New books to accompany Wonder by RJ Palacio

Have you read Wonder?  Better yet, how could you not have read Wonder?  It is such a great book with such a great message.  Wonder has so much material in the story for great discussions with students.

Well, RJ Palacio has written two more books to accompany Wonder.  

365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Brown's Book of Precepts

In Wonder, Auggie's teacher, Mr. Brown, is always sharing quotes with his students (which he calls precepts) and asking his students to gather quotes as well. In 365 Days of Wonder, Mr. Brown explains some of his philosophies as a teacher in a section for each month of the year as well as reflecting on some of the events from Auggie's first year at Beecher Prep. Mr. Brown also gives a quote for each day of the year.  This book would make a great follow up to reading Wonder.  You could discuss Mr. Brown's point of view on events from Wonder.  You could discuss individual quotes and their meanings, as well as applications to the story and applications to your student's daily lives.

One of my favorite strategies for incorporating journal writing into my classroom is also to use quotes as writing inspiration.  Well, this book is amazing.  Now, you have a collection of 365 quotes that could easily be pulled into journal writing ideas or even put the book in a writing station/center for writing ideas.

Julian's Chapter

RJ Palacio has also written a short ebook called  The Julian Chapter.  It is the bully's point of view on Auggie's year at Beecher Prep.  This ebook would be such a great follow up to Wonder to discuss point of view, forgiveness, and even discussions of bullying in general.

Have you read them?  If not, you should!

Also, if you are interested please follow my personal blog where I am sharing about my experience and dinner ideas for the paleo diet and Whole 30 at Balancing the Backpack.

Bibliotherapy: Using Literature to help Kids Deal with Social and Emotional Issues

Have you ever heard of bibliotherapy?  Bibliotherapy is something I learned about since I started working on my PhD in Gifted Education.  It is the use of literature to help kids deal with social and emotional issues.  Kids (and even adults) are able to learn about life and how to deal with difficult circumstances through the catharsis they experience with characters. You can use picture books or novels.

If you want to learn more about Bibliotherapy, one of the best resources is to read Some of my Best Friends are Books by Judith Halstead. I read the book and keep going back to it.

Tonight I am giving a talk on Bibliotherapy (as a graduate student) by suggesting different books that can be used to help gifted kids deal with issues that are common to giftedness, such as perfectionism, isolation, social skills, empathy, developing imagination, valuing differences, etc. I look forward to sharing some blog posts as well with suggestions of picture books and novels that could be used for some of these different issues.

The idea of "some of my best friends being books" is something I can definitely relate to.  As a kid, I was an only child, very mature for my age, and we moved a lot.  I liked being by myself, but I also always struggled with feeling lonely and making friends.  I always loved (and still do) finding great series to read.  I loved really getting to know a character well because those characters really were my friends and became very real to me.  Bibliotherapy could be used with all kids, but it is especially appropriate for gifted kids because so many of them often are prolific readers.

You can click HERE to see my Pinterest board for Bibliotherapy where I am pinning books to use for different issues. Have you ever used a picture book or novel to help a student deal with an issue?  If so, what are some of your favorite books?