Bruno’s Hat by Canizales

Many of the books for children about bullying tend to focus on the bully or the victim and very rarely come from the viewpoint of the bystander.  As teachers and parents, we teach kids how to stand up for themselves, how to ask for help, and hopefully, how to be a kind person. But do we spend enough time teaching kids how to stand up for their friends?  If you’re looking for just that type of resource, let me introduce you to Peter and his best friend Bruno.

Peter and Bruno play together everyday and are very best friends.  But one day, Sergio makes of Bruno’s weird hat and Peter doesn’t know what to do.  Should he help Bruno? Should he try to be cool like Sergio and not a weirdo like Bruno?  Instead of helping Bruno, Peter makes the choice to do nothing which really hurts Bruno’s feelings.  Luckily mom always knows best and with a quick phone call for a playdate, Peter and Bruno are back on track to being best friends. Thanks to Bruno’s mom, both boys have a weird hat and that makes them cool.

With simple language and engaging illustrations, Bruno’s Hat is a wonderful story to help children learn how to be a good friend.  If you are interested in furthering the discussion with your child, you can check out www.flyawaybooks.com for a downloadable guide.  

If you would like a copy, you can get one, and help support the site, here:

Full disclosure time:  Thank you to Flyaway Books for the advanced copy of this book.  All opinions are my own.

Ambitions

Most of the 2018 Rebecca Caudill Master List.

Last week, I finally put in the order for the 2018 Rebecca Caudill books I didn't already have on the shelf. Every one of these books looks amazing and now my TBR has been increased, again.  

Rebecca Caudill was an award winning children's author.  Born in Kentucky in 1899, she became a well-educated teacher and writer, earning a bachelor's degree from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia and a Master's degree from Vanderbilt University.  Her first published children's book went on to become a Junior Library Guild selection.  

Each year schools, teachers, students, school librarians and media specialists and public librarians nominate books to be evaluated by the Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award Evaluator's Committee.  Those nominations are then whittled down to the 20 book Master List that is released each year.  There are many rules about what books can be nominated, such as publication dates, the person nominating the books has to have read it, and all books must appeal to children in grades 4-8.  

While re-shelving last year's books to make way for the new, I noticed several repeat authors.  I have more reading to do before I commit to how I feel about that.  Diversity in authors is always welcome-in fact, it's necessary for a well curated collection.  

It's my goal to read through the entire 2018 Master List this year.  You'll see my favorites in Chick Picks as they get read.