Choosing picture books that represent a diverse range of characters and worldviews is essential for every home and classroom. Here is a list of my 5 favorite books this month and some recommendations for reader response practice with each text! I have personally read all of these books with my almost three-year-old son and my first grade students. We own them all and they are favorites in our home that we read over and over again!

My set of 12 reader response (printable & Google Slides) pages is available in my Teachers Pay Teacher store (click this link to check them out). I am also providing you with a free sample of a few of my favorites if you click the link at the bottom of this blog post!

I Believe I Can by Grace Byers

This sweet text is perfect for a lesson on growth mindset in the classroom. It’s also a great book for any home with young children! It encourages children to keep trying even when things are hard. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, but you will succeed if you believe in yourself! This book lends itself well to discussions about the central message of the story and the author’s purpose.

We Are Family by Patricia Hegarty

As a transracial adoptive family, finding diverse representations of families is very important in our home. This book features families going about their everyday lives. The illustrations are beautiful and the main idea is that families are always there for one another. In a classroom setting, it provides a great opportunity for young learners to make text to self connections between the book and their own families!

Speak Up! by Miranda Paul

Speak Up! is one of the newest additions to my home! The text discusses the importance of speaking up for things that you believe in and speaking up for others. The author gives so many examples of different ways that you can use your voice. It is a great discussion starter in the home and the classroom!

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt De La Pena

I’ve loved The Last Stop on Market Street for a long time! First of all, the illustrations are so fun and colorful. Second, the storyline is a great example of how a character can grow over the course of a story. You will fall in love with CJ and his grandma (and all of the fellow passengers) as they ride the city bus to the last stop on Market Street!

Sofia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty

The final book on my list of favorites this month is Sofia Valdez, Future Prez. I love all of the books in this series by Andrea Beaty and it is such a great text for this time in our country. As I write this, we are a week into President Biden’s presidency and this book does such a great job of explaining how anyone can achieve great things with the help of his/her community! I love that the message also lends itself to discussions of why someone should become president or why we would choose someone as our president. A president is someone who seeks to serve and make our country a better place for everyone and that’s exactly what Sofia does in the story!

I hope that you enjoyed my 5 Favorite Picture Books for January 2021!

To get a free sample of my reader response graphic organizers, click this link!

FREE SAMPLE: Reader Response Graphic Organizers