We Belong

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 FREE Activities

A digital graphic to copy, paste, and share	Downloadable, printable 18×24 poster	Group poem template with brief directions
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How the Book Began

Reviews & More

• Kirkus Reviews: “An upbeat, empowering celebration of human diversity.”
• Publishers Weekly: “Nuggets of practical wisdom appear throughout (“Sometimes we’d like to make sadness extinct,/ but teardrops and smiles are joined—they are linked”), supporting the book’s open-armed embrace of planetary togetherness and diversity in the human experience.”
• School Library Journal: “SEL: The Books Kids Need Most Now” “In rhyming verse—great for a read-aloud—Purdie Salas starts with easier concepts about the attributes people possess like “quiet” and “loud” and progresses to more challenging ones like skin color and gender identity. “It really ties in with social awareness, both recognizing strengths in others and demonstrating empathy and compassion,” Hinz says.””
• A Year (or More) of Reading with Gratitude with Vicki Palmquist: “You could use this book to teach compare-and-contrast but I hope first and foremost you will use it to offer hope and embrace a community of people who are each unique and valued.”
• Children’s Book Corner with Judy Bradbury: “We Belong celebrates humanity and our ability to make our small corner of the universe bigger and better and less intimidating.”
• Star  Tribune:  “an anthem to multiculturalism and inclusiveness”
• Lerner Books Blog: “Carol rejected the manuscript, but said, “I love, love, love those two stanzas of rhyming verse you wrote for…”
• Blissfully Bookish: An interview for writers, including (gulp) marketing advice.
• Pioneer Press: “…a rollicking picture book that teaches kids they belong”
• A Word Edgewise: “What new book begins with the word, WELCOME! and includes perhaps the most diverse illustrations of children in any picture book I’ve read in a long, long time and ends with the words, YOU ARE ENOUGH? I’ll tell you.”
• Reflections on the Teche: “I love that it’s full of literary elements that make writing stronger. When we read good writing, we become better writers. The theme is set up by the title, but inside, the book is full of surprises.”