Title: "Angel Park All Stars: Making the Team" by Dean Hughes
Publisher: Random House Inc, 1990
Reading Level: Could not find
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Pages: 91
Summary:
For third graders Kenny, Harlan, and Jacob making the Dodgers, the little league major team, is all they have ever dreamed of. Try outs were nerve-racking for all of them. With his amazing hits and great fielding, Kenny whose dad played a season in the major leagues, was a shoe-in to make it on to the team, even as a third grader. Harlan and Jacob's chances were not as great, but they all ended up making it onto the team.
They soon realized that being the youngest players on the team had more disadvantages than just having less experience than the other players. If Rodney Bunson, the sixth grade star on the team, wanted nothing more than to have Kenny and the other boys benched for the season. With Kenny's talent, Bunson might not be the all-star on the team this season. He and his sidekick, Danny, tease the third grade boys so much that they get so nervous and can't play well.
In the first game of the season, Kenny and the team got off to a rocky start. Kenny struck out the first time he was up to bat, much to Bunson's delight. After Kenny got a great hit his second time up to bat, Bunson tried to out perform him by pitching really hard. He got himself so worked up, that the coach had to pull him from pitching. The coach put Kenny in for Bunson, which made Bunson really mad. Kenny threw a few scary pitches and then got calmed down enough to get out of the inning. The boys ended up walking away from the game winners, but they still were by no means a team.
At school the next day, Bunson told Kenny that he would stop teasing Kenny's friends if Kenny would promise to refuse to pitch when the coach asked him to. Kenny didn't know what to do. He felt really bad that his friends were receiving so much persecution, but he didn't think that it was fair for the team to refuse to pitch. In the next game, the coach ended up asking Kenny to play. Rodney threw a fit, and the coach told him that they needed to act like a team. It was then that Kenny knew that he had to pitch for the team. The coach ended up benching Rodney because of his was throwing a fit. He told him that he would be able to play when he was ready to play as a team. While Bunson was benched, the coach asked Jacob to bat for him. He got out, but because of his plan to have Harlan bunt and force a "squeeze" at home base, Kenny was able to score the winning run. Everybody went wild, everyone but Bunson.
When Kenny and the boys got back to Kenny's house, the whole team was waiting for them to have an impromptu batting practice. Bunson and Danny found out and said that they would quit the team if the other players had that practice with Kenny and the boys. The other players let the boys quit because they realized the team would be a lot more fun without them. After those boys left, the third graders were actually part of the team.
Recommended Readers:
This book would be great for boys who are not really interested in reading. It is not only about a subject matter that interests most boys, but it is a fairly short book to read.
Possible Problems:
The team in this book does have a girl on it, but I think that having just one girl on the team might draw more attention to it than if it had no girls on the team at all. Some people might read about the only girl on the team and wonder why there aren't more girls on the team.
Reaction:
Reading this book brought back all of the memories from my time playing softball. I feel like the author did a great job helping the reader to feel what Kenny was feeling as he got up to bat or when he got up to pitch. The way the author described it is exactly how I felt each time I got up to bat. I also think that the author did a good job of portraying some of the real animosity that exists between the different ages on a sports team. Sometimes varied ages can be a real problem on a team, especially when there is an all-star player who is worried he might lose his position.
Title: "Homeless Bird" by: Gloria Whelan
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublisher, 2000
Reading Level: 6.8
Genre: Historic Fiction
Pages: 212
Summary:
Koly is a 13-year old girl in India whose parents have arranged a marriage for her. They don't want to see her leave, but they are very poor and can no longer afford to keep her. It is all that they can do to gather up enough money and gifts to present a worthy dowry to her future mother and father-in-law. On the marriage date, Koly and her family find that the Mehta's, her husband's family, were not exactly honest with their family. Instead of being a 16-year old boy in good health, Hari, Koly's husband, turned out to be a young, sickly boy on his death bed. The family only arranged the marriage, so they could use the dowry money to buy a train ticket to the Ganges River where Hari could wash in the river and be healed. Hari, his mother, his father, and Koly all made the trip to the Ganges River to hopefully see him healed. Hari was not healed in the river, however, and he passed away after only a couple of days of being in the city. That left Koly a 13-year old widow after only being married a week.
As was tradition in India, Koly could not return back to her family because it would seen as shameful to the family, so she had to continue living with Hari's mother, father, and sister, Chandra. Koly's mother-in-law, her sass, resented Koly because she could not restore the health of her son. Her sass insisted that Koly earned her keep and made her do many chores around the house, criticizing her the whole time. Her sass also insisted that she wear a white sari, a sign that she was a widow. A widow in India was seen as unlucky, and Koly new that her chances of remarrying were slim to none. Koly did have some moments of joy in the house. Her sister-in-law Chandra became a good friend to Koly. She and Koly would stay up late at night talking, and Chandra tried to make Koly happy after she had been scolded by her sass. Koly's father-in-law, her sassur, was also good to her. After Koly's chores were done, he would teach her to read at nights, something that was unheard of for most common women in India. Koly loved to read, and when she was not busy doing chores or reading, she would do what she really loved, embroider quilts. She had a gift with embroidery and would embroider her feelings into the cloth.
Eventually, Chandra was married off, so then there were only three left in the Mehta's house. Then one day, Koly's sassur got home from work, went in to his room, laid on his bed, and passed away quietly. With his passing, Koly's sass was left with no other income than Koly's and her widow's stipend paid to her by the government. It was not nearly enough to live on, and she had to start selling her things. She was going to sell the prized book that Koly's sassur used to teach Koly how to read, but Koly let her trade her silver earrings instead. Sass got word that her brother would take her in, so she sold the house and bought tickets for the two of them to go live with her brother. They stopped in the city on the way to her brother's house, and in a pre-meditated move, Sass left Koly all alone in the city. Koly had her dowry quilt, the book of poems, and a little bit of money to live off of. She soon found out that many widows were dropped off in the city by family members who could not afford their upkeep. She had to sleep outside on the ground next to other widows in her same position.
It was in her hour of great desperation that she ran into Raji, a Rickshaw bicycle driver she found the first day she got into the city, and he took her to a home of Maa Kamal, a woman who took care of widows in the city. It was in that home that Koly met other women like herself. Maa gave these women a home and food and helped them to find work. Koly was able to work for a man making marigolds into celebration garland. For the first time since she left home she felt safe and cared for. The work was not fun, but she enjoyed being able to earn her own keep. Maa kept half of her income for her room and board, and the other half Koly was able to save to hopefully move out on her own one day. Koly made friends with another girl in the home, Tanu, and Raji came around regularly to visit her. It was in that time that Koly taught Raji how to read. She very much looked for to his visits.
One day the rich lady who paid for Maa to keep the widow's house running, saw Koly's quilt and got her job in Mr. Da's workshop embroidering saris and scarves. Koly was making three times as much money as at the marigold place, and she was doing what she loved. Life was going well for her. The only thing that saddened her was that Raji had moved away to invest his well-saved money into planting the land that was left to him by his family and fixing up the house that had been destroyed after his parent's death. He came back to see after some time and asked her to go back with him and become his wife. She was hesitant because she could pay him no dowry, but he cared more about having a kind, lovable wife than a few useless rupees. Koly told him she needed time to think about it, but eventually agreed to be his wife. Her boss told her that she could work from her new home and come bring her goods every few months. She had everything she wanted.
Recommended Readers:
This story would be great for girls who don't really like the typical happily ever after story. It shows a more realistic view about life and growing up. It would also be good for children who are interested in learning about other countries and cultures.
Possible Problems:
This book talks about some what I like to call "heavy" topics. It talks about being despised by someone you live with, abandoned by one who is supposed to be trusted, exposed to the evils of a big city, and almost getting taken advantage of because of naivety. It also illustrates the realities of an impoverished country like India where people are working in sweat shops just to have a little rice to eat every night. Students would definitely have to have a certain level of maturity to read this book.
Reaction:
This is the kind of book that you hate but can't put down at the same time. It was so hard for me to read about this girl who had so many awful things happen to her, but I loved to see the hope that she found in life despite her hardships. It was great exposure for me to the Indian culture and really opened my eyes to what life is really like for them there. I loved the motifs that were present throughout the book and how the symbol of the bird was used throughout the book. I loved the book and was really happy that she was able to find someone in the end who would look past all of the traditions and marry and love her anyway.
Title: "Sarah, Plain and Tall" by Patricia MacLachlan
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1985
Reading Level: 4.2
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 58
Summary:
Caleb and Anna have been without a mother for most of their lives. Their mother died the day after Caleb was born. Anna still remembers her, and the way life used to be before she passed away. Papa has not sung since his wife passed away. He seems lonely. Following after the example of his neighbor, Papa placed an advertisement in the newspaper for a woman who would be willing to be a mother to his children and a wife to him. Sarah, a woman from Maine, answered the ad. She told Papa through letter that she would be willing to live with him on his farm for one month to see if the arrangement would work out for everyone involved.
Caleb and Anna were so excited to meet Sarah. She told them in her letter that she would be wearing a yellow bonnet and would be plain and tall. Papa went to pick her up at the train station, and she indeed was plain and tall and wearing a yellow bonnet. She brought her cat, Seal, who quickly adjusted to life on the farm. Sarah also quickly adjusted to life on the farm. She loved to pick wild flowers, play with the farm animals, lay out in the long meadow grass, sing songs, and teach Caleb and Anna new things like how to swim. Anna, Caleb, and Papa really enjoyed having Sarah around. The children, though, feared that Sarah would not stay after the month that she promised she would stay. Sarah loved the farm, but she talked often about how she missed the sea and everything that went along with it.
One day after visiting with the neighbor's wife, Maggie, Sarah decided that she wanted Jacob, the father, to teacher her how to ride a horse and drive the wagon. Before they could get to the lesson, though, a squall of a storm quickly hit the farm. Sarah, Jacob, Anna, and Caleb all had to work together to get the animals inside of the barn. They all spent the night in the barn together. Sarah told them that squalls came upon the sea as well.
The next day Jacob taught Sarah how to drive a wagon, and the next day Sarah left early in the morning to go into town. Caleb and Anna were so worried that Sarah was going to miss home so badly that she would not return from her trip to town. Much to their joy and excitement, though, Sarah came back that night with a little piece of the sea, three colored pencils in the colors of the sea. That way she could include the sea in her drawings. Sarah told the family that she did miss her home badly, but she knew that she would miss them even more. They ate dinner that night with plans of the upcoming wedding of Papa and Sarah on their minds and songs to sing in the future in their hearts.
Recommended Readers:
This book would be good for both boys and girls because it talks about things that interest both boys and girls. I think that this book would be especially good for children who have recently lost a mother or father. It shows them that they, though they will never forget their loved one, they can still learn to love again.
Possible Problems:
The one problem that I saw with this book is the illustration of the outdated view of the roles of men and women. As I continued to read on, though, I realized that Sarah helps break that stereotype and shows the family that both men and women are capable of sharing the same work load. That's not really an issue in this book, but the other thing that might be a problem is that the book is a little bit unrealistic. Sarah comes to the family, and they easily and whole-heartedly fall in love with her. There is not really much of a conflict in this book.
Reaction:
I liked this book so much more than I remember liking it when I was in 4th grade and read it. For some reason, I remember it being a boring book, but I didn't think it was boring at all this time when I read it. I think that it is a very cute story about a family who learn to open their hearts again after losing their mother. I also really love Sarah's character. She is strong, nurturing, a little stubborn, and fun-loving.
Title: "Goosebumps: Ghost Camp" by: R.L. Stine
Publisher: Scholastic, 1996
Reading Level: 4.3
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 118
Summary:
When Alex and Harry's parents waited to sign them up for summer camp until the middle of summer, the only camp they could get into was called Camp Spirit Moon. The brothers were not at camp long before they realized that things were not as they seemed at camp. The first night they were at the camp, all of the campers had a big campfire where Uncle Marv told the two ghost stories that were supposedly tales about the camp. The first one was about a group of campers who hiked deep into the woods. They hadn't settled down very long before they realized that they were atop a huge monster who promptly ate all of the campers. The second story was about a camp not unlike Camp Spirit Moon. The campers were having a campfire and telling ghost stories when a huge black fog covered the camp, and all of the campers disappeared. After the story was told, a huge fog covered the campfire, and the next thing Alex and Harry knew, they were all alone. It turned out, though, that all of the campers were just playing a trick on the boys, and they were all hiding back at the cabins.
Alex and Harry didn't believe in ghosts, so they tried not to worry too much about the ghost stories. Still there were many things that happened at Camp Spirit Moon that they just couldn't explain using logic. Campers could experience traumatic injuries like reaching their hands in the hot fire, poking forks in their necks, or jabbing tent stakes into their feet without bleeding or showing any signs of pain. There were also the unexplained blue slimy puddles on the ground, the campers who Harry saw levitate above their beds, and the soccer player whose head fell off that were really hard for Harry and Alex to explain.
While hiking in the woods, Lucy, one of Harry's friends, pled with him to help her. She told Harry that all of the ghost stories were not fiction but a reality to the campers. They were all indeed ghosts, and she wanted to possess Harry's body in order to escape the camp. Harry used all of his strength to resist her and was able to flee from the ghost. He ran into Alex's bunk and dragged him away from the camp. They ran and ran and landed right on the top of the monster's stomach. By chanting over and over, though, that they didn't believe in the monster, he eventually disappeared. Their relief was short lived, however, because they found themselves in the middle of all of the ghost campers who insisted on inhabiting their human bodies. The ghosts ended up fighting about who would go into the bodies, and the fighting made them disappear. That left Harry and Alex alone in the woods. Harry told Alex that the plan was to go to the highway and find their way to a payphone to call their parents. Alex's reply was not in his own voice; it was in the voice of his friend, Elvis, who had inhabited his body.
Recommended Readers:
This is definitely a book geared towards little boy readers. I would caution teachers and parents to make sure that if they let their boys read this book that the boy is fully aware of the content of the book.
Possible Problems:
There are quite a few problems with this book. The first problem is that it is a very scary book for young readers. I got scared, and I am an adult. The content of the book is also a problem. There is really no point to the book other than to scare children. The final problem is that it talks about the idea of being possessed by a spirit. That is not a subject that is really suitable for young readers. It is not a wholesome topic at all. It is something that I have a hard time understanding, and I don't feel children should be exposed to.
Reaction:
I honestly hated reading this book. I think that it is an awful book, and I did not feel good while I was reading it at all. It was scary and twisted and pointless. I think that I am going to have to go read something uplifted to get rid of the bad feeling that I have after reading this story.
Title: "Jim Thorpe's Bright Path" by: Joseph Bruchac
Publisher: Library of Congress Publishing, 2004
Reading Level: 5.2
Genre: Non-Fiction: biography
Pages: 31
Summary:
In May of 1887, a Pottowatomie woman gave birth to twins, Charles and James Thorpe. The boys were quick learners who gained much knowledge about the woods near their home from their dad, Pa Thorpe. Jim Thorpe was much faster than his brother Charles, but he always waited for his brother and encouraged him to run faster. When the boys were six, the law mandated them to go to a boarding school. These schools were not like the schools that the white children attended. They only taught the children to be maids or laborers. The whole aim of the school was to erase any signs of the Indian heritage in the children. Still, Pa Thorpe wanted his boys to attend because he knew how valuable an education would be to them.
In school, Charlie was for advanced than Jim and encouraged Jim to do better and keep trying. Jim hated school because it kept him cooped up inside the whole day, and he had to wear an uncomfortable uniform and listen to grumpy teachers. Sickness hit the boarding school, and Charlie died from pneumonia. Jim felt like a piece of him died to. He wanted to quit school, but his dad encouraged him to keep trying.
Jim went to a new boarding school after the death of his brother. He ended up running away to help his dad who had been shot in a hunting accident. His dad was ok, but Jim never returned to school again. Jim's mom died shortly thereafter from an unexpected illness.
Jim was then recruited to attend Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. He thought that he was going there to learn about electricity, but he soon found out that he was going to learn more about sports at the university. His dad encouraged him to pursue that opportunity, but died shortly after Jim was accepted to the school. Jim knew that, even though he was all alone, he had to work to live the legacy that his family members had set for him.
Jim grew in stature at the school and was soon placed on the track team after breaking the school record in the high jump. What Jim really wanted to do, though, was try out for the football team. The coach hesitated to let him play because he didn't want Jim to get hurt and jeopardize his chances on the track team. Jim was too good, though, for the coach to hold him back. While on the football team, Jim realized that his goal in life was going to be to run his fastest and try his hardest to reach the finish line.
Recommended Readers:
This book would be good for students who are interested in football, track, or native American heritage. It would also be good for anyone who needs a little encouragement to go live their dreams.
Possible Problems:
This book does use the word "Indian" which has become politically incorrect and might offend some readers.
Reaction:
I didn't know anything about Jim Thorpe, but after reading this book, I want to find out more about him. He seems like an amazing person who overcame great odds. The pictures are beautiful. I love how the book focused more on the journey that Jim took to reach his fame more than what he is actually famous for.
Title: "As Good as Anybody" by Richard Michelson, illustrated by : Raul Colon
Publisher: Random House, 2008
Reading Level: Could not Find
Genre: Non Fiction, Biography
Pages: 36
Summary:
When Martin Luther King Jr. was a young boy, he got angry because he could not swim in a pool because it was for white children only. He talked to his dad about how unfair it was, and his dad, a Christian minister, told him to hold his head up because in the next life, everybody will live together peacefully no matter the color of their skin. Martin's mother told him that he was just as good as anybody and that he shouldn't ever let anybody tell him otherwise. When Martin grew up, he followed in his father's footsteps and became a minister. He began to tell his congregation that it was time to take action against the injustice that existed in the world. He staged a bus boycott that lasted for a year before the Supreme Court changed the law and allowed any person to sit wherever on the bus he or she wished. Then Martin began going all over the country to speak out for equal rights. Many people, including members of the Ku Klux Klan, hated Martin and tried to inflict pain upon him. He called for all of God's children to join his march.
Abraham Joshua Heschel's, a Jewish rabbi from Poland, followed that call from Martin. Abraham also grew up with a religious leader as a father. Abraham's father was also a Jewish rabbi who taught his family to care for the poor no matter how little money they had themselves. His father also told him that he was as good as anybody. While Abraham was studying in Berlin at a university, Adolph Hitler came into power and forced Abraham back to Poland. Abraham decided to go to America to teach people in that country. He went all over America speaking out for equal rights. He received much of the same persecution that Martin Luther King Jr. did. On March 21, 1965, Abraham joined with Martin on his march in Selma, Alabama. Martin, a black Christian, and Abraham, a white Jew, joined hands together in front of the crowd symbolizing the unity of the human race. Together they walked, arm in arm, for the cause that they believed so strongly about.
Recommended Readers:
I think that it would be good for every American child to read this brief life history of two very influential people in the history of our country. I think that every child needs to know at least the basics about the work that Martin Luther King did for our country.
Possible Problems:
I think that the format of the book is probably the biggest problem about the book. The way that it goes from one biography to another might be a little bit confusing for some children. It almost makes it sound like Abraham heard Martin's call for action while he was in Poland during WWII, which would not make sense at all.
Reaction:
I love this book for the fact that the author took the complicated life histories of two great men and condensed them in such a way that they fit nicely into a little picture book. I learned a lot from reading this book which is the whole point of reading an informational book. The pictures in this book are very intriguing to me. I don't know what medium the illustrator used, but it makes it look like it was drawn using the finger prints of these men.
Title: "Punished" by David Lubar
Publisher: Darby Creek Publishers, 2006
Reading Level: 4.3
Genre: Humor/ Fantasy
Pages: 93
Summary:
Going to the library after school is the last thing that Logan Quester wants to do, but his friend, Benedict, wants to get a jump-start on his report for class. In pursuit of the perfect references for their books, the boys end up playing tag. Logan ended up running into the adult in charge of the adult section of the library. The man told Logan that he needed to be punished for playing in the library. Logan was relieved, though, because all the man did was blow some dust from a book onto him. The boys left the library without doing any research at all.
It wasn't until Logan was at home that he realized something terrible was wrong. Try as he might, the only things that would come out of his mouth were puns, a joke that is made from playing on a word's other meaning. He told his mother that dinner smelled "stew-pendous", and he asked his dad if there was a lot "mower" to do in the yard. Trouble really started, though, when he spoke in puns in class. His teacher did not find it funny at all, and sent Logan to the principal's office. Soon Logan realized that the librarian had indeed "punished" him.
Logan went to the library after school and asked the librarian, Robert Wordsworth, how he could stop his "pun"ishment. Wordsworth told him that he would have to take the camera and find seven examples of oxymorons, words that sound like contradictions. Logan wasn't sure if he would be able to come up with that many examples, but he knew that he would have to work quick to find enough in his 24 hour deadline. By the next day he had found jumbo shrimp, plastic glasses, red-hot chili, a light shade, straight hooks, old news, and a student teacher. The camera he was given would only take pictures of true oxymorons, so Logan knew whether or not he had really found one.
Logan's next quest was to find 7 anagrams, words whose letters can be scrambled to make a new word, and put them in a little cloth bag. Benedict had helped him with the last task, but he was told that he could not be helped with this test. Logan was able to find rat art, a petal plate, a cat act, a cheap peach, a Argentine tangerine, a tater treat, and a shore horse. This time Logan's indication of whether he got a true anagram or not was if the item would go into the bag as if being pulled by a magnetic force.
Logan's final test was to find 7 palindromes, a word or series of words spelled the same forwards and backwards. Once he found a palindrome, Logan was to put a rubber band around it. If the rubber band turned from brown to yellow, he would know that it was a true palindrome. Logan found a pot top, his mom, his dad, his sister, a level, a racecar, and Bob, the librarian. With his tasks complete, Logan was free of speaking in puns. He still spoke in puns occasionally, though, because he though they were punny.
Recommended Readers:
I think this is great for readers of all ages and backgrounds. It is funny and helps students gain an awareness of words and word play. It helps students to see that writing and using language does not have to boring. It can really be fun.
Possible Problems:
Some of the jokes might go over children's heads, but that can easily be remedied by making this book a read aloud book.
Reaction:
I love playing with and manipulating words, so I found this book really fun. I loved that the idea of word play was used throughout the entire book not just in Logan's quests. Even the names of the characters were a form of word play. At the beginning where Logan is speaking strictly in words, I was just dying of laughter. I was reading it in the library, and it was all that I could do not to laugh out loud. I really think that I could use this book in one of my future classrooms to teach the concepts of puns, anagrams, and palindromes in a way that would be fun and not so serious.
Title: "How to Eat Fried Worms" by Thomas Rockwell
Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. 1973
Reading Level:
Genre: Humor/ Realistic Fiction
Pages: 115
Summary:
The trouble all started when Tom wouldn't eat the salmon casserole that his mother made for him. Tom's friends told him that they would have eaten at least one bit; there wasn't anything that they wouldn't eat just one bite of. Billy said that he would even eat one bite of mud if it meant that he didn't have to be sent to his room after dinner. Alan told Billy that he didn't think Billy would eat one bite of a worm. Billy assured Alan that he could eat a worm. The boys turned that into a bet. The rules of the bet were set by both boys. Billy was required to eat 15 worms in 15 days. He could fix them up any way that he liked, but Alan and the other boy, Joe, got to pick the worms. If Billy completed the task in the 15 days, Alan was going to pay him $50. Billy really wanted that money to buy a motorized bike from a boy who was moving away to college.
The four boys met the next day in the deserted horse barn. Billy had lemons, ketchup, mustard, and everything else he could think of on a crate to help the worm taste better. The worm the boys picked was a really long night crawler they had found in a pile of manure. They never thought that he could do it, but Billy was determined to win the bet and choked the ketchup bathed worm. After he ate the worm, Billy jumped up and started celebrating by making loud bird noises. Alan and Joe started to get nervous that they were going to lose the bet.
As the days went on, Billy ate his worms. Alan and Joe did everything they could think of to get Billy to lose the bet. They glued two long worms together, told Billy about the horror stories they heard about people eating worms, told Billy's mom about the bet, stuffed him full of food and brought him home almost too late to eat the worm, and wrote a fake letter from Billy's physician saying how dangerous eating worms was. No matter the attempt, Billy was able to eat his worms. Because the boys had informed Billy's mother about the bet, Billy's whole family began to be a part of the bet. Billy's mom found creative ways to cook the worms. One time she sautéed it in oil, and another time, she made it into a Whizbang worm delight. Billy even got into the action and tried turning his worm into a peanut butter and worm sandwich.
The bet took a toll on the four boys' friendship, though. The boys were always fighting. Alan felt like all he did was worry about the stupid bet. At one point, the four boys even got into a fist fight over the bet. It was pretty bad.
When Billy was down to the fifteenth worm, Alan and Joe picked out a really good one. To Billy it tasted like beans, and he had not trouble at all eating the worm. Alan was almost crying as he had to admit defeat. He told Billy that he would bring him the money the next day. As he was walking away, Billy realized that the boys had tricked him again. They fed him beans in the shape of a worm to make him think that he was really eating a worm. Billy decided to eat another worm, and as he was lifting the second bite into his mouth, he was knocked over by Alan. The boys drug Billy over to the tool closet and locked him into it. Alan decided that this idea still wouldn't work because other people could hear Billy's cries for help, so they decided to put Billy into the cistern. Before they could, though, Billy's dad found the boys and told them to let Billy out. Alan and Joe were not the only ones to get in trouble; Billy's dad sent him to his room before he could eat the worm. Tom and his little brother found a way to get the worm to Billy. He was able to eat it, win the bet, and buy the motorbike.
Recommended Readers:
This would be a good book for boys who are at the stage where potty humor is really funny to them, but their moms won't let them read it. This book has about the same humor as a book with potty humor, but it doesn't talk about potty terms.
Possible Problems:
The whole plot of this book is based on bets, lies, and cheating. It also has some jokes that are based on adult humor. Some parents might not like their children reading it for those reasons and also for the basic reason that it is really gross, and most parents don't want their children eating crawling things from the garden.
Reaction:
I liked the idea behind this book, but I think that it was a little long. Obviously, it is only 100 pages, but the author wrote about every single one of the worms that Billy ate. It got a little bit boring after a while.
Title: "A Year Down Yonder" by Richard Peck
Publisher: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 2000
Reading Level: 4.9
Genre: Humor
Pages: 130
Summary:
The depression hit the city of Chicago, and it took its toll on the Dowdel family. After Mary Alice's father lost his job, they were forced to move into a light housekeeping room. It only had enough room for two people, though, so that meant that Mary Alice was forced to move to a small town in Illinois to live with her crazy, gun-wielding, take-me-as-I-am grandma. Mary Alice and her brother, Joey, often spent their summers with their grandma. Now with Joey off planting trees in the west for the government, Mary Alice had to go by herself, and she was not thrilled about it. Her grandmother was a little rough around the edges and somewhat of an outcast in her community. Her house was old, and it did not have all of the conveniences that Mary Alice was used to.
From the moment Mary Alice stepped off of the train, she received no special privileges from her grandmother. She was immediately enrolled in school, and received no warm welcome from the students in school either. She ended up ticking off Mildred Burdick, the meanest girl in school, and her grandma had to save her from being eaten by the monster of a girl. The other girls, except for Ina-Rae, were not very fond of Mary Alice either. After only the first day away from home, she wished that she could be back in Chicago.
Soon enough, though, Mary Alice settles in to life in the country. She becomes her grandmother's right-hand woman. Every time there is an event in town like the Halloween party or a DAR function, Grandma whips up some of her favorite treats, and Mary Alice is right by her side to help her. Grandma isn't just a great cook, though. She does all sorts of things like paint rooms, catch foxes in the winter, fix things around the house, make things with what little resources she had, and foil the plans of pranksters. Mary Alice comes to admire her grandmother.
The year eventually comes to a close, and Mary Alice decides that she doesn't really want to leave her grandma after all. Her dad got a job, and her mother wanted her back to live with them. Mary Alice had grown quite fond of the little town she had just spent the last year in. She began to love the people with all their quirks and small-town secrets. She also began to love a boy in her class, Royce McNabb. The place she dreaded going to now became the place she did not want to leave. She did leave, though, to be with her parents. Years later she came back and was married to Royce in the living room of her Grandma's house.
Recommended Readers:
I would recommend this story to almost any child. It is not too difficult of a read, and it gives a good sense of what people had to go through during the depression. I think it would be good for children to see just how little people lived with back in those days and to see that they were still happy.
Possible Problems:
This book is classified as a humor book, but I think that much of the humor would be lost to children. I think that some of the humor, in the beginning, even went over my head. Also, there are a couple of passages that talk about provocative topics like having children out of wedlock (Mildred Burdick) and painting women in the nude. It doesn't go in to detail about either incident, but it is still present in the book.
Reaction:
I didn't like this book at first. It was kind of hard to get in to, but the more I read, the more I liked it. My favorite part about this book is how the author helps to develop the characters of grandma Dowdel and Mary Alice. In the beginning, they are both kind of opposite in every sense of the word, but as the book progresses, we realize that they really are not that different. I loved to see how the harsh, unaffectionate grandmother becomes one of Mary Alice's closest friends. It shows that we shouldn't be so quick to judge a person by their outward mannerisms.
Title: "The Great Gilly Hopkins" by Katherine Paterson
Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher, 1978
Reading Level: 6.3
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Pages: 178
Summary:
Galadriel Hopkins is one of Miss Ellis's toughest clients as a social worker. She cannot seem to place Gilly in a home that can put up with her obstinate behavior. Gilly has been in the home of three foster families in less than three years. This time Gilly ends up with Maime Trotter, a pleasantly plump widow, and William Earnest (commonly called W.E), a shy, introverted foster child. Gilly thinks it will be easy to break this new foster family and gain the power that she had in her last foster family. She sees this new placement as one more hurdle on her way to get back with her mom, the beautiful Courtney Rutherford Hopkins, who she knows is just waiting to get her back.
Gilly starts school shortly after arriving with Trotter. She is placed in the room of a black woman, and much to her dismay, discovers that she is behind her peers academically. From the moment she set foot on the new school, Gilly made her presence known. She said disrespectful words to the teacher and the principal and beat up six boys at recess. Her plan is to quickly catch up with her peers in class, and then abruptly stop progressing to drive the teachers wild. At school, Gilly meets a girl by the name of Agnes, who Gilly does not like but thinks could be useful in some future plot.
Agnes does come in handy as a watchman as Gilly broke into the neighbor, Mr. Randolph's, house. She had found some money behind one of his many books earlier that week and went back to steal the rest of the money. Gilly took Mr. Randolph's money and money she stole from Trotter's purse and ran away to the bus stop. Courtney had sent her a postcard earlier with a return address, so Gilly thought that she would ride the bus to see her mom. She had also written Coutney a letter explaining how awful it was living with Trotter and a retarded boy. The man at the bus station turned her in, though, and Trotter had to go pick her up from the police station.
Upon hearing about Gilly's escapades, Miss Ellis approached Trotter to tell her that she would be placing Gilly in a new home. Trotter refused to let her go with Miss Ellis because she was not going to give Gilly up. Trotter did make Gilly work off the money she had stolen by doing chores around the house. One of those chores was helping WE with his reading.
The week of Thanksgiving found all of the people in the Trotter household sick, except for Gilly. She became the caregiver for Trotter, W.E. and Mr. Randolph. She was helping all three of them the best that she could. During the chaos that came from caring for three sick people, a woman came to the door. She was Courtney's mother, Gilly's grandmother, and she came to see her granddaughter who she just recently found out existed. Courtney had called her after getting Gilly's letter about how terrible things were. Gilly's grandmother agreed with the things that Gilly had written in her letter and ended up taking Gilly to live with her permanently in her house. Gilly was really upset because she realized that she really loved Trotter, Mr. Randolph, and W.E. and did not want to leave them. There was nothing that any of them could do. Gilly's mother eventually flies out to see her, but Gilly soon realizes that she only came because her mother paid her. In her pursuit of finding a mom who never really wanted her when she was born or now that she is grown, Gilly pushed away the best family that she could have asked for.
Recommended Readers:
This book has some pretty mature topics in it, so it would be better suited for older children. I would recommend this book to any child who comes from a broken home because it would give that child someone to relate to.
Possible Problems:
Because this book is realistic fiction it shows how hardened children in "the system" really can become. As a result, the language that comes out of Gilly's mouth is very crude and vulgar. Also it deals with many issues like racism and abandonment that might be difficult for children to understand. Parents would definitely need to preview this book before letting their children read it.
Reaction:
Because I grew up in such a stable home, I love to read books about what my life could have been like without that stability. Even though she is really feisty, I fell in love with Gilly and all of her quirks. It was good for me to see that I will probably teach children like GIlly who bring more baggage to the table than a South West jet plane. The ending left me a little dumbfounded. I couldn't believe it was the end, but it wouldn't really fit the story any other way. I like happy endings, but this ending, although not exactly happy, made me think.
Title: "The Story of Ruby Bridges" by Robert Coles, Illustrated by George Ford
Publisher: Scholastic, 1995
Reading Level: 5.4
Genre: Nonfiction Biography
Pages: 28
Summary:
Ruby Bridges and her family lived in a small town in Mississippi during the Civil Rights movement in the United States. Ruby's dad lost his job picking crops in the field when machines began taking the place of farmhands. Because her dad was out of work, the Bridges had to move to New Orleans where their dad began work as a janitor and their mom worked cleaning floors at a bank after the children were asleep.
Even though it was against the law to keep separate schools for black children and white children, most schools were still segregated. In a trial in 1960, the judge ruled that black girls would attend McDonogh 19 at the same time that Ruby attended Frantz Elementary School, both of which were white only schools. Ruby's parents were really proud of the courage that their daughter had, and the family all prayed very hard for Ruby's success in this new event in the country's history.
The mobs outside of Ruby's new school were so great that she had to be escorted to school by the federal marshals after the city and state officers refused to help her. Hundreds of angry parents and city members carried signs and shouted mean things to Ruby as she went into the school. When she got into the school, she was the only student Mrs. Henry's class because all of the parents in the school refused to let their children attend a school with a colored child. Mrs. Henry admired Ruby's courage and patience as she endured the same persecution day after day. She often asked Ruby if she was scared, but Ruby always told her she was doing fine.
One morning Mrs. Henry saw Ruby stop in front of the mob in the front of the school and begin talking to the people. Whatever she said seemed to make the mob really angry and the marshals encouraged Ruby to go into the school. When she got into her classroom, Mrs. Henry asked her what she was saying to the mob. Ruby told her that she was not talking to the people in the mob; she was praying for them. Every day on her way to school, Ruby stopped and prayed that God would forgive the people for the hurtful things they were doing for her, but that morning she had forgotten. So she stopped and said her prayer right before the mob.
In the afterward to the story, the author explains that Ruby remained the only person in the school until, finally, two white boys joined her. Their parents decided that the only people they were hurting by keeping their sons out of school were their sons. It wasn't fair to rob their sons of an education. Soon others joined them as well. Ruby went on to graduate high school and is now a successful business woman who has started her own foundation to help increase parental involvement in schools.
Recommended Readers:
Even though segregated schools have not existed for fifty years, prejudices still remain. I believe this would be a good book for anyone to read to help them understand how harmful prejudices are. It also illustrates that a person is a person no matter the color of his or her skin. That is a truth that every child needs to be exposed to.
Possible Problems:
I don't see any problems that would arise from this book. Some people might not like how the people in the mob acted, but it is an accurate portrayal of how they really did act.
Reaction:
I have always loved books about history, especially about individuals in history. I especially like this book. Because it is so short, I was able to quickly understand the important events in Ruby's life. I think that this book did a particularly good job of portraying the human side of Ruby Bridges, the historical figure. I was really touched by the story of Ruby praying for those who literally hated her. It made me want to be more accepting of those around me who do not always treat me fairly. She is a remarkable person.
Title: "Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children around the World" by Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley
Publisher: DK Publishing, Inc. 1995
Reading Level:
Genre: Non-fiction/ reference
Pages: 80
Summary:
Children Like Me is a portrayal of children all over the world, in all different walks of life. The foreword written by the Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF, Harry Belafonte, explains very nicely what the point of this book is. It is written to help children see the differences of the children in other parts of the world, but more importantly, to see the similarities that make us all the same. The book is broken up into regions of the world. First is the Americas. Second is Europe. Next comes Africa, and then Asia. Finally, we visit Southeast Asia and Australasia. Before each region section, the book gives a brief description of the area, and then it highlights children from different places in that area. Each of the children spotlights include a description of the child, the area where the child is from, the child's family, what the child likes to do, the language spoken in that country, what the parents do to support the family, what type of home the child lives in, different foods eaten in that area, and other details about the child or where the child is from. Each spotlight also includes at least one quote from the child about what his or her life is like. By setting up the book this way, it really illustrates for the reader the similarities that are seen in children, no matter where they live or what their family income is.
Recommended Readers:
The intended audience for this book is obvious; all children are encouraged to read this book. It is very fun and interactive for the student. A student can spend as much or as little time reading the book.
Possible Problems:
The only problem that I could possibly conceive of would be that the United States has five children highlighted whereas other countries only have one
Reaction:
I am pretty sure that many of my teachers have had this book in their elementary school classrooms. I wish that I had picked it up back then because it is really fun. It is really easy to get lost in the abundance of information that is within the book. It is very interesting and informative. I love the pictures and reading about what steps the authors took to portray the children in the most accurate and intriguing way.
Title: "Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast" by: Robin McKinley
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublisher, 1978
Reading Level: Could not Find
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 247
Summary:
There once lived a wealthy ship merchant who had three daughters: Grace, Hope, and Honour. Nobody called Honour by her given name, but referred to her instead by Beauty. She despised the nickname because compared to her graceful, elegant, and beautiful sisters, she was awkward and not beautiful. The family lived a very comfortable, wealthy life in the city. The oldest daughter, Grace, was soon to marry one of her father's ship captains after his return trip from one of the ship's journeys. Tragedy struck, however, and the father's fleet of ships got lost in harbor, and the family had to sell everything to make up for the loss. They ended up moving to the country with Hope's boyfriend, Gervain. The family had to quickly get accustomed to the life in the country. They no longer had servants to help them with the chores around the house and had to learn how to do things for themselves. Hope and Grace settled in nicely to the household chores like cooking and cleaning the floors, and Beauty began doing the more manual chores like cutting wood and helping in the stables. Beauty discovered that the life in the country fit her quite nicely.
When word came that one of the father's missing ships was located and someone wanted to buy it, he made the long journey back to the city to check on his business. The next time the family saw the father, he staggered into the home looking ten years older and baring a tale that was next to unbelievable. On his way back from the city, he and his horse got caught in a snow storm. They couldn't see where they were going. They happened upon a castle and, though he saw no one there, he was met with a warm meal and warm bed to sleep in. On his way out of the castle, he picked a rose for his daughter, Beauty. As he was picking it, though, a beast dressed in man's clothing found him and asked what nerve he had taking a rose after all the beast had done for him. In order to spare his life, the beast told him he had a month to bring his daughter to the castle to live with the beast. If the father did not bring his daughter, he would be killed by the beast. The father told the story to Beauty, and she willing agreed to go to the castle even though she had no idea what lay in store for her.
Beauty found the castle to be magical. Food appeared for her to eat out of nowhere, and her clothes were laid out for her to put on. She found the Beast not to be as scary and inhumane as she though, but actually to be kind and loving towards her. He told Beauty that the only reason he wanted her to come to the castle was because he had been in that castle for 200 years by himself, and he was lonely. He wanted someone to keep him company. Beauty also found, though, that he also wanted to marry her, and he would ask her to marry him every night. Every night she would refuse his offer.
Although Beauty missed her family terribly, she began to get accustomed to life in the castle. She got into a routine where she would wake up, put on the clothes that were laid out for her by her invisible maids in waiting, eat breakfast, take a walk around the castle grounds with her horse Greatheart, go back to the castle and read for hours, eat dinner with the Beast's company, and then read some more until bed. As the days went on, Beauty began to spend more and more time with the Beast. She became quite fond of the Beast and looked forward to their time together.
Through one of the Beast's magical tools, Beauty found that her sister Grace's fiancé actually had not been killed at sea. To Beauty's dismay, though, she saw that Grace was going to marry another man before her fiancé could find her. The Beast allowed her a month to go back and warn her sister. She went back home and enjoyed her time with her family. They had a really hard time believing Beauty's description of the kind, helpful Beast, and did not want her to return to his castle. On the night before she was to return to the castle, Beauty had a dream that the Beast died. She rushed off to save him as soon as she could. She had a hard time finding the castle, though, and didn't think she would make it in time. Eventually she made it to the castle and found the Beast hunched over in his chair. She begged him to wake up and not die. When the Beast did wake up, Beauty professed her love to him and told him she would marry him.
That profession of love broke the century-old spell that was placed on the Beast, and he returned to the man that he was before a witch had placed a spell on his family for being pious and prideful. In order for the spell to be broken, the Beast had to have a girl fall in love with him and promise to marry him or her own free will. Beauty saw the new form of the Beast and was ashamed because she didn't feel beautiful enough to marry such a handsome man. The Beast took her over to the mirror that she had not looked into since she came into the castle and realized that the gangly looking girl that she once new was replaced by a beautiful woman. In the time that she was at the castle, she grew in stature and in beauty. The Beast and Beauty were married in a double wedding with Beauty's sister Grace and her fiancé, Robbie. The family was once again reunited and lived happily ever after.
Recommended Readers:
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fairy tales. It is a beautiful and intriguing twist on the classic tale. I would also recommend it to any children who are struggling with their appearance or being comfortable with who they are.
Possible Problems:
Some people might find this story kind of frightening because the beast is initially presented in a pretty scary way. The ending might be a little unrealistic because everything that has been building up for 250 pages all gets resolved in the matter of 3 or 4 pages.
Reaction:
I wasn't sure that I would like this book at first because the book started off a little bit slowly. As soon as the Beast was introduced to the story, though, it got really interesting, and I didn't want to put it down. I really liked the parallel between the Beast and Beauty and the insecurities that they both had. It really made me reflect on relationships and how important it is to be around and associate others. I loved to see how Beauty grew from being scared of the Beast to feeling sorry for him to loving him in the end. I love this twist on one of my favorite stories.
Title: "Love that Dog" by Sharon Creech
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishing, 2001
Reading Level: 4.9
Genre: Poetry
Pages: 86
Summary:
When Jack's teacher, Mrs. Stretchberry, reads them a poem in class and asks him to write his own poem, he doesn't think he should have to because he is a boy, and only girls write poetry. Besides, poems are just a bunch of words, cut into small chunks, and written on the paper. He begins to write poetry while having a discussion the whole time with his teacher. He writes his first poem about a blue car. He hesitates to let his teacher put the poem up on the board because he doesn't think that the other children will think that it really is a poem. Eventually, though, he lets his teacher hang it up on the wall, but only because his name was not on the poem.
Jack begins to experiment with his poetry. He is inspired by the different styles of different poets. He begins to write a poem about his dog. At first he just talks about how much fun he has with his dog Sky and how they came to find Sky. As the story progresses and so does his poetry, we begin to see that his dog was run over by a car when the two of them were playing outside. He initially did not want that poem put up the wall because he thought that it would make his classmates sad. Again he let her hang it up in the end though.
After having been read "Love that Boy" by Walter Dean Myers, Jack wrote a poem that was similar to Myer's poem called "Love that Dog". He got really worried that Mr. Walter Dean Myers would think that he was copying his work, so his teacher told Jack to put the words inspired by Walter Dean Myers on his poem. He did, and the teacher hung it up on the wall. Jack began to love Walter Dean Myer's poem. He decided to write Mr. Walter Dean Myers to come to his school. He got worried that the man would not receive the letter because Myers must get thousands of letters every week. Mr. Walter Dean Myers, though, did agree to come to Jack's school. Jack was even more excited about Myer's work and poetry in general after meeting his poetry idol. Jack wrote Mr. Myers a letter thanking him for his visit, and included one of his own poems, "Love that Dog."
Recommended Readers:
I would recommend this book to any child who is learning about poetry or interested in poetry. It would especially be good for little boys who are not sure of poetry themselves.
Possible Problems:
Because of the really loose form of the poem, it might be a little confusing for students to understand what poetry might be. They might think that all poetry is free-verse, which is also the case.
Reaction:
This is the second time I have read "Love that Dog". I really do like this story. I think that Jack is someone we can all relate to because we have all been confused by poetry. I love to see the progression that Jack makes and the different topics that he brings up in his poems. I would think that it would be a really good book to use in the classroom to get them excited about poetry.
Title: "Lincoln: A Photobiography" by: Russell Freedman
Publisher: Clarion Books, 1987
Reading Level: 6.5
Genre: Non Fiction: biography
Pages: 143
Summary:
Every person in the United States knows about Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, or at least they think they do. The familiar American legend is portrayed in a different light in this biography by Russell Freedman. There are many things in this book that give added dimension to President Lincoln. For instance, Abraham greeted people in the white house in his slippers, let his children run wild in the white house, was often heard arguing with his wife, had pretty bad depression, was a gawky-looking man, and hated the nickname Honest Abe.
Abraham Lincoln really did blossom from extremely humble roots. He was born February 12, 1809 in a small town in Kentucky. His dad was a farmer who grew the bulk of the family's food. The Lincoln's moved several times during Abraham's childhood in order for his dad to build the best farm possible for his family. Abraham and his sister, Sarah, attended school as often as their workload would permit. Shortly after moving to Indiana, Nancy Lincoln, Abraham's mother, passed away from the dreaded "milk sickness". Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's dad, waited a year and then went to Kentucky to find a wife and mother for his two children. He came back with Sarah Bush Johnston and her three children. Sarah quickly stepped in and fulfilled the roles of Abraham's mother. Abraham learned quickly how to work hard. He loved to learn and taught himself almost everything that he knew about reading and writing. When Lincoln was 18, his sister died while giving birth to her first child. At the age of 22, Lincoln left his home in search of his own adventures in life. He started off working at a friend's county store. Lincoln soon gained a reputation in his town for being good at swinging an axe and good at debating. After things at the store fell through, Lincoln tried his hand at politics and tried to run for the Illinois state legislature but did not get elected. He ran again in 1834 and was elected at that point. While the legislature was not in session, Lincoln trained himself to be a lawyer and started practicing law with his friend John Todd Stuart 3 years later.
Lincoln soon gained popularity as a lawyer. People would come from miles around to have his defend them in court. Lincoln was a good lawyer, but his backwoods countryman traits followed him to his practice. His office was always cluttered with stacks of paper, and he greeted people in his friendly, hick manner. It was because of his prestige as a lawyer that Abraham Lincoln met his wife, Mary Edwards. Mary's sister and brother-in-law were very influential, wealthy people who strongly disapproved of her courtship with Lincoln. They felt that she could do better than Lincoln. With their disapproval, Lincoln broke off the engagement and plunged into a serious bout of depression. It was a very dark time in his life. Fifteen months, later, though, the two met up again and were married that same day. They started off humbly, but soon after their first son, Robert, was born, Mary's father helped them to buy a house that they lived in for 17 years. In 1846, Lincoln was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He and his family moved to Washington, but Mary soon moved back to their home because she did not like it in Washington. After his term in the House, Lincoln moved back to his law practice.
While he was practicing law, Lincoln united with the effort of the wigs, a political party, to stop the spread of slavery. Lincoln was careful not to advocate for the abolishment of slaves, initially, because he knew that it would be a detrimental stand to him politically. He participated in many debates with Senator Stephen A. Douglas who was a proponent for popular sovereignty. The debates between Lincoln and Douglas gave Lincoln national recognition, so much so that he was nominated to be a possible candidate for the president of the United States. He did not feel fit to be the president, and as was customary back then, he did not campaign for himself. After a split in the democratic party arose, Lincoln was, in deed, voted as the 16th president of the United States.
It was not Lincoln's goal in his presidency to free slaves, but the issue of slavery was part of his presidency from day one. Many southern states left the union was the "Black Republican" was put into office. On April 14, 1960, fort Sumter, a government fort in the south, was taken over by southern armies, and the Civil War officially began. Lincoln knew almost nothing about war and relied heavily on his commander in chief. Unfortunately, during the four-year span of the war, the northern state army went through about 4 different leaders. Each one felt qualified for the position but relied too heavily on Abraham Lincoln when all was said and done. With shaky leadership and an uncertain and cautious war strategy, the union experienced much defeat for the majority of the war. Lincoln received much criticism for how he handled the war.
In the midst of the terrible state of the union, Lincoln faced a terrible tragedy in his personal life. Lincoln's son, Willie, died of a childhood fever. Both Abraham and his wife plunged into terrible depression. A state that Mary never fully recovered of. Willie was the second of Lincoln's four sons to pass away in childhood.
Although Lincoln's intent of going to war was not to free the slaves, he soon decided that freeing the slaves was the only thing that would save the union. He waited until the north gained a victory and then signed his famous emancipation proclamation that freed all slaves. This allowed all black people to join in the war effort and fight. After signing his decree to free slaves, Lincoln's popularity dropped lower than ever.
The war waged on, taking the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both the union and the confederate side. The war also took a toll on Abraham Lincoln. He aged visibly in the four year span of the Civil War. He had a very rigorous schedule during the war that included reading about war tactics, meeting with people affected by the war, visiting the wounded in the war hospitals, and determining the fate of cowardly run away soldiers. He balanced his busy life by taking carriage rides with his wife along the country side. Eventually, on April 9 Generals Lee of the Southern army and General Grant of the Union army met and ended the war. The North was victorious, and slavery was ended.
The end of the war was not the end of Lincoln's story, however. He received death threats all the time by rebel southern men who wanted to sabotage the new state of the union. Lincoln knew he was in danger, but he didn't let it worry him. Five days after General Lee surrendered, Lincoln was shot in the box seat at Ford's theatre by actor John Wilkes Booth. Doctors tried to revive him, but he did not recover from his head wound. Lincoln's funeral was April 19, and on April 21, his body was taken to Illinois where he was buried.
Recommended Readers:
This would be a great book for anyone who is interested in the history of our nation. Not only does this book give the life history of our president, but it gives the facts of many pivotal moments in the nation's history. It would also be a good choice to anyone who is interested in learning more about slavery and how it was abolished.
Possible Problems:
This book might be a little bit alarming to people because it does not sugar coat any of the events of Abraham Lincoln's life. Some children might think of Abraham Lincoln as Honest Abe, the man who could do no wrong, but this book points out facts that might contradict that. The book portrays Abraham Lincoln as he really was, which might be hard for some to take in.
Reaction:
I found this book to be really interesting. I love biographies because I love to learn about people and how they became who they were. I learned so many things about Abraham Lincoln that I did not previously know. Even though the book pointed out the flaws in Abraham Lincoln, I feel like I have a greater appreciation and admiration for him as a person. Because I know that he was a regular man who arose to greatness, I admire him even more now. I feel like Freedman touched on all aspects of Abraham Lincoln's life and helped me as the reader understand him even more not only as the president of the United States, but as a person.
Title: "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park
Publisher: Dell Yearling Books, 2001
Reading Level: 6.8
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 152
Summary:
On the outskirts of town, under a bridge, near the river in the potter's town of Ch'ulp'o lived two people who had humanity had forgotten. The older man went by the name of Crane-man, thus named because one of his legs was crippled from birth. The young boy went by Tree-ear, named after the mushroom that grew in wrinkled half-circles on dead or fallen tree trunks. Crane-man had lived under the bridge since his family all passed away and he could not get a job because of his disability. Tree-ear was brought to Crane-man by a monk after his parents has passed away from a fever. Crane-man and Tree-ear made a great pair and spent the majority of their day rummaging for food around town.
One day Tree-ear stopped to admire the work of the best potter in town, Min. One of Min's creations in particular caught his eye. It was a series of five pots laid seamlessly inside of each other. His curiosity got the best of him, and Tree-ear picked up the ceramic pot. Min came up behind him, and being startled, Tree-ear dropped the pot. Min was furious with the orphan beggar boy. Tree-ear told the man that he would work to pay for the pot. They made a deal that Tree-ear would work for nine days to pay his debt to the potter. Tree-ear was given the difficult tasks of pottery. He was sent up the hill with a handcart to chop down wood to stoke the fire in the kiln. Tree-ear was not used to the hard labor, and his hands got blistered from the ax. The next day was just as hard. At the end of the nine days, Tree-ear asked if he could stay on as Min's apprentice. Min did not like the idea at first but eventually agreed knowing that he was too old to be doing the hard labor.
Tree-ear soon became accustomed to the hard work of his job. He was thrilled when he discovered that, according to Korean tradition, masters of any type of servant had to provide a midday meal for their workers. Tree-ear soon determined to bring his own bowl for the kind wife of the potter to fill that way he could hide half of his meal and present Crane-man with the other half in the evening. Every time he came back to his bowl, though, the bowl was always completely full, so both Crane-man and Tree-ear were able to have a nice dinner. Tree-ear loved the fact that he always had a warm meal to eat, but he also enjoyed the satisfaction that he got from accomplishing the demands of his job. Min was a tough master who expected much from Tree-ear, and Tree-ear soon learned the tricks of the trade.
After working for Min about a year, news came to the town of Ch'ulp'o that the king was sending a servant to pick one of the potters to do commissioned work for the king. It was the dream of all of the potters to be able to work for the king; not only did the king pay more for the work than anybody else could, but it was a great honor to have the one's work displayed in the palace. All of the potters worked feverishly in the weeks leading up to the arrival of the king's emissary.
One night when Tree-ear was working late with Min, he happened upon another potter working in great secrecy. Tree-ear discovered that the potter, Kang, was making a pot in a totally new way using an inlay in the actual pot that he filled with red and white slip. Tree-ear wanted to tell Min about this new innovation, but after seeking the advice of Crane-man, he decided that before a man's idea was given shown to the public, it was considered a personal possession.
Kang's work was displayed for everyone to see when the emissary came to the town. Everyone, including the emissary, was impressed by the work of Kang. The emissary was also impressed by Min's work too. Emissary Kim told Kang that he would commission Kang's work for one year. The emissary told Min that he would love to display Min's work if Min could come up with a way to incorporate the inlay into his work. If Min could, he would have to take the piece to Songdo, the capital city of Korea. Min refused the offer kindly because he knew that he was far too old to make the journey. Later that day, Tree-ear approached Min's wife and asked her if she would ask Min if it would all right if he, Tree-ear made the journey. She agreed as long as he promised her he would return safely and call her Ajima, a form of Auntie.
In the months that followed, Min worked hard to complete his work. Tree-ear approached him one day to ask Min when he was going to teach Tree-ear how to throw pots. Min told Tree-ear that the skill of pottery was to be passed on from father to son, and since Min's son died, he would never pass on the skill to Tree-ear. Frustrated and mad, Tree-ear wanted to take back his offer to go to Songdo, but he knew he couldn't do that. As soon as the pots were ready, Tree-ear packed them carefully up in a basket made by Crane-man and set off with a little food made by Ajima and some coins given to him by Min.
The journey to Songdo went surprisingly well for Tree-ear. In every town that he passed through, a child would inevitably ask him about his journey and invite him home where he would receive a warm meal and rest under the eaves of the homes. Everything was going well until he passed through a city that Crane-man had told him about. He climbed to the top of the cliff where many women had jumped off in order to avoid captivity. While he was imagining that historical moment, he was met by two bandits. They fought to take his basket with what they thought was rice inside. The thieves were upset when they discovered that the basket held nothing more than two pieces of pottery. In anger, one of the robbers threw the pots off the cliff. Tree-ear was devastated. He felt like a complete failure. In one last desperate attempt to save the pot, he looked at the bottom of the cliff to see if, by some miracle, he could preserve the pot. The pots were broken, of course, but he found a good-size shard that had the inlay on it. He gathered what was left of his dignity and brought the shard to the palace to show the emissary. The emissary was surprised by the unorthodox presentation, but he wrote a letter that promised a life-time commission to Min.
Tree-ear was so excited. He went directly to Min's house when he got back. Min was up cutting clay in the mountain when Tree-ear went to find him. Much to Tree-ear's surprise, Min did not appear excited at all to hear the news. Instead he motioned for Tree-ear to sit beside him. Min told Tree-ear that Crane-man had fallen from the bridge and was killed from the shock of the fall and the cold water of the river. Tree-ear was devastated and wished he had never gone on his journey. Ajima insisted that Tree-ear stay with them, but only if he allowed them to call him Hyung-pil, a form of what their son who passed away was called. Tree-ear became a part of their family and even began learning how to throw a pot under the watchful eye of Min.
Recommended Readers:
I think that this would be a great book for any reader because of the values that are found within the book. It would be especially good for students who come from broken homes or who have an interest in other cultures.
Possible Problems:
The only possible problem from this book is that, according to the author, it is not exactly historically accurate. During that time in Korea, people like Tree-ear and Crane-man would not have existed because of the cultures belief that relatives, however distant, should take care of their kin.
Reaction:
This book was a little bit slow, but I still loved it. I loved how Crane-man and Tree-ear showed that money can not buy happiness. They were living in the very meager of conditions, but they still found the simple pleasures of life to make them happy. I also loved the examples of self-less service that were shown in this book. Tree-ear could have eaten all of his meal, but he chose to share it with Crane-man. The potter's wife could have scolded Tree-ear for not eating everything that was prepared for him, but instead, she filled his bowl every day. The ultimate act of self-less service, though, was when Tree-ear embarked on a potentially dangerous and scary journey to serve a man who had openly admitted would never help him become a potter. This book has many great messages.
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