I don’t remember how I first discovered BECAUSE, but once I did, I had to have it.

This past Tuesday, instead of leveled readers, BECAUSE sat alone on the Guided Reading table. Waiting.

So much to talk about.

A score is the music written by a composer. Mo Willems wrote the words for this book. He is like a composer.

A performance is when a group of musicians play their instruments on stage, in front of an audience. Amber Ren drew the pictures for this book. She created a performance for us, the readers.

We quietly observed the first two pages. We drew musical notes in the air. We grabbed crayons and colored pencils and composed on half sheets of white construction paper.

Then, we listened. Some of us were musicians playing airstruments with the orchestra, while others of us were conductors waving imaginary batons.

We talked about the things that have changed us. I told them how the first time I saw snow falling down on the stage during the Waltz of the Snowflakes, I knew that I needed to take ballet, to one day wear pointe shoes, just like the ballerinas on the stage.

Even now, when I watch, it quiets the noise and brings me calm.

We talked about the importance of hard work. If we work hard at something, we will get better and better at it.

I told them how I love being a teacher, and that’s why I work very hard at it. I told them that over time, I have gotten better and better at it, just like the woman in this book.

“She looks like a boy.”

The student sitting across from me laughed aloud and I looked at him. He only recently joined my reading groups.

“She is beautiful. She gets to decide how she dresses, how she wears her hair,” I said. “I can tell that the people in the audience think she is beautiful too. I can tell that they think the music that she makes is also beautiful.”

There was no more laughing.

Then, a girl, who was sitting right next to him, said, “My mom has short hair like her.”

I said, “She must be beautiful.”

The girl said, “She is beautiful.”

Then the girl said, “And my brother has long braids just like me.”

I said, “His braids must look beautiful too.”

She said, “They do.”

We quietly observed the last two pages.

“Purrington recently worked with children’s author Mo Willems and composed an original piece to appear in the book Because (Hyperion Books for Children, 2019). Illustrated by artist Amber Ren, Because tells the story of a young girl who devotes herself to studying music and grows up to become a professional conductor and composer. The book reached The New York Times’ Best-Seller List and continues to charm and inspire young readers across the world.”

As the students left, I handed them the word because written on a notecard with a black Sharpie.

Maybe, the next time they look at their notecard, they will see so much more than just a word.