#1

A Day With No Words is written by Tiffany Hammond and illustrated by Kate Cosgrove. This book is the winner of the 2024 Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award and a New York Time's #1 Bestseller. This contemporary realistic fiction story is about a young boy named Aidan with autism. The young boy pays very close attention to how other people speak. He talks about how some voices are like air, while other voices are like water. He notices that some voices are big like storms, while other voices are soft and smooth like freshly whipped cream. Aidan notices the differences in voices as he himself does not speak, he uses a tablet to help with his communication needs. The author brings to light that nonverbal communication is a type of communication. People who use verbal communication to relay their thoughts and feelings also rely on nonverbal communication throughout their day. Aidan also shares some things he appreciates doing that others may not understand. A Day With No Words is written from the little boy’s perspective which gives the reader an opportunity to understand what it is like to live as a nonspeaking individual. This book brings to light that not every child is exactly the same and neurodiversity is something that can be celebrated.

I would highly recommend this book for kindergarten through 3rd grade students. This book offers a small glimpse into the life of a nonverbal autistic child. It helps the reader develop an awareness and empathy for someone who may seem different from themself. It also offers an opportunity for children with autism to see themselves as a main character in a story. I also really appreciated the illustrations, they offered an opportunity for the reader to understand better what the main character was thinking and how he was feeling throughout the story. I also really appreciated the small symbols of peace and love within the tattoos on the fast food worker’s arm. I feel like that reiterates to us, the reader, that our differences make us unique and that we have so much more in common than meets the eye.

This book would offer a great opportunity to brainstorm nonverbal language we use throughout our day; body language, pictures, gestures, facial expressions, writing, etc. Our classroom and communities are very verbal places but there are also a number of ways we communicate in nonverbal ways. The author also uses many similes throughout the book, “Daddy’s voice is like air, soft as a light summer breeze that kisses my cheek, strong as the winds of hurricanes that abandon ships at sea.” Perhaps this could be a way to introduce similes. You could have the students listen to sounds or voices and they could think of a simile that describes the sound or voice.

Swim Team by #1 New York Times bestselling author, Johnnie Christmas, is a graphic novel about a young girl who takes on a new home, new friends, and a daunting new sport. It has been the recipient of many awards, including the National Book Award Longlist, Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, BCALA Literary Award Winner, Black-Eyed Susan Award, Maud Hart Lovelace Award, Yellowhammer Award, and Jane Addams Book Award Honor. Bree, the main character, reluctantly joins “Swim 101” after all other elective classes are full. From there, she must face her fears of the water as she also navigates new friends and some new not-so-friendly classmates. As we follow Bree on this journey, we learn about the historic segregation and oppression Black Americans faced as they fought for the right to swim in public pools and beaches and how spirit, determination, and community can be the missing puzzle-pieces to success. I’m a “newbie” when it comes to reading in the graphic novel format, but I really enjoyed how the illustrations (which were stunning, by the way) propelled the plot forward as much as the text. Swim Team would be a wonderful book for readers age 9-13. I would teach this in a fifth grade monolingual or linguistically blended classroom to do a genre study on graphic novels and the use of color and light in the illustrations to demonstrate mood of the story. It would also be a great fit for teaching theme, as there are several clear themes that students would resonate with in the text.