Windows and Mirrors

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Windows and Mirrors

Windows and Mirrors

Our booklist

Windows and Mirrors is a list of suggested books for children aged four to seven that represents the diversity of our world.

Our list gives:

  • windows into the lives of all children 
  • mirrors for children’s own lives. 

We include books that help children establish their place in the world, books where all children – especially those from underrepresented groups – get to be the main protagonist in a story.

Windows and Mirrors is updated regularly.

View a printable list of the Windows and Mirrors booklist.

Windows and Mirrors is now interactive!

If you have the School Portal, you’ll enjoy discovering the best books using our interactive booklist – now with the power to search, filter and share. 

The engagement factor

All books on our booklist engage children, both emotionally and intellectually. They: 

  • elicit a response – excitement, interest, curiosity, empathy 
  • have a strong narrative structure and intriguing illustrations 
  • extend vocabulary 
  • connect with something that children already know. 

 

Maryanne Wolf says: 

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“Emotional engagement is the tipping point between leaping into the reading life or remaining in a childhood bog where reading is endured only as a means to other ends.”

Booklist themes

Themes include:

  • family and friendship
  • exploring feelings
  • kindness and community
  • our planet
  • change and bereavement
  • moving home or country
  • the power of speaking up. 
teacher holding up a book

Our inspiration

Windows and Mirrors is inspired by the work of Professor Rudine Sims Bishop. Her 1990 article “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors” shares the importance of all children seeing themselves reflected in what they read.

 

Farrah Serroukh says:

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“To find a fragment of yourself in the pages of a book is a profound and powerful experience; it holds a mirror up to your existence and suggests that you’re not alone. For children in their formative years, this is life-affirming.”

Book cover of A Shelter for Sadness

Shelter for Sadness by Ann Booth and David Litchfield

A little boy decides to create a safe space for his sadness. Sometimes he talks to it, sometimes it wants to be alone. The sadness can be small or big, can lie down or sit, can be loud or quiet. Sometimes it wants to be on its own. And that is okay.

book cover for smalls big dream

Small’s Big Dream by Manjeet Mann and Amanda Quartey

Small is… well, small. Her shoes, her bed, her everything. But her dreams are big! She dreams of ‘scaling the largest mountain, sailing across the oceans, shooting off into space’. Despite people telling her to keep her head down, she reaches for the sky. Dream big and anything can happen.

Smile Out Loud by Joesph Coelho and Daniel Gray-Barnett

Who loves poems? Me! This book has silly poems, funny poems and ones to make us smile. ‘A song is sung with my little tongue. I tell the truth with my little tooth.’ Poems to say with your friends, your teacher, in the playground or at home. Maybe, you’ll even write one of your own?

New!

Book cover of So Much

So Much by Trish Cooke and Helen Oxenbury

Everyone who visits, loves the baby. They want to squeeze him, love him, kiss him. The big boy cousins want to wrestle him and laugh with him. A book full of the hustle, bustle and joy of family life with words children can’t fail to join in with!

Something, Someday by Amanda Gorman and Christian Robinson

Something, Someday by Amanda Gorman and Christian Robinson 

Sometimes the world can feel broken and we feel alone. If you find a friend, maybe you can fix things together? Maybe you fix something small that changes something big? ’Something that makes you feel hopeful, happy and loved’. With friends, community and hope we can make the world a better place.

Book cover of Speak Up!

Speak Up! by Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola

Rocket loves going to the library. When she finds out it will close, she decides to speak up. This little girl has a lot to say. She rallies her friends to have a peaceful protest – ‘like Rosa Parks did!’ A story full of energy, the power of using our voices and the importance of… books.

Book cover of Strong Like Me

Strong Like Me by Kelechi Okafor and Michaela Dias-Hayes

Everyone has things that makes them special; Kamara is strong and can run fast. But sometimes being special makes her sad. A boy calls her a show-off; some girls accuse her of always winning. She finds out there are different ways to be strong and that we should all… stay strong!