Here are 100 books that A Moon for Moe and Mo fans have personally recommended if you like
A Moon for Moe and Mo.
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Growing up in an Iraqi Jewish immigrant family in Sydney, Australia, meant that I was always different, without the words or emotional tools to navigate the world around me. Luckily, I was a reader, and so I learned through books Social Emotional Learning (SEL) tools to deal with anxiety and loneliness and develop qualities of empathy, bravery, and the understanding that we don’t have to be the same but can celebrate our cultural and personal differences. Reading with children is a wonderful opportunity to enter their worlds whilst building their social and emotional skills, such as managing emotions, problem-solving, and creating positive relationships.
This is one of my favorite books about how to deal with fear. Fear is such a natural emotion, and sometimes it can be really intense; I loved how Francesca Sanna introduces Fear as a cute character, which children and adults can both relate to.
I know what it’s like to be a new kid in a new country, so when Fear grows so big that Fear overwhelms the little girl and takes over, I really felt for her. Of course, bravery is called for to overcome Fear and make friends with a new boy. For me, the most reassuring message was that the new friend also has his Fear character, who he carries with him, as we all do.
A beautiful tale of conquering fears and spreading empathy from award-winning author and illustrator Francesca Sanna.When a young girl has to travel to a new country and start at a new school, her Fear tells her to be alone and afraid. How can she hope to make friends if she doesn't understand their language?
A heart-warming and relevant new tale from the bestselling author and illustrator of The Journey, this book shows us the importance of sharing your Fear with others - after all, everyone carries a Fear with them, even if it's small enough to fit into their pocket!
I am a teacher, a mom, a bubbe, and a writer. I taught elementary school and college courses, directed a daycare, and owned a children’s bookstore, but my favorite job is scribbling words on paper. I have two grown children and four wonderful granddaughters who love to listen as I read to them. Many of my ideas come from my experiences with my granddaughters and from their questions. Our family and friends are a mix of religions and cultures, and most of my books reflect the importance of diversity, acceptance, and knowledge.
Even though this book is really for adults, I am recommending it to parents because I love to have meaningful conversations with my kids and grandkids.
This book helps me answer their hard questions on race, God, sex, punishment, gender, and truth. The author, Scott Hershovitz, also suggests ways I can keep our conversations flowing with questions like: What do you think? Why do you think so? Can you think of any reasons you might be wrong?
'Witty and learned ... Hershovitz intertwines parenting and philosophy, recounting his spirited arguments with his kids about infinity, morality, and the existence of God' Jordan Ellenberg, author of Shape
A funny, wise guide to the art of thinking, and why the smallest people have the answers to the biggest questions
'Anyone can do philosophy, every kid does...'
Some of the best philosophers in the world can be found in the most unlikely places: in preschools and playgrounds. They gather to debate questions about metaphysics and morality, even though they've never heard the words, and can't tie their shoelaces. As Scott…
I am a teacher, a mom, a bubbe, and a writer. I taught elementary school and college courses, directed a daycare, and owned a children’s bookstore, but my favorite job is scribbling words on paper. I have two grown children and four wonderful granddaughters who love to listen as I read to them. Many of my ideas come from my experiences with my granddaughters and from their questions. Our family and friends are a mix of religions and cultures, and most of my books reflect the importance of diversity, acceptance, and knowledge.
As Good as Anybody is the story of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Martin Luther King, Jr. grew up in the south and experienced racial discrimination.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel was born in Europe and experienced anti-Semitism. These two men formed a close friendship. They marched together and prayed together. They became leaders for social justice and acceptance.
I am recommending this book because it is a wonderful story about two men who tried to break the barriers of race and religion.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel. Their names stand for the quest for justice and equality.Martin grew up in a loving family in the American South, at a time when this country was plagued by racial discrimination. He aimed to put a stop to it. He became a minister like his daddy, and he preached and marched for his cause.Abraham grew up in a loving family many years earlier, in a Europe that did not welcome Jews. He found a new home in America, where he became a respected rabbi like his father, carrying a message of peace…
I am a teacher, a mom, a bubbe, and a writer. I taught elementary school and college courses, directed a daycare, and owned a children’s bookstore, but my favorite job is scribbling words on paper. I have two grown children and four wonderful granddaughters who love to listen as I read to them. Many of my ideas come from my experiences with my granddaughters and from their questions. Our family and friends are a mix of religions and cultures, and most of my books reflect the importance of diversity, acceptance, and knowledge.
I am recommending this book because it is a great story of friendship. It also captures the atmosphere in the South after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.
Joe and John Henry are best friends and do everything together. When the two boys, one black and one white, want to swim in the town pool, they discover that even though a law was passed to allow everyone to swim together in the same pool, there are people in the town who don’t want to follow the law. They want blacks and whites to stay separate.
I love the way Joe stands up for John Henry. At the end, we see a more positive future as Joe and John Henry walk into the General Store together. This book is a great conversation starter.
Two boys—one black, one white—are best friends in the segregated 1960s South in this picture book about friends sticking together through thick and thin.
John Henry swims better than anyone I know. He crawls like a catfish, blows bubbles like a swamp monster, but he doesn’t swim in the town pool with me. He’s not allowed.
Joe and John Henry are a lot alike. They both like shooting marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim. But there’s one important way they're different: Joe is white and John Henry is black, and in the South…
I am a teacher, a mom, a bubbe, and a writer. I taught elementary school and college courses, directed a daycare, and owned a children’s bookstore, but my favorite job is scribbling words on paper. I have two grown children and four wonderful granddaughters who love to listen as I read to them. Many of my ideas come from my experiences with my granddaughters and from their questions. Our family and friends are a mix of religions and cultures, and most of my books reflect the importance of diversity, acceptance, and knowledge.
I am recommending this book because I love books that feature different cultures and different abilities.
This book has minimal text, so the illustrations carry the message. I love reading this book to my grandkids and talking about how people are different and the same, from noses to feelings to the clothes they wear.
I also love the Sesame Street characters in the illustrations.
Who better than Elmo and his Sesame Street friends to teach us that though we may all look different on the outside-deep down, we are all very much alike?
Elmo and his Sesame Street friends help teach toddlers and the adults in their lives that everyone is the same on the inside, and it's our differences that make this wonderful world, which is home to us all, an interesting-and special-place. This enduring, colorful, and charmingly illustrated book offers an easy, enjoyable way to learn about differences-and what truly matters. We're Different, We're the Same is an engaging read for toddlers…
Growing up in an Iraqi Jewish immigrant family in Sydney, Australia, meant that I was always different, without the words or emotional tools to navigate the world around me. Luckily, I was a reader, and so I learned through books Social Emotional Learning (SEL) tools to deal with anxiety and loneliness and develop qualities of empathy, bravery, and the understanding that we don’t have to be the same but can celebrate our cultural and personal differences. Reading with children is a wonderful opportunity to enter their worlds whilst building their social and emotional skills, such as managing emotions, problem-solving, and creating positive relationships.
This is such a cute, read-a-loud rhyming book about Kevin the Koala, who is frightened of change. I relate to how Kevin just wants to stay safe in his gumtree and never ever leave, but when his world literally collapses he has to face his anxieties.
It’s fun rooting for Kevin as he overcomes his anxiety, and I really felt the joy that comes with such courage and understanding that not every day has to be the same to stay safe. If Kevin can overcome his anxieties and leave his tree, then so can we.
I also particularly love the Australian animals who encourage him along the way and make Kevin’s coming down from his tree so worth it.
A funny rhyming story about dealing with change and overcoming worries, from the bestselling creators of The Lion Inside.
In a wonderful place, at the breaking of dawn, where the breezes were soft and the sunshine was warm, a place where the creatures ran wild and played free ... A Koala called Kevin clung to a tree.
Meet Kevin. A koala who likes to keep things the same. Exactly the same. But sometimes change comes along whether we like it or not... And, as Kevin discovers, if you step outside your comfort zone and try new things, you might just…
Growing up in an Iraqi Jewish immigrant family in Sydney, Australia, meant that I was always different, without the words or emotional tools to navigate the world around me. Luckily, I was a reader, and so I learned through books Social Emotional Learning (SEL) tools to deal with anxiety and loneliness and develop qualities of empathy, bravery, and the understanding that we don’t have to be the same but can celebrate our cultural and personal differences. Reading with children is a wonderful opportunity to enter their worlds whilst building their social and emotional skills, such as managing emotions, problem-solving, and creating positive relationships.
This book made me laugh out loud at the primal truth of two cavemen competing for who is the best—from cave size to fire burning to towering show-off technological feats that quickly spin manically out of control.
I really appreciate the message that to develop as a human species, we need to share and celebrate our resources together. I return to this book, which is written so simply and powerfully with wonderful illustrations, again and again with kids because it’s a hilarious reminder that mindless competition just leads us back into the cave. I want my kids to know that we can all be the "best" together.
Two cavemen desire the best of everything! But will their competitive games make them happy in the end?
Inch and Grub are two exquisitely hairy and competitive cavemen. Grub's cave is bigger, and he says that makes him the best. So Inch adds a water feature to his cave. But Grub has made fire! So Inch makes a chair. And a house. And a car. Grub, meanwhile, has accumulated a castle and a train and a radio! And so the contest spirals and spirals to ever ridiculous heights ... until they each have a HUGE wobbling mountain of stuff! From…
Growing up in an Iraqi Jewish immigrant family in Sydney, Australia, meant that I was always different, without the words or emotional tools to navigate the world around me. Luckily, I was a reader, and so I learned through books Social Emotional Learning (SEL) tools to deal with anxiety and loneliness and develop qualities of empathy, bravery, and the understanding that we don’t have to be the same but can celebrate our cultural and personal differences. Reading with children is a wonderful opportunity to enter their worlds whilst building their social and emotional skills, such as managing emotions, problem-solving, and creating positive relationships.
I know what it is to be shy, so I love that No Longer Alone gives voice to some of the things a child who isn’t speaking up or joining in other kids’ games is thinking and feeling. Sometimes, we think shy kids are just shy, but really, they have a whole world going on inside them.
Through this picture book’s thoughtful prose and delightful pictures, I feel invited to understand the depths of children’s hearts and how they deal with loss. It serves as a reminder to me that it’s important to help my kids process their inside thoughts with their outside behaviors.
A new picture book from award-winning performance poet, Joseph Coelho.
This touching picture book subtly deals with big emotions such as loss, with an uplifting and hopeful message about being yourself and the importance of family and talking about worries.
Told through the voice of a little girl who is labelled as quiet and shy, No Longer Alone follows her tumult of emotions as she navigates the world around her. But when she finally shares her feelings and tells her Dad all the things that are worrying her, she no longer feels so alone.
The blue-collar everyman lives on the periphery, coming and going with little fanfare. But what does he think and feel? How does he view the world? I became interested in these questions while working for my father’s rug business. I started as a part-timer in the early 90s, straddling the line between academe and the homes of the rich. He employed me for the next twenty years, supplementing my income as I found my way as a university professor. The books listed led me to a deeper appreciation of my father’s vocation, but only in writing Rug Man did I come to understand the true meaning of work.
Published the same year as John Steinbeck’sThe Grapes of Wrath, di Donato’sChrist in Concrete is another closely drawn portrait of working-class immigrants, this time the Italian-American bricklayers of New York City’s Lower East Side.
On top of its lyricism and spirited narrative pace, what I find most refreshing about di Donato’s tale is its choice of subject matter. So much of what we read and hear about the Italian-American experience tends to focus on the Mafia, perpetuating negative stereotypes that have dogged paisans since the late 19th century.
While I’ll never be the one to turn off Goodfellas, I long for more stories like that of Geremio and his irrepressible son, Paul, “born artists of brick and mortar.”
Giving voice to the hardworking Italian immigrants who worked, lived, and died in New York City shortly before the Great Depression, this American classic ranks with Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath as one of the 20th century’s great works of social protest.
Largely autobiographical, Christ in Concrete opens with the dramatic Good Friday collapse of a building under construction, crucifying in concrete an Italian construction worker, whose death leaves his pregnant wife and eight children impoverished. His oldest son, Paul, at just twelve years old, must take over his father’s role—and his job.
All my books, for adults and kids, include the theme that things are seldom what they seem. I link this to the slow realization when I was young that my family had an uncommon history. Novels featuring spies go deep into this theme, as a good spy is always manipulating their environment and presenting versions of themselves that may or may not be true. When my own children were little, we read so many of these novels. That reading is what inspired the Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls series.
I love how Georges and Safer are relatable. Their friendship has ups and downs and tensions that resonate for young readers.
Middle school is challenging! The realism extends to Georges’s family and the challenges he faces at home. But this story is driven by the mystery of Spy Club and Mr. X. Important themes of friendship, empathy, and self discovery are flawlessly woven into the expert storytelling. I read this in one sitting!
When Georges moves into a new apartment block he meets Safer, a twelve-year-old self-appointed spy. Soon Georges has become his spy recruit. His first assignment? To track the mysterious Mr X, who lives in the flat upstairs. But as Safer becomes more demanding, Georges starts to wonder: what is a game and what is a lie? How far is too far to go for your only friend?
Winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
'A joy to read' Independent
'Rebecca Stead makes writing this well look easy' Philip Ardagh, Guardian
