Bianca Teaches Acceptance

"Bianca Teaches Acceptance" is a character education book focusing on the character trait of acceptance. Bianca the butterfly, the main character of the book, sits outside the window of an inclusion classroom. In the beginning of the book, there is no color in the illustrations and Bianca is sad, crying and her wings will not flutter. This is as a result of the unacceptance the children are portraying towards the two students with disabilities. These two students are being teased because of their reading and math disabilities. As the story progresses, Bianca whispers in the teacher's ear the lesson on acceptance she must teach to all the students. The teacher, Miss M., has lunch with the two girls and they discuss what has been transpiring in the classroom. Miss M. decides to have a meeting with all the girls in the class. Miss M. explains that everyone has strengths and weaknesses while they are in school. Everyone then shares their weaknesses realizing that they are more similar than different. During this time color is slowly added to the book and Bianca's crying stops. Her wings then begin to slowly flutter because the girls are learning to accept each other. At the conclusion of the book and after all the students have shared their weaknesses, they feel more comfortable and are able to focus on learning again. Bianca then flies into the classroom creating a heart shape in the air with butterfly kisses for all to share. The last page is completely in color!

"Bianca Teaches Acceptance" is a 30-page picture book. It contains 25 illustrations. There is an additional page titled, "Teacher Notes." This explains the purpose of the illustrations starting in black in white and slowly making the conversion into full color. The teacher notes also provide a character list of the children and their different cultural backgrounds. There are 8 reproducible lesson extension worksheets which include story elements, sequencing and a writing assignment. The worksheets are also differentiated and aligned to Core Standards and Character Education Standards. This book is age appropriate for Kindergarten through 5th grade.

"Bianca Teaches Acceptance" was selected by the New Jersey Education Association as a featured book displayed and available for purchase at their annual conference located in Atlantic City in November 2018.