Chrysanthemum
This book tells the story of a little mouse named Chrysanthemum. Chrysanthemum loves her name, but as soon as she starts attending school, she realizes that not everyone loves her name as much as she does. Chrysanthemum gets picked on because her name is so long, and each day she feels worse and worse about her name until she starts to dislike it herself. One day in music class, the music teacher overhears the girls picking on Chrysanthemum. The teacher interjects that she loves the name, as she is also named after a flower. When the girls see the teacher accept Chrysanthemum, they stop picking on her, and instead give themselves their own flower names.
This would be another good book to read to foster classroom community. The teacher can make it known that our differences make us unique, and that that is something to celebrate. This book could be a good math integration for younger students. Students can count the letters and in their name, and use that number to do other math problems.
AR Level 3.3
