• 2 · Explore the collection

    Find a book. Follow a question.

    Browse 17 book portraits across six thematic perspectives, including two freely readable Book Dash titles. Open a book’s detail view for teaching proposals, access considerations, reflection prompts and source links.

    Search: use a title, creator or tag such as belonging, agency or listening. Advanced search lets you choose a primary focus and combine it with a tag. Clear the filters to return to all books.

    Collection status: eleven titles come from the original project shortlist and six are suggested additions. The two worked commercial-book models were prepared from copies available for review; their scan-based review label does not mean that a PDF is provided. Follow their scene descriptions using your own authorised copy. Two Book Dash additions can be read in full online. These labels describe provenance and review scope, not demonstrated classroom effects.

    Browse with a purpose

    1. Choose a question about your learners: belonging, responding to feelings, taking action or imagining change.
    2. Shortlist two books and compare the access they offer.
    3. Open the source link and obtain the complete book through your library or another legitimate source.
    4. Use the analysis framework in the next section to justify your choice.

    Publisher ages and school grades describe their markets; they are not EFL proficiency levels. The year-group suggestions in this collection are planning starting points.

    Two freely available picturebooks

    Start here if you do not yet have access to a commercial book. Both books can be read in full on the publisher’s website. The covers below use the same open licence, with attribution.

    Is There Anyone Like Me?

    Cover of Is There Anyone Like Me?
    Fred Strydom (writer); Jess Jardim-Wedepohl (illustrator); Stephen Wallace (designer); published by Book Dash. Source · CC BY 4.0. Unaltered cover, displayed at reduced size.

    A donkey wonders whether anyone else is like him and compares himself with animals he encounters. The ending turns towards being oneself. The story invites discussion of similarity and difference without making sameness a condition for belonging.

    Read the complete book freely · Download the free English PDF (18 PDF pages; use this if the web reader shows blank images) · Find the teaching portrait in the database below.

    The Best Thing Ever

    Cover of The Best Thing Ever
    Melissa Fagan (writer); Lauren Nel (illustrator); Stefania Origgi (designer); Helen Moffett (editor); published by Book Dash. Source · CC BY 4.0. Unaltered cover, displayed at reduced size.

    Muzi loves making things and wants to make the best thing ever. On a visit to his grandmother, he has left his toys behind and notices other materials around him. His collecting and making turn those materials into an imaginative creation.

    Read the complete book freely · Download the free English PDF (18 PDF pages; use this if the web reader shows blank images) · Find the teaching portrait in the database below.

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