Week 7: Young Adult book "Fallen" over Fantasty theme of the week

Title: Fallen

Author: Lauren Kate

 

Summary

    When it comes to choosing books for Young Adults, I often struggle to figure out which ones to choose. Probably because I typically work with lower elementary students, so my experience there is limited. However, I know that when I was a young adult the first book that actually peaked my interest and that I enjoyed reading outside of normal school based texts was the book Twilight by Stephanie Meyers. I know it is cliche that as a highschool teen I enjoyed a vampire love story, but my teenage girl brain and heart loved it. I not ashamed to say that I pretty much devoured reading through the whole entire book series. Twilight falls into the genre/category of fantasy fiction. So when it came to finding a book for this weeks fantasy themed books, I kinda looked for something that my teenage self would enjoy. The book that I found and decided to read is titled ¨Fallen¨ by Lauren Kate. To my surprise it isn´t a newer book, its been around for a little bit. The book was published back in 2009 which was during all of the Twilight hype so I´m assuming that is why I missed it.  I kind of wish I had found it back when I was in my young adult years, because I do strongly believe I would have really enjoyed it back then. However, reading now in my mid thirties I still thought it was a decent and entertaining read. ¨Fallen¨ is a fictional fantasy story about fallen angels with a good love story thrown in. The main character in this novel is a teenage girl named Lucinda Price. Throughout the story Lucinda goes by Luce for short. The story begins with Luce getting sent to a reform school out in Savannah, Georgia. The name of the school is called Sword and Cross. Luce is sent to this school because she is partially blamed for an accident at a summercamp where her crush tragically passes. Luce does not fully remember what happened to the boy, just knows that they happened to kiss and then a fire of sorts broke up unexplainably. Moving on to Luce´s time at Sword and Cross, she meets and array of interesting students. A girl named Arraine and Penn become close friends to Luce. A few other characters that Luce meets and that are main characters in the story is a girl named Gabbe and Molly, and a boy named Cam which is short for Cameron and Roland. Another main character and the love interest in this story is a boy named Daniel Gregory. Throughout the story there are odd occurences where Luce sees shadows and sometimes an unexpected fire erupts similar to her history with her previous crush. Also throughout the story Luce begins to notice the subject area of Angels being taught, and there other suspicious occurences that seem to connect back to that subject area.  Luce finds herself pulled towards Daniel, but Cam also tries to make his advances on her as well. Finally it is revealed to Luce that all the students at Sword and Cross are Fallen Angels, some on different sides. Daniel and Luce are apparently cursed to love each other throughout many lifetimes, but Luce never lives long in any of their meetings. Daniel is forced to lose Luce each time. However, this time is differen´t because Luce´s family were not of a religious background. The book has you rooting for Luce and Daniel to finally get their happy ending, but of course the end of the book has you needing to read the sequel to see if that is truly going to happen. 

Classroom Activities

            I think the book Fallen is a great book to have available as a resources for students to utilize for personal reading interests. I´m not sure if I would directly incorporate this particular book into an actual lesson plan or have them assigned to read it directly. The reasons I say this is because  first the topic of religion or angels. This book doesn´t teach one way or the other, but we do live in a sensitive world and I wouldn´t want to step on any toes. The other reason is, I think young adult girls would typically enjoy it more than the boys. The material is engaging and follows right along with their age range. I just think it would probably be something that students would read in their free or personal time. Our textbook Readicide has taught us the importance that students should be able to read books that interest them and promote and enjoyment of reading. That is something that I do think this book accomplishes. Now while I might not directly implement this particular book in my classroom lessons, that is not to say it doesn´t have value or that there couldn´t be activities done with it. If an educator did have their students read this story, I think have students complete a timeline graphic organizer would be beneficial. The story line often jumps back and forth to different time periods. I also think if there were a group of students who seemed interested in this book, then maybe a small group discussion of sorts could be implemented with them regarding the story. The teacher could assist the students that are interested in this type of book with a guided discussion over their thoughts over the topic throughout or at the end of the story. One thing I love about this particular book is it is the first book in a six part series. I personally have only read the first book, but it definitely peaked my interest enough to want to see what happens next in the plot line and with the other characters. I think book series like this one are great for young readers because it promotes further reading and develops their love for reading in itself. So overall I would definitely recommend this book to be available in a local classroom library for students to utilize. 

Week 7: Children's Book "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" over Fantasy theme of the week

 

Title: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Author: Judi Barrett 

Illustrator: Ron Barrett

Summary

    This week´s theme of Fantasy is my favorite of all. When it comes to my own peresonal interests regarding reading, I tend to always go toward this genre. For this weeks children´s book, I chose to review a beloved staple in my early childhood classroom. ¨Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs¨ by Judi Barrett has been a comical, and engaging story, that I´ve shared with my classes throughout the years. The funny story along with the engaging art always maintains my students interest and keeps them laughing the whole time. I recently shared the read aloud with my three son´s at home on Youtube. They thoroughly enjoyed the funny story. The story begins with a normal family being cooked breakfast by their grandfather. The gradfather gets a little wild with flipping his pancakes. This event inspires the grandfather to tell his grandchildren a bedtime a silly bedtime story over the town of Chewandswallow. The town of Chewandswallow is like a regular town. However, in place of regular weather, food falls down from the sky to supply them with daily meals. The town has a great sanitation routine in place, and seems happy with the situation. The story provides the readers with examples of full course meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that falls down from the sky. The illustrations of this book really brings the book to life, and will make you giggle. Everything is well, until one day the sizes of the food coming down begin to grow dramatically in size. From their the ¨weather¨ seems to go bonkers. The food no longer makes sense and become a danger of sorts to the town´s people. The people of the community eventually have to flee the area, and leave the crazy town of Chewandswallow for good. The story then ends the grandchildren waking up to snow falling at their house and going sledding with their grandfather. While sledding, they happen to notice that the big snow covered hill reminded them of a big pile of mashed potatoes with the sun at the top looking like butter.

Classroom Activities

    The cute children´s book ¨Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs¨ provides many fun educational activity for children. I have read this book with my students throughout the years many a time, and it has always been a hit. If I were to teach a lesson around this book, I think I would first read the story and then open up a whole group discussion with my students over what their favorite foods were and what they would like to rain down from the sky. I could also venture over to having the students generate ideas of what they would do if food rained down from the sky. Ask them questions such as how would they clean up the mess, would they want it to keep doing it and if not, how would they get it to stop. This could turn into a very cute guided writing assignment over the topic. Teacherspayteachers.com has many cute art ideas over the book. My favorite activity that I found costs about five dollars to purchase, but has a guided writing prompt paper with a craft that has a big cloud with an assortment of food that you color and cut out that hangs from it. Down beliow in the reference section, will be a link with this adorable activity. This book inspired the making of a major motion picture. The movie varies a little bit from the actual story, but is entertaining and kids love it as well because of it´s comical nature. Personally I enjoy the true storyline from the book, but showing the movie after reading the story could generate some meaningful discussions over how motion pictures sometime differentiate from the original plot line. Overall I strongly recommend this book as a staple for any earlychildhood classroom. Many older elementary students enjoy the silliness of the story as well. 

References

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | Activities | Mini Read Aloud Unit. (n.d.). TPT. Retrieved July 4, 2024, from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Cloudy-with-a-Chance-of-Meatballs-Activities-Mini-Read-Aloud-Unit-6638131?st=3cc5bb3b011b9365d5a52f63facf4cfd

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Week 6: Young Adult book "Out of the Dust" over Historical Fiction theme of the week

 

Title: Out of the Dust

Author:Karen Hesse

 Summary

From the moment I found out that our theme this week was over Historical Fiction, I knew just the book I was going to review for the Young Adult content. ¨Out of the Dust¨ has been a favorite of mine for a very long time. During my Junior year of High School, I had a very special Speech/Drama Coach introduce me to this novel. I was looking for something to use to perform in the Prose category. This categoty is pretty much an interpretation of poetry. The novel ¨Out of the Dust" qualified into the categoty of free verse poetry because it is written as daily journal entries by the main character Billie Jo Kelby. I made it all the way to the State Championship at Oklahoma University with my interpretation of a collection of entries from this novel. I have thoroughly enjoyed rereading this classic story, and taking a little trip down memory lane. The novel ¨Out of the Dust¨ is set during the time period of the Oklahoma Dust bowl at the time of the Great Depression. This book gives vivid details about the hardships that people experienced during this time. As a fellow Oklahoman, I think this book is a great addition to any classroom library because it depicts life in an era in our own great state. As I said earlier, the novel is written as journal entries from the main character Billie Jo Kelby. Billie Jo is a fourteen year old girl, and I will say in warning that she does experience many traumatic hardships during the course of the novel. Billie Jo explains in her entries about the dust storms during this time period and how it effects the crops. Billie Jo and her family experience financial trouble because of it all. One thing noteable about Billie Jo is that while she is a rough and tough tom boy she has a deep love for playing the piano. There are many side characters mentioned throughout the course of the book, but the other main characters in Billie Jo´s life are her Ma, and Father. Billie Jo´s Ma is pregnant during a major portion of the story. A main event that tragically happens during the novel is an accidental fire caused by a bucket of kerosene that is mistaken for water. Billie Jo´s hands are severely burned during this awful event by trying to help remove the kersone bucket to outside of the house. While trying to throw the burning pail out of the house, Billie Jo´s Ma was running in at this time and gets doused by kersone and engulfed in the flames. When I say this book has your biting your nails I truly mean it. This portion of the book frames a good part of the rest of the story. Billie Jo´s hands hinder her ability to play the piano, but with time and perserverance they do heal. However, life is still not so great for Billie Jo. Billie Jo´s Ma does survive the terrible fire incident, but she does not look like the person she always had been. However, later during child birth she dies along with the little boy that she beared. This book does not just have a fairy tale ending, but it does have closure that gives you hope for the main character and her father. Her father eventually meets another woman who I believe helps improve their situation. This book is one that will keep you engaged and give you a true perspective of just how hard times used to be for Oklahomans.

 Classroom Activities

The novel ¨Out of the Dust¨ presents many opportunities for educational discussions both for whole group and small groups. If I were to teach this novel to a class, I would first give an introductory lesson about the history of Oklahoma during the time frame of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl era. I would share pictures with students over what the land used look like during this time, so that they could have a deeper understanding over the concept. Personally because of my own history with performing the journal entries as my own interpretations, I think it would be fun to do something of that line of thinking with my own class. For an engaging and inclusive activity, I would separate the students into small groups and have them pick out their favorite or what they feel are most meaningful journal entries from the book and then take turns reading them with different voice inflections and their own personal spin on things. I think doing this would help them to identify with the main character and empathize with her situation. As I have said many times, I love this novel and I think it would be a great staple in any classroom.

Week 6: Children's Book "Ruth and the Green Book" over Historical Fiction theme of the week

Title: Ruth and the Green Book

Author:Alexander Ramsey Calvin

 Summary

Ruth and the Green Book is a great historical fiction genre book for children. The book is through the perspective of a young African American girl named Ruth. The story does not give Ruthś exact age, but if I would have to guess, I would assume that she is about 7 years old. Ruth and her family are traveling from their home in Chicago to visit her grandmother in Alabama. Ruth starts out very excited for her families trip, but along the way they have some not so great encounters. This book is set during the 1950s and Jim Crow era. There are many places along their traveling route that do not allow or service African Americans. During the course of their trip, Ruth and her family stop and stay with a family friend of her fatherś because they had been unable to find somewhere to stay. While their she first learns of Jim Crow and what to be prepared for on the rest of their journey. Finally while stopped at a gas station, the family is given a green book that lists all the places that would accept African Americans. This book promotes empathy to the actual historical events and prejudice that occured back in this era.

Classroom Activities

    This childrenś book bring up many opportunities for in depth whole group discussions about historical events. This is a picture book that can be read to  younger elementary students, but I believe would even be well accepted up into lower jr high levels as an indivual read. Because this book was based in the 1950ś, before reading this book with my students I would give an introductory lesson into what to expect from this time particular time period. For younger students, I may keep the conversation light and show references of pictures about that time period and explain that during this time not all people were treated equally. For older students I would of course go more in depth about real historical events for this time period and prepare them with knowledge about Jim Crow. I found a great website that offered free lesson and teaching resources for this historical fiction childrenś book. The website is called KnowItAll.org, and I have linked it below in my reference section. The activities provided are for upper elementary third through fifth grade. The website gives a very in depth multiday lesson where students are able to map the safest routes for the family to travel during this time period. I think this book would be a great addition to any classroom library.

References

Ruth and the Green Book | Knowitall.org. (n.d.). Www.knowitall.org. Retrieved June 28, 2024, from https://www.knowitall.org/lessons/ruth-and-green-book

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Week 5: Young Adult Book "All American Boys" for Native and/or African American themed books

 Title: All American Boys

Authors: Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

Summary

        I found that finding a young adult book under this week's theme to be a little difficult. I myself, teach mostly younger elementary students. I tend to struggle to on what to choose for young adults. I searched the web thoroughly for different books on the subject area of the theme  and kept coming back to this one. This particular book came highly recommended. The book "All American Boys" is an award winning novel co written by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. The novel is written through the perspectives of two different high school boys around the ages of sixteen and seventeen years old. The names of the boys are Rashad and Quinn. Rashad is African American and Quinn is white. The book alternates character perspectives each chapter throughout the entire course of the novel. Although, both of these boys are the main characters throughout the book. They are not friends, nor do they even really know who the other is. They both go to the same high school and have common friends and peers though. This book falls under the African American theme for two reasons. Firstly because Rashad is African American and he is one of the main characters. Secondly, the main event that this book is primarily centered over directly involves Rashad, and other African Americans. This book is one that contains  possible real world scenarios, and promotes social awareness to students. I do not have a lot of experience with teaching young adult books, but if I did teach this to students, I would do it with caution. I say this because of the events that occur during the course of the book might be upsetting to some. Also, this book does contain some foul language, and talk over partying. Now to get into some details about the book, I will tell you a little more about the backgroubd of the characters. Rashad lives with his mother and father, his father is very strict and firm handed with high expectations for Rashad. Rashad is an active participant in ROTC. A main side character in this story is Rashadś brother Spoony and his girlfriend Berry. One of Rashadś close friends in the book is his friend Carlos.  As I said earlier, Quinn is a white adolescent boy. Quinn lives with his mother and younger brother. Quinnś father died while serving in the military in Afganastan. Quinn has a lot of pressure to live up to his fatherś legacy. Quinn has a crush on a girl named Jill that is frequently mentioned throughout the book. Quinn is highly involved in basketball, and is really good friends with Guzzo. Guzzo is another side main character along with his older brother Paul who played an absentee father or rolemodel of sorts to Quinn in his childhood. Paul is a white police officer. The book starts off with both boys getting ready to go party with their friends. They are actually both going to the same party. All seems well at first, both normal adolescent boys talking with their friends and dealing with their own sets of family dramas. The book does not take long to get into the nitty gritty of the story. In Chapter 3, Rashad goes into a store called Jerry to get some snacks before going to the party to meet his friends. Rashad grabs a bag of chips, and then decides to text his brother Spoony. Rashadś phone is in his backpack so he sets his chips beside him and bends down to the ground to open up his backpack and get out his phone. While on the ground a woman trips over him accidentally. This is when things go sour. An officer, which is Paul the man I mentioned above is in the store. He sees the woman on the floor and accuses Rashad of harming her. Then the store owner accuses Rashad of trying to steal the chips. It is all just a big misunderstanding, and he tries to explain so. However, the officer Paul does not care to hear his side and takes matters into his own hands. This portion of the story is hard to hear, Rashad is forced outside and beat by officer Paul in the parking lot. Quinn actually happened to be outside with his friends when Rashad is forced out and pumbled to the ground by Paul. Quinn sees officer Paul wailing on Rashad and cant believe his eyes. Quinn has never seen Paul act this way, and his actions distrub him. Quinn and his friends felt uncomfortable by what was happening and run off and attend the party. Rashad wakes up in the hospital severely wounded by the event that happen. His parents are there and his brother Spoony comes as well. Spoony finds a live feed that someone had recorded over the incident and sends it to the local news. From then on the rest of the story is centered over that event. Rashad is stuck in the hospital for quite some time. He initially does not like that his brother gave it to the news, he doesnt like the attention. However, later he understands. Quinn feels pressured by his best friend Guzzo and his older brother Paul to keep his mouth shut about the situation. Quinn really struggles internally about what he saw and about doing what is right. A protest/march is arranged by the student population and community in results of what happened and to honor other African American that are effected by police brutality. Rashadś friend Carlos graffitis the school over what happened. Rashad is released from the hospital just before the march. Quinn ultimately decides to report to the police what he saw of the incident and takes a stand by attending the march. This book will tug at your heart strings. It is a good serious read, that I do think is beneficial to all students. 

Classroom Activities

One thing this book for sure does is create ample opportunities for reflective discussion. As I said above, I do not have much experience teaching young adults. However, if I were to teach over this book I would first begin with a whole group discussion forwarning some of the content in the book. The way that this book is set up alternating characters between chapters, I think it would be ideal to stop and reflect after every two or so chapters so that you are getting the view point of each character as the course of the book goes on. I wouldnt do it as frequently during the middle portion of the book as I would the beginning or the end. I found a really great website containing activities to go along with this book. I have listed this link below under my references. One of my favorite activities that it mentioned is a graffiti walls activity. For this activity, it has students use sticky notes to put up words on a anchor chart of how they are feeling or thinking in regards to a prompt they are given over the story. I think students would enjoy this activity, and it goes hand in hand with the graffiti section that occurs in the story. Another thing that I would do accompany this novel that is not mentioned on the website, would be a post writing activity. I would have students reflect on what they would do in that situation through a character of their choices view point. 

References

Re, J., Nolds & B, Y., Iely, R., & Kiely, B. (n.d.). A LL A M E R I C A N B OYS | All American Boys. https://diversebooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/WNDB_ReadingGuide_AllAmericanBoys_2017.pdf

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Week 5: Children's Book "Whistle for Willie" for Native and/or African American themed books

 Title: Whistle for Willie

Author: Ezra Jack Keats

Summary

I chose this week's children's book from one of multitudes of great books mentioned in our weekly PowerPoint lectures. This book titled "Whistle for Wille" is about a young African American boy named Peter. During the course of this book, other characters that are mentioned are Willie which is Peter's dog, and Peter's mother and father. The main theme of this book is Peter learning to whistle for his dog Willie. Peter tries and tries to whistle throughout the course of this book, but struggles to make any sound come out when he blows air through his lips. However, Peter remains persistent and finally learns to whistle by the end of the story surprising both himself and his dog Willie. I implemented this book into my summer school classroom as a transitional read aloud activity. I found a great free read aloud version of the story on YouTube to share with my students. I have shared the link to the read aloud of story that I used below on my reference section. I have a small group of first graders this summer, and the book did a great job of maintaining their interest level and keeping them entertained. My students loved the pictures of Peter dressing up as his father, and hiding from his dog Willie. I would definitely recommend this book as a classroom staple for early childhood classrooms. 

Classroom Activities

The book titled Whistle for Willie, is a cute engaging book for young children that also does a great job showing representation for African American students. Recently when I showed the students of my summer school classroom this read aloud, it brought forth the whole group discussion over the topic of whistling. My students are right at that age where some of them knew how to whistle and some of them were right in that stage of learning. My classroom quite humorously ended up turning into quite the loud air blowing room that day. If I were to further teach upon this story, I would incorporate an assisted writing assignment, where students could write a story of sorts of where they would hide to try and whistle to their own dog or pet. I would then allow time for students to illustrate their writing. I found a website that offered additional resources and activities to use in accompaniment with the story. I have attached the website under my reference section below. This children's book is a great book by an award winning author the provides opportunity to read more of his stories and implement cute and educational activities. 

References

📗 Kids Book Read Aloud: WHISTLE FOR WILLIE by Ezra Jack Keats. ✔️SFX. (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. Retrieved March 25, 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPUtm7g4dMM 

Mularien, R. (2022, February 11). Whistle for Willie Activities and Lesson Plans for 2024. Clutter-Free Classroom | by Jodi Durgin. https://jodidurgin.com/whistle-for-willie-activities-lesson-plans/ 

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Week 4: Graphic Novel themed Young Adult Book Titled "Smile"

 Title: Smile

Author: Raina Telgemeier

Summary

    I will admit, going into this weeks theme, I was unsure about what book I would choose. I have not had much experience with graphic novels. When I came across the graphic novel "Smile" by Raina Telgemeir, I was still a little hesitant. However, this comical story had me entertained right from the start. The graphic novel "Smile" is actually a memoir based on the author's very own childhood. This novel is through Raina's point of view and starts off with her being in sixth grade. By the end of the graphic novel though, Raina is a Sophomore in high school. Raina goes through some very traumatic dental issues throughout the story. Throughout the course of the story, Raina knocks out her front teeth, has her teeth shoved up into her gums, has teeth retracted, gets braces twice, and even has to have a retainer with fake front teeth. The poor girl goes through the ringer when it comes to dental work. Raina is a trooper though with all of her dental issues. However, like most teenage girls she does struggle by feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable with her smile while all of this is going on. Throughout the story, while Raina is dealing with her dental issues, she is also dealing with normal teenage girl things like friendship with catty girls and having her first crush. The book is very relateable to many adolescents, especially for girls. The book has very engaging and comical graphics to keep you engaged throughout the whole story. I fell in love with this graphic novel, and would definitely recommend it as a book to be available to Jr high early highschool ages.  

Classroom Activities

    This cute and relateable graphic novel allows for numerous activities that a teacher can utilize in his or her classroom. Scholastic has some great free resources available for teachers to implement in their classroom. I have listed the link below. Some of the activities provided includes a pre-made graphic organizer for students to fill out while they read the novel. Another activity listed on this free resources is a post activity. This post activity is my absolute favorite! If I were to teach this graphic novel to students I would most definitely incorporate it into my lesson. The activity is to have students create their own comic over a time with they have felt embarrassed and/or in an uncomfortable situation. I think this would be such a fun and interactive activity for older students to do because it allows for them to share experiences, and be empathetic of other. This activity also gives a chance for students to be creative and use their artistic abilities which they may not get to do that much during their regular school day. All students at one point or another have been in a situation where they have felt frustrated or not at ease among their peers, and it's important for them to know that they are not alone. This graphic novel also gives many opportunities for whole group and small group discussions among the class. Depending on how long the teacher wanted to spend on teaching this graphic novel, I think there could be some great educational and emotional lessons involved. 

References

Lesson Plan for Smile by Raina Telgemeier Pre-Reading Activities. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2024, from https://www.scholastic.com/graphix_teacher/pdf/Scholastic_GrphxWebCast_RTelgemeier.pdf

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