More Than Words (Roz Maclean)

 This author is Canadian and her bio says she is passionate about education, inclusion and the arts. I'd like to know her! She has many more books on her website that are perfect for learning about inclusion.

"You might think talking is the only way to say something. Well, it is one way."

I love the list of suggestions at the back to help everyone have communication access:

- Have an open and accepting attitude to all ways of communications

- Instead of ignoring someone with a communication disability, show an interest in getting to know them.

- Make sure you are directing your attention to the person you are communicating with, not their communication partner.

- Ask questions and learn about how someone communicates

- Remember that just because someone doesn't speak doesn't make they don't understand

- Presume competence: believe someone can understand you and express themselves if they have the right tools and they learn to use those tools

- Understand that learning to use a communication system takes time, practice and support.

- Using a communication system can take longer. Allow extra time and be patient with yourself and others.

- Learn some (or a lot of ) sign language.

- Be aware of your surroundings. Noise, distractions, stress or feeling overwhelmed may impact ability to communicate.

We can all work together to help everyone have communication access!

Goodreads says:

A CBC Kids Reads Competition Finalist

In the tradition of All Are Welcome and The Day You Begin comes a touching picture book about the many unique ways we communicate, and how we can better listen to and respect these different modes of expression.

Nathan doesn't say much.
He sure has a lot on his mind, though.

At school, Nathan quietly observes the ways his peers communicate. Even when they’re not talking, they’re expressing themselves in all sorts of ways!

By witnessing the beauty of communication diversity, Nathan learns and shows his classmates the essential Not only does everyone have something to say, but seeking to understand one another can be the greatest bridge to friendship and belonging.

This tender, stunningly illustrated picture book explores and celebrates the many forms of expression—signing, speaking, singing, smiling, among others—and culminates in a poignant story about connection and understanding.

Includes additional material at the end of the book with vocabulary, an introduction to various forms of communication, and information about communication access, perfect for back-to-school and classroom discussions.

Bittersweet (Susan Cain)

 

Susan Cain has done it again. This is another brilliant book. It has gospel truths in it focused on how life cannot be wonderful without the terrible and sad parts. I remember when Destiny was born silently how people tried to cheer me up and tell me how grateful I must be <insert a number of different things....have two healthy children.....know that we will have our children with us in the eternities....etc> but I didn't find my solace in those things, even though I did realize how important they were. I needed that time for sadness and grief. Sometimes I still do.  Too often people in North America (and in my religion) are far too uncomfortable with sadness. We are kind of expected to see the bright side and simply be happy. There is a place for the sadness, sorrow and longing though. I need this sorrow and sadness and longing for many things, perhaps most of all, to remind me that life is fragile and to appreciate it. This book reminds me again that it is okay to get what I need. It's okay to long for something that is lost or just simply never was.

There's a lot to this book. I'd definitely find it worthwhile to read it again.


Goodreads says:

In her new masterpiece, the author of the bestselling phenomenon Quiet reveals the power of a bittersweet outlook on life, and why we’ve been so blind to its value.

With Quiet, Susan Cain urged our society to cultivate space for the undervalued, indispensable introverts among us, thereby revealing an untapped power hidden in plain sight. Now she employs the same mix of research, storytelling, and memoir to explore why we experience sorrow and longing, and the surprising lessons these states of mind teach us about creativity, compassion, leadership, spirituality, mortality, and love.

Bittersweetness is a tendency to states of longing, poignancy, and sorrow; an acute awareness of passing time; and a curiously piercing joy when beholding beauty. It recognizes that light and dark, birth and death—bitter and sweet—are forever paired. A song in a minor key, an elegiac poem, or even a touching television commercial all can bring us to this sublime, even holy, state of mind—and, ultimately, to greater kinship with our fellow humans.

But bittersweetness is not, as we tend to think, just a momentary feeling or event. It’s also a way of being, a storied heritage. Our artistic and spiritual traditions—amplified by recent scientific and management research—teach us its power.

Cain shows how a bittersweet state of mind is the quiet force that helps us transcend our personal and collective pain. If we don’t acknowledge our own sorrows and longings, she says, we can end up inflicting them on others via abuse, domination, or neglect. But if we realize that all humans know—or will know—loss and suffering, we can turn toward each other. And we can learn to transform our own pain into creativity, transcendence, and connection.

At a time of profound discord and personal anxiety, Bittersweet brings us together in deep and unexpected ways.

Whale in a Fish Bowl (Troy Howell)

 

Sometimes my class amazes me. When this story ended, there was quiet for a moment. Then one girl said, "That's kind of sad, really." They thought it was sad that she only knew her fish bowl and had no idea until she had escaped where she really belonged and how happy she'd be. My class also hoped she found a mate. 

And we LOVED the big fold out page that showed how high Wednesday had leaped when she finally escaped.

I love books that make kids think! We had a good discussion about zoos and other animals in captivity.

Goodreads says:

A moving, poetic story about a whale in captivity who longs for the ocean . . . because whales don’t belong in fishbowls, do they?

Wednesday is a whale who lives in a fishbowl smack dab in the middle of a city–it’s the only home she’s ever known. Cars whizz around her and people hurry past; even the sun and moon circle above. But if she leaps high enough out of her bowl, Wednesday can see it: a calm bit of blue off in the distance. When a girl in a paisley dress tells Wednesday “You belong in the sea,” the whale starts to wonder, what is the sea? Readers will cheer–and get all choked up– when, one day, Wednesday leaps higher than ever before and sets in motion a breathtaking chain of events that will carry her to her rightful home. Touching, and ultimately uplifting, here is a story about a lonely creature longing to be free–and longing to find someone just like her. 

The Dragon Thief (Zetta Elliott)

 

I reluctantly did this as a read aloud. We did the first book as a read aloud and it ended with such a cliff hanger that I gave in to reading the second one aloud. It ended up going over winter break though so it felt like it took us forever to finish it. Coincidentally, the 3rd book comes out on this very day! It's only in hard-cover though so we're going to have to wait...if only for the reason that I don't want to have the first two books in soft cover and then the third in hard cover! LOL I might take it out from the public library though and read it on my own. 

Dragons and magic are all really fun. In addition to that, I think this author does a good job of incorporating lessons and big topics without making it too pedantic or preachy. I will be able to find lots of reasons to refer back to it  for elaborative detail and stretching out a main event. It's a great book!

Notice and Note Signposts:

Theme: Belonging (p. 22)  Fitting in (p. 24)

Memory Moment: 

• Dad's death pp. 40-41

Again and Again

• Kenny/Jax - dads are absent

Words of the wiser

• p. 22 When you lose your home you lose part of yourself
• p. 24 Mumy says you can lose yourself if you try too hard to fit in
• p. 146
• p. 148

Contrasts and Contradictions

• p. 30

Ah ha Moment

Tough Questions

• p. 108 How To Handle Blue

Goodreads says:

Stealing a baby dragon was easy! Hiding it is a little more complicated.

Jaxon had just one job--to return three baby dragons to the realm of magic. But when he got there, only two dragons were left in the bag. His best friend's sister, Kavita, is a dragon thief!

Kavita only wanted what was best for the baby dragon. But now every time she feeds it, the dragon grows and grows! How can she possibly keep it secret? Even worse, stealing it has upset the balance between the worlds. The gates to the other realm have shut tight! Jaxon needs all the help he can get to find Kavita, outsmart a trickster named Blue, and return the baby dragon to its true home.