In the midst of growing COVID-19 case counts, new PCR protocols, and school re-opening information, I found a little something that helped me stop the doom scrolling. Or maybe I created this little something … As I stood in line the other day for my booster shot, I sent out a tweet looking for some children’s book recommendations.

As we did last year, my teaching partner, Paula, and I decided to purchase a few special items for the classroom instead of buying individual holiday gifts for each of our kids. Our thought was that we could enjoy these items with the children in January when we return to school. Books are always great to enjoy together, and our students love artwork. Artists often inspire creations and storytelling in class, and we want to extend this into the new year. I was hoping that I might get a couple of good recommendations for new books to buy, but I was unexpectedly surprised with way more than that!

I think that this tweet sums things up!

We could have spent thousands of dollars with all of the wonderful book recommendations, and we know that we’ll be returning to this list of suggestions in the coming months. I hope that other families and educators can benefit from the ideas shared here and keep adding some of their own. The crowdsourcing doesn’t need to stop. If you need a break from all of the uncertainty and some of the scary, I hope that you can find a little peace and love in the midst of these books. They certainly bring me joy. What would you add to this list? After a holiday of reading many adult books, I’m happy to immerse myself in these children’s ones.