What it’s About: This book was outstanding. It is based on true events during WWII, where a girl is taken from her family in Czechoslovakia because of her ideal Aryan blond hair and blue eyes. The book gives a unique perspective of the brainwashing that took place, and how not only the Jews were stripped of their identity.
My Review: I think you get a better appreciation for the book if you have plenty of background knowledge on WWII and the Holocaust. The book is beautifully written and well-researched. An excellent addition to historical children’s literature.
Classroom Possibilities: I think this book would be an excellent addition to a school unit on WWII and the Holocaust. I can see it paired with books like “Diary of Anne Frank” and “Number the Stars” to present to students many different perspectives on courage and identity.
What it’s about: A simple country boy named Widge sees nothing but a life of servitude ahead of him. When he is apprenticed to a man who teaches him to read and write, Widge is then given a mission to steal a copy of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and the real plot begins. Widge finds friendship and family when he becomes an apprentice to the Lord Chamberlain’s Men at the Globe, but his very survival is in danger if he does not obey his master and steal the script Hamlet. Will he betray his new friends? Will he never feel free to make his own choices?
My review: The book started off slow. I don’t see it being a good book for reluctant readers. But once Widge becomes an apprentice at the Globe and his moral dilemma develops, the plot was well-paced. I liked seeing Widge develop as a character and I liked how the author portrayed the actors of the Globe as a family that stood up for each other. Very predictable at times, but this book gave a unique teen perspective on Shakespearean London.
Classroom possibilities: I would definitely recommend it as optional outside reading during the 8th grade unit on Romeo and Juliet. The book would definitely help students get a better picture of Shakespeare’s time period. Plus, all English teachers would appreciate the book’s message of plagiarism being wrong and illegal!
If you haven’t tried the computer program Comic Life in your classroom, you’re missing out!
One thing I did recently was make unit preview pages to get my students excited about upcoming units. I haven’t decided if I will print them in color and post them, or if I’ll give them out as hand-outs, but I’m pretty excited about how they turned out.
There is one page on the Mystery and Suspense unit, one page on the Circle of Stories unit, and a page on the Mythology unit.
I’m excited to make comic previews for 8th grade English as well. These will feature our epic unit on The Odyssey, the science fiction unit, and the tragedy unit on Romeo and Juliet.
Check out what I created by clicking the link below!
If you’ve got students who love Greek mythology, you must recommend this book series! The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is the first in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. You may have seen the movie preview before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
What it’s About: Percy Jackson, your protagonist, discovers he is half-god and that is the reason trouble seems to follow him everywhere. His dyslexia and ADHD are also not human handicaps but a result of his godly blood. Percy ultimately must go on a quest to avert a war between the most powerful gods on Olympus.
My Review: This book has strong boy appeal as it is filled with monsters and battles with a side dose of humor. This book was exceptionally clever, delightfully funny, and a fantastic way to expose students to the fantastic culture of Ancient Greece. While the series isn’t as masterfully woven as Rowling’s Harry Potter, the books will thrill young readers and provide an exciting read.
Classroom Possibilities: I don’t know if I would study this book in school as it is more for fun, but I will definitely be recommending it as outside reading during my 7th grade unit on Mythology!
I highly recommend the first book in the Percy Jackson series, and I’m off to buy the next!
I really loved this book! It’s not great literature, but a very enjoyable read!
What it’s About:Schooled by Gordan Korman is about a homeschooled hippie child named Capricorn Anderson who is all of a sudden thrown into the real world. From not knowing how a locker works to wearing shoes made of corn husks, the student reader will instantly identify Cap as a kid who is going to have a rough middle school experience.
My Review: Each chapter is told from a different character’s point-of-view, and the author did an excellent job of developing the voice of each character in his cast. Every event and character had a purpose in the plot, and the story moved along at a great pace. This was such a feel good story! Lots of memorable moments with realistic characters and emotions. I liked how they tied up the ending even if it was a tad predictable.
Classroom Possibilities: I could see this book being a great read for 6th graders who feel out of place as they enter middle school, but anyone would enjoy this book. This would also be a excellent book to teach about point-of-view.
This is one of the 2009-10 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan nominees, which I’m pre-reading before my students read them. I expect this one to be one of their favorites! If you want to check out Maryland’s full list of Black-Eyed Susan nominees go to the link below:
What it’s About: This book is one of the 2009-2010 Black-Eyed Susan nominees for students in grade 9-12. I wouldn’t call it a light read. Very serious subject matter and there is one very disturbing chapter.
The book’s premise is that instead of abortion, children can be “unwound” between the ages of 13-18 if they have not proved themselves useful to society. Unwinding means surgically cutting the teens up into “parts” which are then used like organ donations–every part of each teen is used. (Disturbing chapter mentioned earlier–imagine a kid being conscious during this operation where they are cut up into parts. Yeah. Pretty disturbing.)
My review: This was the kind of book that makes you think. You rooted for the characters and kept turning pages to find out if they’d make it to the end without getting “unwound.” I think it’s pretty mature subject matter for middle schoolers, but would be more appropriate for high school aged kids. However, it was definitely an original sci-fi concept and I haven’t read anything like it.
Classroom Possibilities: I’d have a hard time recommending this book because of the subject matter, and I can’t see it being taught in schools. But it was unquestionably an interesting read.
My favorite assignment each year was inspired by the 80s movie Say Anything. In this movie, Lloyd Dobbler falls in love with a girl, and in one scene, he stands outside her window holding his boombox in the air playing a song for her. This scene reminded me of the “Balcony Scene” in Romeo and Juliet and I couldn’t help but wonder what song Romeo would play for Juliet if he wanted to win her heart.
For the assignment, I give students about one week to bring in lyrics to a song they think Romeo would sing to Juliet. I typically assign this right after we’ve finished Act 2 Scene 2 (the balcony scene). I’ve done this assignment for three years now (because I came up with it while student teaching), and each year the students are excited as soon as I give it. Even the boys!
If students don’t listen to “love songs” on a regular basis, I tell them to pay attention to what is currently on the radio, or to talk to their parents about love songs they like. With so many song lyric websites on the internet, it is very easy for students to find any song and click print.
The day before the song lyrics are due, I model the writing assignment they will be using the lyrics for. Essentially, the assignment is a persuasive writing piece with an emphasis on using quotations and connecting quotations to events from the story. Before looking at the model writing responses, I play two songs for them that I think Romeo would play for Juliet. I purposely pick songs that are obscure or not currently popular so as to not take away from their own options. I typically play the songs “Love You Madly” by Cake and “Beautiful Stranger” by Madonna. These songs are the ones I write about in the model responses.
After playing the songs, I show them one excellent writing response where I point out all the things that were done well. Then, I show them a poor writing response, and I have them revise it. The modeling and revision process increases the quality of their writing the following day, and many students will even ask to see the well-done model response the following day as a guide while they are writing.
Students are required to explain why Romeo should play their song in order to win Juliet’s heart. To do this, they must use at least three quotes from their song lyrics, and then explain how each quote relates to Romeo and Juliet’s relationship.
Success Factor: The enthusiasm for this assignment and the quality of the student’s final products always makes this assignment one of my favorite of the whole year. I’ve heard of similar assignments where students make a soundtrack for a book/story. However, I love how this assignment incorporates using quotations to persuade. I also love that this assignment provides a great opportunity for individuality, and I never get bored reading these because the song choices are diverse and fascinating.
As a pre-reading strategy, I always introduce new vocabulary. My favorite way to do this is with a PowerPoint presentation with lots of color images. I first began doing this when I taught the story “Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe.
I knew the students wouldn’t be familiar with the words cask, amontillado, carnival, and catacombs. First, I googled images of each. (The catacombs were particularly fun to find and I ended up using several pictures instead of just one.) I prepared PowerPoint slides with just the images (no definitions yet). When I showed the slides to each class. I had them guess what they thought each was based on the picture. For example, “If these pictures all show catacombs, what do you think a catacomb is?” After they shared their predicted definitions, I gave them the actual definitions to copy down.
Success Factor: I did this lesson in October. By the end of the year, students could still tell me what a catacomb was!
Method in Brief: Create PowerPoint presentations with large color images of vocab. Have students predict word definitions based on the images before giving them the textbook definition.
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Book Reviews | Tagged: hardship, historical fiction, Holocaust, identity, Nazi Germany, World War II | 
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