The Watsons go to Birmingham

The Watsons go to Birmingham by Chrsistopher Paul Curtis

Book Genre: Historical Fiction

Publishing Info: Yearling books 1995

Awards or honors received: Newberry Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Award

Summary: This novel begins with a family called the "weird Watsons" sitting around in their living room freezing cold in Flint, Michigan. The family consist of a mother that is originally from Alabama, a dad, an oldest brother Bryon, a middle brother Kenny, and their youngest sister Joletta. The story follows their life as they deal with Bryon always causing trouble and getting into some kind of messes. The mother and father finally decide that they have had enough when Bryon comes home with a new hairdo that he knows his parents will not approve of. They decide to take Bryon to Alabama to spend the summer with his grandmother. Once in Alabama the children realize what a different world they have entered. Living in Flint the children never experienced any racial issues or segregation. Kenny also decides to be the rebelous child for once and go to the "Whool Pool" that his parents forbid him to go to. He ends up almost drowning, but Bryon ends up saving him. Later on Joletta ends up being at the church when the bombing happens. Kenny feels very upset that he did not protect his younger sister. When the family returns to Flint Kenny has a really hard time adjusting. He becomes very depressed and it's finally Bryon that helps Kenny be able to put it all behind him and move on. Throughout the story you see the characters change, especially Bryon and Kenny. Bryon struggles with getting rid of his hard outer shell and really showing his more caring and sensitive side while Kenny struggles with finding his place within his family and being brave.

Personal rating and reason for rating: Good book for middle school aged (especially african american students and it really gains the interest of teenage boys)

Reading level: 5.0

Interest level: 5th-8th grade

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study (reading and writing across the curriculum): It was funny that David presented on this book last night because it was my last book that I just finished reading yesterday. I agree with all his activities that he suggested, but I thought that you could incoroporate map skills and have the students trace their route from Flint to Alabama that the family takes. Also the students could pick a character and role play one of the scenes in the book, because their are so many that are funny that it would be a very fun and engaging activity for the students.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: the topic of segregation would need to be covered before reading, along with discussions about Civil Rights. There are also a few places throughout the novel where bad language is used.

Hope Was Here

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer

Book Genre: fiction
Publishing Info: Penguin Putnam Books, 186 pgs.
Awards or honors received: Newberry Honor Book

Summary: This book is about a girl who changed her name from Tulip to Hope, because her real mother did not want the responsibility of raising a child. She moves in with her Aunt Addie who lives in New York until one day she finds out that they have to move to Wisconsin because Addie had to get a new job. Throughout the book Hope and Addie have to learn to believe in themselves and to never give up. They face many struggles throughout their life but in the end they always had faith and overcame whatever obstacles they were faced with. When they get to Wisconsin they both get jobs working at the Welcome Stairways Diner. They meet a special man named GT Stoop that helps the girls out and becomes an important man in their lives. GT has lukemeia, which hurts his chances when he decides to run for major. Addie ends up falling in love with GT and Hope meets a young man named Braveman that she falls for and ends up going off to college with at the end of the book. I think the author shoud write a sequel that follows Hope's life to the next level.

Personal rating and reason for rating: Good book for middle school aged (especially girls)
Reading level: 5.3
Interest level: 5th-8th grade

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study (reading and writing across the curriculum): It would be neat to read this book around election time and hold a mock election, since that is a topic that is covered in the book. Also incorporating a math lesson dealing with menus, since the majority of the story takes place in a resturant. The students could design their menu and name their entree's then describe them and add prices. The students could figure out how much the bill would be and then add tax and tip.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: Couple of curse words throughout that book, some slang words that may be difficult for the students to pronounce

The Man Who Loved Clowns

The Man Who Loved Clowns by June Rae Wood

Book Genre: Realistic Fiction
Publishing Info: G.P. Putnam's Sons New York
Awards or honors received: None noted

Summary: This book is about a young man named Punky who has down syndrome. He has a teenage cousin named Delrita that learns so much from Punky. Throughout the book they go through the heartbreak of losing Delrita's parents, who took great care of Punky. They were killed in a car crash suddenly and D.J. (what Punky calls Delrita) and Punky have to go live with their Aunt Queenie and Uncle Bert. This is a big change for Punky and DJ but they learn to adapt and actually learn to enjoy life. DJ finally decides to let someone get close to her, a little girl, named Avenelle, and lets her meet Punky. DJ has always been embrassed of Punky because he was different. DJ finally learns that Punky is a very capable human being and finally in the end when Punky passes away she sees what an impact Punky had not only on her life but on everyone he met. This is a very touching heart-felt story that makes the reader laugh and cry throughout the story.

Personal rating and reason for rating: Great book...probably one of the best I have ever read..I loved it and recommend it to anyone to read!!
Reading level: 5.1
Interest level: 5th grade through Adult

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study (reading and writing across the curriculum): Our science classes at CMS read this book this year while studying genetics and genetic disorders. I also plan on reading it in my special education classes to help my students understand that even people with disabilities have a purpose in life and can have such an impact on others around them. I hope this book will help my students understand that everyone is different but everyone is human, who can care and love.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: The topic would need to be explained so that the students would understand some things about down syndrome and it's characteristics.

The Kissing Hand by Audry Penn

Book Genre: Fiction

Publisher Information: Scholastic Inc., 26 pages

Award: None

Summary: Chester is a Raccoon who is afraid to go to school. He doesn't wan to leave his his mom and his home.. His mom convinces him to go by giving him a kissing hand. She kisses the palm of his hand, and tells him he can hold her kiss in his hand all night at school. This made Chester feel better and safer while he was at school

Book Level: 2.7

Interest Level: k-2

Personal Rating: **** Great. This is a really good book. The pictures are fun and it shows awesome emotion, children can relate to feelings that Chester feels towards his mother.

Possible uses of text in integrated units of study: Great for the first day of school in early grades. Students can write a story about a time they were scared, or a time they were sad.

Possible problems or difficulties: None

A Bad case of Stripes by David Shannon

Book Genre: Fiction

Publishing Info: Scholastic Inc. 32 pages

Awards or honors received: none

Summary: This story is about Camilla, who loves lima beans, but does not ever eat them because she doesn't want her friends to make fun of her. Camilla wakes up one morning covered in stripes! Her stripes change colors with just the suggestion from friends. After many attempts to cure her, a lady finally tells her that the cure is just lima beans! Camilla learns an important lesson that she needs to be herself, no matter what other people think.

Personal rating and reason for rating: ***** Great. A great story, children love it! I love the illustrations and the lesson that camilla learns in the end. So many children need to learn to be themselves, no matter what other people say or how other people act.

Reading level: 3.5

Interest level: K-2

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study (reading and writing across the curriculum): Can teach a science lesson about seeds using lima beans. Put the lima beans in plastic bags, and discuss what kind of things plans need to grow. In a math unit it can be used to teach patterns, as student color the girls face with different types of patterns.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: None

The Quilt Story by Tony Johnston and Tomie dePaola

Genre: General fiction

Publishing Info: Scholastic, INC, 30 pages

Summary: This was a story about a quilt that comforted a little girl had. She played with the quilt and it got dirty and had holes in it. Her mother had to stitch it up. The little girl eventually packed the quilt away it was found by mice, a raccoon and a cat. One day it was found by a new little girl who had her mother fix the quilt up like new and she played with it.

Personal rating: ***Good This story does a great job at following the quilt through its past and present.

Reading level: 2.5

Interest level: K-2

Integration: This story could be used in a history lesson to talk about how items are used in the past and present. Many items like quilts have not changed much through out the years. The children could discuss items that have changed over time. The teacher could bring in pictures from the internet or from books to show how things have changed. This could even be followed up by taking the class to the museum to see how things in person.
This book could also be used in a unit about quilts and talk about what they are used for. The teacher could bring in samples of what quilts look like around the world. Then have the students design their own quilt square.
This book could also be used to talk about how children feel about moving. Both little girls in the book have to move with their families and use the quilt to comfort themselves.

Potential problems: The only problem that I see is that this story is written with the sentences short and choppy. Children who are having trouble reading fluently may have some trouble with this book.

A Birthday Basket for Tia by Pat Mora

Genre: general fiction

Publishing info: Simon & Schuster Books, 30 pages

Summary: This is a story about a little hispanic girl who is trying to find the best present for her great aunt. She decides to make a basket full of things that the two of them find special. She puts in their favorite book, a mixing bowl, a flowerpot and lots of other things. Throughout the story the author mixes english and spanish as the characters speak.

Personal rating: *** Good This story has pretty pictures and does a great job of showing the mexican culture.

Reading level: 2.4

Interest level: K-2

Integration: The teacher could use this book to read and talk about hispanic culture. The teacher could talk about how different cultures celebrate birthdays. Then the class could focus on the hispanic culture and study how they celebrate. The class could finish up by having a fiesta of their own by creating a pinata and having chips and salsa. The teacher could also invite any hispanic parents in who might want to share about their culture to the class.
In math this book counts by tens as the little girl counts up to how old her aunt is so the class could practice counting up by tens to ninety.

Potential problems: This book has some words that are native to the spanish language and may confuse children who are not familiar with spanish.

The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins

Genre: General fiction

Publishing info: Mulberry Books, 22 pages

Summary: Mom made twelve cookies for Tom and Hannah so they could have six a piece. The doorbell starts ringing and each time the door opens there are more people to share the cookies with. Each time the children have to divide the cookies among themselves.

Personal rating: ***Good This is a fun story to introduce the concept of division.

Reading level: 1.9

Interest level: K-2

Integration: This story would be great to read to a class when the teacher introduces division. The teacher could take paper cookies or plastic cookies and have the students act out the story in front of the class.
The teacher could also use this book during a social studies lesson about everyone getting their fair share.
The teacher could finish up talking about this book by bringing in cookies that can be divided up among the class.

Potential problems: The students may have some trouble discussing how division works.

The Giving Bear by Isabel Gaines

Genre: General fiction


Publishing Info: Scholastic INC, 38 pages


Summary: The Giving Bear is a Winnie the Pooh first reader and is a cute story. Piglet and Tigger are giving some things to Christopher Robin to give to people who are in need. They ask Winnie the Pooh if he has anything to give, but he can't think of anything to give. They all go in and help him look through his house. They find that Winnie has too many honeypots so he ends up giving way some of the honeypots. Winnie the Pooh says at the end that his heart swelled with joy knowing he could give something to help.

Personal Rating: ***Good This is a great story with a good message

Reading Level: 2.3

Interest Level: Pk-2

Integration: The teacher could read this book for social studies and discuss how Winnie the Pooh felt when he gave away his honeypots. They could talk about what the students might have at home to give away. Then maybe bring some things in for a clothing drive or food drive for homeless people in the community.
This book could be read with other Winnie the Pooh books and discuss how they are similar and different.

Potential problems: I don't see any problems with this book.

Wonderful Worms by Linda Glaser

Genre: nonfiction

Publishing info: The Millbrook Press, 28 pages

Summary: This book has lots of information about worms. It is written in a way that will be enjoyable for young children. The pictures show what earthworms look like tunneling under the ground and what kinds of things happen around the worms. It describes how worms dig and eat dirt as they go stretching out and squeezing. Worms are important because they mix and turn dirt so the plants have soft soil to grow in. The story also tells what worms look like and what they need to survive. The end of the book has two pages full of facts about worms.

Personal rating: ****Great! This story has cute pictures that realistically show what worms do and eat. It is written in language that children can understand and has good information.

Reading level: 2.2

Interest level: K-2

Integration: This book could be used in a science unit about gardens and things that live there. The teacher could have the children do a KWL chart before the unit and talk about what the students know about worms and what they they want to learn about worms. After reading this book they could answer their questions. If they didn't find the answers in this book then they could do research on the internet to find them. The teacher could bring in worms and have the students write about them in their science journals. They could label the different parts of a worm.
The teacher could read A Diary of a Worm and have the students compare/contrast the two books. Then the teacher could have them write their own story about the life of a worm using the information from Wonderful Worms.
The unit could be ended with the teacher bringing in chocolate pudding with oreo cookies and gummie worms stuck in it.

Potential problems: I don't foresee any problems while the students are reading this book.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Genre: Historical Fiction
Publishing Info: Houghton Mifflin, 137 pages
Awards or Honors Received: Newbery Medal

Summary: Ellen and Annemarie are ten year old girls living in Denmark. The German Nazis have occupied their town, forcing Ellen's family to flee. Annemarie's family keeps Ellen, pretending that she is one of their children. Ellen and Annemarie face many different adventures while at Annemarie's Uncle Henrik's house. Uncle Henrik is helping Jews escape to Sweden, and Ellen's family is among those he helps. Ellen is united with her family and they make their way to Sweden where they can live without the Nazi control. Annemarie learns about courage and what it really means to be brave.

Personal rating and reason for rating: *** Good. I really like this book. Some of the topics may be a little hard for students to understand at first, and they take some serious discussion. The story keeps the reader engaged, though, and I think it teaches an important lesson about bravery.

Reading Level: 5.1
Interest Level: 4th -7th grades

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study:
Social Studies: The story is set during WWII, so some background information is needed for students to really understand what is happening. A study into WWII and into the Nazi occupation easily ties into a unit with this book.

Geography: Using a map of Europe, find Denmark and Sweden. Then have students use the details in the book to trace the path of the escaping Jews.

Writing: Have students interview a grandparent, or someone else who lived through WWII. They should prepare questions ahead of time, then write what they learned in interview format. They can share what they learned with the class.

Character Education/Math: Have students create a recipe for peace, courage, or bravery. Have students write an ingredients list, and directions for creating of of the topics. Students can write their work on recipe cards or publish them in a class "cookbook."

Potential Problems or Difficulties: There are some sensitive topics in the story. Students need to understand that not everyone believes the same things, and that what some people think, others may not. Students need some type of historical background to be able to understand some of the events in the story.

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig

Book Genre: Fiction

Publishing Info: Aladdin, 32 pages

Awards or honors received: The Caldacott Medal

Summary: This is a story about a donkey named Sylvester, who loved to collect pebbles. One day he found an awesome pebble, that seemed to be a magic stone. After playing with it for a while, he saw a lion, and in order to save himself from him, he wished that he would be a rock. When he turned into a rock, he couldn't get his stone back to wish to be back into a donkey. His family was sad because they thought he had gone missing. A long time past, and his mother and father went on a picnic and his mother sat on salvester, saw the pebble and thought of him. She set the pebble down and he was able to wish himself back to himself.

Personal rating and reason for rating: ***** Great. Very good story, illustrations are beautiful and I love how the author portrays emotion with all the characters.

Reading level: 4.0

Interest level: K-4

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study (reading and writing across the curriculum): This is another great book to discuss fantasy and reality, or fiction and non-fiction. This book would be a great way to teach emotion and feelings, either how authors and illustrators show them in different ways, or use the books to show how they can show feelings in their own writing and illustrations

Potential Problems or Difficulties: This book would be mostly just a read aloud in younger grades, but a great story and lesson.

Be careful what you wish for!

The Black Pearl by Scott O'Dell

Book Genre: Fiction
Publishing Info: Yearling (Random House, Inc.) 100 pages
Awards or Honors: Newbery Honor Book

Summary: Ramon, the son of a pearl dealer, begins to help his father in his pearl shop. After learning about selling pearls, Ramon wants to learn to go diving for the oysters with the other men that work for his father. When Ramon's father leaves on business, and Ramon decides it is time to learn how to dive for oysters. A Native American that works with his father agrees to teach Ramon to learn to dive, making sure to stress to him that if he doesn't respect the waters, the Manta Diablo (a giant manta ray) will come for him. Ramon learns to dive, then decides to go out on his own. He finds the largest pearl that has ever been found, the Pearl of Heaven, and finds out that the Manta Diablo is more than just a myth the Native American was telling him. Ramon goes on an adventure trying to get the pearl back to the Manta Diablo before any of the other pearl dealers can steal it from him

Personal rating and reason for rating: ****Great. This book was full of adventure while still teaching an important lesson. It is short enough that even students who do not like to read chapter books can feel successful at reading a novel. Scott O'Dell does a great job at keeping the reader engaged in the story and making it hard to put the book down.

Reading Level: The book says 5.2, AR says 5.4
Interest Level: upper elementary

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study:

Math: Many of the measurements are given in non-standard units. Students can learn about leagues, fathoms, and other units of measure mentioned in the book and how they compare to US customary units and metric units.

Social Studies: The story is set in a seaside village in Baja California. Students can learn about the differences in the culture of the people in the story and their own cultures. They can extend this study by learning about their family's ancestors and completing a family culture project.

Science: The story focuses a lot on the Manta Diablo and other manta rays. There are many different versions of what the Manta Diablo looks like and how it behaves. Students can use the internet to research manta rays and find out which statements about a manta ray could be true and which are false.

Potential Problems: None.

Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin

Book Genre: Fiction

Publishing Info: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 32 pages

Awards or honors received: Caldacot Honor Book

Summary: This book is a book about Farmer Brown and his typing cows. His cows has learned how to type on the typewriter, and they start writing him notes asking for things to make them more comfortable. When they didn't get the blankets they asked for, they went on strike, not giving out any milk. They asked for blankets for the hens also, and when they didn't get those blankets the hens refused to give eggs. This went on until they decided to exchange their typewriter for some blankets.


Personal rating and reason for rating: ***** Great. This book is really fun. Young children think it is hilarious, and it is a really fun story to read aloud. Many children at the end of first grade can read it themselves, and below level first graders have been read it many times they can read it from memory and gain confidence.

Reading level: 2.3

Interest level: k-3

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study (reading and writing across the curriculum): This is a great book to intoduce or reinforce the difference between fiction and non-fiction. It includes many things that animals wouldn't do, and would not need. For a social studies lesson, students can come up with many things in their own words that they think is unfair, and they could write a letter to someone asking to change it.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: None

(P.S I thought this was a really nice website, with great activities http://www.teachingheart.net/clickclackmoo.html )

Clam-I-Am By: Tish Rabe

Book Genre: Non-Fiction (book about the ocean)

Publishing Info: Random House Books for Young Readers (May 24, 2005)

Honors and Awards Receive: None listed

Summary: Norval, the fish is hosting a seaside talk show for the Fish Channel and the Cat in the Hat and Thing One and Thing Two appear as the camera crew. The little boy and girl get introduced to many sea creatures. Clam-I-Am, horseshow crab, hermit crabs, sea star, seagulls, jelly fish and sand fleas. They even get to learn about seaweed and ocean tides. Norval then goes on to explain the second part of his show. (Question/answer section) The book answers questions like (1) Why is the ocean blue? (2) Why is seawater salty? (3) What makes waves? This book is perfect for having a quick overview about the ocean.

Personal rating and reason for rating: ****Great! I really liked this book because it was not only illustrated brilliantly but it had simple facts about each of the sea creatures listed above. In our ocean unit we talk about each one of these animals. So I was thinking this would be a good book to introduce our ocean unit with. It gives a quick overview of each animal that I can add to when I actually teach about that specific animal. This book is full of a lot of our kindergarten sight words that would be great extra practice for the children.

Reading level: 3.4 (Third grade, fourth month)

Interest level: K-5

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study:

Reading: Complete a circle map before we read the story and put the word ocean in the middle. Ask students what they think of when they hear the word ocean. Take their answers and branch it off the word ocean. While reading, I would ask comprehension questions, for example: after reading the page about star fish I would ask….What happens when a star fish looses one of its rays (arms)? I would hope that all children would be able to answer this question correctly. I would continue to use this technique throughout the story. At the conclusion I would ask the students to pick their three favorite sea creatures. We would vote until we found our favorite three. We would then complete a brace map. (As I publish this book on the blog the brace map format does not copy correctly) Sorry!


Ocean

Star Fish * If it looses a ray, it grows back. * Has five legs. *It moves slow. *Has tiny cups on it's rays.

Clam *Lives in the sand. *Has rings that tell how old it is. * Clams have one foot.

Seagulls *Can drink salt water. *They eat trash and left over food.


Writing: Students could pick their favorite sea creature from the book and tell me two facts that they learned. They will then need to illustrate their sentences with a detailed picture. You could also incorporate writing by having them copy the brace map. (Which we have learned is not very effective)


Potential problems or difficulties: None that I can see at this time.

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Book Genre: Fiction

Publishing Info: Dell Publishing Company. 159 pages.

Awards or honors received: Newberry Award Winner

Summary: Tired of her routine middle class life and feeling unappreciated as the oldest of four children and the only girl, Claudia Kincaid decides to run away from home. Prefering comfort to nature, she chooses to hide in the Metroplitan Museum of Art and takes one of her younger brothers, Jaime, with her. While hiding in the muesum, the children must stay out of sight of museum guards, learn to take care of themselves, and even investigate whether a mysterious statute had been carved by Michaelangelo. Ultimately the statue leads them to Mrs. Frankweiler (who narrates the story as a letter to her lawyer Saxonberg.). Claudia's quest to learn the truth about the statue provides for her a sense of purpose that she had lacked and leads to Mrs. Frankweiler learning the truth about Claudia and Jaime (that they are Saxonberg's grandchildren).

Personal rating and reason for rating: Good. Interesting, creative story. Characters are realistic and children can relate to the feelings of being overlooked, unappreciated, and the longing for adventure.

Reading level: AR reading level 4.7. Fry reading level grade 7.

Interest level: 3-6

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study:

Students could explore the ideas of familial loyalty, longing for adventure. Students could write about these topics as well as write newspaper articles describing the children's disappearance and/or the mystery of the angel statue. Students could do creative writing describing their own fantasic plan of running away "to" somewhere or could do persuasive writing focused on lobbying a parent for an increased allowance.

In other subject areas, students could take a virtual tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art or could study about the work of Michaelangelo or could do a more in depth study of the Renaissance.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: Vocabulary may be difficult for younger students.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Book Genre: Historical fiction

Publishing Info: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Copyright 1989, 137 pages.

Awards or honors received: Newberry Medal Winner

Summary: Annemarie and her best friend Ellen Rosen are young teenagers in Nazi occupied Denmark. Having lived several years under the Nazi regime, the girls take for granted the presence of the occupying troups until the Nazis begin intensifying their persecution of Jews. Realizing the danger, Annemarie's parents decide to help the Rosens escaped Denmark to the freedom of Sweden along with the help of Annemarie's Uncle Henrik. Along the way Annemarie learns more about the Danish Resistance movement, including the truth about her older sister's death. In the end, Annemarie must summon her own courage to confront the Nazi soldiers and help save her friend's life.

Personal rating and reason for rating: Great! As a fan of history, I think this story stays true to historical fact while portraying a intriguing account from a child's perspective.

Reading level: AR level 4.5. Fry readability level 6

Interest level: 4-7

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study:
Historical tie-ins are fairly obvious. Students might study the countries of modern day Europe and how German forces proceeded across the continent. Students might prepare a timeline of German occupation. There is also a perfect opportunity to compare different types of governments, particularyly American Democracy and Nazi Dictatorship.

Concepts of friendship, loyalty (to friends, family, and country), bravery and patriotism could be explored. Students could write about any of these concepts.

The concept of percentages could be studies with math. Students could calculate the percentage of Jews in Europe, Germany, and various occupied countries. Depending on how you choose to treat the topic, these percentages could be compared before and after the war.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: The harsh realities of Nazi Germany are difficult for even adults to deal with and must be dealt with carefully based up on the age of the students. Two instances of Nazi creulty are portrayed with the deaths of Annemarie's sister Lise and Lise's boyfriend Peter Neilsen

The Lottery Rose

Book Title and Author: The Lottery Rose by Irene Hunt

Book Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Publishing Info. – Berkley Publishing Corp., 185 pages

Awards or honors received:

Summary:
The book is about a young boy who was abused both mentally and physically by his mother and her boyfriend. Growing up in an unstable home being raised by an alcoholic mother with no support or love, Georgie had few friends, did poorly in school and distrusted mostly everyone. He was able to hide his feelings and find comfort in a library book filled with beautiful gardens. He won a rosebush in a grocery store lottery given to him by a lady whom he trusted. He finally found his purpose in caring for and loving through the only thing he’d ever owned, his rosebush. After an abusive night when the rescue was called, Georgie was finally taken from his mom and sent to a home for boys where he learns for the first time to feel safe, trust in others and feel loved. He also learns to give and to receive love through his experiences, giving him hope for a future in society.

Personal rating and reason for rating:
It was a great book. You could witness the difference one can make in a person’s life by caring and giving of one’s time.

Reading level: 5th grade
Interest level: 5th grade – adult

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study:
Reading/Comparison: the rosebush and Georgie’s life

Potential Problems or difficulties: subject content may be disturbing with child abuse and violence.

Combat Fighters: F-22 Raptor by Steve White

Book Genre: Non-fiction

Publishing Info: Scholastic (48 pages)

Awards: None

Summary: This book describes the newest military fighter jet that the United States has to offer. Not only does the book give information about the F/A-22 Rapture, but it also gives a brief history of fighter aircraft that came before it, but also possible next generation fighter aircraft. The illustrations are excellent. There are close-up photographs of the aircraft in the hanger being manufactures, in flight, weaponry, and cockpit views.

Personal Rating: ****Great. I like the organization of the text. It contains a contents page, an introduction, a glossary of new words and their definitions, and an index. The book also contains resource pages, excellent illustrations and pictures, and lists citations for other books written about the F/A-22 Rapture aircraft. Finally, the author gives some technical specifications for the aircraft and its armament yet still remaining appropriate for younger children..

Reading Level: 6.2
Interest Level: 5-6

Possible uses in reading and writing across the curriculum:
Science: Both 5th and 6th grade science curriculums include objectives in technological design. This could include any of the various technologies associated with this aircraft: Stealth technology, engine design, aerodynamics, weapon systems, etc...
Math: Develop lessons on graphing speed, thrust, or maneuverability; also, comparing this aircraft to previously built aircraft used by the U.S.; and comparing this aircraft to the potential opponents built by other countries
Reading and Writing: For children who are interested in airplanes, this could be a good book to begin creating and writing research reports.

Potential Problems or difficulties: This is a high interest book for children who enjoy reading about military aircraft. Not every student will care to read it.

Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler by Margery Cuyler

Book Genre: fiction

Publishing Info: Simon and Schuster, 50 pages

Awards or honors received: N/A

Summary: At the beginning of the story the students in Mrs. Ruler’s class stuck inside because it had been raining all week. The students began to misbehave and treat each other badly. So Mrs. Ruler kept 5 of the students to speak to them about kindness. She told them they each needed to perform 5 acts of kindness and share what they did at show and tell. The next day at show and tell some of the kids couldn’t wait to share their acts of kindness with the rest of the class. The whole class was excited and they decided to design a class project where everyone would participate. Everyday the class shared their kindness acts. Everyone was excited except for one little boy , David, who couldn’t think of anything to do. The class continued to share their random acts and wrote them down. Everyday they would count their acts of kindness. One day the class gerbils go out of the cage and everyone panicked. David ran around the room collecting the gerbils and his act was added to the kindness wall.

Personal rating and reason for rating: **** This is a cute book with a great theme, and the teacher speaks in rhymes. Students will love it and get ideas for random acts of kindness.

Reading level: 3.7

Interest level: K-5

Possible uses of the text: Social Studies - have your class participate in random acts of kindness. Read the book and discuss examples of how to be kind. Then have the students/teacher/parents write each act of kindness and display. Try for 100 acts of kindness. Expand your kindness to the school by picking up trash on the playground, bringing the principal a snack, holding the door open for other classes, etc. Get your community involved by collecting toys to give away, collecting food to donate to a food shelter, makes cards for a senior center, etc.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: none