The Lacemaker and the Princess (Historical Fiction)

     In The Lacemaker and the Princess we learn of the incredible and unlikely friendship between a peasant and a princess. Isabelle is a simple seamstress with a simple task of delivering lace to the royal princess at Versailles, but what happens while she's there will change her life and friendships forever.

   I think this is a good book to read to a classroom because not only do you get a story about in incredible and unlikely friendship, but you also get some information within the story about the time period this story is set in, so you could include the history of Versailles into your lesson on this story.

The Amazing World of Stuart: Stuart's Cape

     In The Amazing World of Stuart: Stuart's Cape, we meet a young boy named Stuart who has just moved to a new town. Stuart is also very adventurous and in an attempt to create his own adventures he also creates his own cape made of ties. In The Amazing World of Stuart: Stuart's Cape, we learn of the many adventures Stuart embarks on after he creates his magical cape. 

     I would have this book as another example of realistic fiction in my class library because it describes the actual adventures that could happen to a young boy searching for adventure. 

Saving Danny (Realistic Fiction)

     In Saving Danny we learn of a young girl named Bree whose dog, Danny, goes missing. Throughout the book we learn of the things Bree learns about animals and animal shelters in her attempt to find her own missing dog.

    I think from reading this book students will learn about compassion and the need to help others, not only other human beings, but animals also. After reading this book I would challenge my students to help in their own community, such as working at an animal shelter, because sometimes kids are sheltered from the world around them and by doing this they would get to see what really goes on in the world first hand.

The Little Mermaid (Modern Fantasy)

ANIMOTO

      Although most of the pictures from the animoto video come from the Disney movie "The Little Mermaid" the actual version by Hans Christian Andersen is very different. By reading this version to my students it would be a good way to show that not all movies are accurate portrayals of the actual writing. 

The Three Little Pigs (Traditional Literature)

GLOGSTER

       This book is similar in style and context to my other Traditional Literature samples because it varies slightly from the original story. I would simply have this as another sample of this type of literature in my class library or maybe even have my students think of a traditional story they know and add an extra detail to it like Steven Kellogg did with the idea that the pigs and their mother sold waffles. 

The Wizard of Oz (Modern Fantasy)

           Dorothy is a small town girl from Kansas whose day gets interesting after a tornado picks her and her dog, Toto, up and deposits them in a town she is unfamiliar with, known as Munchkin Land. In her adventure she meets a talking scarecrow, a talking tin man, and a talking lion. In her attempt to get home from Munchkin Land, Dorothy and her new found friends must go to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard of Oz. The story describes all the adventures she endures and her finale adventure home.

            After reading this story I would have my students write a story similar to The Wizard of Oz. I would give them the prompt,  "Consider your at your house taking a nap when all of the sudden you hear it storming terribly outside. All of the sudden you feel your house lift from the ground and it beings spinning out of control! You can't figure out what is going on until...PLOP. You're house has finally sat back down, but when you look outside your window, you can not believe what you see..."

The Magic Tree House: Viking Ships at Sunrise (Modern Fantasy)

            In this Magic Tree House adventure, Jack and Annie must travel to Ireland to find a lost story, in a context similar to all the other Magic Tree House stories. The book describes the crazy hurdles and mishaps they must overcome to find this story.

             After reading this story or any story from the Magic Tree House series I would have my students write an adventurous tale similar to theirs. Also to connect this to history or geography I would have my students write their story and use elements of a certain time period, like in this story the author used elements from the time of the vikings in the story. 

Finn McCool and the Great Fish (Multicultural)

WORDLE

            After reading this book I would have my students write about a time when they showed compassion. For example I would want them to describe a time to me when they wanted something really bad, but gave it up because it showed compassion. If they have never experienced something like this then I would have them make up a story similar to Finn’s, where they give up something they really want because of the kindness they exemplify. 

No Talking (Realistic Fiction)

            In the story No Talking an entire fifth grade competes in a contest, boys versus girls, to see if they can go 2 days without talking. The idea came from the story’s main character, Drew, after he read a story about Gandhi and how he spends a couple of days a year not talking just to clear his mind. After hearing the girls being so loud in the cafeteria one day Drew turns his idea into a plan to compete against the girls. The plan goes smoothly until the principal and teachers gets involved and try to get the students to stop the contest, but little did they know that this little competition could change their school forever. 

            After reading this book, I would challenge my students do the same thing Drew and Lyndsey did because then it would give my students the opportunity to discover alternate forms of communication and also help them discover alternate forms of learning . My favorite part of the book was when they were able to find different ways to learn and communicate with each other. 

Meet Addy (Historical Fiction)

           In Meet Addy we meet a girl an African American girl named Addy who lives with her family as slaves. The book begins with Addy hearing her parents whispering running away from their owners to obtain freedom and the rest of the book describes the trials and tribulations they must go through to eventually get that freedom.

            I think this is a good book to read while learning about the Civil War since that is when the book takes place. It also would help describe some of the things African Americans had to go through in order to get their freedom and I think it is important that students learn about this because sometimes this part of the war gets overlooked.

The Princess and the Pizza (Traditional Literature)

          In The Princess and the Pizza by Mary Jane and Herm Auch, the standard story of The Princess and the Pea gets a twist. In this story the Princess Paulina’s father, the King, decides he doesn’t want to be king anymore and steps down to become a woodcrafter. Princess Paulina isn’t to pleased with this decision and misses all her princess like duties such as waving to crowds from a cart, looking at the town from her window, walking her pet peacock, etc. Princess Paulina decides she wants to become a princess again and embarks on an adventure to marry a local towns prince, where she must compete against 12 other princess. After a while Princess Paulina wants to give up, but something interesting happens that changes all of the people’s lives around her forever.

            Since this story is similar to The Wolf’s Story in its story line, I would probably just have this as another example of ways that traditional literature can be changed up to be read from a different character’s point of view. The student’s could also read this as another example to pull from in their attempts to write a traditional piece of literature in a different character’s point of view. 

The Lion King (Graphic Novel Version)

           The Lion King is a story about a young cub and his mischievous adventures he goes though into his adulthood. It also describes the friends he meets along the way and the struggles he faces to become the King of his pride after his father is killed by his own evil brother. The story focuses on the friendships he makes and the relationship he has between his mother, Sarabi, and his friend Nala. The story contains the struggle between good and evil, with the good ending up on top as usual.

            After reading this graphic novel I would have my students create their own graphic novel based on one of their favorite stories or movies. I would then describe to them that not all literature has to be written in the traditional way and that this is another technique that some authors may use. 

Coming on Home Soon (Historical Fiction)

           Ada Ruth’s mom is leaving for Chicago for a while to earn money for her family since people are now hiring African American women because so many men are off fighting in the war. She promises to write Ada Ruth and send money while Ada Ruth must stay with her grandma. Ada Ruth becomes sad after a while from not receiving letters from her mom and beings to feel like her mother is forgetting her. She waits and waits for a letter from her mom to come from the postman and each day is disappointed when one doesn’t arrive, until one day a letter full of money from her mom arrives, promising to come home soon.

            I think this an excellent book to read to students because you could show the hardships children and other family members endure when someone they love is over seas fighting for our country or travels a lot or abroad for work. I think this would be a good discussion to have with students because sometimes they don’t understand how lucky they are to have parents or guardians so close to them. 

The Wolf's Story (Traditional Literature)

          Every story has two sides. As for the Little Red Riding Hood Story the wolf’s story has rarely been told. In Toby Forward and Izhar Cohen’s version of Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf's Story, the wolf wasn’t as bad as he was portrayed in other versions. He was actually Grandma’s helper. He cleaned around her house, fixed her clothes, cooked her meals, etc. But the wolf had a certain bias against Little Red just because she always seemed scared around him and never offered him toffee when she brought it for her grandma. He also hated that Little Red brought toffee to her grandma when it was so bad for grandma’s false teeth. On that fateful day that the stories describe the wolf was just trying to help grandma when things took a terrible turn.

            I really enjoyed this version of Little Red Riding Hood. It was very funny and had a good storyline. After reading this story to my class I would have them think of a famous story they know such as The Three Little Pigs or Goldilocks and have them write the story over from another character’s point of view. 

My Mei Mei (Multicultural)

           In My Mei Mei by Ed Young, a young girl named Antonia begs and pleads with her parents to give her a "mei mei" or a younger sister. She wants one so bad she sometimes even pretends to have one. Eventually Antonia gets her wish and her and her family fly to China to get her new mei mei, but things don’t go exactly as Antonia had planned or hoped with her new baby sister.

            I liked this book because it used language other than Enlgish in certain parts, such as when she was talks about being a big sister and wanting a little sister, so it was good to see the cultural side to the book. I also think this book would be an excellent way to describe different types of families. For instance in this book both of the children are adopted, yet they are still a family even though their mother didn’t give birth to them. I think the class could then have a discussion on their different kinds of families and the different kind of families that there are.

Players in Pigtails (Historical Fiction)

           Katie Casey was not your typical girl. Instead of enjoying sewing and dancing like most other girls her age, she loved baseball, which at the time was mainly a man’s sport. Katie loved playing baseball and was very good at it even though she wasn’t always supported by the world around her. Eventually she realized she wasn’t the only girl in America who loved baseball and she ended up joining a team of all girl baseball players whom were pretty good at playing, much to the surprise of many Americans.

            I think this is a great book to read to students to bring up the subject of stereotypes because baseball is usually stereotyped as a man’s sport. I would then have my students think of other stereotypes that they know aren’t always true to their stereotypes such as teacher’s only being women. Just because there aren’t as many male teachers as female doesn’t mean that teacher’s should be stereotyped as only for women. The same thing can be applied to nurses as well. 

This Next New Year (Multicultural)

           The Chinese New Year is a very important holiday in Chinese cultures and is celebrated by many other cultures around the world. In This Next New Year a young Korean boy discusses the things that he and his family do to prepare for the New Year, such as dusting the house and flossing their teeth so that they get rid of the bad luck of their pasts and may be embellished with good luck for the new year! He also talks about starting anew this year and not being scared by the firecrackers and only speaking positively.

I would read this book around the time of the Chinese New Year, which happens on January 23rd of 2012, so that the students could learn about another cultures holidays. I would then have them compare what the Korean boy said they did to prepare and celebrate for their new year to how we celebrate and prepare for our new year on December 31. I would also have them write any new resolutions they may have for themselves for the Chinese New Year.

My Dad, John McCain (Non-fiction)

In, My Dad, John McCain, we learn the story of Senator John McCain's life up to the time he is named the Republican Presidential Nomination for the 2008 elections. Written by his daughter, Meghan, we get a deeper look inside McCain's military past, his time captured as a prisoner of war, his transition into politics and his journey to becoming president.

This would have been an excellent book to have read upon the 2008 Presidential elections because it would have given the students a good insight into one of the candidates, but I think it is also a good book to read when learning about politics and even the military. After reading this book I would have my students create a biography for someone they know and also have them create a campaign poster for that person and why they think that person would make a great leader in the style Meghan did for her 

Booker T. Washington: Leader and Educator (Non-fiction)

Booker T. Washington grew up a slave in the mid 1800's until his freedom in 1865 when President Lincoln granted freedom to all slaves in the South. After being granted freedom, Washington was now able to go to school; something he had always dreamed about and eventually became a teacher himself. Because of all the notoriety around him and the accomplishments he had received, he became one of the most influential African American men of all time.

This would be a good book to read during Black History Month to showcase a very influential African American in United States History. This book exemplifies his perseverance so I would have my students think about another person in history to compare him too, for example Elizabeth Cady Stanton was persistent in her fight for women’s right to vote as he was to achieving his dreams of freedom and becoming an educated man. 

  

Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote (Non-fiction)

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was not your typical woman of the 1800's. She knew what she wanted and she was going to fight for it. What she wanted was for women to have the right to vote! Having a father as a judge who would tell her about the rights of women or lack thereof, she knew the struggles women had to overcome. She decided the only way things were going to change for women was if they had the right to vote which would give them some say in the laws being made! She got together with other women who supported this idea and for most of her life she fought for this right, which was eventually granted on August 26, 1920 thanks to incredible women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

I think this would be a good book to read during election time. I would have my students study the results of a past election and see if there would have been any changes in who was elected if women had not been allowed to vote in that election. I would also have my students think and write about what they think the world would be like today had women not been given the right to vote. Would the country be more strict and cold because men usually vote for the strong willed candidates who are focused on an end goal? Or would it be a more compassionate country because women usually tend to vote for the candidates who are more compassionate and other questions of this nature.