Lexile Level: AD150L

This picture book by Kadir Nelson has a great message about kindness and would be wonderful to introduce to students at the beginning of the school year. The book describes how we can plant seeds of selfishness or kindness which will grow into either fruits of trouble or fruits of kindness. This could help young students understand the importance of their actions. The book features colorful and engaging illustrations. This makes it perfect for a picture walk activity in which students can read the pictures before the teacher reads the text aloud. This book would also be perfect for kindergarten students to explore independently to develop print awareness. Teachers could lead discussions about how individuals can plant seeds of kindness and students could respond in writing about how they would plant kind seeds.  

Lexile Level: AD610L

This picture book by David Shannon tells the story of a girl named Camilla who is preoccupied with others' opinions. She is so worried about fitting in she ends up covered in colored stripes. As she becomes more concerned, her appearance changes even more. Doctors are unable to help her and the only way she can get back to her normal appearance is to be herself. This book would be great to read out loud to a class because of its message about being who you are. All students could relate to Camilla's worries and teachers could facilitate discussions in which students could connect to the main character and think of what makes them special or unique. Students could share their connections to the text orally or through writing. 

 Lexile Level: AD460L

 Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems tells the story of a young girl named Trixie and her stuffed animal named Knuffle Bunny. Trixie loses her stuffed animal and she and her father must look for it all over the city. When they finally find the stuffed animal, Trixie speaks her first real words, "Knuffle Bunny!". As with all of Mo Willems' writing, this book is loved by young children because it is playfully written and the story can be related to the lives of all students. This book would be great to use in writing exercises in which students could related the story to their lives and create original responses. The book could also be used to teach sequencing as it involves a problem and a resolution. The story could also be used when introducing students to silent letters as the stuffed animal's name features a 'silent k'. Teachers can read this book aloud to model fluency or may choose to use animated videos of the book being narrated. 

Lexile Level: AD460L

Lexile Level: 280L

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems is a great book to read aloud in an early elementary classroom. Young students enjoy the characters Mo Willems creates and the silly nature of his stories. This book naturally engages students with its playful structure that encourages students to respond to the characters. Teachers can easily use this book to model and teach fluency skills by voicing each character differently and using emotion when reading aloud. Young readers can explore this text individually after it has been introduced to the class to develop their literacy skills.Teachers could also use free videos of this book being narrated to introduce students to this book and to examples of fluency. 

Silly Dilly Duckling written by Claire Freedman is a 1.8 on the Accelerated Reading leveling system. This story is about a baby duck whose feather falls out and drifts in the wind. The duckling thinks she must find it. A hedgehog and mouse try to help Dilly find the feather. However, Dilly returns home empty handed. Dilly's mother then says that one day she will lose all her down so new big feathers can grow in. This makes Dilly happy. This is a perfect book for young readers just starting school. It can be put in a lesson about growing up to teach that change is good, not scary.