Book Dedication Page Examples & Ideas for Elementary Classbooks
The dedication page is one of the most overlooked pages in any book. At most, people tend to give it a passing glance—and when they do, often see exactly what they expected to see. “Dedicated to my friends/family/loved ones.” There’s absolutely nothing wrong, of course, with thanking the people who matter to us the most, but isn’t it refreshing when we find something other than the standard “thank you” waiting for us on that page?
The same holds true for a classbook project. Publishing a book with your students is a chance to not only teach them how to be more effective writers, but an opportunity to unleash their full creative potential. Of course, the story you tell with your book should always be your main focus. But showing your elementary students how to turn even a simple dedication page into something special is an important piece of the publishing puzzle, not to mention a valuable life lesson—even the most mundane things can be made magical with just a little extra TLC.
Idea #1: Add Some Art
Most dedications take up no more than a couple of lines on the page, leaving a ton of plain white space around it. Why not jazz up that space a bit with some beautiful, original art drawn by your students, or a fun photo or two of the authors themselves?
PROJECT EXAMPLE
Mrs. Austermiller’s class chose to include a lovely full-page illustration alongside their dedication.
PROJECT EXAMPLE
Mrs. Harris’s class made their dedication page for Look Whooo’s 100 Days Smarter with a cheery class photo.
Idea #2: Think Thematically
Every great classbook project begins with a brilliant brainstorming session. As such, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to come up with something cool to try with your elementary students’ dedication page. After all, you and your students have already done the hard work of coming up with a theme! Try using the dedication page as yet another opportunity to explore that theme by including relevant text or visual motifs.
PROJECT EXAMPLE
For We Love Animals, Ms. Daly’s class chose to dedicate their book to “Our Family & Friends & Animal Lovers Everywhere” and decorated the page with a cute paw print design.
PROJECT EXAMPLE
Ms. Mastin’s class cleverly referenced the theme of their book, The Monsters of Room 8, by drawing a monstrous mouth around the borders of their dedication page.
Idea #3: Give Credit Where Credit’s Due
The standard dedication page is reserved for friends and family—but for some very special projects, some very special thanks might be in order. When deciding what to write for your classbook’s dedication page, encourage your elementary students to think about whether anyone else—perhaps someone who helped out, directly or indirectly, with the project—might deserve a little recognition too.
PROJECT EXAMPLE
The dedication page for The Adventures of Oreo the Cow contains a very sweet nod to the real-life cow who inspired the book and the farmer who owned her. It reads, “Dedicated To: Our parents, Farmer Henrichs, and especially Oreo.”
PROJECT EXAMPLE
The Abalone Cove Adventure by Ms. Vivo’s class is dedicated to friends and family as well as “generous donors who allowed us to visit Abalone Cove!” Below the dedication, they included a special thank you note to the volunteers and grant foundation who helped make their dream of becoming published authors come true.
Idea #4: Inspire Action
Perhaps your classbook project is about saving the rainforest, or why it’s important to protect endangered animals. If there’s a cause, however subtle, your students are championing in their book, consider including a dedication which will help drive your class’s point home. In fact, even if your book is not about activism, your students can still use the dedication page simply to send an uplifting message to their audience—after all, making the world a happier place is still a worthy cause. Dedications represent an excellent opportunity to inspire readers to take action or think more deeply about the world around them.
PROJECT EXAMPLE
A Walk Through the Rainforest features a dedication that tugs at the heartstrings while calling on readers to help preserve the rainforest: “Dedicated To: the rainforest in the hopes that the rainforest does not disappear.”
PROJECT EXAMPLE
Miss Erikson’s class decided to dedicate their classbook, Things That Fly, to “Everyone Who Reaches for The Sky” in a powerful but subtle message of encouragement to all their fellow dreamers.
Idea #5: Dig a Little Deeper
Though most dedication pages are short and to the point, they don’t have to be. As the examples below illustrate, if there’s a special sentiment you or your students wish to share, the dedication page is an excellent place to do it. Encourage your elementary students to dig deep and think hard about what they want to say, and how they want to say it. Or surprise them with a heartfelt message of your own!
PROJECT EXAMPLE
Our Adventures by Mrs. Flannigan’s class is dedicated simply to “Our Families,” but contains a special letter addressed to the parents from Mrs. Flannigan herself detailing how much the project meant to her and her students.
PROJECT EXAMPLE
In their classbook A Journey Through the Jungle, Mrs. Estenson’s students included a bittersweet and poignant dedication to their classmate Jurnee, who had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Above their dedication they included a picture of Jurnee as well as a class photo.
Publishing the Perfect Dedication Page
When it comes to publishing your students’ work, it’s the little things that really count. It might be your first classbook project or it might be your hundredth. But to your elementary students, every page is precious, every word is indelible proof that they’ve been published and have become real authors. Crafting a dedication page that’s every bit as creative and unique as the rest of your students’ classbook is surprisingly easy, and can go a long way towards making it a project they’ll truly be proud to show off.
For more classbook project ideas and other free publishing resources, check out our online teacher’s lounge and be sure to sign up for your free publishing kit!
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