I really enjoy Kevin Henkes’ books, and I know the children do too. His clever, relatable storylines revolve around quirky, lovable characters, who often have their own hilarious comic-strip-style comments in addition to the regular text. Chrysanthemum is the story of a girl (or more accurately, a mouse) aptly named Chrysanthemum. She really loves her name, until she goes to school. There, she is teased about it, until the other girls make a discovery that makes them wish they were named after flowers as well. It’s a great book for talking about social skills, not teasing in particular, but also fantastic for talking about our individual names.
