Tag Archive for literacy skills

The Day My Father Became a Bush

Written by Joke van Leeuwen

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In this completely offbeat novel, the reader has a chance to learn about all the concerns of refugees. The author is able to give subject a light touch by showing the world through the eyes of a child. Children don’t look at war the same way an adult would.

Toda lives with her father and grandmother on one side of the border. Her mother lives on the other side of the border. As her father prepares to go to war, Toda learns with him about the various ways a soldier can use the landscape as camouflage – thus the title. Her father plans to become a bush and protect himself from the fighting. The fighting closes in on their home, so, for her protection, Toda is sent to live with her mother. But the journey is anything but easy. The bus she’s on makes unexpected stops. People try to adopt her. People helping her get captured. She loses her mother’s street address. But Toda maintains her good humor and realistic view of the world throughout.

The frequent drawings, allegedly by Toda, are whimsical and sometimes reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut.  “There was a picture in the book of a soldier who had disguised himself as a bush.” Literacy skills are reinforced by the language barrier created by the border and various other reasons Toda must think about what people really mean. Fourth graders and older readers will cheer for Toda and wish her well.

  • Father Became a BushTITLE: The Day My Father Became a Bush
  • AUTHOR: Joke van Leeuwen
  • PUBLISHER: Gecko Press, 2014
  • REVIEWER: Sue Poduska
  • ISBN: 9781877579486
  • FORMAT: Hard cover, 104 pages
  • GENRE: Contemporary Fiction, War, Refugees
  • USA PUBLICATION DATE: April 1, 2014

Out of My Mind

Written by Sharon M. Draper

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Melody is incredibly smart, but no one knows it. She’s locked inside her brilliant mind because she has cerebral palsy. She can’t talk or walk. She attends special education classes at school. Her mother and her neighbor always knew there was more going on in there than met the eye. Eventually, she finds a teacher who tries to help her and an aide who knows what she needs. They find an electronic device that allows Melody to show what has been going on in her head for the past eleven years. One of the first statements she programs into her machine is, “We all have disabilities. What’s yours?” She reserves this for particularly confrontational people. She enters an academic competition and shines, in spite of all the missteps and issues surrounding it.

Draper does an incredible job of getting inside Melody’s mind. People, even the people who know her well, often speak over Melody like she isn’t even there. Melody always points this out to the reader. Thus, the author shows how important it is to treat everyone with the same consideration and respect the reader would expect. Life is never easy for Melody, but she able to do what she can do.

This is an excellent resource to teach fourth grade readers about the spectrum of abilities and disabilities without being preachy. Melody loves words, so this is a great resource for increasing comprehension and literacy skills.

The author’s website, http://www.sharondraper.com offers an excellent study guide, complete with reading activities.

  • Out of My MindTITLE: Out of My Mind
  • AUTHOR: Sharon M. Draper
  • PUBLISHER: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2010
  • REVIEWER: Sue Poduska
  • ISBN: 978-1-4169-7170-2
  • FORMAT: Hard cover, 295 pages
  • GENRE: Contemporary Fiction, Physical disability

I Am Harriet Tubman

Written by Grace Norwich
Illustrated by Ute Simon

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This new addition to the “I Am” biography series allows middle grade readers to discover who Harriet Tubman was on their own. It is filled with realistic pencil drawings, maps, graphs and data boxes telling students about Harriet’s tips for survival, her fights for women’s rights and other helpful information about the times.

The format of this biography works well for educators involved with the common core. Students can find the meaning for words in the glossary, use the index when writing their own reports and check the websites included for further information. It is a quality non-fiction book written in an accessible narrative fashion that students will enjoy reading. They will find themselves deeply imbedded in the story and looking over their shoulders to see if they are being followed.

Teachers or librarians can use this book for read aloud time to introduce students in grade three or grade four to the genre of biography. Literacy skills strengthened include: reading for information, reading an index, using a glossary, reading maps and using picture clues to enhance comprehension.

  • Harriett TubmanTitle: I Am Harriet Tubman
  • Author: Grace Norwich
  • Illustrator: Ute Simon
  • Publisher: Scholastic, 2013
  • Reviewer: Elizabeth Swartz
  • Format: Paperback, 127 pages
  • ISBN:  978-0-545-48436-7
  • Genre: Nonfiction, Biography

Year of the Jungle: Memories from the Home Front

Written by Suzanne Collins
Illustrated by James Proimos

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Suzanne Collins knows of what she writes in this story of a little girl whose beloved Daddy is sent away to war for a whole year. It happened to her in 1968 when he was sent to Vietnam.

James Proimos’ illustrations show the wonder and confusion of a small girl and her understanding of the war. All she knows is that daddy is going to a jungle and it is okay because she knows jungles from cartoons. At night she dreams of flying to the jungle with her cat to see daddy.

But how long is a year, really? For a child, it lasts forever. All the holidays come and go, but still daddy is not back. He sends postcards, sometimes. Then he sends a birthday card to the wrong child. The main character begins to understand how bad things must be at a war for a daddy to make such a huge mistake as getting the kids’ birthdays mixed up.

Suzanne shows clearly how the words a neighbor or news broadcaster say can change the child’s view of circumstances. The child becomes scared only when told to by what others around her say and do even when all of Daddy’s post cards are desperately trying to keep her days normal. When he comes home and she is still afraid, he tells that most soldiers do come home and Mommy is always with her. Her cat is a wonderfully stabilizing presence in the book and gives daddy a safe thing to write to her about.

While this is supposedly a storybook for four year olds and older, it is also a story for grown- ups. It will help them to relate to children in clear and helpful ways. Maybe it is mostly for grown-ups to share with children who have a parent, grandparent or other close friend off at war.

The most beautiful line in the book is on the first page and repeated on the last. It also exemplifies the main character. “Even though he always feels afraid, he is really the bravest of all. And that’s what makes him special.”

An important literacy skill that this book would help teach is the difference between reality and fantasy. How is a real jungle different from a cartoon jungle?

It also illustrates the passage of time by using symbols of holidays. “Shamrocks, but no postcards. Colored eggs, no postcards.” Students could think of other symbols that represent particular times of the year.  Also, the picture clues in this story are very relevant. Proimos uses the cat illustrations to help delineate the sizes of souvenirs that daddy sends. How big is the doll? Well, in the picture she stands eye to eye with the cat.

The book could be used by middle school teachers and librarians as an introduction or example of writing an autobiography based on an early memory.

This is a very moving and important book on many levels all about waiting and wondering and being okay.

  • Year of the JungleTitle: Year of the Jungle: Memories from the Home Front
  • Author:  Suzanne Collins
  • Illustrator: James Proimos
  • Publisher: New York: Scholastic Press, 2013
  • Reviewer: Elizabeth Swartz
  • Format: Hardcover, 40 pages
  • ISBN:  978-0-545-42516-2
  • Genre: realistic fiction/ autobiographical fiction/war fiction

The Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot

Written by Caroline Carlson
Illustrated by Dave Phillips

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This first book of a new series about pirates is absolutely charming. While the pirates consider themselves very seriously they are far from fearsome.

The story has everything a good pirate tale is expected to contain: grog, swords, treasures, ships, peg legs and eye patches. It even has more than normal with the inclusion of magic, a boarding school and a girl who will only ever and always become a pirate.

Fourth grade readers, fifth grade readers and beyond will enjoy reading this independently while third graders will enjoy hearing it as a read aloud. Many literacy skills can be reinforced in large or small group settings while reading this book, including but not limited to: cause and effect, inference, following clues, use of humor and letter writing skills.

For a more informal enjoyable experience, it would be a great book club choice for friends to share and discuss.

Interspersed in the story are letters of surprising formality and comic use of everyday phrases between pirates, the head mistress of a girls’ finishing school and the main character. There are also supposed clips from the Pirates Guide Book, local newspapers and want ads.

It is a completely enjoyable book. Readers will be looking for the sequel even before they finish this one.

  • Magic Marks the SpotTitle:  The Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot
  • Author: Caroline Carlson
  • Illustrator: Dave Phillips
  • Publisher: Harper, 2013
  • Reviewer: Elizabeth Swartz
  • Format: Hardcover/344 pgs.
  • ISBN:  978-0-06-219434-3
  • Genre: Fantasy
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