Rumpelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin
Retold by: Paul O Zelinsky
Traditional

When a miller tells the king his daughter can spin straw into gold, the king takes the daughter and locks her in a tower for 3 nights so she can spin straw into cold or she will be executed. When the daughter loses all hope, a dwarf like man, Rumpelstiltskin comes to save the day. He spins straw into gold the first night for her in return for her necklace, the second night in return for her ring, and the third night in return for her first born child. The king was so impressed that he married the miller's daughter and they have a child. When Rumpelstiltskin comes back to claim his price, the queen does not want to give up her child so they make a bet. If the queen can figure out his name in 3 days, she can keep the baby. She had begun to lose hope after failing the first two days, but her messenger sees the dwarf singing in the woods a song that reveals his name. The messenger tells the queen and she guesses it right so she can keep her baby.

This can be used in a lesson about traditional fairy tales and folktales. The students can look through the book and find the common elements of fairy tales. It can also be used for some vocabulary words because there are some tricky words that will be good to look up and learn.

Freedom of the Menu

Freedom of the Menu

By Elizabeth Kennedy
Free Choice

This is a historical fiction story about the Greensboro, North Carolina sit-ins in 1960 from the point of view of an African American girl. It tells the story of the four young black men that were being refused service from Woolworths because of segregation.

This would be a great book to help talk about segregation and the different ways people protested to end segregation. This would be another great book to use with point of view. We see the young African American girl's point of view, but we could ask the students what they think the White man who owned the store's point of view was, etc.

The Headless Mummy

The Headless Mummy
By: David Keane
Free Choice

Joe Sherlock is in the fourth grade and he solves mysteries for $10 a day. His newest mystery is the disappearance of a 4000 year old head from a mummy that disappeared from the local museum. He has to solve the mystery before Mr. Klopper loses his job.

This is a great book to use when studying context clues. Throughout the book there are subtle hints that lead up to the final conclusion of the mystery. You can see if the students can figure it out before the ending and if they can't, they can go back through the book and write down the clues that they missed which would have helped them solve the mystery.

Wanna Buy an Alien?

Wanna Buy an Alien?
By: Even Bunting
Science Fiction

It's Ben's eleventh birthday. Ben gets a birthday present from his friend Jason to ride to the planet Cham with an alien named Iku. In the package it has a letter dated two days later, a picture of Ben with the alien, hot rocks from the planet, and a recording of Ben talking to the alien. He soon learns that the alien is actually a bad alien and Ben's dog saves them from the mean alien.

This could lead into a creative writing activity about a time the student traveled to another planet and their experiences. It could also lead into a discussion about time machines and the student could write a creative story about an experience in a time machine.

The Little Prince

The Little Prince

By: Richard Howard

Science Fiction

A pilot crashes his plane into the Sahara Desert where he meets the Little Prince, who is a visitor from another planet. He is from a planet called B612 which has three volcanoes and a rose along with a few other objects. The Little Prince has been traveling to many different asteroids and planets because he needs advice on how to care for his rose. The pilot then helps teach the Little Prince about love, friendship, responsibility, and beauty.

This is a great book to use with talking about the different perspectives or points of views. You can have the students think what a child's point of view at certain points in the story and how they would differ from an adult's point of view.

Snow In Jerusalem

Snow In Jerusalem

By: Deborah da Costa
Multicultural

Avi and Hamudi are two young boys who both live in Jerusalem. Avi lives in a Jewish community and Hamudi lives in a Muslim community. They are both unknowingly feeding a white stray cat. One day Avi follows the cat and finds that Hamudi is feeding her as well. They start to argue about ownership over the cat but then she runs away. As snow starts to fall in Jerusalem, they find her and she has four kittens, who they argue over too. Then the boys decide "She does not want us to fight.... She wants peace." This is an underlying message about the two religions fighting in Jerusalem. They decide to share the kittens and each boy takes two home.

This would be a great book to use when talking about differences and could lead into a discussion about the fighting in Jerusalem between the Jews and Palestinians. It could also lead into a discussion about accepting differences and that even though you may have a different religion, you could be more similar than you think.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

By: Judy Blume
Free Choice

In this book, Margaret is an 11 year old pre-teen girl who is anxious about growing up. She just wants to fit in but worrying about puberty starts to get to her. Then she moves to New Jersey and starts hanging out with a new friend who then makes her start questioning her religion. She now has to pick a religion and she doesn't know what else to do but talk to God.

This is a great book to use with fifth grade girls because it deals with a lot of body issues and growing up and "becoming a women." It would be a great book to use during the few weeks that they are starting to learn about the process of growing up in health class. It also has to deal with the difficulties of having a different religion than most of your friends. Being accepted is very important for pre-teen girls, so it is important to teach students to accept their peer's differences.

The Jacket

The Jacket

By: Andrew Clements

Multicultural

An African American boy is wrongly accused of stealing a white boys brother's jacket. He later asks his mom why he is prejudice. The small school incident turns into a very meaningful learning experience. He looks back on his life and sees how his thought processes began to form and along the way he makes a new friend.

This book is a great lead into diversity as well as what prejudice is and how hurtful it can be. It can also be used to talk about stereotypes about people's skin tones and how a person is perceived with a certain skin type.

Grandfather's Journey

Grandfather's Journey
By: Allen Say
International Literature

The Greatest of All

The Greatest of All

Retold by: Eric A Kimmel
Folktale

This story is an old Japanese Folktale. Father Mouse lives in the Emperor's Palace and is approached by his daughter. She wants to marry a field mouse but her father thinks she deserves better so he goes on a search to find the Greatest of all the mice for his daughter to marry.

This book would be great for English Language Learners because the pictures are really colorful and depict exactly what is going on, so it allows them to predict what is about to happen next. It also is a great book to introduce ancient Japanese culture.

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs
By: Jon Scieszka
Folk Literature

Everyone has heard the story of the three little pigs, but this is the wolf's side of the story. In this story the wolf explains that it was all a set up and he was framed. He just went over to borrow a cup of sugar from his neighbor for his granny's birthday cake but he had a bad cold so he began to sneeze. It really isn't as bad as it looks, or so he says.

This is a great book to use for teaching point of view by discussing the wolf's point of view. You can also teach comparing and contrasting by using the original Three Little Pigs story and comparing it to this story.

Mirette on the High Wire

Mirette on the Hire Wire

By Emily Arnold McCully
Historical Fiction

Mirette is a young girl who lives in Paris. Her mother owned a boarding house there and many would come to stay. One night, Bellini, a retired high-wire walker came to stay. Mirette would watch him walk a rope every day until finally she told him that she wanted to learn. She asked him if he could teach her but he refused. One day when he was gone, she tried on her own and fell immediately but she didn't give up and kept practicing until she finally succeeded. She showed Mr. Bellini and he was impressed so he taught her. One day, Mirette overheard a man talking about all the great things Bellini use to do so she asked if he could take her with him but he finally confessed why he no longer is a high-wire walker. He is afraid. Mirette is disappointed. At the thought of this, Bellini decides he needs to overcome that fear and Mirette is the person to help him do just that.

Bellini is a real life high-wire walker who did many amazing tricks but even though this book is considered "historical fiction," some of the facts in this book are not correct about him so as a teacher, I could use this book to prove the point of checking two or three sources before believing that something is true. I would also use this book for teaching perseverance because even though Mirette fell many times and was not good when she first started to learn how to walk the hire wire, she never gave up and in the end she became a great high wire walker.

Baby Mouse: Our Hero

Baby Mouse: Our Hero
By Jennifer Holm & Matthew Holm
Graphic Novel

For Babymouse, school is a constant struggle everyday between good the good kids and the bad kids. Just when things were looking up and she thought nothing could go wrong anymore, it's time for the annual dodge ball tournament. Babymouse becomes very afraid and thinks that Felicia will win but she gets up enough courage and becomes the hero of the day by getting Felicia out and winning the tournament.

I could use this in the classroom to teach about the character trait perseverance because even when Babymouse was scared of the tournament, she didn't want to give up and not win. I could also use it to help teach about story boarding and comic strips which are activities I can do with other books.

The Giver

The Giver

By Lois Lowry
Science Fiction

Jonas, a twelve year old boy, lives in a utopia where everyone has a place in the world by which talents and interests. Any "flawed" people who are in this society are exiled. Jonas's job is the Receiver of Memory. He gets all the memories of the community, past and present, good or bad, which makes him realize how boring and bland his community really is so he decides he wants to change her. The Giver and Jonas plan for Jonas to escape enter Elsewhere. Once he escapes, his larger supply of memories will disperse, and the Giver will help the community accept the new feelings and thoughts, changing their society forever.

This book can be used to talk about diversity and how boring the world would be if everyone was the same. It will help the students to embrace and celebrate diversity instead of frown upon it. I can also use it to discuss mood. Each memory provokes a different mood and being able to determine what type of mood it is is required for the EOGs.

Dear Mr. Henshaw

Dear Mr. Henshaw

By: Beverly Cleary
Realistic Fiction

This book is about a little boy who is struggling with his life at home and at school. His teacher requires each student to write to their favorite author and Leigh Botts writes to Mr. Henshaw but then becomes pen pals with him. It comforts Leigh to have someone to talk to and vent.

I used technology to record a book talk with a few students who really enjoyed this book.

Beegu

Beegu
By: Alexis Deacon
Free choice

Beegu is from another planet but her spaceship crashes on Earth. The lost alien starts to look for some friends but all the adults turn her away. Then she finds a park and starts to play with the little children who become her friends. Her parents finally arrive to rescue her and she tells them all about the small creatures who were friendly and full of hope.

This would be a good book to talk about friendship and acceptance. It is also another good book to use with creative writing. The students could write about what they think they would experience if they landed on a foreign planet and how the other creatures on that planet would treat them.

Dancing with Manatees

Dancing With Manatees

By Faith McNulty
Nonfiction

This is a true story about Faith, the author, and her dive to go see the endangered manatees along the coast of Florida. She talks to a biologist, Woody, about the manatees' life and how they mature. She also talks to him about why they are endangered and the problems the manatees' face due to humans.

This book would be a good one to use to talk about animal life cycles since it talks about manatees from birth to when they mate. It would also be a good book to use to talk about endangered animals and what us as humans can do to help prevent the population of endangered species to continually decline.

A Mother's Journey

A Mother's Journey

by Sandra Markle
Nonfiction

This story follows a mother penguin as she lays her egg and then leaves her mate to tend it while she joins the other females as they travel for five days in search of food. She swims for days collecting fish and watching for out for dangers such as seals and hunters. The mother penguin returns home to her mate just in time for the egg's hatching.

When talking about penguins, this would be a good book to use because it shows the different roles in the community of the penguins. It also talks about the dangers that the penguins have to face such as humans and seals so you could talk about a food chain since seals eat penguins.

Everyone Has a Bellybutton

Everyone Has a Bellybutton
by Laurence Pringle
Nonfiction

Everyone has a bellybutton, but how come? This book explains how everyone starts off as a cell in their mothers womb and develops into a baby. It describes each different stage of development and uses the proper scientific terms. Then the scientific terms are described so the students are able to understand them. It all comes back to why we each have a bellybutton and the beautiful gift our mother and father gave us: life.

In 5th grade, students learn all about the reproductive system. This book will not help explain exactly where babies come from, but it does explain the development after the baby is born. It explains what happens through each stage of development and how you are born, which then explains why everyone has a bellybutton.

The Talented Clementine

The Talented Clementine
by Sara Pennypacker
Realistic Fiction

Clementine is a third grader who is not all together. The teacher announces that the third and fourth graders will be putting on a talent show. Clementine panices because she doesn't have a talent. She can't sing or dance or play an instrument, so she opts not to participate in the show. But on the day of the show, the teacher running it suddenly has to leave to attend to her daughter who is having a baby. So what will they do? Clementine steps in to be the assistant of the show, which becomes her talent for the night.

I would use this to teach that everybody has a talent, some just have to try a little harder to find it. It also teaches diversity and celebrating the different talents of all students. It can also be used in a Literature Circle setting for some of the higher readers in a class of third graders or a lower level of readers in fifth grade. It is a good book to generate discussion and practice comprehension.