Yesterday was World Read Aloud Day, and books were being read aloud throughout our building. All revolved around kindness as part of our month-long Read Across America celebration. (More about last week’s kick-off here.)

I started the day in Kindergarten, where I read Philip D. Stead’s utterly charming A Home for Bird.  If you have not seen this tale of friendship, kindness, and determination, read it as soon as possible.  The kids loved the book (they clapped when I finished reading), and had many insightful observations about Vernon’s kindness.

You can read Horn Book’s starred review here and learn more about Stead’s creative process at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

After lunch, I headed to first grade with Ame Dyckman’s Boy + Bot, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino. The kids were mesmerized by this story, another gently humorous tale of friendship, kindness, and determination. Everyone thought having a robot for a friend would be a very good thing.

Anita Silvey recently shared her thoughts about Boy + Bot on Children’s Book-A-Day Almanac and Kirkus said “Dyckman’s debut offers pitch-perfect pacing…”

Finally, I went downstairs, where teachers in grade 4-8 were reading Wonder, by R.J. Palacio, to their students.

It was a wonderful day of reading at our school. Sharing these books offered lots of opportunities to talk about kindness. Hopefully, our reading and discussions throughout the month will help our students remember to always

Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this Slice of Life Challenge!