Babymouse For President, Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

Babymouse for President is a graphic novel.  It is written like a comic book but it is long enough to be considered a novel.  Babymouse for President is about a mouse who is running for school president.  The book takes her through the journey of announcing that she was running, making posters and promises to people, participating in a debate with other candidates, and all the way to the election day.  It talks about platforms and qualities that candidates take.  This is a great book that can teach students a lot about the election process.

There are many ways that you could use Babymouse for President in the classroom.  It is an essential book to use when teaching about elections because it teaches students about the process in a way that they can relate to.  I would use the book to teach about math because it talks about counting the votes in order to see who wins and ranking the candidates in order of the voting results.  I would use this book to teach about writing and an activity I would do would be to have students write a new page in the book and make sure it relates to elections, illustrate it, and use speech bubbles.  Babymouse for President is a great book that is used to integrate many different subjects and is a book that I will have in my classroom library.     

The Other Side, Jacqueline Woodson

The Other Side is written by Jacqueline Woodson which is the author I am researching for my author study.  This is honestly one of the best books I have ever read.  I think it can teach students and people in general a lesson that we all need to learn.  The book takes place in a time where segregation still took place.  The Other Side is about an African American girl and a white girl whose houses are separated by a fence that both girls moms told them not to cross.  They end up sitting on the fence getting to know each other and hoping that one day the fence will be tore down.

I would do a read aloud with this book and integrate it with social studies and slavery.  After we do a read aloud and discuss the book I will have students write about what they think happened to Clover and Annie after the book ended.  Did they stay friends? Did the fence get tore down?  This would allow students to feel like they were in the characters place and give them a chance to practice their writing. This is a book I will for sure have in my classroom library.  

Show Way, Jacqueline Woodson

Show Way is written by Jacqueline Woodson, which is who I am doing my author study on.  This is a great book in the historical fiction genre.  It is told by Woodson's point of view and it comes full circle.  The book is written like she is being told a bed time story about her ancestors, how they were sold into slavery and many generations later their family was freed.  The title of the book is Show Way and a Show Way is a quilt that the slaves made with maps on them that showed them the way to freedom.  I think this book is fabulous.

The illustrations in the book Show Way are really cool, each page is colored in what looks like quilt squares.  After doing a read aloud of the book I will give each student a blank piece of white paper and have them color it however they want based off of the book.  Then on a blank piece of poster paper we will put all of the papers together and make our own class Show Way.  

Our Gracie Aunt, Jacqueline Woodson

Our Gracie Aunt is written by Jacqueline Woodson, that is the author I am doing my author study on.  It is a good book with great illustrations but it covers a kind of difficult topic.  BeeBee and Johnson's mom has to go away because she cannot take care of them so they have to go stay with their Gracie Aunt.  At first they are not happy about this but once they realize that their Gracie Aunt can take care of them they way they are supposed to be taken care of they love her.  This is a book about home, finding where you belong, safety, and love.  However this maybe a book children do not understand or it is a tough topic for them to read about.

I think that I would only read this book to students who are going through situations like this because it is such a difficult topic.  So if I had a student who is in the foster care system I would read this book to them, talk about how they feel about what we read, and see if they have any similarities with BeeBee or Johnson.  Then I would have students write a journal entry or draw a picture about how they feel.  This is a book I will have in my classroom library.  

Seedfolks, Paul Fleischman

Seedfolks is a novel written by Paul Fleischman.  It is about how different people started a community garden and it brought them together despite their diverse backgrounds.  Each chapter is about a different character, how they found the garden, and how the garden affected them.  The book is about different cultures and people of all different ages.  It would be a great book to use in the classroom to teach about culture and coming together as a community.

While we read Seedfolks we were told to use sticky notes and write notes and stick them in the book as we read.  When I did this I did one or two for each chapter or character since each chapter was about one character.  I wrote down multiple facts about what was going on and who the character was.  I did those using green sticky notes.  Then with pink sticky notes I wrote how the characters knew each other.  This book was kind of confusing because you had to figure out how the characters knew each other.  I would use this book for upper elementary aged students and have them take notes on sticky notes as they read so they can keep up with what is going on in the book.  As an extension activity I may have students create a class garden where they each have a plot in the lot.    

Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan

Esperanza Rising is a novel about a Hispanic girl whose father is a landowner who farms so she is part of the upper class.  Everything starts out great until the 1930 and there is resentment towards wealthy landowners.  Her father is killed and her and her Mama flee and go to the US but her grandma has to stay behind.  Esperanza's mom gets sick so she has to work and pay for her mom to get better,  Eventually her grandma gets here but things are still bad because her money is stolen.  In the end Esperanza sets goals for herself  to learn English, be treated equally, and start a family of her own.

Since Esperanza creates goals of her own at the end of the book one activity I would have students do would be to create goals for themselves.  Ones for the day, week, month, end of the school year, and next five years.  This can teach students that no matter what they are going through there is always hope and the goals they set can be their hope in front of them.  Just like it was for Esperanza in Esperanza Rising.

Tricycle, Elisa Amado and Alfonso Ruano

Tricycle is a book about a little girl and the Hispanic culture.  For most of the book the main character is sitting above in a tree describing what she sees below.  A lot of that shows readers the different aspects of the Hispanic culture.  While she is up there she sees someone take her tricycle.  She does not want them to get punished so she makes up a story saying that men in a car ran over the bike.  Tricycle teaches readers a lot about the Hispanic culture and how they protect their property.

An activity that I would do with students after reading the book Tricycle would be one where I could learn a little bit more about them and their culture.  I would have students picture themselves sitting up in a tree in their backyard and I would have them write a paragraph about what they would see and tell me about their culture.  Based off this paragraph I would have students draw a picture.  This would be a great way for students to learn more about their culture and for me to learn more about my students.