The Mysterious Collection of Dr. David Harleyson

Genre: Modern Fantasy/Folk Tales
Author: Jean Cassels

Summary: The story is told by the nephew of a famous painter, Dr. David Harleyson, as he and his father searches for his uncle through a collection of a dozen paintings painted in the last year. Most of the story is told through what the nephew finds on the back of each paintings which includes letters to and from whomever is painted on the canvas, tickets to shows, passports, telegrams and newspaper clippings. The nephew must find all twelve paintings and put them in order so that when the nephew visits his Uncle abroad the paintings will go to their rightful owners. The nephew find the last letter from his uncle that explains a marriage between Dr. David Harleyson and Miss Lill Pigg in which the nephew and his father is invited to attend.

Lesson: The author writes that the twelve paintings are based off of animals and stories from Grimm, Aesop and Mother Goose. For my lesson, I would have my class divided up in 12 groups with each group responsible for learning a tale from one of the paintings in this book, such as the Itsy Bitsy Spider and the Hare and the Tortoise. Each group would be responsible in reading and three different types of the same folk tale and then present the differences to the class with a brief summary of the folk tale.

Tuck Everlasting

Genre: Modern Fantasy Chapter Book
Author: Natalie Babbitt

Summary: Tuck Everlasting is a story about a young girl named Winifred, Winnie, Foster who has grown up in a wealthy family in the 1940s. She is the only child of her parents and their well manicured lawn is bordered by a tall fence that Winnie feels like she is trapped inside.Winnie runs away from her stifling parents by going into the woods her family owns that she has never visited. Once there, Winnie happens across a boy who is a bit older than her that is drinking from a spring by a tree. The boy, Jesse, blocks Winnie's attempts to get some of the water as well, which the readers later find out to be a special spring of water for eternal life. Jesse brings Winnie back to his family, who lives out in the woods, to protect their secret lifestyle, that is, that they will never die. Winnie begins to grow close to the Tuck family but trouble comes when a man in a yellow suit is determined to tell the town that the Tucks have kidnapped Winnie. The man in the yellow suit only cares for the water in the spring and is later killed by Mae Tuck, who ends up in the town's jail. Mae escapes her hanging the night before she is due to die with the help of the Tuck boys and Winnie. The Tucks leave town and when they finally come back, find out that Winnie chose to live life rather than drink the spring water and she dies before they return.

Lesson: I would have my students read this book in small groups of about five or so students, each student having their own book. They would be assigned to read a certain amount of pages a day for homework along with thinking of discussion questions and thoughts that they can share the next day while they are in their groups.

The Trouble with Henry: A Tale of Walden Pond

Genre: Historical Fiction
Authors: Deborah O'Neal and Angela Westengard

Summary: This story is set in Concord, Massachusetts during the time when mills and machines were beginning to become popular. The story is set around nonfiction person Henry David Thoreau and his love for nature rather than the busy city. In this story, David is thought to be the oddball of the town since he is not in love with buying all the newest clothing and items like everyone else in the town. Henry decides to move out to Walden Pond and build himself a small house so that he can get away from the smog filled town of Concord. Though Henry loves his new abode, the town and its mayor is coming up with a way to demolish the woods where Henry lives by replacing it with a toothpick factory. Only after David brings the town full of coughing, tired, sneezing people into the woods so that they can listen and view the true beauty of nature do the citizens decide to not go through with their plan to demolish the woods.


Lesson: After reading this book, I would have my students take a walk around the grounds of the school. I grew up with an elementary school that had wonderful grounds that included numerous gardens and woods to explore so I would hope to have a school like this so that I could take my students out to explore nature. My only instructions for students would be for them to focus their attention on the sounds, views, textures, etc of nature so that when they get back into the classroom, they could write a letter to the toothpick mill as if they were a citizen explaining the wonders of Walden Woods.

The Bunyans

Genre: Folk Literature/Tall Tale
Author: Audrey Wood

Summary: This story is about Paul Bunyan's life after all the stories about him growing up. Paul meets another giant named Carrie, who he falls in love with instantly, and they marry. The couple then has two children, Little Jean and Teeny, and the story follows the family as the children grow up. As the reader follows along to the Bunyans' life, they are told why numerous things are the way that they are in America, such as the Rocky Mountains, which the story tells Carrie Bunyan created to keep her children closer to home.

Lesson: I would read a tall tale about Paul Bunyan first and then read students this story as it continues on his fictional life. I would have students find something remarkable about the landscape of the United States and then have the students draw it and write a story about which Bunyan created. I would have students come to me so that I could agree with their story and landscape before they write it so that each student has something different to write about. After all the students have created this short story about a Bunyan and their landscape, I would collect everyone's story and put it together as a book made by the class on the Bunyans' life.

LaRue for Mayor: Letters from the Campaign Trail

Genre: Modern Fantasy
Author: Mark Teague

Summary: This book is told in articles from the city's local newspaper and also in letters written by Ike LaRue, a dog, to his owner who is in the hospital. The book is set in Snort City where the election for Mayor is in the running, the major candidate being Hugo Bugwort. After Ike and his friends are seen around town causing havoc, Bugwort decides that his campaign will be centered around getting rid of dogs in the Snort City. This causes LaRue to decide to also run as a candidate, and with help from his buddies, begins to become a popular candidate. After Ike LaRue "saves" Bugwort, Bugwort makes up his mind that dogs are good for the city and asks Ike LaRue to join him as Assistant Mayor of the town, which LaRue accepts.

Lesson: I would read this story while doing a unit in social studies about local politics. I would read the story allowed and then have the students discuss aspects of the story that they have already learned about, such as the terms candidates, election, mayor, and so forth. I would then have the students write one more letter to Mrs. LaRue as if they were Ike, explaining how life is like being the Assistant Mayor of Snort City.

Rapunzel

Genre: Folk Literature
Author: Stephanie Peters

Summary:

Lesson: I would divide my class up in groups of three or four students. I would assign each group a folk literature book like Rapunzel and also a Flip camera. The students would have to create a short video, up to five minutes, that they designed and would present to their class that gave a summary of the folk tale. They could make a skit, a slide show with the camera, or anything else creative that would help them teach their classmates about the folk tale.

How to Survive Middle School

Genre: Chapter Book
Author: Donna Gephart

Summary: How to Survive Middle School is told by David Greenberg, a boy who loves to make videos based off his favorite show The Daily Show. After a summer that did not go anywhere near as planned, David is left without his best friend, who is now his enemy, to start sixth grade while also missing his mother who left his family two years ago. David gets suspended his first day in class and detention the following day due to a fight and also being late to his first class with Ms. Lovely. David stops getting into trouble but continues to feel lonely at the big middle school where his only friend is a new girl named Sophie. The story continues along as David's online YouTube videos begin to get popular with the local and state newspaper coming to interview him while David's school life is miserable. After David gets a dreaded swirlie by the bully Tommy and his whole class seeing him dripping toilet water in the hall, David runs home to find his hamster, Hammy, the last gift from his mom, dead. After this, David's life begins to get better as his old best friend, who was friends with Tommy the bully, is now back friends with David. David's video also inspired the school's newscast to invite David to join the cast once or twice a week along with David's video being shown on his all time favorite show, The Daily Show.

Lesson: I would read this book to my class if I had a fifth grade class. I would start reading it in the last few months of the school year and have discussions after reading different sections to the class. I'm sure my fifth grade class would be getting nervous to start middle school so I think that this book would allow them to see sixth grade as an adventure. Some discussions would deal with what they should do if they are being bullied such as when Tommy and his friends are bullying David.

Officer Buckle and Gloria

Genre: Modern Fantasy
Author: Peggy Rathmann

Summary: This story is about Police Officer Buckle who's job was to go around to local schools and share safety tips to the students. He thought that his job was incredibly important but the students are shown in the pictures to be sleeping through and not caring about his lectures of safety tips. Not until Officer Buckle brings in police dog Gloria do the students pay attention. Gloria sits behind Buckle as the is giving his safety tips to the students, unaware that when Buckle's back is to Gloria, the dog performing outstanding tricks that relate to whatever tip he is sharing. The officer notices that the students are now awake and liking his tips, though its really just Gloria, and he begins to share more and more tips to numerous schools. Officer Buckle believes that it is his tips that are making the students interactive and becomes quite sad when he realizes that they only care for Gloria. It's not till Officer Buckles receives a safety tip in the mail from a student that he decides to go back into the schools with Gloria to share all of his safety tips.

Lesson: I would read this book at the very beginning of school while I am still trying to get the perfect classroom environment for my students. I would read this and then ask students to share why they think that safety tips are important for students to know. I would have a big piece of paper and write down all the safety tips they share that are important to remember while they are in class.

Land of the Buffalo Bones by Mary Rodgers

Land of the Buffalo Bones by Mary Rodgers

Land of the Buffalo Bones

Genre: Chapter Book
Author: Mary Rodgers

Summary: Above, its a wallwisher

Lesson: I would read this book to my students after lunch for about ten minutes each day till I was finished. Each day that I read, I would get the students to write how they would feel if they were in Mary Ann's place; how it would be to move to a new country, living in a harsh environment, meeting new people. I would have students share their thoughts about Mary Ann's life. I would encourage the students to keep their own diary outside of school.

If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon

Genre: Nonfiction
Author: Ellen Levine

Summary: The title explains it all. This book is giving readers information about the life of those who traveled west in a covered wagon. The Table of Contents page divides up the book into short, manageable sections, each labeled with a question such as, "What was a wagon train?" and "How far would you travel in a day?". Readers can look up a question they have about traveling in the west during this period and will find information that typically has a picture included with it. The print is large and easy to read for those students who are struggling but still fluent and interesting enough for higher readers to enjoy.

Lesson: I would group the students in my class and give each group of students a different "If You..." book that they would have to read and discuss as a group. Once they have done that, their assignment would be to present their book in a short skit with as much details from the book as possible, the skit lasting no more than 5 minutes. This will allow the students to become a master in one subject of history and allow those students to teach that subject to their classmates

Smoky Night

Genre: Historical Fiction
Author: Eve Buntings

Summary: Smoky Night is a story told by a young boy who witnesses riots outside his bedroom window. His mother tries to calm him while the building and shops below are being broken into with people stealing items and fires bursting out. The boy finally is able to fall asleep to only be woken up by his mother as she yells for him to go down the stairs to safety as their apartment building is on fire. All the boy worries about is his cat that has gone missing through the night. The boy, his mother, and others from their building are sent to a safe house where they are fed and given areas to sleep. They see a neighbor there that they do not speak to who the author makes references as being from a different group of people. The lady is named Mrs. Kim and her cat is known to dislike the narrator's cat and vice versa. At the end of the story the firefighter comes in with both cats who are laying calmly next to each other. The boy, his mother, and Mrs. Kim begin to realize that if the cats can get along, so can they.

Lesson: I would read this story and then explain that the story was set during the Californian riots. I would get students to discuss why they think that riots may of occurred during this time period. I would then tell the students why and when the riots occurred and ask the students to talk about what they thought about the riots and if they could connect that piece of history to anything else they have learned.

Snow White: The Graphic Novel

Genre: Graphic Novel
Author: Martin Powell

Summary: This version of Snow White is retold in the format of a graphic novel. The first two pages have illustrations of the main characters along with their names next to them. The story starts with the introduction to Prince Marco and how he meets the beautiful but evil Queen Mara. She wishes to make Prince Marco her husband but once he finds out that she is evil, the Queen makes Prince Marco part of her beloved mirror. Snow White is hated by the Queen due to Snow White being the most beautiful person and tries to kill Snow White time after time. Once Snow White moves in with the Seven Dwarfs, the Queen visits her in a disguise and poisons Snow White with an apple. At the end of the graphic novel Snow White is saved by Prince Marco and the Dwarfs bury Queen Mara underground.

Lesson: After reading this to my class, or even if my class was able to read it alone with enough copies of the book, I would get the students to write a different ending to the story. I would tell them that they are able to create a plot to the story after page 15, which would mean that all the stories would have Prince Marco stuck in a mirror with the Queen Mara wanting to kill Snow White in their plot for at least the beginning of their stories. I would encourage them to draw pictures along with their story.

Folk Tales from Asia for Children Everywhere Book One

Genre: Folklore
Author: Sponsored by the Asian Cultural Centre for Unesco 

Summary: This book contains eight folktales from eight different Asian countries such as Korea, Singapore and Thailand. Each story is retold by an author and is accompanied by pictures. The stories range in their theme, morals and topics. The first folktale is called "The Crow and the Sparrow" and is about a Crow who tries to trick the Sparrow though, by the end of the story, the Crow is the one who ends up dead. 

Lesson: For this book, I would read the story "The Crow and the Sparrow" and have children create a comic to retell the folktale. They would have to be able to draw and describe what happened in the folktale and in what order. I would also get the students to write on the first block of their comic the title, major characters, and moral and theme. 

Aztec, Inca & Maya

Genre: Multicultural / International

Author: Elizabeth Baquedano

Summary: This book is a collection of information on three empires and their people, the Aztecs, Incas and Mayas. Every page of the book has a large amount of pictures on it along with descriptions to tell more about that photo along with a general description of that page. Such things that students can find in this would be the basic information of the three ancient groups, their religious life, their cities, sports, artwork and more. At the end of the book there are sections such as, "Did you know?" and "Questions and Answers".

Lesson: This book would be a great book to have as a collection in your classroom with the other DK eyewitness books. If students ever have a question on a certain subject, they have the possibility to go look in these books and use their skills of working an index or table of contents to find the answer to their question. As a lesson, I would read aloud the "Masks" section of this book that explains that masks were used from burials to festivals. I would then have students create their own masks out of materials I had set aside for them and encourage them to be as creative as possible. Afterwards, I would get each student to write a paragraph explaining what their mask represents and I would attach the paragraph and mask together and then tape all to the wall for all to see.

Boycott Blues How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation

Genre: Nonfiction
Author: Andrea Davis Pinkney

Summary: Boycott Blues tells the story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955/56, starting off with the story of Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat to a white man after a long day at work as a seamstress. The story continues as blacks refuse to ride the bus and instead begin to walk everywhere for 300+ days in all types of weather. Boycott Blues is told in a fashion that seems more like an old woman talking or perhaps someone singing a blues song, as the title represents. Readers follow the story of the boycott until over a year passes and the segregation ends, allowing blacks to sit where ever they want on the buses.

Lesson: I'm not sure if I totally love this book. I like how it gives information of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in a song/storyteller fashion and I feel like children will be interested in the story as it is read to them. I'm just a little unsure about making Jim Crows law into a symbol of a crow pecking people throughout the book. If I was to use this book, it would have to go along with another book on the bus boycott. After reading this book I would get students to start discussing what they thought about he book, such as if the Jim Crow laws were actually crows along with how they feel about blacks not getting equality on the buses.

The Keeping Quilt

Genre: Multicultural
Author: Patricia Polacco

Summary: The story follows a young Russian immigrant named Anna as she and her family readjusts to living in America. The book is told by Anna's great granddaughter, Patricia. As Anna readjusts to living in America, she only has her dress and babushka from her home in Russia. Once Anna grows out of her babushka and dress, Anna's mother and the lady neighbors create a quilt out of Anna's babushka and dress along with a few other family member's attire. The quilt is seen in the illustrations as the only colorful thing in the black and white pictures and follows Anna as she grows up, gets married, and has her own children. The quilt and the story of the quilt is passed down through the generations until it reaches the narrator and is then passed down to her own children. Throughout the story the readers get to experience the life of Russian immigrants and how their culture changes and remains the same as time goes on.

Lesson:  I would use this book when studying different cultures. A study of different cultures can be used not only in literature but also during social studies as it helps children learn facts about different countries and cultures of those countries along with how different time periods affect them. I think that doing a multicultural read aloud could be done throughout the school year so that students are more willing to accept the diversity of the world. After reading this story children can create their own keeping quilt as a drawing and then describe the the aspects of their quilt in a written piece. Students can also share their quilt to the class.

America's Champion Swimmer Gertrude Ederle

Genre: Nonfiction
Author: David A. Adler

Summary: This story is about a woman named Gertrude Ederle who was born in 1906 in America. The story follows Gertrude "Trudy" 's life as she grew up in a time when women were seen to be the weaker gender. Trudy learns how to swim at the age of seven in Germany when visiting her grandmother and afterwards continues to become such a talented swimmer that she won three gold medals in the Olympics in Paris and set twenty-nine records by 1925. Trudy decides that she must do what no woman, and only five men, has ever done before, swimming the English Channel. Trudy must overcome the challenge of the twenty-one mile of ice cold, rough water. Once she finally does, she is called "America's Best Girl" by President Coolidge and is thought to have, "shattered" the thought that women are weaker than men.

Lesson: After reading this story I would have students discuss with one another a challenge they would like to overcome one day in their future as a young adult/adult and also a challenge they would like to beat this school year. They would be given a blank note card where they are to write and draw their challenge for the future along with the challenge for this school year. After they are done, I would tape them in their agendas so they can be reminded daily of their ability to beat a challenge they have designed.

Freedom Summer

Genre: Historical Fiction
Author: Deborah Wiles

Summary: In the summer of 1964, two boys get to witness segregation being demolished. The narrator, a white boy who remains nameless throughout the book, is best friends with his family's hired help's son, John Henry Waddell. The boys enjoy the summer playing and swimming in a creek and their summer fun seems to increase dramatically with the news of segregation ending, which will allow the two boys to do things together in public, such as swimming in a pool or buying ice cream. The next day to the boys' surprise, the pool is tarred over and the narrator begins to realize how his friend was promised equality but is still denied it.

Lesson: I would do this book as a read aloud to my class on the theme of equality. I would read the introduction of this book, which describes the summer of 1964 historically, and then give move information of the time period of this book. Afterwards, I would read the story, stopping throughout the book to ask the students questions. At the end, I would open up the floor to discussion of what the students thought about the book. I would have the students think about how they feel about this book along with any questions they want to ask. After a few minutes of quietly thinking, I would have students share their thoughts and questions with a partner and then later, share them with the class as a whole. Students would lead the discussion of equality of the summer of 1964, or the lack there of, and how they would feel if they were in that generation along with how their life would be different if segregation had never ended.

The Greeks Leaders in Democracy

Genre: Multicultural/International
Author: Katherine Reece

Summary: This book describes past and present Greece, a country made up of a main peninsula and numerous islands. Greece can be found on the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea and the peninsula is made up of mainly mountains and little land good enough to farm on. The book describes where the ancient Greeks were from along with who made up the ancient Greeks. Students may be interested to learn that the both male and female Greeks wore clothing called chitons and that they would eat pomegranates and fish. There is even two drawings of how women used to wear their hair in Greece. The book also covers the ancient Greeks's beliefs and their mythology of the gods. At the end of the book the author describes present Greece and the people who make it up.

Lesson: I would read this book at the end of the year as an introduction to Europe for a fifth grade class. The North Carolina Standard Course of Study for social studies in fifth grade focuses on North America so by the end of the school year students should have a firm understanding of North America. To prepare them for sixth grade, I would introduce them to Europe. After reading this book to my class I would have students go to the school's library and allow students to pick out books about one country in Europe that they would like to learn about. To help with the search of books, I would ask the librarian to help us find books about individual countries in Europe. I would have a large map of Europe spread out on a few tables so that students could find their country. After students have found a country and resources describing their country, I would have the students each create their own poster about their country. Students would present their country to the class and then we would hang them up in the class for the remainder of the year.

Rules by Cynthia Lord

Genre: Realistic Chapter Book
Author: Cynthia Lord

Summary: On Glogster on the previous post

I would read Rules in the beginning of the school year. I would read this book so that my students will be more accepting of how people are all different. I would show the students to Glog I created as if Catherine had created it and then I would have all the students in my class create their own Glog so that they can share with each other, along with myself as the teacher, what they love and what makes them unique.  I feel like this would be a great way for the students to get to know one another in the beginning of the year and accept others. In the first week of class, I would have the students help me create the classroom rules, and after reading this book, ask them if there are any more they would like to add. I would also have them describe why rules are so important for people to function in life.

Glogster