Two Engaging SEL Books You Can Read with Children This Summer | By: Committee for Children Have you been looking for engaging books to read with your children or your students? Here are two great ones to add to your book list, both from Free Spirit Publishing. F is for Feelings Children and students experience a wide range of emotions, and there is so much for them to learn about identifying, understanding, expressing, and managing those emotions. Build their feelings vocabulary with the book F is for Feelings, which gives children 26 different words to describe emotions, one for each letter of the alphabet. Students are invited to explore how they’re feeling while reading the book, which covers an array of both comfortable and uncomfortable feelings. The illustrations provide visual cues to facilitate dialogue about identifying feelings through body language and facial expressions. The guide for parents, teachers, and caregivers at the end of the book offers follow-up ideas for continued learning. It includes suggestions for modeling, processing questions, and simple activity ideas that take little time and could be integrated easily into daily activities. Try this book with one of your Second Step Early Learning weekly themes on Empathy, such as “Identifying Feelings,” “More Feelings,” “Identifying Anger,” or “Same or Different Feelings” or, because it’s appropriate for children ages 3–8, use it with the first or second grade Empathy Unit lessons. I’m Like You, You’re Like Me Do you have or work with children ages 3 to 8? If so, build understanding of individual differences, uniqueness, and perspective with the book I’m Like You, You’re Like Me. The captivating visuals and descriptions will help children learn about similarities and differences across multiple characteristics including physical traits, abilities, traditions, wants, and needs. It also complements the Second Step Early Learning “Same or Different Feelings” weekly theme and the “Same or Different” lessons in the Kindergarten–Grade 1 curricula. The pictures and images show that being different is okay and there are ways to accept one another despite those differences, such as by listening, being polite, taking turns, helping, and cooperating/playing together. The two pages for adults on talking with children about tolerance and respect will promote cohesiveness and positive climate in any environment. I would suggest reading this book multiple times since it addresses many different social skills on a high level, and each page gives opportunities for further probing, questioning, sharing, and fostering further discussion about valuing and respecting diversity. For more summer SEL reads, please see my other blog posts: Complement the Second Step Early Learning Program with the Our Emotions and Behavior Book Series Book Resources to Help You Enhance Early Learner Social Skills