10 SEL picture books to read about Building Relationships

Social Emotional Learning ( SEL) is a popular and much needed way to teach students about emotions.  SEL helps students to better understand their emotions and the emotions of others.  By doing this it helps students develop empathy, make good decisions, and build on relationships with others.  There are so many amazing books that have been written over the years that focus on many Social Emotional Learning topics. 

There are five components of Social Emotional Learning:

1. Self-awareness: Knowing and being aware of how your emotions can impact your behavior.  
2. Self - Management:  Controlling your emotions, thoughts and actions in situations.
3. Social Awareness:  To be aware of others around you in your school, neighborhood and community.  Recognizing differences in others backgrounds and cultures and being able to understand them and to act with empathy and respect towards others.
4. Relationship Skills:  Being able to build and keep relationships with people of various backgrounds.  This includes listening to and speaking with others, solving conflicts peacefully and knowing when to ask others for help. 
5. Making responsible decisions:  Knowing how to act and make decisions in situations taking ethics and others into account before making a decision. 

Relationship Skills:  Building Relationships:

1. “Being Friends with Dragons” by Katherine Lock:  This book teaches kids about ways to be a friend.  Just like dragons, sometimes we are good friends and sometimes we are not.  I love the illustrations in this book as they include a variety of children of cultures and abilities.

2. “Help!  A Story of Friendships” by Holly Keller:  When Mouse hears that his friend Snake is dangerous he is worried.  He is so distracted that he falls into a hole and gets stuck.  Who will be able to help Mouse get free?

3. “Swimmy” by Leo Lionni: Swimmy is the only black fish and searches for some friends after losing his friends to a BIG fish.  He soon finds some friends who are scared of the BIG fish.  The new friends work together to come up with a plan to avoid the BIG fish.

4. “The Invisible String” by Patrice Karst:  This book is about the invisible string that we have with those who love us.  That way, we will always have those we love close by, even if we are far apart in distance.  I love the lesson that love is in our heart and invisible strings can connect everyone in the world and no one is ever alone. 

5. “Making Friends is an Art” by Julia Cook:  Making friends is hard for brown pencil.  He learns lessons from the other pencils on how special he is and on how  to be a good friend.

6. “The NOT so Friendly Friend”  by Christina Furnival: A new girl at school is so nice and becomes friends easily with others.  However, there is one girl that she cannot seem to make friends with no matter how much she tries. She decides to set boundaries and tells the other girl she will not play with her if she is not going to be nice.  This book models  for children how to deal with those who may not be kind and how to build true relationships with those who love and care for you. 

7. “Nerdy Birdy” by Aaron Reynolds:  Nerdy Birdy tries to make friends but no one wants to be friends with him.  He is so grateful to find a group of friends just like him. When a new friend comes  no one wants to be friends with her.  Nerdy Birdy remembers how lonely it is to have no friends and even though they don’t have anything in common they became friends.   

8. “The Adventures of Beekle:  The Unimaginary Friend” by Dan Santat:  When Beekle’s new friend doesn’t arrive, he sets out to the world to find his friend. He is so excited when his friend arrives and they set out on many adventures together. 

9. “Max and Bird” by Ed Vere:  When Max and Bird meet he is not sure whether to eat bird or help teach him to fly.  Since neither of them know how to fly, they work together to learn. Will Max and Bird become friends or will Max eat Bird?

10. “Rumor Has It” by Julia Cook:  This book is all about rumors and how they can have a negative effect on friendships.  If you hear a rumor, change the subject or walk away.  Read this book to see how rumors can hurt the relationships you are trying to build.

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