One of my most entertaining favorites, this book is about an officer who travels to schools to talk about safety. Unfortunately, many of the students are bored with his speeches. One day, this officer is assigned a special dog, and suddenly his speeches become a lot more interesting! This book is on a 570L Lexile reading level. This is equivalent to a 2nd grade reading level. Since this story reflects a time that Officer Buckle and Gloria have a disagreement, the teacher can print out friendship problems on a card and assign two students to work together. These students must work together to solve the problem. Students will then act out their situation in front of the class.

Music is the only form of communication Connor Owens controls. No matter how badly he wishes to fit in, friendly banter and casual conversations have never been his thing. College is yet another social universe he has no clue how to navigate—until he meets Jared, a football player with chestnut eyes and a cocky grin that holds the power to shatter his self-imposed prison. 

Jared's attention opens Connor up to a new realm of emotional and physical intimacy. But as Connor's self-confidence grows, so does his fear that everything will fall apart. Because in this socially stratified world, how long can a relationship between an introverted violinist and a closeted football player really last?

Review

I enjoyed this New Adult romance recommend by AJ Truman on the Big Gay Fiction Podcast.

I love a socially awkward character and we get that here. 

The writing is lovely as is the character development. Both Connor and Jared are a big messes but they are young and do what young people do.

The cast is great. I will for sure look for more books by this author.

Molly Lou Melon is small, clumsy, has buck teeth, and the confidence to be herself no matter what! There are many times in the story where people try to discourage Molly Lou Melon from doing something, like playing football because she is small, but she never once lets anyone stop her from achieving her goals. This story has a great message of accepting others and the wonderful illustrations will always make your class laugh! I think this book would be great in a first grade or maybe even a second grade classroom and could be used to teach social skills and the importance of being yourself. A whole group discussion on what Molly Lou Melon looks like on the outside compared to how she feels on the inside would give students great insight on building confidence and self esteem.  

"Pete the Cat too Cool for School" contains a great moral: "If you want to be cool, just be you!". This would be a great book for the beginning of the year. After reading, students could complete an activity writing and presenting to the class how they are cool, giving details about themselves.