5 Heartwarming Books for Elementary School Kids
I love books. I’ve always loved books ever since a little girl. I love opening up the pages with our kids and sharing a new perspective and worldview. Especially as the kids start to get older (and our parenting job is less of dirty diapers and more about raising good humans) I look to story to help me be a better parent.
It doesn’t have to be just bedtime. Recently we have been listening to more audiobooks on the way to afterschool activities. Roadtrips during the pandemic flew by with a captivating story. Here are a few of our recent favorites.
This beautifully written and illustrated graphic novel about 2 boys in a refugee camp in Kenya. It opens up a worldview of having so much (love, family, and community) when you have so little (food scarcity, a plastic bag for a “soccer” ball). Great themes of family, gender equality, resilience and grit. My little one read it 4 times.
We listened to this one as an audiobook. A little boy has an imaginary friend in times where his family struggles with homelessness and financial troubles. These are tough topics to experience for anyone, especially through a child’s eyes. The imaginary friend helps to frame them. So beautifully. "Tell the truth to the person who matters most. You."
Other books we loved by this author: One and Only Ivan, One and Only Bob.
Jude is an 11 year old from Syria who moves to the US due to violence and unrest in her home country. It’s a story about assimilation, of holding on to your roots while finding new ones. It’s about coming of age. There is beautiful verse and voice in this book. I highly recommend it!
Grace Lin masterfully weaves Chinese folktales and storytelling into a little girl’s adventure. This was our “gateway book” to the other books in her series. We have read some of them aloud and some of them as audiobooks. All very well done.
If your kids like magic and music, this book is for you! A mashup of Harry Potter like themes of going to school to learn a craft intertwined with magic and mystery. We listened to the audiobook on a roadtrip and the music was great too.
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