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.

Duck for Turkey Day (multicultural)

Duck for Turkey Day

by:  Jacquelene Jules

This story is about different traditions for holidays. It is Thanksgiving, and the class was talking about pilgrims and the native Americans, the first Thanksgiving, and making turkey pinecones. Everyone was going to eat turkey for Thanksgiving, except Tuyet. Her family, who were Vietnamese, were going to make duck. Tuyet was sad that everyone else was eating turkey but her, but she also loved the duck, she even had seconds. When they returned to school, they talked about what they did and ate at Thanksgiving. To Tuyet's surprise many of her friends in class did not eat turkey, they had roast beef, enchilada, and many other entrees for dinner than duck.

This story was published in 2009, and is multiculural literature for children. The setting is home and school for thanksgiving. The theme is Holiday Traditions, and diversity. The main character is Tuyet, supporting characters are her family, her classmates, her teacher, and her grandmother. Multicultural books are those that show diversity of the children who come into your classroom, they are books that reflect the perspectives the trials that students from diverse backgrounds deal with when assimilating to our Culture. This book depicts one of these struggles, but also highlights the fact that not everyone, even native born, share the same traditions, and there are more of us who are different than you think. The book is also considered contemporary realistsic fiction, because the story, events, and the dilemma are all things that can realistically happen.

The illustrations look like watercolors, but with beautiful colors. The style of art used is again representational, because they depict realistic scenes, charcters, and events, although cartoonish (Lee, 2010)." The images walk the reader through the events, through the dilemma, and really add to the books theme of traditions, showing what the characters family traditions are. Tthe pages alternate from full pages of artwork, to small images with light fading out edges. The title page uses this small image as well. The images are beauiful.

Some activities that can be included for this story can include a writing prompt about traditions. What traditions does your family have that make you different, or make your celebrations unique. Have the children write, make pictures and share their traditions to the class. Then once all the traditions are in, you can make a class holiday, where every tradition shared can be incorporated into the celebration. Another idea is to make a class tradition, have the students come up with a class tradition. It can be anything from a chant that they all say in the morning, to a class song or phrase.  This works as a collaboration assignment and a writing assignment in one.

Resources:

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

Jules, J. (2009). Duck for Turkey Day. Albert Whitman and Company. New York.

New Shoes (historical fiction)

New Shoes

By: Susan Lynn Meyer

Tthe story is about a girl, Ella Mae, who went to a shoe store to get new shoes. When she walked into the store, another girl walked in after her. Instead of being waited on first, the girl who walked in after her was aited on, because of the color of her skin. When it was finally Ella Mae's turn to "try on" shoes she was not allowed to, she had to draw her feet size on paper, and was given shoes. She was upset by what happened, and her and her firend Charlotte did chores for little money and outgrown shoes. They opened their own store in a barn, that anyone who walked through the doors could try on shoes.

This book was published in 2015, and is considered historical fiction. It would also fall under multiculturalism based on the ethnicity depicted. As the textbook states "historical fiction can help children discover their own place in the history of their world; it can give them a sense of historical importance in their own lives (Lee, 2010)."I feel this book does just that for African American children. This book shows historical events, that of segregation, and gives a story of a girl that is believable, who could have existed. According to the book, historical fictions" setting affects plot and charcter authenticty.(Lee, 2010)" The setting of this book definitely affects the plot and character. The time period of when the story takes place, when segregation was prevelant in America, is why the character in the book is treated so different.

The textbook describes historical fiction as one that "tells stories of the set in the past; it portrays events that...possible could have occured ( Lee, 2010)." The illustrations in the book look like acrylics, the colors are vivid and use representational, because they use "literal , realistic depictions of characters, objects, and events. They are beautiful and add to the overall feel of the book. There is a page tha depicts the girls preparing there store, the image shows the girls grit, determination for fairness, and fierce attitude to succeed! The cover page is full with teh image. The title and author are placed within the frame, almost hidden by the beautiful artwork that shos the two girls looking into the shoe shop.

This book relates to Saint Leo's core Value of respect, because that is what this girl wanted...respect. She went out, and made a shop of her own to show that repsect to others. People came to their shop because they were treated as equals, they were treated with respect.

My first idea for classroom activities is a writing promt on how they would feel if the same thing that happened to Ella Mae happened to them. The next activity would have the stduents make an ad for Ella Mae and Charolette's show store, they will give the where (the setting) the owners (the characters) the reason for the store opening or the background story (the plot), and a catch phrase (the theme).

Resources

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

Meyer, Susan L. (2015). New Shoes. Holiday House, Inc. New York.

The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale (folklore)

The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale

Retold by: Angela Elwell Hunt

Illustrated by: Tim Joake

This story, another of my top favorites, is about three trees a top a mountain, who all want different things in life. One wants to hold treasure, the other wants to be a great big ship that carried Kings, and the last wants to stay on the mountain where he can point to God, so that when people looked at him they would think of God. One day a woodcutter came and chopped all three down, but none would get their wish, the first was made into a feedbox, the next into a fishing boat, and the last into beams of lumber. One day the first tree had a baby placed into the hay that he held, he got his wish, he was holding the greatest treaure of all. Years down the road the second tree was out on the water and during a ferocious storm a man stood and calmed the skies and sea. He got his wish, he was carrying the King of Kings. The last tree was heartbroken when a man was nailed to him, but then he realized that every time people thought of that tree they would think of God.

This story is folklore, because of its format or the telling of the story. It uses transformation as its theme, since all three tress changed from trees, to nothing, to God's beautiful work. The convention used, as fitting to the trilogy aspect of the story, is the number three (Lee, 2010). The illustrations in this book are very dark muted hues, probably to add to the emotional aspect of the book. The tones set the mood for the reader. The media and technique uses, I believe, watercolor and paintbrushes. The mood is similar to the one depicted in Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. The illustrations uses  impressionaictic artwork. They create an impression af reality, but are not literal like representational art (Lee, 2010).

Activities, obviously not intended for Public school maybe for Sunday School teaching, could include a writing assignment that asks the question "What is something that you wished for, but did not get, and then eventually God gave you something better?" This can be used as a writing assignment of a class discussion. The book also gives an idea to make a newspaper as a writing assignment (Lee, 2010). Have the kids pick one of the three stories (of the three trees), and write about that trees day, either the day they were cut down or met God.

The first time I ever heard this book I cried, and went to the nearest Christian book store and bought it. It is such a beautiful telling of three important days in the life of our Saviour, from the perspective of the trees that would have been used in each of those days. I think it uses emotion to capture it's audience, and between the illustratuions, the story line, and the signifigance of the story it is one of my favorites.

Resources

Hunt, Angela Elwell. (1989). The Tale of the Three Trees: Aa Traditional Folktale. David C. Cook.

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

June 29, 1999 (Science fiction)

June 29, 1999

by David Weisner

This story is about a girl, Holly, who conducts a science experiment where she sends vegetable seedlings into the sky to see what impact extraterrestrials have on vegetable growth. She reports on the experiment in a journal, and on June, 29, 1999  huge vegetables are floating all over in the sky. They eventually float to earth, but was this a result of her experiment? Sadly, for Holly, it was not. It was a ship that had lost it food contents over Aurora Borealis.

This book is classified as Science Fiction, which according to our textbook "is concerned with present-day scientific possibilities on the world of the future (Lee,2010)." The story is plausible, of course with the help of science and innovation. We have seen additives that can make vegetables in particular, grow to amazing sizes. Science fiction does not always have to be futuristic, and this story is a great example of this.

I really love the illustrations in this book. Many of the pictures depict overly sized vegetables over cities adding to the story line, which talks about specific vegetables over specific towns or cities. The illustrations uses watercolor and paintbrushes for media and technique. I believe the style of art is a combination of representational and surrealistic art. The charcter herself is a"literal, realistic depiction of the charcater", but the oversized fruit uses both surrealism and represenational since images are that of "dreams(Lee,2010)." The artwork is beautiful with rich colors that add depth to the illustrations and story.

Some activities to use with this book would be to conduct our own experiments, hands-on activites are some of the best in helping retain information. This will take some pre-planning of a few weeks to start seedlings grow. You can plant seedlings, and have students keep a log of their findings on the seed growth, you can add sunlight, remove sunlight, water, no water, to different seeds, and see which ones grows the fastest. Have the students make predictions. Once the results are in you can have the students make a conclusion page, and read the selected book. After reading the book you can have the students do a writing assignment that can include the "response question" What kind of things can you think of that would make vegetables grow so big that they would be as big as the ones in the book? answer could be a raygun, fertilizers, etc. The more creative the better to create imaginative, creative discussion.

Another activity that can be used, comes from the book's idea to make a recipe (Lee, 2010). Have the students jot down all the vegetables listed and make a recipe using those ingredients. They should write their selected ingredients, how to make them, and a picture to depict the end result.

This book was really cute, and I feel would be a great additional to my classroom library. I feel that it allows the children to make predictions, read a very entertaining story with very imaginative artwork, and has many design features that lends itself well to classroom activities to engage students in reading.

Resources

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

Weisner. D. (1992). June, 29, 1999. Clarion Books. New York.