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The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

April 30, 2022 by Erika Thulin Dawes

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude for your readership over the years. Going forward, you will be able to access our blog entries at https://classroombookshelf.wordpress.com/ . Our full twelve years of entries will soon be there and we hope that you and your students will continue to use [...]

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Recent Posts

Teaching Ideas for Youth Climate Activism: The Tantrum That Saved the World

Written primarily in rhyming couplets and iambic pentameter, The Tantrum that Saved the World centers on a young child who decides to do something about climate change. Just in time for Earth Day, in the classroom this engaging picture book offers an action plan to help students, families, and communities [...]

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Teaching Ideas to Celebrate Poetry Month and Earth Day with the Caldecott Honor Winning Title:  Wonder Walkers

What is a wonder walk, you wonder? For the two children featured in Micha Archer’s Caldecott Honor winning picturebook it is a journey of inquiry through the wonders of the world around them, a ramble through fields, forests, valley, and shoreline. Perfect for Earth Day celebrations, Wonder Walkers is a [...]

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The Year We Learned to Fly: Teaching Ideas for the Highly-Anticipated Companion to The Day You Begin

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After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again

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One Woman’s Legacy: Teaching Ideas for One Wish: Fatima al-Fihri and the World’s Oldest University

Retelling Fairy Tales for Contemporary Times: Beauty Woke

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Recent Comments

Apr 21, 2022

Denise Davila on Teaching Ideas for Youth Climate Activism: The Tantrum That Saved the World

"Thank you, Chris! Much appreciated. ..."

Apr 21, 2022

Chris on Teaching Ideas for Youth Climate Activism: The Tantrum That Saved the World

"Thank you for bringing this important book to my attention. The resources and lesson ideas you provide are amazing. I ..."

Apr 20, 2022

Denise Davila on Teaching Ideas for Youth Climate Activism: The Tantrum That Saved the World

"Thank you for your kind words! ..."

Apr 20, 2022

Daryl Grabarek on Teaching Ideas for Youth Climate Activism: The Tantrum That Saved the World

"What an amazing resource! Thank you. ..."

Apr 13, 2022

Micha on Teaching Ideas to Celebrate Poetry Month and Earth Day with the Caldecott Honor Winning Title:  Wonder Walkers

"Thank you for this beautiful review! So honored! ..."

Apr 2, 2022

Chime The New Year's Fairy on Retelling Fairy Tales for Contemporary Times: Beauty Woke

"Great! Fairy tales, according to the Jungian interpretation, teach children how to deal with basic human problems, desir ..."

Mar 17, 2022

Wilma Romatz on The Crisis in Ukraine: How War Changed Rondo

"This is a terrific book! Thank you for bringing it to my attention. ..."

Feb 17, 2022

Martha Hickson on #KidsLoveNonfiction

"Love it; signed it! Perhaps the NYT could be persuaded by self-preservation: today's kid nonfiction readers are tomorrow ..."

Feb 3, 2022

Michael Genhart on Delicious Family Memories: May Your Life be Deliciosa

"Thank you, Denise, for featuring MAY YOUR LIFE BE DELICIOSA in SLJ's The Classroom Bookshelf. I love the different ways ..."

Jan 31, 2022

Marina Teramond @ NMPL on 2022 Winter Children’s and Young Adult Book Awards: A Roundup of Our Blog Entries for the ALA, NCTE, ILA, and NSTA Winners

"To tell the truth, I really like these awards because I think that children’s and young adult literature has a great r ..."

Oct 25, 2021

Katie Cunningham on Caribbean Creatures Sure to Spook and Delight Young Readers in Looking for a Jumbie

"Thank you, Raymond. We really appreciate you reading our work. ..."

Oct 25, 2021

Raymond Quattlebaum on Caribbean Creatures Sure to Spook and Delight Young Readers in Looking for a Jumbie

"I respect everything that you have written in this blog. Please continue to provide wisdom to more people like me. ..."

Book Reviews

2022 Newbery and Pura Belpré Award winner: The Last Cuentista

Donna Barba Higuera’s Newbery Award and Pura Belpré Award winning novel nimbly mixes Spanish and English and draws from various storytelling genres to do what speculative fiction does best - imagine the latent possibilities in a given society, challenge readers to contemplate the promises and risks, and invite us to [...]

Past and Present Merge to Lift Us in Bryan Collier’s We Shall Overcome

Weaving past and present together through image and anthem, master illustrator Bryan Collier gifts us the inspiring message of the protest song “We Shall Overcome” in the form of a picturebook. Immersed in Collier’s deeply symbolic collages, readers accompany a young Black girl wearing a bright yellow dress as she [...]

Delicious Family Memories: May Your Life be Deliciosa

Written by Michael GenhartIllustrated by Loris LoraPublished by Cameron + Company, 2021ISBN # 978-1951836221Grades PreK – 3 Book ReviewWhat kinds of food do you associate with family celebrations and holidays? In this visually appetizing Pura Belpré honor book, author Michael Genhart and illustrator Loris Lora welcome readers to a Mexican [...]

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More Recent Posts

One Woman’s Legacy: Teaching Ideas for One Wish: Fatima al-Fihri and the World’s Oldest University

April 4, 2022 by Mary Ann Cappiello

One Wish: Fatima al-Fihri and the World’s Oldest University is a gorgeous introduction into the medieval Islamic world, the thriving city of Fez, and the ongoing cultural and scientific discoveries and exchanges of the Islamic Golden Age. It also demonstrates the power of one woman’s determination to bring education to girls and women, an action that has transformed lives and reverberated over 1,200 years.

Retelling Fairy Tales for Contemporary Times: Beauty Woke

March 28, 2022 by Grace Enriquez

The remarkable power of words to hurt and to heal is echoed throughout Beauty Woke, the vibrant and uplifting picture book by author NoNieqa Ramos and illustrator Paola Escobar.

Beauty Abounds in Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas

March 21, 2022 by Erika Thulin Dawes

In a picture book as vivid and colorful as the art it celebrates, author Jeanne Walker Harvey and illustrator Loveis Wise collaborate to introduce young readers to the life and work of Alma Woodsey Thomas. Alma was the first Black woman to have a solo art exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Art and she created the first artwork by a Black woman to be displayed as part of the White House’s permanent collection. While highlighting her accomplishments, the narrative emphasizes Alma’s early appreciation of the beauty of nature, the joy she found in making art, and her commitment to providing art education to underserved children in Washington, DC.

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The Year We Learned to Fly: Teaching Ideas for the Highly-Anticipated Companion to The Day You Begin

March 14, 2022 by Katie Cunningham

A luminous companion to The Day You Begin, Woodson and López’s latest picturebook collaboration will remind children that they have the courage and capacity to “fly” past their most difficult times.

The Crisis in Ukraine: How War Changed Rondo

March 7, 2022 by Denise Davila

How War Changed RondoWritten by Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy LesivTranslated by Oksana LushchevskaPublished in 2021 by Enchanted Lion BooksISBN 978-1592703678 At The Classroom Bookshelf, we have been thinking about the ways in which we talk about the war in Ukraine with our students. We imagine that you, too, are thinking about how you can talk […]

Teaching through Art and Verse – Ideas for Marilyn Nelson’s Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor’s Life

March 1, 2022 by Mary Ann Cappiello

Nelson’s fictionalized verse provides insight and access to the extraordinary life of an incredible artist and teacher, and offers readers of all ages with an example of artistry, agency, perseverance, and self-determination.

2022 Newbery and Pura Belpré Award winner: The Last Cuentista

February 22, 2022 by Grace Enriquez

Donna Barba Higuera’s Newbery Award and Pura Belpré Award winning novel nimbly mixes Spanish and English and draws from various storytelling genres to do what speculative fiction does best - imagine the latent possibilities in a given society, challenge readers to contemplate the promises and risks, and invite us to form new understandings about the world we live in now.

Read More Posts »

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Archives

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From the Archives (2020)

Celebrating Collective Action in The Teachers March

Banned Book Week: Skirting Skippyjon for Latinx Kid Lit

2020 Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction: Room on Our Rock

Fry Bread, A Native American Family Story: A Love Letter to Indigenous Nations and Communities

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