Today's post is from Momentous School second grade teacher, Brenda Ortega. 


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Helping children make sense of violence in the world is one of the hardest things an adult must do. Why is there violence? What can we do to prevent it? How can we make the world a better place? These are all questions children (and adults) grapple with.

For more information on how to have these conversations with children, see this post.

If you’re looking for resources to talk to kids about violence and what we can do to make the world a less violent and more peaceful place, consider these four books. While not all of them are about gun violence and none are explicitly about mass shootings, they can still offer insight into the emotions that children may be experiencing. 

Come with Me by Holly H. McGee


This book is about violence on the news and one family’s response to make the world a better place.

 

The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld


This book is about how we don’t always want to talk about feelings, but it is important to have someone who can listen and help express feelings in different ways.

 

After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) by Dan Santat


This book talks about the aftermath of Humpy Dumpty’s fall and his determination to overcome his fear and get back up again.

 

The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade by Justin Roberts

This book shows kids the importance of paying attention to normalized violence, naming it and speaking up against it. It can help teach that if something is broken in our society, they have a responsibility to make noise – no matter how small or powerless they feel.

 

While talking about violence is never easy, we hope these books can help. All of these have several read-aloud versions on YouTube if you'd like to review the book or play it for children.  

 

(We pulled some of these suggestions from Books for Littles, which also has lists for a variety of other topics, such as race, covid, workers rights, immigration and more.)

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