What I Read to My Girls Yesterday + BIG Monthly Book Giveaway

A while back I shared that some days I read lots of books to my girls, and other days... none at all. Yesterday was one of the many-books days. The girls have come down with colds (what’s with all the springtime colds this year, seriously?!) so we had a pretty low-key evening. Before I post June’s paid subscriber giveaway (the picks this month are awesome—I’m so excited!), I thought I’d share the books we read together. If you only want the giveaway, scroll to the very bottom.

Here are six of the titles we enjoyed yesterday. There were others, but they didn’t make it into the photo—I was lucky to get a picture at all, considering my toddler was using the books as stepping stones and makeshift chairs. Note: This post contains affiliate links.

Our Strongest Day: A Story About Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
This one was a Little Free Library find picked out by my daughters. Self-published titles aren’t usually my go-to, but I really enjoyed learning about this condition I knew very little about—and so did my daughter. The title refers to each new day being “our strongest,” since the muscles of people with DMD get weaker over time. It does a great job offering examples of accommodations, like swapping a basketball for a lightweight beach ball. I just looked up the book and discovered this is a family’s true story.

A Bandage for Miss Elaina
It’s a Daniel Tiger story—I haven’t seen the episode, but I imagine it exists. In this one, Miss Elaina gets hurt and is given a white/light tone bandage, which upsets her because it doesn’t match her skin tone. So she, Daniel, and her mom visit a local factory and make bandages that match her skin perfectly. The story encourages kids to notice when something isn’t fair and take steps to change it. In my classroom, we had Tru-Colour bandages. This brand was created to represent all skin tones in bandages.

The Boo-Boo Book
We read this one right before The Boo-Boo Book! I thought it was a coincidence but now I’m thinking my daughter probably sought it out. This book is fun and practical! It includes 36 reusable bandage stickers in a bunch of patterns—and in multiple skin tones, too. The premise is pretty straightforward: it teaches kids how to clean and care for a boo-boo, and walks through a few examples with characters following those steps. The last step is always to put on the “adhesive bandage” (aka sticker). I think this one is sold out now, but there's a very similar version still available.

Shark Feels Shy
My one-year-old brought this one over, and while she loved the bold illustrations, my newly five-year-old actually paid closer attention to the story. It’s show-and-tell day at an underwater school, and Shark feels too shy to present alone. With the help of his teacher and classmates, they come up with a solution that helps him feel comfortable sharing. I liked that it wasn’t just a “be brave and do it” message. This is part of the Emotion Ocean series, which I’m pretty sure was designed for schools and libraries—but we like it!

This Is My Body: I Get to Choose
This one’s from Little Feminist, which consistently publishes phenomenal, progressive titles for kids. We’ve been reading their books since my eldest was a baby. This particular title encourages bodily autonomy, while also acknowledging that sometimes grownups have to make choices kids don’t like in order to keep them safe. One of the characters is even reading Hair, another Little Feminist book—which I love. (Lovevery does this too, with their books and toys as props—it’s always a fun detail.) The topics/themes can be pulled into all of the books we read yesterday. For example:

• Should Shark (or any other student) be forced to give a presentation when they are afraid? (NO.)

• In Our Strongest Day, how do the boys’ doctors respect their bodily autonomy?

• How did Miss Elaina’s family respond when she said no to the white bandage?

• And so on…

The Scooter Twins
After reading about mobility scooters in Our Strongest Day, we were reminded of The Scooter Twins and had to pull it out again. In it, twins Mel & Mel use mobility scooters to help them navigate a health condition. It seems their parents have died, and they’re living with their grandmother. The book raises thoughtful questions about accessibility, the assumptions people make about someone’s abilities based on their appearance, and the disconnect between how someone feels inside vs. how they act on the outside. We read it over dinner, and afterward my daughter said she wanted to read more books about disability.

I’m excited to see what titles my kids bring me next. Whenever they choose the books, our conversations always seem to be richer. There is power in autonomy when it comes to raising readers!

Alright, without further ado, here is June’s paid subscriber giveaway:

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