TL;DR: Empowering Students with Picture Books

🎯 What it is: Using picture books to empower student creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking
📚 Why it matters: Builds voice, confidence, SEL skills, and classroom community
🚀 What’s inside: 5 creative projects inspired by Carmen Oliver and the Picture This podcast
🧰 Includes: Step-by-step activity ideas, bonus book tie-ins, and a free printable pack

Note: I’ve included an amazon affiliate link for each book mentioned below, but I always recommend shopping at your local independent bookstore whenever possible.

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1. Mascots Make the Best Reading Buddies

Empowerment Skill: Ownership of Storytelling
Inspired by: Bears Make the Best Reading Buddies by Carmen Oliver

Overview:

Kids love mascots. They love books. Why not combine the two and make their mascot the star of a book written by them? When it comes to empowering students with picture books nothing beats leaning into what they already love!

Instructions:

1. Read: Bears Make the Best Reading Buddies aloud.
2. Ask silly questions: “Does a good reading buddy jump up and down?” (No.) “Does it pull your hair?” (Also no.)
3. Brainstorm: What does make a great reading buddy? Kindness? Quietness? Book-holding ability?
4. Swap the character: Have students write and illustrate their own version based on your school mascot. (Ex: “Jaguars Make the Best Reading Buddies.”)
5. Bind the stories: Collect everyone’s pages into a class book. Publish it. (Stapler = printing press.)
6. Celebrate: Host a launch party. Bonus points for cupcakes.

Bonus Tie-In Books (Last 5 Years):

• School Is Wherever I Am by Ellie Peterson (2023)
• My First Day by Phung Nguyen Quang & Huynh Kim Lien (2021)

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2. Build an Orchestra of Hope

Empowerment Skill: Problem-Solving and Public Speaking
Inspired by: Building an Orchestra of Hope by Carmen Oliver

Overview:

Turn recyclables into instruments, stories into soundtracks, and shy students into confident presenters. This is STEM, SEL, literacy, and public speaking all in one trash-powered bundle.

Instructions:

1. Read: Building an Orchestra of Hope.
2. Challenge: Students must build an instrument from trash that:
   • Makes at least 2 different sounds (pitch/frequency)
   • Can play a basic rhythm or melody
3. Document: Write a how-to explaining the materials and building process.
4. Present: Students share their instrument and play a tune for the class, followed by a short speech.
5. Extend: Connect to global studies by exploring Paraguay, where the real-life story originated.

Bonus Tie-In Books:

• Ada’s Violin by Susan Hood (2016 but still gold!)
• The Brilliant Deep by Kate Messner (2018)

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3. Five Senses Poetry Wall

Empowerment Skill: Sensory Awareness and Descriptive Writing
Inspired by: The Twilight Library by Carmen Oliver

Overview:

Poetry, and rhyming stories, are a great, fun way of empowering students with picture books. Build a sensory-rich poetry wall that starts with a game and ends with a powerful understanding of how to write with feeling.

Instructions:

1. Read: The Twilight Library.
2. Review the five senses: Sight, sound, taste, touch, smell.
3. Play the Game:
   • Create slips of sensory words (e.g., “smoky,” “crunchy,” “silky”).
   • Students draw one and sort it into a sensory category.
4. Write: Using the words they pulled, students write a simile-based sensory poem.
   • Ex: “Smoke smells spicy like a ghost pepper.”
5. Display: Create a bulletin board or “poetry forest” in the hallway with everyone’s work.

Bonus Tie-In Books:

• Night Wishes by Lee Bennett Hopkins (2020)
• I Am Smoke by Henry Herz (2021)

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4. Perspective Through a Knothole

Empowerment Skill: Empathy and Point of View
Inspired by: Student-driven narrative prompts + any book with strong visual imagery such as I Don’t Draw, I Color by me, and illustrated by Felicita Sala.

Overview:

Empathy and SEL are key ways of empowering students with picture books. A writing/art combo that helps students shift perspective and tell stories through someone else’s eyes—real or imagined. Remember, picture books aren’t just fun—they’re powerful tools for building empathy and student perspective. As Edutopia explains, these stories help students connect to others emotionally and culturally.

Instructions:

1. Set the stage: Ask students to imagine peeking through a knothole in a fence.
2. Prompt: What do you see? Who sees you? Is it a spider? A raccoon? A lonely kid? What’s the world like from their point of view?
3. Write: A descriptive paragraph or short story in first-person POV.
4. Optional Art Extension: Illustrate what’s beyond the fence.

Bonus Tie-In Books:

• Mel Fell by Corey R. Tabor (2021)
• The Tree in Me by Corinna Luyken (2021)

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5. Picture Book Debates & Book Trailers

Empowerment Skill: Critical Thinking + Creativity + Media Literacy
Inspired by: The idea that every book is a conversation starter. Try Warning Do Not Open This Book or the sequel, Please, Open This Book both by me, and illustrated by Matthew Forsythe.

Overview:

Let students champion (or comically trash) their favorite picture book in a debate—or sell it Shark Tank-style with a book trailer. If you need help choosing the right tools, Common Sense Education’s guide breaks down the best options for student-created book trailers and digital storytelling projects.

Instructions:

Option A: Book Debate

1. Choose two picture books (or let the class vote).
2. Split into teams: Pro vs. Con.
3. Prep arguments: What makes this book worthy? What could be better?
4. Present: Hold a formal debate (bonus if kids take on character personas).

Option B: Book Trailer

1. Pick a favorite book.
2. Write a 30–60 second script.
3. Record or animate a trailer using simple tools (Flipgrid, Canva, iMovie).
4. Screen and vote for class favorites.

Bonus Tie-In Books:

• Vote for Our Future! by Margaret McNamara (2020)
• What If, Pig? by Linzie Hunter (2021)

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Why This Works: Empowerment > Worksheets

These aren’t just “activities.” They’re experiences that give students:

• Ownership of their voice
• Opportunities to publish or perform
• The chance to see books as bridges, not endpoints

Picture books don’t just teach—they empower. They say, “You matter. Your ideas matter. Your voice matters.” And even better, these activities align with research-backed strategies for SEL instruction. Reading Rockets recommends using children’s literature to build empathy, reflection, and communication skills—all core to each of the activities in this empowering students with picture books post.

And when we give kids the tools and permission to create from that space? Watch out. You may just be publishing your very first class anthology or witnessing a hallway concert of cardboard ukuleles.

So, what’s your next read-aloud going to spark?

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🎁 Want these activities in downloadable form? Grab the free printable activity pack and more from the Picture This Classroom Resource Library at the FREE Teachers Guides Page.

🎧 And if you missed it, catch the full episode with Carmen Oliver on the Picture This podcast—because trust me, the bear jokes are even better when she tells them.