The Outsiders (realistic fiction)

The Outsiders

By: S.E. Hinton

This book is about a group of boys, and the narrator, Ponyboy, and their lives living on the wrong side of the tracks. It is a coming of age book, and the teme is about their loss of innocence. This story takes place in the Southwest, but never actually gives a place. There is an ongoing fued between the rich and the poor, Eastside verses Westside, and Ponyboy is on the East side, the greaser side. The feud truns into a fight, and Ponyboy and some another greaser end up killing one of the opposite side, the socialites. The main character deals with death and loss of friends, an his innocence, and the struggle to stay "golden."

The book uses a lot of imagery and symbolism instead of illustrations, and the imagery will actuall take you to the scenes, and build the background relationships between the characters, something the movie just could not capture. The characters are Ponyboy, SodaPop, Darry, Two-Bit, Steve, Dally, and Johnny. This is considered realistic fiction, because our textbook says these are events that could happen, they depict people who could be real (Galda, 2010). The setting is a Southwest town, in Oklahoma. The plot is the life of a greaser boy trying to survive. This book was published in 1967, and was written by a 15 year old girl.

Some activities that can go along with realistic fiction are to have the children do a scrapbook of the charcters, what are there likes, names, images that you relate to them, and have them pick a charcter per group, or assign so each character gets a scrapbook page. They should come up with, how they are related to the main character, where they fit it the story...what is their story within the story, and images to depict how they feel he/she looks. Another idea is to create, as a class your own realistic story. Come up with a realistic setting, character(s), plot, theme, storyline, etc. and as a class write your own story, that could be real, set in our time.

Resources:

Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2010). Literature and the child (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworths, Inc.

Hinton, S.E. (1967). The Outsiders. New York. Viking Press.

And Then There Were None (mystery)

And then there were None

By: Agatha Christie

I love a good mystery book, and this is one of my favorite, even if the original name was awful and racist. It is really hard to summarize this book to do it justice...it almost reminds me of the game and movie Clue. There are 8 people who are lured to Indian Island under flase prentenses, by a man that they later discover no one knows, Mr. Owen. They are greeted by Mr and Mrs Rogers, the butler and maid, and after a hearing a recording of their misdoings or murders, they slowly start to die off, or are killed off. Police discovered a bottle after the deaths that tells of a judges desire for justice to be served by people when the law could not serve that justice.

This book was written in 1939 by Agatha Christie, and is required reading for 9th grade English classes. It is considered mystery, because it is a page turner, that uses the who done it aspect to tell a story. This is a chapter book. That has an index, table of contents, and headings as text features. There are no illustrations other than the cover. Our textbook does not really share details of a good mystery book, but I would imagine they include clues, a lot of room for speculation as to the who, what, where, when, or why; and I feel that this book captures that mystery that allures readers.

Some activities that can be used, are first to play the game clue, get students interested in teh material, although I think that murder mystery is interesting all in itself. But getting the kids in the looking for clues mindset, so that when they read teh text they can follow some clues, come to conclusions, and discuss possible ideas with their classmates. Another idea is to write a timeline or sequence of events to map the story. What happened first, next, and so on...so the kids are engaged in the text.

Resource:

Christie, A. (1939). And then there were none. New York.  Harper Collins.

I am Martin Luther King Jr. (non-fiction)

I am Martin Luther King Jr.

By Brad Meltzer

This book is about the famous civil rights leader, Martin Luther Kking Jr. I persoanlly like this version compared to other non-fiction, biographies of King, because it gives some background information from his childhood. Like the first time he realized that there was something wrong, when he was not allowed to play with the white kids in the neighborhood, because of the difference in skin color. Of, course it does mention important speeches given, marches, and more specifically the Rosa Parks prtest that led to one of his many arrests in the fight for equality.

The book is classified as both non-fiction and a biography, but this is for my non-fiction selection. It gives accurate information about an event, which could be classified in the subject of social studies (Galda, 2010). This was a historical figure, which is the reason for the classification. The design of the book, as the textbook states is attractive with illustrations that compliment the text. The book also states that the style of writing "should be presented in an interesting or stimulating way (Galda, 2010)," and he formatted the illustrations as comic strips which I feel makes this interesting and stimulating for young readers, it really livens the text and adds to teh storyline by creating a dialogue, do to speak.

It is also organized quite well, in a timeline of events starting from childhood. Ideas are developed clearly and all information is accurate. The illustrations, like I said, really add to the book. The illustrator uses represenational cartoon art in the form of a comic strip. The media and technique used is watercolors, with a light color palet.

Some ideas for incorporating nonficton activies into the classroom include: A character bubble chart that details information that later can be used to write an essay whith the prompt of What are the Characteristics of a Great Leader? Another idea is to have the students develop a timeline, using information from teh source or other sources to map out events important in the life of MLK, and his fight for equality. I think that this chart, should be turned into a large timeline for a class project, using pictures, data, dates, and art that represent MLK's work.

Resources:

Lee Galda, B. E. (2010). Literature and the Child. 7th Ed. Belmont: Wadworth. Cenage.

Meltzer, B. (2016). I am Martin Luther King Jr.  New York: Penguin Random House.

Henry's Freedom Box (multicultural)

Henry's Freedom Box
By: Ellen Levine

This book is about an African American slave and his life in slavery, as well as his escape. Henry Brown's master was ill, and instead of freeing Henry like other masters did with their slaves, he gave him to his son. Henry married Nancy, and had children, even though they had different masters. His wife and children were sold at the slave market. Henry planned his escape, he mailed himself to a place were they had no slaves. He was sent to William Johnson, were he found his freedom. March 30, 1849 was his first day of freedom, his first birthday, since he never had one.

Not only is this book considered multicultural because of its depiction of events that happened to minorities in this country, it is also considered Historical fiction, because it is based in historical facts that depict a character that could be real. The theme is escape and freedom, as well as the unfairness of slavery. The setting is Pre-Cival War America, presumably the South, when slavery was still legal. The plot is the life and escape of Henry, a slave. The main charcter is, of course, Henry Brown, who does not know his age, because slaves do not know their birthdays.

The illustrations in this book, use representational art, and the media and technique is paint, probably water colors by the look of the paint colors and highlights. It uses muted tones of mostly browns, greys, greens, and other dull colors. This was probably to set the mood, which is very serious. The art adds to the mood of the book, it tells about the somber events that takes place in this young boy to man's life, and his escape. Each picture tells that part of the story through the images.

Some great activities for classroom when reading this particular book would be to make a bubble chart of Henry's character traits. The other would be a prequal to the story. This would be an idea of bringing in a box, and having the kids put their ideas of what a freedom box could mean or hold. Place their ideas on paper into the box. At the end have them write their ideas after reading the story. What changed, what didn't change? Have them write their finding in an essay and share with the class.

Resources:

Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2010). Literature and the child (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworths, Inc.

Levine, E. (2017). Henry's Freedom Box. New York. Scholastic Press.

Night (Memoir)

Night

By Elie Weisel

This book is a memoir about Elie's (Eliezer's) experienceduring the Holocaust. The first time I read this book was in high school, and its probably one of the most memorable heartbreaking books I have ever read. Of course, the Holocaust occured during WWII and was the mass genocide of the Jewish and other races of people who were not considered "pure" white. This is a really touchy subject, but can be used as literature for Middle Schools. I also think it is one of the most eye opening books I have ever read. I would consider this a chapter book for older middle school grade levels and high school, due to the graphic nature of the book and the details described within. Not only does the book speak of unimaginable torture, murder, emaciation, but it has groesome details of the ongoings of concentration camps, like Auschwitz.

The book is older, published in 1960, but I feel is a glimpse into the horror that was the Holocaust. I can remember reading this, and crying at the details like the loss of his mother and sister, only having coffee to eat or drink in the last few weeks at the camp before they were freed by the soldiers, and details about them lining people up and shotting them to save on bullets. The book is a memoir because. as teh book states, it is "a historical account or biography written from personal experience(Galda, 2010)."This book was the account of Elie Weisel, who was only 12 when the Holocaust began.

There are no illustrations, but on teh cover of the book, and it is hard to determine the media and technique, it looks like it may use paint of some type, because the blue uses brush strokes. It looks like it uses outline style, because as the book states "it emphasizes line and often reducesfeatures to simpliefied shapes (Gald,2010)." The colors used are blue and black, and look like a boy standing amidst barbed wire.

The setting is Nazi concentration camps, one being the infamous Auschwitz. The plot would be the experience that he had, the awful near death experience, during WWII, and Hitler's Nazi reign. One of the themes was his loss in faith, in God, in humanity, but mostly God. Aanother theme was death and cruelty, and I also believe another theme was identity...he struggled to be identified as anything more than the number they branded him with. The accuracy of the text, is by all accounts his experiences, so I feel that they are pretty accurate. This was a historical, well documented event, and it is true to the occurances depicted.

Some activites to use for memoirs, maybe not this particular one, are to first have students main charcters or events. Have them choose an event, and have them do a descriptive bubble chart about key details on the person or event. So let's say they picked MLK. They could add details like he was a doctor, he made speeeches, fought for equality, etc. All in a bubble chart, that they later could write an essay using the details in their chart. Another idea is for the students is to have children write their own memoirs about a specific event. This would be their own account of what happened when they went to a theme park, saw a space shuttle go off, went on a class field trip, or whatever prompt can be given, but it would have to be done as their accounts of the events that went on.

Resources:

Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2010). Literature and the child (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworths, Inc.

Wiesel, E. (1960). Night. New York. Hill and Wang. 

Hidden Figures (biography)

Hidden Figures
By Margot Lee Shetterly

This book is about three African-American, mathematician, women, and their place in the space program. The charcters are Dorothy Vaughan (my maiden name), Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson, who all played a role in space flight with their mathematical abilities. They did this while fighting with segregation, prejudice, juggling work and families. They never really had the recognition until the book and movie, but they are an inspiration to every women, to every African American, and to the field of mathemetics. They were human calculators, and made it possible for space flight.

This book was published in 2016, and is considered a biography genre of text. This is a chapter book, with 23 chapters. It tells of the events, many details and historical accounts, of the lives of these three women. The book states that biographies " tells the story of the life (lives) or portion of life of a real person, or in this case people (Galda,2010)." The theme is that women made many contribution in space flight. The setting is in the 1940's at NASA, and is written in the third person point of view. I also feel that this book can be classified as non-fiction, biography, and historical fiction, based on our descriptions in the textbook(Galda, 2010).

The book cover is really the only illustrations, and it uses photographs as the technique, it is a black and white photos, placed on a blue background that has solar images or details surrounding it.

I actually chose this book, because I absolutely loved the story, not just because of the last name of one of the individauls, but because it is such a powerful message. That message is that women, African Americans, have had such an amazing impact on innovation and our history. I think one of the main things that I loved about this is that it shows women in the field of math, something that we all know has been lacking in this day in age. I feel that these women are such a great role model for young girls who are good at math...maybe we can get more girls involved in the ares of math, science, technology, and engineering.

This story can relate to Saint Leo's core value of respect. Many events in the story, many apsects touched on the segregation of the time period. Blacks and whites had separate bathroom, water fountains, drinking glasses or mugs in the book. These women helped in space flight, the put America in the lead, and yet the lack of respects from their coworkers was awful. They were intelligent, capable, and amazing women, who have historical relevance, which shows that no matter the color of your skin, the gender that you associate with, or whatever difference it may be, we are all deserving of respect, and capable of more than our appearances.

Some ideas for activities that incorporate biographies in the classroom would be, first, using an idea from the text, making a character scrapbook. Collect details about the characters, and make a scrapbook to include all three of the main charcters. This makes learning about these characters fun and creative. Another idea, also taken from the text is making the newspaper ad...breaking news, about how these "human calculators" helped in the "race to space (shettler,2010)."

Resources:

Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2010). Literature and the child (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworths, Inc.

Shetterly, M. L. (2016). Hidden Figures. New York. William Morrow and Company Inc.

Mirror Mirror (poetry)

Mirror, Mirror

By: Marilyn Singer

This book is a series of poems about famous fairytales, as interpretted by the author. The poems are actually 2 poems in one. The poem is read one way going down and then changed on the next page to read it the other way, like a mirror image, so the poem is reversed. There are 14 poems, the first and last are an introductory poem about the reverse, and an exit poem about the road. The poems include: In Reverse, In the Hood, Cinderella, The Ssleeping beauty and the Wide Awake Prince, Rapunzel's Locks, The Doubtful Duckling, Full of Beans (Jack and the Beanstalk), Bears in teh News (Goldilocks), Have Another Chocolate (Hansel and Gretel), Do you Know my Name (Rupelstiltzskin), Dissappointment (The Princess and the Frog), Longing For Beauty (Beauty and the Beast), and the Road.

This genre of this book is poetry. It was published in 2010. I can't even tell you how much I loved this book, it is so engaging for the readers that it reverses the poems. I can't wait to read this book to my students, because I really feel that this is a wonderful idea to help keep poetry relevant for young readers. The techniques used are rhyme, repetition, and rhythm. It repeats the stanzas in the seond part of the poem, to make a different meaning of the verses. I can't explain well enough to do this justice, I really feel this should be read. The reoccuring pattern in that it reverses the original poem, and it rhymes. The structure used is verse novels, because as the book states "tells stories through poetry but...consist of a series of one- or two- page poems rather than a single long poem (Galda,2010)."

The illustrations used are beautiful, and immitate the text structure...what I mean by that is that it is a mirror image, but opposite or in reverse. One side will be, for example, mainly blue with green accents, and the other mainly green with blue accents (these are the sleeping beauty pages) The technique and media used are, I believe acrylics, and they used bright vivid colors. I also think that the artist uses surrealism, because  mixed with impressionistic art. It is very dreamlike, but emphasizes the color differences in each story. It really does add to the story, for the simple reason that it shows the reversal in the pages, the texts, and the images. Images should tell the story, right along with the story, and this book, as a whole, is beautifully told.

Some ideas to incorporate this book into classroom activities would be, first, to maybe make up a poem for the entire class. Start of by picking a topic to concentrate on, like the being happy, and make up the first stanza for the class. Something like It makes me so happy that I am here with all of you. Then have the students add to the poem, ryhming would probably be the best technique, but this allows them to be creative in their learning process. Aanother idea would be, for this particular book, to make a book of images based on only the titles of each poem, without hearing the poems, yet. This allows them to think about what story  the title may have to do with (since some of them are not what I would have thought).

Resources:

Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2010). Literature and the child (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworths, Inc.

Singer, M. (2010). Mirror, Mirror. New York. Dutton.