Activity Guides for My Picture Books

Book Activities, Guides, & Extras

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• The Dorktails Storytime episode inspired by Fortune Cookies for Everyone!
• The Traveling Taco: The Amazing and Surprising Journey of Many of Your Favorite Foods
• We Sing From the Heart: How The Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court
• Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
• Sumo Joe
• Changing the Game: Asian Pacific American Female Athletes

 

The Traveling Taco: The Amazing and Surprising Journey of Many of Your Favorite Foods

• The Traveling Taco makes Reading Rockets’ Summer Reading Guide 2025!

Origami French Fries: Activity for THE TRAVELING TACO

I made a geography game using facts from The Traveling Taco.

Play it here:

We Sing From the Heart: How The Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court 

• ALSC Notable Children’s Book
• Orbis Pictus Recommended Book for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
• California Eureka Non-Fiction Award Honor Book
• Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner (from National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council)
• Junior Library Guild Gold Selection

Here is the music video of The Slant’s song, From the Heart. They wrote this song about their battle to trademark their band’s name. Why not start a book presentation off with this short video?

We created a podcast with Dorktales Storytime about Simon Tam.

Rock Band to the Supreme Court! Simon Tam, Hidden Hero of History | Dorktales Storytime Podcast EP99

• Free Activity Guide for Dorktales Storytime about Simon Tam. Go here.
• Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simon-tam-hidden-hero-of-history/id1527642350?i=1000673407584
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4MVtVmjHC8CwQcE6SXP821?si=4M055Z3EQSCMdhPbTFe7zw
• You can find all the other platforms via the icons on our website: https://jonincharacter.com/simon-tam/

A video version is here:

Simon Tam has many excellent TED Talks:

From ReasonTV: An Asian-American band takes the fight over its name all the way to the Supreme Court:

11 Picture Books about the Supreme Court

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World

• ⭐ Starred review from School Library Journal!
• Junior Library Guild Gold selection
• Massachusetts Book Award Long List
• dPICTUS 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023
• Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
• 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
• Green Earth Book Award Long List
• Nautilus Silver Winner, Nonfiction Children’s Picture Book
• Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids

Food for the Future Teacher’s Activity Guide.

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World Music Video

Sumo Joe

Bank Street College’s The Best Children’s Books of the Year

Sumo Joe Teacher’s Guide is on the Lee and Low website.

Sumo Joe craft round-up on PragmaticMom.com.

Sumo Joe easy sumo origami on PragmaticMom.com.

Sumo Joe Virtual or In-Person Class Visits.

Sumo Picture Books on PragmaticMom.com.

Changing the Game: Asian Pacific American Female Athletes

Changing the Game: Asian Pacific American Female Athletes Resource Page

Here are Slidedecks to my presentations:

NCSS Virtual Presentation: Farm to Table to Book

Anne Broyles, Nancy Castaldo, Antwan Eady, Maria Gianferrari, Lindsay H. Metcalf, and I were thrilled to present to NCSS via a virtual panel! A PDF of our slide deck including all our activities and resources are here.

How Stories Can Help Students Feel Brave and Take Risks – NCTE Boston Presentation

Every day, teachers ask students to be brave and take risks with both academics and social interactions. Sometimes, though, students doubt their own bravery. That’s where books come in — they’re the perfect medium to model courage in all forms. This panel will discuss books with brave characters, including kids who challenge stereotypes, battle mental illness, and fight monsters. Our slide deck with book lists is here.

NCTE 2023// Food: The Universal Language that Connects Us All panel

What’s a more universal experience than sharing a meal? Food brings people together, connects communities, and unites generations through tradition. In this moderated panel, four authors will discuss how food is a multidimensional cross-curricular topic that encompasses nonfiction, historical, and cultural texts, offers research opportunities, and engenders a love of reading.

Our presentation is here:

The slide deck is here:

NCTE23_ Food_ The Universal Language that Connects Us All

My books:

 Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

The Traveling Taco: The Amazing and Surprising Journey of Many of Your Favorite Foods

• Reading Rockets’ Summer Reading Guide 2025

 Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Fortune Cookies for Everyone! (Smithsonian): The Surprising Story of the Tasty Treat We Love to Eat

• Junior Library Guild Gold Selection

 Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants®  Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court

• ALSC Notable Children’s Book
• 2025 Carter G. Woodson Book Award Middle Level Honoree
• Orbis Pictus Recommended Book for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
• 2024 Julia Ward Howe Prize for Children’s Literature Winner
• California Eureka Non-Fiction Award Honor Book
• Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner (from National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council)
• Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year 2025
• Junior Library Guild Gold Selection

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World

• ⭐ Starred review from School Library Journal!
• Junior Library Guild Gold selection
• Massachusetts Book Award Long List
• dPICTUS 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023
• Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
• 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
• Green Earth Book Award Long List
• Nautilus Silver Winner, Nonfiction Children’s Picture Book
• Sunshine State Young Readers Award Orange Blossom List for Nonfiction
• Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids