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.