August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that has kept him from going to a regular school, util now. He is starting fifth grade and is very nervous about people accepting him and making friends. Auggie wants to be treated as an ordinary kid but some classmates cannot look past his facial deformity. This book discusses Auggie's life, how he meets friends, the challenges he faces, and how he overcomes each one with confidence. 

This book can be used for many activities. Students can learn about cause and effect, character education, inside and outside traits, and bullying. 

Lexile: 790L

This is a memoir by Robert Hoge. Robert was born with a tumor the size of a tennis ball in the middle of his face and with short, twisted legs.  Robert had many difficult surgeries to and the doctors gave him a new nose. Growing up, other kids and adults would act differently towards him and say mean words about his appearance; but Robert would not let it bring him down. 

This is an amazing book for teaching children the importance of being kind to others despite having differences. This would be great as a read aloud and could be useful for any activity to do with character education, character traits, predictions, or inferences. 

Lexile: 890L

Molly Lou Melon is a quirky little girl. When Molly Lou Melon felt sad about her unique characteristics, her Grandmother always gave her words of advice to be herself and to stand tall. When she moved away and started a new school, a boy kept bullying her about her appearance but Molly Lou Melon held onto the words of her Grandmother and did not let his mean words get in her way. She kept being herself. 

With this book, students could complete a graphic organizer that shows the difference of outside and inside traits. They could also write about how they "stand tall" and draw a picture to go along with it. 

Lexile: 560L

Bud is a ten year old boy who lives in a foster home but has a mission to find his dad. His mother passed away when he was younger and never told him who is father is. He finds a flyer with an add for the Dusty Devastators and knows that Herman E. Calloway has to be his father. So, Bud decides to make the journey to find Herman and reunite with his father.

With this book, students can summarize the book by recording  the main events that happen in the book in order, they can write about Bud's character and how they are similar and different from him.

Lexile: 950L

The Giving Tree is about a boy and a tree who have a very heartfelt relationship. The boy goes to the tree every day and plays on the tree. As the boy grows into a man, he continues to ask the tree for something new. He asked her for apples, her branches, and her trunk and the tree just kept on giving the boy what he asked for.

The students could write adjectives to describe each other and staple them to the class tree, students could make their own tree and write one adjective on each leaf to describe themselves, they could do activities about foreshadowing, predicting, or character traits.

Lexile: 530L