The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Garden is about a young boy dealing with the loss of his father after the 2011 earthquake/tsunami disaster in Japan. This book is not necessarily JUST for elementary students, but it is accessible to young students so I'm sharing this here.
This book deals with loss, dispair, resiliance, and hope. I think it's messages are terribly important and relevant to our students (of ANY age) today.
While the story of Makio and his father, and Mr. Hirota, is fiction, the book is based on a true story:
Reuters article: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-fukushima-anniversary-telephone-idUSKCN2AX03J
NHK video-article: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/documentary/20210307/4001232/
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_phone
YouTube video of the book being read: https://youtu.be/_p0Qjf2YJ7g
I haven't created a lesson plan for it, but I think having a discussion with students about what the phone booth (or phone itself) represents could be interesting and touching. I would want to ask what other items they know of (or maybe have themselves) that serve a similar purpose.
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