggle with reading. The only thing I didn't like was that it just jumped into the story without a ton of background information on the main character. You don't really get to know her before the holocaust begins.

Explore It: Ancient Egypt

This book is really fun to look at with all the creative pop-ups and flaps. It also covers a ton of information on ancient Egypt! I was really surprised by just how much it covered- I learned a lot.

Courage of the Blue Boy by Robert Neubecker

A wonderful book about a boy who lives in a world full of the color blue. He goes in search of a more colorful life and ends up in a colorful city- but there is no blue in the city and he is scared! He starts doing things to fill the city with blue and at the end his body starts to fill up with the other colors the city has to offer. An amazing book to use for talking about differences people have and diversity!

It's Okay to be Different by Todd Parr

An amazing book about being different! Very funny and colorful pictures!

The Watsons Go to Birmingham- 1963

The first chapter is HILARIOUS! This would make an amazing read-aloud! I love that it shows how the riots in the south affected normal people. It makes what happened real.

Cut by Patricia McCormick

This is a really good book about a 15 year old girl who cuts herself and gets sent to a home to stop. It is applicable to many teens and one of my students last semester said she loved it. It's also a very quick read.

My Thirteenth Winter

My Thirteenth Winter by Samantha Abeel is memoir about Samantha's childhood struggling with a learning disability. I would recommend this book as it was really good and is a quick read. She discusses her life from the start of school through college. Samantha would have been eligible for gifted and talented services but had difficulty with math and at the age of thirteen, she was finally diagnosed with dyscalculia. It's very interesting to hear about how the learning disability affected other areas of her life as well from not understanding time to her social life and her emotions. Very good book.

Teach with Your Heart by Erin Gruwell

Teach With Your Heart by Erin Gruwell is good but it's not really anything you haven't already heard if you've read The Freedom Writers or seen the movie. When you read The Freedom Writers, you have to sort through the students entries to get a picture of what was going on in the time Erin spent at the school and this book tells you directly. I would recommend you read this book first and then read The Freedom Writers Diary.