Picture books offer the high school student and their classroom opportunities for deep enrichment. They can be sophisticated materials that tease controversial topics, experiment with artistic expression, and tell marginalized stories. At the CRLS library we house some of the best of this format. Below are ten recommended titles with prompts for lesson ideas. There are many more to be discovered.
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James
#personalnarrative #poetry #ownvoices
A Different Pond by Bao Phi, illustrated by Thi Bui
#marginalizedstories #mentortext
Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
#exampleofexcellentwriting #conversationstarter
They Say Blue by Jillian Tamaki
#pointofview #imagery
Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young
#fables #pointofview #criticalthinking
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
by Jerry Pinkney
#traditionalstorystructure #folktales #villains
Harlem by Walter Dean Myers and pictures by Christopher Myers
#history #thegreatmigration #significantplaces
Moon by Alison Oliver
#selfcare #zenbooks
Out of Wonder by Kwame Alexander
#poetry #tributes
A Hungry Lion or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals by Lucy Ruth Cummins