The Discovery of America

The Discovery of America

by Geronimo Stilton

[Graphic Novel]

Geronimo Stilton is a mouse who lives with his family on Mouse Island in New Mouse City. He is also the editor of the newspaper in New Mouse City. The Pirate Cats are Geronimo's enemies, as they are trying to travel back to 1492 to take over Christopher Columbus' ship and stop it from discovering America so that they could discover it first. Professor Volt realizes what the Pirate Cats are trying to do and asks Geronimo to help stop them. This story takes you through Geronimo's adventure to stop the Pirate Cats, while providing information about Christopher Columbus' voyage, what life was like then, and the discovery of America.

This graphic novel would be perfect to use in an upper grades social studies lesson. While it is a fun read, it provides students with important knowledge about the discovery of their country. Students could read the story in accordance with their study of Christopher Columbus and compare the information they learn in class to the information presented in the story by using a venn diagram.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
by Roald Dahl
[Modern Fantasy/Science Fiction]

Mr. Willy Wonka owns the best chocolate factory in the world. He decides that five children and their parents will get to come to the factory, so he puts gold tickets in five candy bars and whoever gets those candy bars are the winners. The first four tickets went to children who each have detrimental character flaws. The fifth ticket went to Charlie Bucket. Charlie comes from a poor family who lives in a small house with his parents and all four of his grandparents. Charlie's family is very unfortunate and barely makes it. Charlie did not find his golden ticket until the day before the children were supposed to go to the factory. Charlies parents cannot accompany him because his mother has to care for his grandparents and his father has to work to make money for the family. When Charlie finds this ticket, one of his grandfathers gets a second wind and becomes happy and energetic. Grandpa Joe decides that he will go with Charlie to the factory. Out of the five children selected to go to the factory, all but Charlie get kicked out of the factory because of their flaws. When Charlie is the only child left in the factory, Willy Wonka congratulates him. It turns out that their trip to the factory was actually a contest, and the winner gets the whole factory. Grandpa Joe, Charlie, and Willy Wonka get in a glass elevator which charges through the roof and lands back at Charlie's house to get the rest of the family and take them back to the factory.

This story is great to incorporate with a character education lesson. It teaches students the importance of having good character, and that those who do will be rewarded. After reading this story, I would have children think of a time when they've shown good character and been rewarded for it OR a time when they have not shown good character and it has given them consequences. I would then have children write a paragraph about this event, followed by a paragraph about the importance of showing good character and what they think might have happened if they had shown better character in the event they are writing about.

A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time

by Madeleine L'Engle

[Modern Fantasy/Science Fiction]

On the night of a big storm, Meg Murry is not able to sleep, and goes downstairs to find her mother and Charles Wallace are awake as well. They hear a commotion outside on their porch, and come to find that it is Mrs. Whatsit, who is known as the neighborhood tramp. She doesn't stay for long, simply saying "there is such thing as a tesseract" before disappearing out the door. A tesseract is a wrinkle in time. The next afternoon, the children and their friend Calvin go to Mrs. Whatsit's house. While there, they are told that the universe is threatened by the "dark thing" and is turning into a cloud with stars around it. Mrs. Whatsit says that it has happened to many planets, including the one that their kidnapped father is on. The children want to go look for their father, so Mrs. Whatsit and her friends let them.Everything on the planet looks the same, because everything has to conform to IT, which is a huge disembodied brain. Charles Wallace tries to fight IT but loses, and turns into a robot under the control of IT. Charles Wallace is able to lead Calvin and Meg to their father while he is under the control of IT. Together, the three escape through a tesseract to a different planet. Charles Wallace is stuck on the planet with IT. When they arrive on the other planet, Mrs. Whatsit and her friends are there as well. Meg realizes that she needs to go back and rescue Charles Wallace, but she must travel by herself. She is toldthat she has something that IT does not have, but she must figure out what it is. If she does, she will be able to defeat him. When Meg gets back to the planet to rescue Charles Wallace and is in the presence of it, she realizes that her weapon is the ability to love. She uses this ability to love to restore Charles Wallace to his normal form and travel with him through the tesseract. They land on Earth, where their father and Calvin are waiting for them. The family is back together and they are overjoyed. As Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which are traveling through the tesseracts, they stop by to see the family together again.

This story is great to use with 4th and 5th graders. It is imaginative and differents, and keeps the reader fully engaged. A class could read the book chapter by chapter with discussion after each reading to ensure understanding. As a follow-up project after we finish the book, I would have students create a diaramma of a scene in the movie. On the outside of the diaramma they would include a summary, list of character descriptions, and a description of the scene in the diaramma. I think this would be a great way to go back after reading and double check that students comprehended the story.

The Boxcar Children (#1)

The Boxcar Children (#1)

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

[Realistic Fiction]

[Chapter Book]

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny are orphan siblings whose parents are dead. They have a grandfather, but do not think that they like him and claim that the feeling is mutual. They have nowhere to live, but the children are determined to survive on their own. After a few nights of sleeping in random places outside Jessie found an old red boxcar in the woods, and they thought it was the perfect place for them to stay, at least for the time being. Shortly after they found the boxcar, they found a wounded dog in the woods, and decided to keep it as their own. They named the dog "watch" because he was their "watchdog." The children made the boxcar into their home by searching through dumpsters for things to use as dished and other household necessities. They were happy and proud. Henry went into a nearby town and found a family to work for so that he could earn some money. He became very close with Dr. Moore and his family. Dr. Moore saw an ad in the paper for lost children, and knew that the four siblings were the ones they were looking for. The ad was written by their grandfather and offered a $5,000 reward, but Dr. Moore did not turn them in. One day, Violet became very sick and the children had to go to Dr. Moore's house for the night so that she could be taken vare of. While they were there, the children's grandfather came to Dr. Moore's house looking for his grandchildren. The kids got to know him without realizing it was their grandfather, and seemed to love him. He loved them too. When Violet got well, the children moved in with their grandfather. He lived in a beautiful, luxurious house, but the children missed their boxcar and their grandfather kenw it. One day he surprised them by moving the boxcar onto his property, and the children were overjoyed. They promised their grandfather that they would never leave him, and all was well.

This story would be good to implement in the upper grades because it is a beginning level chapter book. The book could be incorporated with a literacy lesson where the class would sequence events from the story in a big flow map on the board. The teacher would then erase a few of the events, and have children rewrite the story with their own events in place. This would give them practice in both reading and writing, and would also be a good book to read to practice reading comprehension.

www.animoto.com/play/WgGLwhPMGZmtlJm12uKUgQ#

Animoto created about The Boxcar Children containing images pertinent to characters or events in the story.

Sacajawea

Sacajawea
by Elaine Raphael and Don Bolognese
[Historical Fiction]

**Note: this picture does not display the actual book that I read. I could not find a picture of the version that I used.**

Sacajawea is awakened by her brother, Cameahwait with a new pony. She excitedly jumps on the pony to see how fast it can go, and her brother joins her on his pony. Sacajawea and her brother are part of the Shoshoni Indian tribe. Sacajawea's father is the Chief of the tribe. In the winter the Shoshoni people lived on a high plateau, but in the spring they left to hunt for buffalo because meat became scarce. When they finally found a herd of buffalo, the Chief sent all of the men to hunt for them. Cameahwait had to leave, telling Sacajawea that he would bring her back many buffalo. While the men were gone, the camp got raided. Sacajawea was kidnapped by a raider, and never saw her parents again. She became a slave to the Minnetaree raider who she was kidnapped by. After three years, she was sold to a French-Canadian fur traider who lived with the Minnetaree. When Sacajawea was thirteen, she became married to Toussaint Charbonneau. In 1804, captains Lewis and Clark were going on an exploration and needed someone who could talk to the Shoshoni people, so they hired Sacajawea and her husband. Sacajawea was very happy, and they set off to the land of the Shoshoni people with their baby in hand. After a long journey, Sacajawea saw her people and sang their greeting song with pride. Sacajawea was overjoyed when she saw her brother, who she thought she would never see again. After just a few days, they had to part. She folded her hands across her chest and looked at her brother, which was the sign of love. Sacajawea rode off with much courage and optimism, determined to see the ocean.

This story would be great to use along with a social studies lesson. The class would do a read-aloud of the book, and have a short dicussion afterwards to summarize the book. Students would then get in groups, and each group would have a copy of the book. Each group will go through the book and pick out events, people, places, etc. that they think are an important topic of history that could be further researched, such as: Sacajawea, Shoshoni Indians, Minnetaree Raiders, Lewis and Clark, etc. The class would come together and compile a class-wide list, and each group will pick a different topic to research. They will then make powerpoint presentations on their topic and present it to the class.

The Chocolate Touch

The Chocolate Touch

by Patrick Skene Catling

[Fiction]

John Midas is a greedy young boy who LOVES chocolate. The doctor tells John he must stop eating chocolate, and his parents make him do so. John is not happy, and is determined to find a way that he can sneakily eat chocolate. One day, John finds a coin on the sidewalk. On one side of the coin is a picture of a fat boy, and on the other side is his initials. John comes across a candy store that he had never seen before. The owner seemed to know John's name, and the only type of money that the store took was the coin that John had found. With the coin, John bought a box of chocolates. That night, John opens the box to find only one piece of chocolate inside. John ate the chocolate, which he thought tasted funny. The next morning, John realizes that anything he touches turns into chocolate. John is overjoyed, but not for long. Soon John starts to feel sick, thirsty, and hungry for real food. John's chocolte touch turns his mouth into a trumpet of chocolate, and when John participates in a game of apple bobbing all of the children become covered in chocolate syrup. When John kissed his mother one night, she turns into a chocolate statue. When John comes to his senses and starts to feel guilty, he finds the candy store owner to try and change things back. The owner tells John that the coin is given to greedy people, and if he is truly sorry for and reluctant about his greed, it can be taken away and everything will return to normal. Once John is back to normal, he is grateful for the candy shop owner and the lesson he learned, so he runs back to the shop to thank him. When he arrives to the location of the candy shop, he finds only an empty lot.

This story is good for upper grades to teach a character education lesson about greediness. Students will read the book and have a class discussion about the importance of not being greedy, and remaining mindful of others. Students will be asked to think of a time when they may have been greedy, and imagine how they would feel if they had an extreme consequence like John did. At the end of the lesson, students will write a short paragraph on the importance of not being greedy.

The Magic Finger

The Magic Finger
by Roald Dahl
[Fantasy]

This story is told from the perspective of an eight-year-old girl who lives next door to the Gregg Family. The Gregg Family loves to hunt ducks, but the girls next door is less than amused by hunting and by the Gregg Family. The girl has a magic finger which punishes people when she points at them, but she has no control over this finger or when it is used. One day, she becomes so annoyed with the Gregg Family shooting ducks that she points her magic finger at them. The Gregg's wake up the next morning as tiny duck people with wings as arms, and there are four large ducks with arms instead of wings who have taken over their house. The Greggs must leave their house and build a nest in their yard to sleep in. When they wake up, they see the four large ducks standing under their nest with the Gregg's guns in hand. The ducks threaten to shoot them, since they seem to enjoy shooting ducks so much. The Gregg's promised the ducks that they would not shoot them anymore, so they are turned back into humans. The next day, the girl sees the Gregg's destroying their guns and making graves for the ducks that they have killed. The Gregg's have changed their name to Egg. Although the girls thinks it went a little too far, she is pleased. She then hears a gun shot from the Gregg's other neighbors, the Coopers. This made the girl furious, so she set off to change them into ducks and make them sleep in a nest for the night.

This is a good book to incorporate in upper grade literacy. It is good reading practice and is a funny, imaginative story. Students could read this book and discuss the literary components within. They could then write a summary about it and put the summary into wordle.