The Rare, Tiny Flower is a beautifully produced picture book that explores themes of difference, divisiveness, tolerance, and unity as well as the agency of children through a thoughtful parable told in rhyming verse and accompanied by deeply felt illustrations.
This rhyming poem features a mysterious flower in the midst of a forest that appears as a different color to each viewer, which leads to escalating strife as everyone insists that their vision is “right.” World leaders and even botanists are unable to agree on the nature of the flower, and declare war as a way to resolve the conflict. It takes the vision and bravery of a young girl to point out that the flower is, in fact, quite multi-dimensional. Remarkably, she has the ability to be heard by the squabbling masses, who then see beyond their fighting and begin to rebuild bridges of communication and commit to connecting with one another and respecting varying points of view.
Kitty O’Meara’s thoughtful poem includes people realizing and voicing this important lesson:
“Maybe there are
other colors to see;
what’s lovely to you
could be lovely to me.”
Some questions to ask your child about The Rare, Tiny Flower:
- Why are the people arguing over the colors?
Is it ok to have a different opinion or POV from others?
Can you think of a time when you did not agree with a friend or family member? How did you resolve your disagreement?
How did the girl bring the community together?
What does it mean when the authors says “when hearts come together kindness can grow”
What lesson does this book teach us?
- How were the people being reflective at the end of the book?
Join Zero on his math adventure as he discovers his place through multiplication. Zero is lonely in Digitaria. He can't play Addemup with the other numbers because he has nothing to add. All the other numbers seem to belong and they all have a place, but when zero discovers multiplication he thinks he might have a place there. He sets out to find King Multiplus who also is curious about what will happen when Zero gets thrown in the mix. With math and wordplay A Place for Zero is the perfect introduction to multiplication and number placement. A playful way to make math less intimidating and more fun to explore.
Enjoy June's Math Book of the Month and ask your child(ren) to work with you to solve one of the math problems below:
First Grade: Sam has 4 apples. He does not eat any apples today, but tomorrow he plans to eat 2 apples. How many apples does he have after tomorrow?
- Second Grade: There are 5 birds on a tree. No new birds come, and 2 birds fly away. How many birds are still on the tree?
- Third Grade: In a classroom, there are 6 students' backpacks. None of the backpacks are missing, but 3 students decide not to bring their backpacks today. How many backpacks are left in the classroom?
- Fourth Grade: A bakery made 8 cupcakes early in the morning. By the end of the day, no cupcakes are left unsold. If the bakery didn’t sell any cupcakes today, how many cupcakes did they sell?
- Fifth Grade: In a school library, there are 10 books about math. Zero of these books are missing or checked out. If the librarian places 5 more math books on the shelves, how many math books are now available?
