As a class, we read the book ‘Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You,’ by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. We learned about how everyone is unique even if you don’t see it. Sonia Sotomayor uses her own experience as a child who was diagnosed with diabetes to write about children with all sorts of challenges and looks at the special powers those kids have as well. As the kids in the story work together to build a community garden, asking questions of each other along the way, this book encourages readers to do the same: When we come across someone who is different from us but we’re not sure why, all we have to do is ‘just ask.’ My students then created their own word garden and wrote down four words that describe them.

— Diana Garcia, 5th-grade dual language teacher, PS 145, Brooklyn
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