With the holidays fast approaching, we figured what better time to start thinking about books you can share with your team and your students. Whether it’s in a staff meeting, weekly email, class book reading, or for your own personal enjoyment, here are a few of our favorite books to read during the fall and winter holiday season!
Li’l Rabbit’s Kwanzaa is an adventure filled book about a little rabbit who takes off to find a treat for his ailing grandmother so she can celebrate Kwanzaa with the rest of the family! The illustrations are gorgeous, and our favorite part is the end of the book which is filled with two pages that describe even deeper about the holiday.
Most of us were probably raised setting out cookies and milk for Santa. In the book A World of Cookies for Santa, children can learn about the different cultures around the world and the types of things they leave as treats for the jolly old man. The best part? There are recipes at the end so you can make your own special cookies!
Duck for Turkey Day is a beautiful story about how what’s always been isn’t what always has to be. This story is about a young girl whose family has duck for Thanksgiving instead of turkey and how nervous she is to tell her friends! It’s a great conversation piece about the beauty when differing cultures and traditions collide.
Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day is a perennial classic, especially when thinking about the magic of experiencing something for the first time. Peter, the story’s main character, steps outside into the snow and into readers’ hearts as he makes his way through a snow-covered wonderland. We’re sure this picture book will fill hearts with its agelessness.
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May is a gorgeous nonfiction book about dealing with pain, heartbreak, and uncertainty. While there may be pieces suitable for students, we urge you to read and share this text with others, especially during these difficult times in education. May’s resplendent passages remind us of beauty and hope, but beyond that, she describes the power of retreat, of aloneness that gives us space to reconnect with ourselves and find our way back again.
The list could go on and on with books to introduce our students to characters they can learn new ideas from and connect back to their own experiences at the same time.
What’s a book you love to read during the holiday season? Share on social media and tag #WeLeadTX.
Todd Nesloney is TEPSA’s Director of Culture and Strategic Leadership. He is an award-winning educator, author and international speaker.
Travis Crowder, a National Board Certified Teacher, teaches middle school students in North Carolina. He co-hosts the popular podcast series “Sparks in the Dark” and is co-author of Sparks in the Dark.
