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For years financial education experts have asked for our schools help to improve students’ understanding of money matters. Well today is no different! There are so many great books out there with the sole intention of giving kids a leg up on preparing for financial decisions from the everyday to the more complex. Here’s a list of books to help K-12 students with some basic financial skills that are- dare I say- fun as well as empowering.
Cowboys come in all shapes and sizes. There’s the lady-sheriff and the rest of the townspeople of Fiasco in Tales From Gizzard’s Grill by Jeanne Steig who have all sorts of adventures in this tall-tale-esque story. Ridin’ Dinos With Buck Bronco is another tall tale featuring a rancher who gets more than he bargained for with some strange eggs that turn out to be dinosaur eggs.
Catch a case of the cowboy sillies with The Toughest Cowboy by John Frank or the Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake. The visual humor and nuance of these books will have kids wanting to read these books again and again.
Cowboys aren't always boys, either. Erica Silverman has published four early chapter book so far about Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa, her horse. The newest title in the series is out this month: Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Rain or Shine.
Then there’s Cowboy Slim by Julie Danneberg. Slim wants to be a cowboy, but he writes poetry. What kind of cowboy writes poetry? At least, that’s what the other cowboys say, but little do they know the power of words.
Pair these titles with some great nonfiction to tie it all together. 
Try classics like Cowboys of the Wild West by Russell Freedman or Cowboy Country by Ann Herbert Scott for a look at life in the wild west that will fascinate your primary grades audience.
After spending time with quite a few bunny rabbits over the years I was pleased to meet Jonathan Allen’s Little Rabbit. Knuffle Bunny, Bunnicula, Little Bunny Foo Foo, Peter Rabbit, Roger Rabbit, Edward Tulane, Runaway Bunny, and Velveteen Rabbit never left me wondering “What sound does a rabbit make?”; The Little Rabbit Who Liked to Say MOO by Jonathan Allen did.
In the same style of computer animated artwork which brought to life Owl and Owly in I'm Not Scared! and I'm Not Cute!, Allen introduces us to Little Rabbit and his crew of farmyard friends.
With simple, large text, students in grades PreK through 1 can easily join in a shout-out-loud storytime. Readers will appreciate Little Rabbit’s individuality as he helps the other baby animals realize that they are not limited to their own language and can enjoy making other animals' sounds.
Why not keep the silliness rolling with another animal picture book? Lila Prap’s multilingual Animals Speak is a fun way to introduce how animals "speak" in other lands. And in this book, they speak 41 different languages including English, Afrikaans, Farsi, and Romany.
History hot off the presses!
Muckrakers by Ann Bausum takes us into the story of investigative journalism—sometimes called the “unofficial fourth branch of government”—and the reporters who used their medium to change America. History teachers covering the early twentieth century will want to use this book in their classrooms particularly for the more than 50 archival photos it contains. Pair this with War, Women, and the News by Catherine Gourley and Journalists at Risk by George Sullivan for a history lesson with a focus on journalism.
English teachers reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair or The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck with their classes may want to use Muckrakers to give students some historical context to these works of fiction that began with investigative journalism and ended with some big changes. Bring it all together by showing your students how words are still making a difference in the way we live our lives today with books like Fast Food Nation (or the adaptation aimed at young people, Chew on This) or An Inconvenient Truth.
“Singking in the sea
Of forgetfulness
I reach for the raft
of remembering.”
Wars might end, but they do not go away. Many try to forget what they have experienced and move on from there, but others, like Ibtisam Barakat in the poem above, have chosen to remember. To tell their stories. To inspire a solution for the conflicts that have touched their lives so painfully.
On that note, you might want to pair Barakat’s memoir with more books about the Middle East.
Or perhaps you can direct readers to other stories of war and conflict that may inspire them to come together for peace.
“The small girl
I once was
Sings out this story.”
To three-year-olds fear is darkness or strangers or thunderstorms. For three-year-old Ibtisam Barakat, fear was felt in every inch of her small body as her family had to suddenly evacuate as war broke out. She ran barefoot with her family, friends, and neighbors to safety, but in a time of such upheaval, she never really felt safe.
Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood tells of the fear of living in Palestine in the 1960’s from the perspective of a very young child who, at the time, had little knowledge of why her life was suddenly so different. The politics stay in the background of this memoir. Instead we focus on life—childhood, culture, language—in spare and moving prose that sheds new light on what it means to grow up surrounded by war. What it means to remember when everyone keeps telling her to forget.
View this book in the Tandem Library Books online bookstore.
Is your school celebrating Pi, the famous and beloved number, this week? Many classrooms take a break at 1:59 pm on 3/14 to acknowledge Pi, affectionately known as “3.14159.” Of course, there are those who have memorized decimals beyond that, but here at Tandem Insights we’re content to carry it to the standard five decimals. Math teachers aren’t the only ones with ideas on how to celebrate this special number! Schools are finding many creative ways to commemorate Pi, including Pi poetry, Pi webquests, and Pi trivia games. Looking for books about Pi and other interesting math concepts? Here’s a list of books to help you celebrate Pi Day.
It’s been a long, cold winter. Finally, longer days and brighter sunshine are heralding some warmer weather! The vernal equinox that officially launches the spring season isn’t till next week, but we’re ready to get an early start with these picture books about springtime.
In March of 1885, the newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer launched his second fund-raising campaign to help erect the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. The French government was prepared to donate the statue, but a pedestal needed to be built and the U.S. Congress had rejected a proposal to publicly fund it. You can discover the fascinating story behind the Statue of Liberty in Lady Liberty: A Biography. First-person prose poems give insight into the many people who were involved, from the French designers and engineers to the American contractors and advocates like Pulitzer who raised awareness of the project. Through the eyes of those who were there, readers learn how the massive statue was constructed and what its symbol of freedom meant to immigrants, then and now. A helpful timeline and bibliography will encourage readers to learn more. This book is a great picture book choice for older readers. View this book in the Tandem Library Books online bookstore.
The fourth season of Project Runway just wrapped up this week. To stave off any withdrawal symptoms, here are a couple fantastic fashion design books.
Fashion Design: The Art of Style by Jen Jones is a highly photographic, behind-the-scenes peek at fashion design and designers, past and present. And, taking a more in depth look at one designer, Vera Wang by Anne M. Todd delves into her design roots as well as what motivates and inspires her to create today.
Interested in becoming a designer yourself? Check out these two tomes. Trendsetter: Have You Got What It Takes to Be a Fashion Designer? by Lisa Thompson looks at just what the title asks. And get started yourself by transforming clothes you already have with the ideas in Sew Subversive: Down and Dirty DIY for the Fabulous Fashionista by Melissa Rannals.
Fashion can be fiction too. From the publisher of Gossip Girl comes Poseur by Rachel Maude. Four Hollywood Hills sophomore girls couldn’t be more different, so when a school class forces them together to create a fashion label, the sparks fly.
