When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead

When You Reach Me by: Rebecca Stead is the novel I read for the realistic fiction genre.   The book is like a mystery and it is confusing, in the end I still did not really know what happened.  Someone finds the key to Miranda's house and writes her three letters with instructions and clues.  The whole book is the letter that Miranda is writing to this mysterious person, it is full of detail of the events that happened in her life during that time.  By the end of the book the readers find out who wrote the three letters to Miranda and she finds out who she is supposed to give her letter to, I think.

Since When You Reach Me is such a confusing book you would have to read it with older students, probably like fifth grade.  In order to help students understand what is going on in the book I would have them take guided notes to go along with the reading.  We will fill out characters, settings, details, and other things that are going on in the book.  That way by the end of the book students may not be confused like I was.

Another Day in the Milky Way, David Milgrim

Another Day in the Milky Way is a picture book from the Science Fiction genre.  It is about a boy who woke up on the wrong planet; this was not the first time it happened.  However, he did not know how he got there or how to get home.  He asked for help but everyone was too busy.  He found a horse that was really a donkey that made him even more confused.  They tell him to go see the Starman on the Hill.  He finally falls asleep and wakes up at home.  This is a cute adventure book that I think students would really like.

This book is about adventure.  So as an activity to go with this book I would ask my students to get creative.  I would have them write about how they think he got to the other planet and then have them come up with another way for him to get home other than him falling asleep.  This will give them a chance to practice their writing.  If my students have a blog they will do this as a blog post.  It will be a great activity that students will benefit from.    

The Three Ninja Pigs, Corey Rosen Schwartz

The Three Ninja Pigs is a fantasy picture book that is a spinoff of The Three Little Pigs.  There are three little pigs and a mean, big, bad wolf.  The pigs finally said “enough!”  They called him a bully and wanted it to end.  So to solve this they went to train at ninja school.  The sister pig was the only pig that stuck with karate all of the others gave up or thought they knew enough so quit.  The first pig wished he was more prepared when the wolf came, the second pig just ran away, but when the wolf got to the sister’s house the wolf was the one to run away.  They all went back to ninja school and the wolf never bothered them again.  I love this book and I will have it in my classroom library.

This book has a lot of great teachable components.  There is a glossary in the back explaining some of the karate terms.  I would use this to teach a mini lesson to show how to use a glossary.  The book talks about how the wolf is a bully.  So to create a better classroom community I would read this book aloud to the class and then have students talk about why we should not be a bully and what to do if someone is bullying you.  Also on every page there is some type of rhyming.  So I would connect this to poetry and have students write their own version of The Three Little Pigs in the form of a poem.  This is such a great book that creates many opportunities to use in the classroom.   

Mr. Wuffles, David Wiesner

Mr. Wuffles is a picture book from the Science Fiction genre.  It is about a cat named Mr. Wuffles and a group of aliens in a spaceship that somehow ended up on earth.  Mr. Wuffles found a spaceship toy that he liked and he began rolling it around that happened to be the spaceship that the aliens were in.  Mr. Wuffles falls asleep and the aliens are dizzy and tired and everything is broken in the spaceship from all of the rolling around.  They get out and Mr. Wuffles almost squishes them so they run under a dresser full of bugs they all make a pact and plot a plan to get Mr. Wuffles.  They set up a trap and got back on the spaceship and fly out the window.  It is a great book for a Science Fiction picture book and I think that students would really enjoy the book.

This is a really interesting book.  The text is written in quote bubbles.  However, most of it is like a wordless picture book because Wiesner has the aliens speaking their own language and not English.  So for one activity I might would do with students in have them write down all the different characters that the aliens use in their dialogue and have the students create an alphabet for the aliens.  Then I could put them in groups and have each group take a page and write down what they think the aliens are saying.  Another activity I may do is as a class do a venn diagram for compare and contrast of Hocus Pocus because the book has the same theme of the thrill of the chase like Mr. Wuffles.   This is a great book to base different activities off of.

Feathers, Jacqueline Woodson

Feathers is a Newbery Honor Book writen by Jacqueline Woodson.  It is a novel based on symbolism, sibling relationship and rivalry, hope, change, and equality.  There is the issue between black and white because it is about the seventies.  There is a highway that divides the different races.  Frannie

the main character goes to Price Elementary which is all black students and a new student comes in who is lighter skin the students call him "Jesus Boy."  Everyone picks on him and he ends up getting in a fight but by the end “Jesus Boy” and Frannie are good friends.  You never learn his real name, I kept reading thinking at the end you would know his name but you never do.  Frannie's brother Sean is deaf so when he signs it is in italics in the book so you know he is talking.  So the book talks about disabilities and how to Frannie and her family it is not a disability they are all just bilingual.  Overall the book is about hope and how it is everywhere and in all of us.  "Hope is a thing with feathers."

One thing I found interesting in this book was how much it focused on religion and Jesus.  The students in Frannie's class think that "Jesus Boy" is literally Jesus and that he chose to come to this school.  So I do not know how you could use this book in a public school.  If you could I would because I like this book and I think it has a great message and covers a lot of topics.  It would be great for Social Studies since it talks so much about segregation and equality and since it was based off of the seventies.  I could even teach sign language to the students since it is such a main topic in the book.  There are also a lot of different writing activities in the book itself like writing a list of what all we have in common and then sharing and going over it as a class.  A big thing that I would use in the book to teach would be equality and treating each other how we want to be treated no matter what.  Students can learn a lot from this book and it can create a great classroom community.

Hocus Pocus, Sylvie Desrosiers & Remy Simard

Hocus Pocus is a wordless picture book.  It is a really cute fun book about the thrill of the chase.  There is a magician that has a dog but he also has a rabbit in his magic hat.  The rabbit and the dog do not like each other.  So while the dog and the magician are asleep the rabbit gets out.  The dog wakes up and the dog and rabbit end up going back and forth at each other annoying each other.  The dog ends up being the one that gets in trouble and disciplined, so essentially the rabbit wins.

When I was reading this book it made me automatically think about Tom and Jerry.  So as an activity to go with a lesson on venn diagrams and comparing and contrasting I would read this book with students and have them watch a clip of Tom and Jerry.  Then as a class we would fill out a venn diagram looking at the similarities and differences of Hocus Pocus and Tom and Jerry.  This would be an engaging activity for students.  I will have this book in my classroom library.    

The Giant Seed, Arthur Geisert

The Giant Seed is a wordless picture book.  From what I read one the inside front jacket of the book it is one in a series about pigs.  This particular book is about a giant seed growing in the pig’s town.  It grows big and tall and has huge leaves.  The kid pigs play on the plant.  A volcano erupted and started little fires in the village and caused people to begin to pack up their bags to leave.  Fire lands on the seeds but the pigs climb to the top of the seeds and cut them off and ride them down to an island.

 

To me this book was kind of confusing.  At the end of the book I could not tell what really happened, they were on an island but I do not know if it was where their original village was or if it was a new island that they landed on.  This got me thinking on what I would do if my students were confused.   First I would have them write me a couple of sentences telling me what they think happened at the end of the book.  Then I would have a few students share if they wanted too.  I would make sure that they know that there is no wrong answer.  It would be a great writing activity and would clear up the meaning of the book for students.  

Rainstorm, Barbara Lehman

Rainstorm is a wordless picture book.  With that being said you have to interpret the meaning of the book based off of the illustrations.  In the beginning of the book a little boy is looking out the window and it is raining.  In that illustration there is a ball that your eyes are just drawn too, it is important in the book.  The little boy found a key and finally found that it opened a treasure chest.  Once he opened the treasure chest it took him to a sunny land on the beach full of friends where he was happy and could play.  Then he came home and ate and slept, when he woke up the next morning and it was still raining so he went back to be with his friends.  It is a book that kind of comes full circle and is definitely a book I will have in my classroom library.

As I was beginning to read Rainstorm the first thing I noticed was on the inside jacket of the book there was a synopsis.  It gave the gist of the book saying it was about a rainy day and a lonely boy in a big house who found a mysterious key to an unexpected place.  This helped me to know what is going on in the book instead of just guessing.  In my classroom I would turn this into a mini lesson going over parts of a book and how it is important that we look for clues in those parts that might help us as we read the book.  This will help students become better readers.   

Chains, Laurie Halse Anderson

Chains is a historical fiction novel.  It is about a slave girl named Isabel and her journey to freedom.  In the beginning she lives in Rhode Island and her owner dies and she gets sold to a couple in New York.  Isabel and Her sister Ruth are the only thing that each other has, Isabel is very protective over Ruth.   The Mistress is very cruel to her and ends up moving her sister Ruth away.  The Revolutionary War is occurring in New York during this time, it is the Loyalists vs. the Rebels.  It is a dangerous time in the city especially for slaves.  By the end of the book she discovers who she really is and crosses the river to freedom with her companion Cruzon.

This is a really good book but I think you have to be careful with what grade you let read it because it is difficult and very graphic.  At the beginning of each chapter there are dates of when these events take place and then there is a historical quote.  As an activity for my students I would assign a chapter to each student or pair of students and have them read the chapter and then do research and find an appropriate historical quote that goes with the chapter.  This would give students a way to connect with the text and history.  I could also teach about calendar with the book.  It talks about Isabel and Ruth being on a boat to New York so I would have students write about a time they have been on a boat and compare it with Isabel and Ruth’s experience.  If they have not been on a boat I would have students imagine that they were on the boat with Isabel and Ruth and write about the experience.  This would also help students connect to the text.  If students connect to the text they are going to be able to understand the historical importance more.   

Emily, Micheal Bedard

Emily is a historical fiction picture book about the poet Emily Dickenson.  It is about a mysterious woman who has not come out of her house in twenty years.  The narrator and her family get an anonymous letter asking the mom to come play piano for the women.  The narrator goes to the house too and that is where she meets Emily.  The book has an underlying meaning about going from winter to spring and things’ coming back to life because that is what happens to Emily.

    

While I was reading this book I was wondering if it was a historic fiction book or not.  That is because it is not until the last page that you learn that the text is about Emily Dickenson.  So, the book kept my curiosity up.  To incorporate this into my classroom I would have students pick a historical figure and do some research on them.  Then I would have them write a story where the readers do not truly know who the figure is until the end of the story.  Kind of like a historical figure guess who.  

Working Cotton, Sherley Anne Adams

Working Cotton is a historical fiction picture book.  The narrator is the main character and she is telling about what she does in the cotton field during the day.  It was written in bad English to represent to make it feel like you were there in that time period.  The whole family gets there before light, they build a fire to warm up, they sing while they pick the cotton, eat lunch, work some more, and then leave. 

It is like she had a journal but they wrote a book on the whole days entry.  After reading this book to the class I would have students carry around their writer’s notebook and make notes of what they do throughout the day.  Then the next day I would have students write the details down like a journal entry.  After that they could illustrate a picture to go with the entry.

Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings, Deborah Hopkinson

Girl Wonder is a historical fiction picture book written in a unique way.  It is kind of like a mini chapter book because the different parts of her life are divided into innings and on the side of the pages that represent a new inning there is a bat and a baseball with the number in it so readers know what inning it is in the book.  In the first inning she threw a corncob at a cat and everyone was impressed.  In the second inning she has her first memory of throwing a ball and gets her name “Girl Wonder.”  In the third inning nothing could stop her from playing ball in the summer she played with the boys and in the winter in a barn where she gets her first fans.  In the fourth inning she is seventeen and everyone is telling her it is time to be a lady.  In the fifth through eighth inning she plays for a semipro team.  Finally, in the ninth inning the book comes full circle.

When I read this I immediately thought of the recent Little League World Series.  Mone Davis is a young girl who is a pitcher on an all-boys team that went far in the Little League World Series.  Mone is literally a present day “Girl Wonder”.  I would read this book with my class and have them do research on Mone Davis.  Then as a class we would create a venn diagram to compare and contrast Mone to the main character in the book.  Then students would write a blog entry about the similarities and differences.     

Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale (Introducing His Forgotten Frontier Friend), Deborah Hopkinson and Joan Hendrix

Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek is a historical fiction picture book, but it is also a book like I have never read before.  As you are reading it is the author telling the story, like they are talking to you and reading the story.  As she reads she decides to change it up and change the outcome of the story, like first they walk across the log then she changes it and decides that they are going to crawl across the log.  In the first two pages she sets the stage of the story like characters, setting, and time.  During the book Abe and his friend Austin cross a dangerous river where Abe almost dies but Austin saves us. On the last page of the book it gives the moral of the story which is: What we do matters, even if we do not make the history books.

After doing a read aloud of this book I would have my students choose a historical figure and write their own creative adventure story.  A historical figure could be someone like Rosa Parks, George Washington, Babe Ruth or another figure that I approve to make sure they are learning some sort of history.  Then they would have to do a little research to get background information about the person.  Now it is there time to be creative and write an adventure story like the one Abe went on except with their historical figure.  I would also like them to have a moral of their story like the one in Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek.  After they finish writing they can draw a picture and we can scan them into their blogs.    

Never, Ever Shout in a Zoo, Karma Wilson

Never, Ever Shout in a Zoo is kind of a silly picture book full of alliterations and repetition.  The little girl gives readers advice to never shout in a zoo and tells what might happen in you do.  A bear, a moose, and an ape would get out and eventually let all the other animals out and lock the people in the cages.  An example of one of the alliterations is giant, grouchy, and grizzly.  It has repetition because it repeats what animal got out first, second, third, and so on.  It is a fun book for young readers.

As I was reading this story a story of my own popped into my head that I would share with my students to go along with this book.  My extended family has a farm that we all used to go to about once a month.  They raise cows on the farm.  When I was about six years old my dad, my friend, and I decided to walk down to the bottom of the pasture where there is a creek.  The cows were on the other side of the creek and one of them moved and I screamed and they all got spooked and stampeded us back to the house.  Once they got done laughing at this story I would have them go to their writer’s notebook and either write about an experience or create a story about shouting around animals and what happens.  This would be a great activity for students.  

Zero the Hero, Joan Holub and Tom Litchtenheld

Zero the Hero is a picture book that integrates math with literacy.  It is about the number zero whose dream is to be a hero; he even wears a mask and a cape.  However, Zero has no confidence because he gets left out because he is not a counting number and he has to stand in the shadows of other numbers.  He is invisible with addition and subtraction and no one wants to be divided by him.  He discovers something with multiplication, when a number is multiplied by Zero it equals zero.  Then every other number ran from him and he realized a superhero would not multiply his friends to nothing so he rolled away.  Nobody knew Zero was gone until they needed him to solve a problem and play a game.  When they are all captured by Roman numeral soldiers Zero saves them with the power of nothing.

There are a lot of lessons you could teach using the book Zero the Hero.  When focusing on literacy I would teach about direction of text and reading from left to right.  This is because this book is a little different because it has quote bubbles throughout the book like a comic.  So I would probably read this to my students and point along as we read and show them how to where to read first because I believe it would be a little confusing for students.   Since this is a book about numbers and it talks about place value.  I would read this book with students when we are learning about place value as a way to integrate literacy with math.  So far, this is one of the best books I have found to use for a math lesson, it really teaches students a lot about place value and how zero really can be a hero.