Dear Mr. Henshaw
Cleary, B. (1983). Dear Mr. Henshaw. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.
Cleary’s book is about a
6th grade boy named Leigh Botts who has been writing to his favorite author, Boyd
Henshaw since the 2nd grade. Leigh is dealing with many different things
in his life, his parents are divorced, his dad is a truck driver so he never
gets to see him, adjusting to a new school and dealing with a thief who keeps
stealing from his lunch. It is through these letters to Henshaw that helps
Leigh develop his writing skills. Leigh enters a young authors writing contest
where he meets an author who acknowledges that she read and enjoyed his story
and that he should continue writing. After a short visit with his dad, Leigh
realizes that his dad does miss him and his mom and that his life will be just
fine.
The personal narrative
style that Cleary uses in this book starts off as letter writing from Leigh to
Mr. Henshaw to writing in a diary format.
This is appealing to children since many of them like to keep a journal
and it shows them how letter writing was effective at one time. You can only rally behind the main character,
Leigh in th
is story and see how each of the characters play important part in
accepting the changes in his life.
Here is a link for teacher resources of Dear Mr. Henshaw: http://jennings.noacsc.org/Portals/51/Comprehension%20Questions.pdf
Out of my mind
Draper, S. (2010). Out of my mind. New York, NY: Simon
& Schuester Children’s Publishing.
In this novel by Draper,
it is about Melody, an eleven year old girl with cerebral palsy. She lives her life in a wheelchair and has
never spoken a word to anyone but her mind is always working. She was diagnosed at an early age to be
mentally challenged but she is actually very gifted by absorbing everything
that she is exposed to and wants to express her knowledge with everyone. When Melody is in the fifth grade, she is
placed in an inclusion program, which Melody loves. Then Melody is given a computer that helps
her to communicate with her family, friends and classmates. She participates in trivia contest in her
class and everything changes for Melody.
In Out of my mind, the plot starts build for Melody when she is placed
in the inclusion program in the fifth grade.
It is through the writing of Draper that lead readers to see that Melody
is just like everyone else but the only difference is that she is disabled. The
style of this novel is told through a first-person point of view. It is through Melody’s narrative that we are
able to hear her thoughts and really get to see how she lives her life before
her ability to speak and after she is able to communicate. This enables the readers to care for her and
see how people with differences are really just like they are.
Here is a link to a book trailer to show a class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCG6e2DifxY
Follow-up activity: Have the students meet and interview a person with cerebal palsy to get to know the disease and a person.
Diary of a wimpy kid
Kinney, J. (2007). Diary of a Wimpy Kid, New York, NY:
Amulet Books.
Kinney’s book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, is about a boy
named Greg Heffley and about his life as a middle school kid and the struggles
that he faces daily in a journal. Greg
and his friend, Rowley have to endure many adventures from being ambushed by a
group of teenagers at Halloween to becoming a part of the Safety Patrol where
they are assigned to walk kindergarteners home.
It is as a Safety Patrol where Greg chases the kindergarteners with a
worm in Rowley’s hat and gets caught but not as Greg but as Rowley. Because of this event, everything changes in
their friendship. At the end of the
story, Rowley and Greg are face to face again with the teenagers from Halloween
and Rowley is forced to eat the cheese on the blacktop. They become best friends again because of
Greg’s admitting to the other students that he removed the famous cheese
resulting in Greg having the “Cheese Touch” and not Rowley.
The characters of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid displays Greg as
being a self-centered kid and always trying to come up with a way to make
himself look good. This is Greg’s
strength and his weakness. His character
doesn’t grow, because no matter what he tries, it always ends up in a funny
predicament. Readers can relate to Greg,
Rowley and Fregley because these are familiar characters to them and many are
dealing with the same kind of situations.
The theme is also important because bullying is a problem for many kids
at this age. The details of Greg’s daily
activities, his family and friends are also a familiar feeling for Kinney’s
self-centered readers.
Here is a link to the Funbrain website where the kids can see Greg's journal and read along: http://www.funbrain.com/journal/Journal.html
Rules
Lord, C. (2008). Rules. New York, NY: Scholastic INC.
In the book, Rules, it is about a twelve year old
girl who has an autistic little brother who is trying to live a normal life as
best as she can since her family seem to put her little brother and his
disability first. Catherine has
established sets of rules that David must follow in order to but it seems that
these rules are more for Catherine to follow.
During the summer, a new girl and her family move in next door and
Catherine is looking forward to her friendship and unexpectedly makes a new
friend, Jason, a paraplegic, at her brother’s occupational therapy clinic. It is through these friendships that make
Catherine realizes that rules can be broken.
The theme of the story
plays an important part of the story since the main character is dealing with
so much in her life. The rules that she establishes for her brother also what
she follows and that even though rules are good, some are meant to be broken and
our actions are meant to be more. The
characters in the story are well writing.
Readers can relate to Catherine and the friendships that she makes in
the story as well as her relationship with her autistic brother as she coming
to an understanding on how rules and can be broken and that it is really
through our actions that make a difference.
Here is a link of teacher resources based from the book: http://www.nred.org/www/nred/site/hosting/Events/Literature_Festival/RULES_Study_Guide.pdf
Here is a link to a student made book report on the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zCUcWmDDpo
Bridge to Terabithia
Paterson, K. (1977). Bridge
to Terabithia. New York, NY: Harper & Row, Publishers.
Jess Aarons is an eleven year old boy
who loves to run and wants to be the fastest boy in the fifth grade. He loves to draw and paint and tends to be
overshadowed by his five sisters and is constantly seeking his father’s
attention. Then Leslie Burke and her
parents move into the house next door with her parents. She ends up running in the boys’ race at
school and beat everyone. It takes some
time but eventually Jess and Leslie become friends. Together, they build an imagine kingdom
across a creek called Terabithia where they are the king and queen. In Terabithia, everything is perfect and Jess
is introduced to the world of imagination and creativity by Leslie. Jess is effective by Leslie’s friendship and
it helps him find purpose in his life.
Tragedy occurs in Terabithia for Leslie and Jess is left to deal alone
without her. Jess eventually realizes
that he needs to honor Leslie’s memory and continue visiting Terabithia and
share its magic with his little sister, May Belle.
The setting of the Bridge to Terabithia is very important
in the story. The land of Terabithia takes
readers away to a beautiful place that is magically, full of imagination and
creativity, where anything could happen.
Gender and culture play an important part in this story to since it was
writing in the late 1970’s. Jess is
characterized as a boy who likes to draw and paint and not the tough guys that
the other boys are portrayed and are expected to be during this time. Jess’s father does not approve of his
artistic abilities and his family expects him to take on more of the
responsibilities of the family. Leslie’s
character is not welcomed by Jess’s family because she has short hair and
doesn’t dress like a girl and she loves to run.
It is through her free spirit that allows Jess to be himself and grow
and develop into the person that he is at the end of the story.
Here is a book trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GOfZCs60E0
Here is a book trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GOfZCs60E0
Teacher resource guide for Bridge to Terabithia: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/bridge_to_terebithia.pdf
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