Bela and Lily is a friendship picture book read aloud that helps elementary students explore empathy, communication, and making friends across language barriers. This SEL-focused story opens meaningful classroom discussions about kindness, inclusion, and connection.

5 Ways to Use This Friendship Read Aloud in the Classroom

When I wrote Bela and Lily, I tapped into the feelings of trying to make a friend when I didn’t know English. The feeling of wanting to join in, but not knowing how. Watching other kids carefully for clues. Hoping someone would smile at you first. The exhaustion of trying to understand everything all day long. The relief and excitement when another kid finally invites you in.

As adults, we sometimes simplify friendship conversations to “be kind” and “be nice.” But kids feel much more complex things than that. They feel nervous, excited, hopeful, and afraid, sometimes all within the same five minutes.

Even while navigating uncertainty, Bela and Lily still get to be playful, imaginative, funny, and kids! Their story is not centered around a big lesson. It is centered around the little moments that build a friendship. I think that is one reason the book works so well during friendship units in classrooms and libraries.

Here are five ways librarians and educators can use Bela and Lily for richer friendship conversations.

1. Use it to explore friendship beyond shared language

One of my favorite things about reading this book with kids is watching them realize how much communication happens without words. When I say, she “squished her eyebrows together.” I see all their little eyebrows squish. Bela and Lily connect through observation, gestures, play, curiosity, and persistence long before they fully understand one another verbally.

It opens up conversations like:

• How can you tell if someone wants to be your friend?
• What are the ways people communicate without speaking?
• What makes someone feel welcome?
• Have you ever connected with someone even when communication felt hard?

These conversations tend to become much deeper and more personal.

2. Use it to teach visual literacy

As both the writer and illustrator, I intentionally used the artwork to carry emotional information throughout the story. I could not write a book honoring ESL students without ensuring the visual story translates into many languages.

Students can practice noticing:

• facial expressions
• body language
• emotional shifts
• environmental clues
• moments of hesitation or connection

This makes the book especially strong for inferencing work because readers are constantly interpreting what the characters may be feeling, even when little is being said directly. Honestly, some of the best classroom conversations happen when kids disagree about what a character might be thinking in a particular illustration. Especially at the story’s most conflict-driven moment, I can see readers analyzing all the visual cues.

3. Classroom Discussion Questions: Use it to discuss conflict that feels emotionally real

One thing I wanted to avoid was creating a story in which there were simply a “mean kid” and a “nice kid.” Life is not like that! Most childhood conflict is not that black-and-white. Sometimes kids genuinely want a connection but do not know how to bridge the gap. Sometimes they misunderstand each other. Sometimes adults do, too! The emotional tension in Bela and Lily comes from vulnerability and uncertainty, not villainy. I think that gives students more room for meaningful interpretation and discussion.

4. Use it to support empathy around newcomer and ELL experiences

Not every child experiences language barriers. But many children understand what it feels like to:

• be new
• feel unsure
• struggle to communicate
• want connection
• worry about fitting in

That emotional access point creates space for authentic empathy rather than a simple “lesson” about inclusion.

5. Revisit it across grade levels

One of my favorite things about picture books is that they can grow with readers. Younger students may focus on friendship and emotions, while older students often begin to notice deeper themes of identity, belonging, communication, and perspective-taking. And because the story leaves room for interpretation, students tend to bring more of themselves into the discussion each time they revisit it.

If this blog post was helpful, I created a free one-page discussion guide for librarians and educators reading Bela and Lily in friendship units, which includes activities and SEL discussion questions for Bela and Lily.

Natasha

In Joy,

Friendship Read Aloud Activities for Elementary Students

Bela and Lily is an interactive friendship read aloud for elementary students that supports social emotional learning (SEL), empathy, communication, and inclusion in the classroom. This picture book is especially meaningful for multilingual learners, ELL students, and children navigating new friendships. Teachers can use this friendship picture book during SEL lessons, back-to-school read alouds, classroom community building activities, and discussions about kindness, belonging, and making friends across language barriers.