The Misfits

The Misfits is written by James Howe.

Juvenile Novel

5th Grade & Up

4 out of 5 

The Misfits is about four misfit students who start a 3rd party for their school student council elections to represent all students that have ever been called a name.

I really enjoyed reading this book because the plot was both touching and realistic. I think the plot was good because the author did not have the students just win; I think this was important because it is important for readers to understand that they do not need to come in 1st place to actually win. The plot and characters were both very developed. The characters were really developed and I was able to get to know and connect to everyone of the members of the Gang of Five. I was able to understand who they were and what their values were by their actions. I think it is an easy book to relate to because I am sure that everyone has gone through name calling and can understand how to feels to be judged by something about them. I also liked this book because it was very easy to read and understand even with it jumping from a narrative from the viewpoint of Bobby to a script of what happens at The Forum.

I think that this book would be a great boo to use in the classroom because it confronts a very important topic in school today, bullying. This book would be great to help students understand how it feels to be called names. Also, it would be great for students who may get called names to understand that they should not let it bother them and overcome it. This would be a great book for class discussion and great for students to get to know another. One activity that may be interesting to do is to have every student anonymously write down a name they may have been called in the past and place it in a cup then to go read through the names and have students listen and think about or write about how they would feel being called these names that others have been called.

Jacqueline Woodson

Jaqueline Woodson is a great author. She is the author of several award winning books for children and young adults. I really enjoyed reading her book, Hush, and also learning about several of her other books. From the experience I learned that she many of her books confront topics such as interracial relationships, losing a best friend, a disconnect from a motherly figure, and memories. Hush was about a African American family in which the father was a cop in an all white precinct. The House You Pass on the Way also had an interracial relationship with a African American and white marriage. Losing a best friend or loved one from the past was also a theme in several; in Hush Evie was forced to leave her best friend, Lulu. Another theme in many of her books was the character finding themselves. In her books she talks about memories many times; I think that by doing this she has the character talk about the memories so that they stay memorable. Several of her books also jumped from past to present or skipped time and did not show certain parts; I liked this part of her writing because it left some wonder to the story. 

A Rainbow of Friends

A Rainbow of Friends is written and illustrated by P.K. Hallinan.

Multicultural Picture Book

Kindergarten - 2nd Grade

3 out of 5

All friends are special and should be valued no matter their differences.

I think that this book was fairly okay. The plot was not very exciting but because it had a good moral to the story I still liked it. I think that it was good to read because it is important to remember how special each and everyone of my friends are and to appreciate their differences. It was an easy and fairly fun read because it is written in verse with many rhyming lines. This book had several examples of multicultural topics, such as, clothing, personality, intelligence, views, interests, etc. I like that it gave many examples of differences people can have but said that everyone should me treated like they are not different and all loved. I also liked that the characters were drawn to represent several different ethnic and racial backgrounds as well as different traits like hair color, body type, etc.


This book would be a good addition to the classroom because it teaches a lesson that all students need to remember and practice. It teaches about several differences that people may have. However, it does not teach about all the differences. Therefore, a fun activity to do would be to have each student make a book about their friends and their friends differences and why the appreciate these differences.

Whoever You Are

Whoever You Are is written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Leslie Staub.

Multicultural Picture Book

Kindergarten - 2nd Grade

4 out of 5

Although everyone around the world are very different they still share many emotions and events that bring everyone together such as, love, joy, and pain.

I like this book because it is a book everyone can relate to. I was able to relate to the feelings portrayed in this book, such as, pain, joys, laughs, because myself and everyone else feels these. I think this book is laid out in a way which makes it really easy to read; the font is large and the pages are not overcrowded with text. I really loved the illustrations. I like how just from the illustrations I am able to see where the people are from and how different their life is from mine. The illustrator also did a great job representing people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds. I also like the illustrations because each page is bordered in a intricate, beautiful gold and gem border. This book has a great multicultural perspective. It has several multicultural topics including race, work, lifestyle, school, language, environment, etc.

This book would be great in a primary elementary classroom. There are many topics you could teach young children about, including all the multicultural topics it discusses. These topics are important to teach students about because they are subjects they will face in everyday life and should now what is important to them about themselves and also that different cultural topics should be valued and understood. A mini-lesson that you could do in the classroom is to have the students make their own page to add to the book that says "_____ is the same", for example, "Smiles are the same". This activity will show what students have learned about different people and how they still have many similarities.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace is written by Mary Hoffman and illustrated by Caroline Binch.

Multicultural Picture Book

2nd - 3rd Grade

5 out of 5 

Grace's classmates say that she can not play Peter Pan in the school play because she is black and a girls. Grace finds out that she can do anything she puts her mind to.

I really enjoyed this book. I love the plot because it has a good moral, that you can do anything you set your mind to. The author also captured the amazing imagination young children have. You are able to connect with Grace through her imaginative adventures, struggles, triumphs, and excitement. The illustrations are beautiful. They are detailed and the characters are drawn with such great variety and uniqueness. I love that her classmates are illustrated as students of different ethnic and racial backgrounds. Amazing Grace addresses a couple great multicultural topics. Two multicultural topics it addresses are race and gender. These topics are both able to be overcome by Grace. They are both addressed when her classmates say that she can not play the part of Peter Pan due to these factors. I think it is great that she is able to get cast as the part of Peter Pan. This demonstrates a good lesson, that a person should not be judged because of factors like these, that they may not be able to control.

I think that Amazing Grace would be a great book to use in a classroom because it addresses multicultural topics which are important for students to understand. It is important that they learn that they can not judge people based off these ideas. Another idea that you could teach using this book is that you can do anything that you put your mind to. You could use this book to intrigue children's imaginations and creativity by creating a play or writing about imaginary play they are involved in.

Bootsie Barker Bites

Bootsie Barker Bites is written by Barbara Bottner and illustrated by Peggy Rathmann.

Picture Book - Bullying Perspective

1st - 3rd Grade

2 out of 5 

Bootsie Barker only wants to play games in which she can bite, until her friend makes up another game.

I think that this book is fairly funny because Bootsie Barker only wants to play her way. I also thought it was funny because I think most little girls at her age can relate because they like to play the games that they want to play and not what their friends want to play. The main thing that I did not like about this book is the resolution to the bullying. I wish that the bullying would have had a better lesson. Bootsie Barker's friend made up a game in which she was the mean one and in charge in order to stop Bootsie's bullying.

I do not think that this book would not have a good place in the classroom unless you were teaching about the perspective of bullying. This would not be a good book because it teaches students the wrong way to resolve bullying.

Horton Hears A Who!

Horton Hears A Who! is written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss.

Picture Book

2nd - 4th Grade

5 out of 5

Horton Hears A Who! is about an elephant, Horton, who hears a town of people living on a speck. He works to save this town and convince the rest of the Jungle of Nool that it the people are real.

I love this book and always have! The plot is very cute and keeps the readers attention the whole time through. Throughout the whole story you never lose sight of the reason of the book, Horton trying to save the speck. Another reason I think this book is great is because it rhymes. This makes it fun to read because it has a good rhythm. The illustrations in this book are amazing. They are black and white with bright colors. The characters are drawn with such great detail and imagination. Horton Hears A Who! has a great moral to the story. Horton says several times, "A person's a person, no matter how small." This little line has so much meaning. Horton believes in this line and it teaches the reader to never look past someone no matter who they are or where they come from.

This book would be good in a classroom just because of the moral it provides. There is a movie based off the book that is also classroom appropriate. I think you could do several writing activities involving this book. You could have students write about a time they may have followed Horton's motto or a time that they did not and should have.