The New Girl...and Me by Jacqui Robbins has a lot going for it. Great, humorous, illustrations by Matt Phelan, a school story kids can relate to, and an important message for everyone. Shakeeta is new kid in class, and her teacher Ms. Becky said to make sure that everyone makes her "feel at home." Mia does not understand how somebody can feel at home while at school, and Ms. Becky responds that is a phrase we use when we want to make someone feel comfortable and welcome. Well, the students don't exactly make her feel welcome when someone calls her a name and then the whole class laughs. Then she's not allowed to play soccer with the other children, and a boy tells her she looks like an iguana.
Mia really wants to get to know Mia, but she doesn't know how. But she takes the first step and asks her about her iguana, and asks if she needs help tying her shoes. It gets the two talking, and they get along great and begin to laugh and play together. Before you know it, Shakeeta is inviting Mia over to her house to see her pet iguana.
After the story I asked the first graders what they thought it meant to "feel at home," and they came up with some great responses of what home feels like: safe, comfortable, loving, having family around, (even having siblings to argue with). We talked about ways that we could be welcoming to new students in our school, and they came up with such thoughtful responses as "show them around school" and "ask them to play even if they were being too shy to ask." Some of our new students this year said they felt welcomed by the students in their classes and by the entire school with the "Welcome" signs on the first day of school. That's why we love BSS!
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