Mockingbird

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

Realistic Fiction/Disabilities/Chapter Book

This is by far the best book I read for this project, and one that I will try my best to use in my future classroom. It tells the story of a young girl, Caitlin, who has Asperger's Syndrome. She loses her brother, the person who helped her to understand the world, in a school shooting, and afterwards, tries to find closure for both herself and her father. This book shows Caitlin's interactions with the school counselor, her teachers, her neighbors, schoolmates, and her father through Caitlin's point of view. The way Caitlin sees and understands the world becomes clear to the reader.

The dedication of the book simply states, " In hopes that we may all understand each other better." I think that is a perfect reason to read this book and use it in a classroom. Due to inclusion, there are lots of special needs students in the main classroom, and students will have to interact with them. I struggled with this in elementary school, and I witnessed a lot of bullying that most likely could have been avoided if the students were more informed. I don't think reading this book will solve all meanness and bullying, but it is a start. I think this book would make a great read aloud, but due to the interesting way the narrator writes the story, would be most effective for students to read on their own.

This book would be a perfect book for RL.5.9 - compare and contrast stories in the same genre on their approaches to similar themes and topics. This book covers many of the same themes and topics as Rules, but is written much differently. The narrator in Rules has a brother and a friend with mental/physical disabilities, while the narrator in Mockingbird is dealing with these disabilities herself.

Erskine, K. (2010). Mockingbird. New York, NY: Philomel Books. 

The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Fiction/Chapter Book/Newberry Award

The Giver is the story of a young boy named Jonas who lives in a futuristic society where everyone is the same. At age 12, Jonas is given the job of Receiver, who is the only person in society who can keep the memories, both good and bad, of the past. Jonas receives the memories from the previous Receiver  whom he calls 'The Giver'. Jonas soon realizes how bland his life is, and how bright it could be. He and the Giver devise a plan to change the society forever. 

This book was one of my favorites when I first read it, I enjoyed it so much that I bought it and still have it. To this day, dystopian novels are my favorite genres of books; Anthem and Hunger Games are two of my favorite books that I've read. I think it's important to expose students to a variety of books so that they are able to determine what they like and don't like, giving them the opportunity to continue to expand their reading. This book is another that I would use for the first three standards on the Reading Literature Standards, specifically drawing inferences from text, determining theme, summarizing text, and describing settings or characters. I would use this book for a full class lesson or in lit circles, because it's another that I feel can appeal to many different interests and reading levels. This book can promote a lot of great discussion, since the world seen in the book is so different than the one we live in.

Lowry, L. (1993). The Giver. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin. 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Graphic Novel

This book is basically the story of a boy's first year in middle school. The book is all about Greg trying to navigate his way through his first year, including dealing with bullies and bonding with friends. The book is written in journal form by Greg, and includes cartoon-like pictures and captions on each page.

To be completely honest, I did not enjoy this book at all. I didn't like the graphic novel/cartoon format and I didn't really enjoy the story. This is the only book I read for this project that I felt this way about. However, I can see how useful it would be in a classroom to reach reluctant readers. The format is fun and the reading is easy and funny, and the content is probably very easy for young boys to relate to. Providing different genres such as graphic novels is a good way to help students learn to enjoy reading. However, I don't think I would use this book for instruction, unless I couldn't find a better graphic novel to use, since graphic novels are required under the Common Core Standards. This book is part of a series as well, making it work well with RL.3.9, the standard about comparing/contrasting books in a series.

Kinney, J. (2007). Diary of a Wimpy Kid. New York, NY: Amulet Books. 

Cendrillon

Cendrillon - A Caribbean Cinderella

by Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Brian Pinkney

Multicultural

 Voice Thread: https://voicethread.com/share/4117862/

San Souci, R. D. (1998). Cendrillon, A Caribbean Cinderella. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. 

Whatever After

Whatever After: Fairest of them All

by Sarah Mlynowski

Modern Fantasy/Chapter Book

This book is about a young girl, Abby, and her brother, Jonah. While in the basement, they find an old mirror and are transported into Snow White's fairy tale. They think they've saved the day when they stop Snow from eating the poisonous apple, but then they find themselves stuck in a fairy tale that isn't playing out the way it should. The brother-sister pair work together to eventually successfully escape the fairy tale world and come back to their own. Abby is the narrator, making it easy to read and very entertaining.

This book is great because of the story line and female main character. Personally, I never really enjoyed science fiction or fantasy books growing up, but I think I would have if I had found some with relatable female characters. This is a good book for introducing fantasy-type literature to students who don't think they like it. Like many of the books I read for this project, this is one that I think I'd likely have in a class library, rather than use specifically for instruction. However, since it is a modern variation of a classic fairy tale, this could be a book to use during a unit on fairy tales.

Mlynowski, S. (2012). Whatever After. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc. 

Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs!

Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs! 

by Kathleen V. Kudlinski, illustrated by S.D. Schindler

Non-fiction

This is another non-fiction book told in the form of a story, with a timeline in the back of the book. The story is about the different scientific discoveries about dinosaurs that have been disproved. The last line of the book reads, "When you grow up, you may be the scientist who makes us all say, "Boy, were we wrong about dinosaurs!"

Unlike the other dinosaur book I read (My Teacher is a Dinosaur), this is written in story form and doesn't have as many non-fiction constructs. While I would likely use the other book in my class library, this is one that I would consider using for instruction. This book is great for teaching students about the nature of science, specifically the fact that scientific knowledge is tentative. This book would also help to introduce the fourth grade science unit on fossils (4.E.2), since it stresses the importance of fossils for learning about prehistoric life.

Kudlinski, K.V. (2005). Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs! New York, NY: Dutton Children's Books.

My Teacher is a Dinosaur

My Teacher is a Dinosaur and other Prehistoric Poems, Jokes, Riddles, and Amazing Facts

by Loreen Leedy

Non-fiction

This is a non-fiction book about dinosaurs. The book is in chronological order, and in the back is a prehistoric time periods timeline. Despite its silly name, the book is very factual. Each page has years written across the top to determine the time period. There are pictures of dinosaurs with their names and facts about them, pictures of plants and facts about the earth's climate at the time. Along with all of the factual information, there are jokes dispersed throughout and funny poems on many of the pages.

This would be a great book to have in a class library. Many kids are interested in dinosaurs, and this book provides a fun way to learn about them  The reader can easily become engaged with this book, while learning a lot of interesting and important facts about prehistoric life. Because of its format, readers don't have to read straight through, although they could to understand everything chronologically. Students can skip from page to page, reading what they find interesting or entertaining. This book would be perfect for reluctant readers.

Leedy, L. (2010). My Teacher is a Dinosaur. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish Cooperation.