Books to inspire children

With world book day approaching I thought I would share 5 of our favourite books at fireflies that are used to inspire and promote positivity in amongst the children.

The goodnight stories for rebel girls/ The boys who dare to be different series
This series of books are children’s book packed with 100s of stories about the life of 100s extraordinary people from the past and the present, illustrated by artists from all over the world. These books feature people from Harvey Milk to Cleopatra. These stories encourage children to push boundaries and be themselves. It allows children a chance to learn about inspiring people and seek to gain understanding and knowledge of the world.

Along came a different
In this book the Reds love being red. Yellows love being yellow. And Blues love being blue. The problem is that they just don’t like each other. But one day, along comes a different colour who likes Reds, Yellows and Blues, and suddenly everything starts to change. Maybe being different doesn’t mean you can’t be friends …
This book works on promoting the view that our differences shouldn’t be what divides us we should look beyond those and see what unites us and get along.

The bear and the piano
A bear stumbles upon a piano in the woods. As time passes, he teaches himself how to play the strange instrument, and eventually the beautiful sounds are heard by a family who are picnicking in the woods. The bear goes with them on an incredible journey to New York, where his piano playing makes him a huge star. He has fame, fortune and all the music in the world, but he misses the friends and family he has left behind. A moving tale of exploration and belonging encouraging the children to be persistent in chasing their dreams and the importance of friendships.

Oh the places you’ll go
This book discusses the independence and choice children have in life and encourages them to have positive relationships with their own journeys and the adventures they will have. This book discusses the fun times and triumphs, as well as the not so good hard times. Oh the places you’ll go actively encourages us to have independence and resilience as we go through life’s journey. The children love the rhyme and rhythm this book has, whilst also valuing the importance of it’s message.

DigiDuck
These books are used frequently in school to encourage online safety and knowledge about the use of social media and its impacts on others. This book is one we use to initiate conversations and thoughts about the internet. It follows a duck who gets given some difficult situations and has to work out the best way to fix this through a “christmas carol” style experience. This book is now part of a series tackling other online issues and is strongly advised to help manage those difficult conversations.