Community-Building Books for the New School Year

Grounded in Research: The Responsive Classroom framework reminds us that a positive classroom community is safe, inclusive, and where every child experiences belonging and significance through respectful interactions and equitable discipline. Similarly, Sarah Valter wrote “Collaboration and Community in the Writing Workshop,” a comprehensive look at the research basis for the importance of creating a writing community. Sarah cited the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse (2018), which recommends key practices: teachers participating as writers, offering student choice, encouraging collaboration, facilitating meaningful feedback, and extending publishing opportunities beyond the classroom walls.

Community Matters More Than Ever: A writing community does more than develop skills; it fosters motivation, builds authentic audiences, and nurtures joy in writing. When students feel safe and valued within a classroom writing community, they are more willing to take creative risks, write with honesty, and share openly. Building these connections during the first six weeks of school sets the stage for a year full of vibrant writing growth and meaningful collaboration.

Use Picture Books to Foster Belonging: Children’s literature serves as a bridge, introducing themes of friendship, diversity, and resilience that mirror the classroom communities teachers hope to build. Picture books, in particular, provide entry points for students to see themselves and others as vital members of a thoughtful community. Through shared reading and discussion, teachers invite students to connect personally while embracing diverse perspectives.

This Year’s Newly Published Picture Books: To spark conversations and community-building at the start of the 2025-26 school year, I’m sharing three brand-new, compelling picture books that celebrate friendship, connection, and inclusion:

Putting It Into Practice: Consider incorporating these titles into your read-alouds to create a writing community. You can use the themes to discuss the value of writing choices, respectful feedback, and collaboration. As always, model your own writing life and routines for your students to show them that you are a member of the classroom writing community.

Fall Is For Beginnings, written by Rajani LaRocca and illustrated by Abhi Alwar (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2025), honors the excitement and sometimes tricky feelings of new friendships at school, reminding us that beginnings can be both challenging and hopeful.

How You Can Use It to Build Community: Use this book to spark conversations about the feelings around meeting new classmates and navigating changes, which many kids experience. The story’s theme of adding leaves to a classroom tree for each new experience or risk taken can become a shared classroom ritual, symbolizing growth and community. This encourages students to celebrate each other’s milestones and supports a sense of belonging and encouragement as writers try new things.

Look Inside:

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This Is How We Talk: A Celebration of Disability and Connection, written by Jessica Slice and Caroline Cupp and illustrated by Kayla Harren (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2025), invites readers into a world where communication and connection transcend traditional boundaries, encouraging empathy and collaboration.

How You Can Use It to Build Community: This book highlights diverse communication styles and the power of connection beyond typical norms. It can be used to foster empathy and understanding by acknowledging different modes of expression. Teachers might invite students to share about their own unique ways of communicating or collaborating, opening up the classroom to multiple perspectives. This validates all students as valued members of the writing community and emphasizes that everyone’s voice matters in meaningful dialogue and feedback.

Look Inside:

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Together, United, written by Tami Charles and Bryan Collier (Orchard Books, 2025), illustrates the strength found in unity and collective power, inspiring young writers to consider their own role in community.

How You Can Use It to Build Community: You can use this text to highlight how writers benefit from working together, sharing ideas, and supporting one another. Together, United encourages young writers to recognize they’re part of a bigger community, where each person’s ideas and efforts come together to create strong and meaningful writing pieces.

Look Inside:

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The Bottom Line: Building a strong writing community from day one lays the foundation for student growth, motivation, and joy. When every child feels valued, respected, and connected, writing becomes more than skill-building—it becomes a shared journey. Using thoughtful strategies and meaningful literature, teachers can create classrooms where diverse voices thrive, collaboration flourishes, and writers take confident risks together. This sense of belonging is the key to unlocking each student’s fullest writing potential.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION: You can win four picture books—Fall Is For Beginnings (Abrams Books for Young Readers), This Is How We Talk: A Celebration of Disability and Connection and This Is How We Play: A Celebration of Disability and Adaptation (Dial Books for Young Readers), and Together, United (Scholastic)—thanks to the generosity of their publishers.

To enter, comment on this post by Friday, August 29th at 11:59 p.m. EDT. One winner will be randomly selected and announced by Tuesday, September 2nd. You must have a U.S. mailing address and provide a valid email. The publishers will ship the books directly. The winner will receive an email titled “TWO WRITING TEACHERS – 4 COMMUNITY BOOKS” and must reply with their mailing address within five days or a new winner will be chosen.

Congratulations to jaywtucker whose commenter number was selected. He’ll win all four books.