"Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad"

This book is about a boy named Ali from Baghdad.  He loves calligraphy and describes writing in an eloquent way.  He describes what it is like to write certain words and names.  His hero is Yakut, the most famous calligrapher in the world.  Yakut went to a high tower in the year 1258 when Mongols attacked Baghdad.  Ali wrote all over his room one night in 2003 when there was death and destruction just as Yakut did.  He describes the easy process of writing the word war and the difficult process of writing peace. 

I would have the students write a personal narrative after reading this about something they love doing, yet presents difficulties for them at times.

"June 29, 1999"

This science-fiction book is about a girl named Holly Evans who launches vegetable seedlings into the sky on May 11, 1999.  One June 29, Robert Bernabe, a hiker, discovers gigantic turnips.  Other vegetables fall from the sky in many other states as well.  Holly is confused.  She didn't plant the vegetables that are falling from the sky.  In a place completely elsewhere, another species has just caused the entire food supply from the starcruiser  he is touring on to fall towards Earth.  The fascinating part- he receives Holly's seedlings the same day as the huge vegetables fall from the sky.  I would use this book to teach students about alliteration and have them come up with a vegetable that starts with the same letter as a verb, then a state they choose to go after it.  For example, peppers plunge towards Pennsylvania.

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3247669/Untitled

"The Whipping Boy"

http://ccsomody.glogster.com/glog-7285/

The Whipping Boy is about a prince who people call "Prince Brat" behind his back.  The prince is always playing pranks for which his whipping boy has to pay the price by getting whipped.  However, much to the prince's agitation he never yells out in pain when he is getting whipped. One night, the prince convinces the whipping boy to come with him to run away.  The whipping boy doesn't want to go, because he is afraid of getting punished.  The prince is determined to go, though, because he is "bored."  Jemmy and the prince get caught by two villains who want to demand a ransom from the King.  They become convinced that Jemmy is the real prince, not Horace.  This is due to his ability to write.  Jemmy's plan is to help Prince Brat return, but the prince doesn't want to.  The two boys end up fleeing from the villains and along the way they meet a coach and a girl with a talented bear.  They are in great danger, though, because they are being pursued by the villains and the whipping boy has been falsely accused of a scheme involving the prince.  The prince ends up placing his trust in Jemmy and Jemmy does the same with the prince.  They return home and Jemmy does not receive a punishment.  I would ask students to predict what this book is about and do a read-aloud with it. In the situations before Horace betrays Jemmy and before he shows true loyalty and friendship, I would ask the students to predict which of the two it will be.  I would also ask them to infer why the prince doesn't want to return.  I also think this would be a great book to use for a book report.

"It Goes Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

This book is science fiction.  It is about a group of second graders in Mrs. Zookey's class named Patrick, Ben, Richard, Dawn Marie, and Linda.  Ben and Richard are good friends who think that Patrick is a troublemaker.  He leads them to believe that the bat they find in the grass is after them and will turn them into vampires.  Patrick causes more trouble when he breaks a pot holding Jack's Beanstalk with his squirt gun during Yummies and Yuckies.  Dawn Marie becomes Patrick's friend, though and they end up doing their Endangered Species project together about bats.  Dawn Marie has bats in her shed, which she shows to her friends.  Linda doesn't like bats. Patrick and Dawn Marie have brought a bat house that Dawn Marie's father helped them make that they plan on hanging in Dawn Marie's yard.  I would ask the students to act out one of the situations or conversations in the book with a few of their classmates.

Daniel Boone

This is a biography about Daniel Boone. I could have students make a time line based on the events in this book.  This book gives information about Boone's childhood and his adult life.  He was a hunter and explorer.  Some places he explored were Florida and  Kentucky.  The Shawnee were a group of Native Americans who were angry that settlers were moving into their territory.  At one point, the leader of the Shawnee adopted Daniel after he was kidnapped.  He escaped. though and reunited with his wife. He stayed in Missouri with his family until they died.  Informative sentences accompany pictures.
I would do a book pass activity with  the students using legends based on Daniel Boone.  I would have them fill out a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting literary characteristics of this book with the books used for the book pass.

"Marie Curie: A Brilliant Life"

This biography describes aspects of Marie Curie's personal life, like her family as well as her education, achievements and awards, and setbacks.  It provides photographs and talks about her discovery of radium.  Her and her husband Pierre, along with Henri Becquerel win the Nobel Prize for physics.  The cause of Pierre's death is explained and the unit of measurement for amounts of radiation is termed the curie."  Marie won a second Nobel Prize in chemistry.  She taught women how to use X-ray equipment during World War I.  I would have students talk about who they thought had the biggest impact on Marie's life.

"Cinderella"

This book is a graphic novel. The main character loses her mother and her father remarries. The two stepsisters which Ella inherits along with a new stepmother, are cruel and order her around. They call her Cinderella. The father goes to the city and before leaving, he asks what he should bring home for his daughters. The evil step sisters ask for dresses and jewels, but Ella asks for the first twig that knocks against her father's hat on the way home. She later plants the twig on her mother's grave and the tears she cries water it. The twin turns into a tree and many birds live in it. Ella wants to go to a ball held in the prince's honor and Ella is told by her stepmother that if she can pick all of the seeds out of the ashes, then she may go. The birds help her, but she still isn't allowed to go. Her godmother asks her to find a pumpkin and turns it into a carriage and turns mice into horses. She also gives her a beautiful dress and shoes. She gets to dance with the prince, but in a rush to leave at midnight, leaves her shoe behind. A few days later, the prince comes to Cinderella's home and tries the shoe on her. It fits and they get married, but the sisters do not come to the wedding. The doves punish them.

I would teach sequencing with this book and ask them to put the events in order.