The Best Worst Brother

The Best Worst Brother 

Author: Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen
Illustrator: Charlotte Fremaux

Grade Level: 1-3

Genre: Realistic Fiction 

Awards: None

Summary: This is the story of a young girl and her brother.  The young girl notices early on that her brother is different.  He is unable to speak and has to use sign language to communicate.  He has tantrums that seem more extreme than most boys his age.  When the girl invites her parents to her open house, she is nervous to see they brought her brother along.  She didn't know what he might do to embarrass her.  When her teacher offers her brother a cookie, he takes it and throws it at her.  The teacher lovingly responds by telling the family of her own brother.  Her brother too had down syndrome.  In the end, the young girl realizes just how much she loves her little brother.

Evaluation: I enjoyed this book.  I like how the author chose to tell the story from the sisters perspective.  Its important not to forget about the challenge a sibling may face having a sibling who has down syndrome.  As much as they may love their sibling, life may look a little hectic at time.  I would include this in my classroom because I think students would be able to relate to it.

The grade appropriateness is between first and third grade.  The words are easy to read and understand.  The sentences flow nicely and they do not overcrowd a single page.

Even with middle school, you could use this book as a read aloud.  You could use the read aloud to set the tone for how you expect your class to be respectful by reading this book toward the beginning of the school year.  Make sure students know that every peer of theirs deserves to be respected, whether they have a disability or not. 

Refugee

Refugee  

Author: Alan Gratz 

Grade Level: 6-8

Genre: Historical Fiction 

Awards: Nansen Refugee Award, Bluebonnet Award

Summary: This book follows the story of three people - Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud.  All three characters are seeking refuge during different times in our world's history.  Josef is living in Nazi Germany around 1930.  Isabel is living in Cuba during the year 1994 while fights and crime are throughout her city, making it a dangerous place to live.  Similar to Isabel, Mahmoud is seeing his homeland being burdened by violence and war during 2015.  Even though the things they are running from take place during different years, their fights for refuge are similar.  In the end, Josef sacrifices his youth in order to lead his family in his father's absence.  Isabel sells her beloved instrument to buy gas for the boat they used to escape.  Mahmoud sacrifices his comfort to lead and save his family.  All three stories are joined together by the bold sacrifices these individuals made. 

Evaluation: I had a friend recommend this book to me (and I am so glad she did!).  This book reminded me of A Long Walk to Water.  Telling the story of three different children seeking refuge from different situations throughout different years was fascinating.  It keeps the reader engaged and wanting to know how the author is going to tie all the stories together.  I highly recommend this book and I plan to use it in my own classroom.

The grade level is between sixth and eighth grade.  Because all three characters are going through difficult things that they are trying to seek refuge from, the topics are heavy and deep.  This book requires some amount of maturity if read.

I would love to use this book as an ongoing read aloud.  The last five to ten minutes of class every day would be saved for this book.  After the lesson is done and students put away their things, I would pull out this book and continue where we left off.  After we finish the book as a class, student would then turn in a writing assignment discussing the significance of the characters and them seeking refuge during different times in history.

This One Summer

This One Summer 

Author: Mariko Tamaki

Illustrator: Jullian Tamaki

Grade Level: 7-12

Genre: Fiction 

Awards: Caldecott Medal, Gran Guinigi for Best Writer

Summary: This graphic novel follows the story of two friends: Rose and Windy.  Spending the summer at their lake houses, the two girls spend the summer days talking, swimming, and adventuring.  Things being to change when Rose develops a crush on a boy named Duncan.  As the girls spend time around Duncan, they are exposed to a lot of things.  Duncan ends up getting another girl at the lake pregnant and ignores her.  Rose ends up seeing the young girl drowning and calls out to her mother to help.  After her mother saves the young girl, Rose and her mom renew their relationship as mother and daughter.

Evaluation: After reading this book, I wasn't surprised to find articles of unimpressed and shocked readers.  Some even wondered why this book received a Caldecott medal due to its mature themes.  After seeing how many students enjoyed and related to this book, I would not mind including it in my classroom library.  The illustrations are amazing and the story is fascinating.  It will definitely keep the reader engaged. 

The age appropriateness is between seventh and twelfth grade.  If you are teaching younger grades and really want to include this book in your library, I would encourage you to get parents' permission before a student checks out the book from your classroom.  This book includes sexual terms, cursing, teen pregnancy, and suicide. 

Seventh and eighth graders would love this graphic novel.  The illustrations paint such vivid pictures of the characters' emotions.  Students who chose to read this book could create their own "graphic novel book talk."  Instead of using a poster with a lot of words to describe the summary of their book, they could draw illustrations of the overall summary (without giving away the ending, of course).

Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web

Author: E.B. White

Grade Level: 4-6

Genre: Fiction 

Awards: Newbery Medal

Summary: This is the story of a pig named Wilbur.  After being moved to a new farm, Wilburn soon make an unexpected friend.  He befriends a spider named Charlotte.  One day, Wilbur finds out the farmer is going to kill him in the winter time.  To help keep him alive, Charlotte vows to save him.  Charlotte begins writing things in her web over Wilbur's pigpen.  This draws the attention of a lot of people and the farmer decides to enter Wilbur into a contest.  Charlotte goes with Wilbur and helps him win the bronze medal.  Sadly, Charlotte's last spinning kills her.  However, before she died, she left an egg sac with Wilbur.  Wilburn takes the egg sac with him and takes care of Charlotte's babies.  Three of her babies stay with Wilbur and live in the place their mother once lived.

Evaluation: I loved this story.  Even though it has been a while since I read it, I still remember the impact this book had on me as a young girl.  This is one of the first chapter books I remember reading.  This is a book I plan to use in my classroom, especially if I'm with fourth graders.

The age appropriateness is between fourth and sixth grade.  Students at this age will be able to get through this book without much difficulty, easily able to understand the events taking place.

When I read this book, my teacher had the entire class read this book together.  There were some days she would read and days we would get into smaller groups and read aloud.  I loved reading this book with my classmates.  She made the story come to life by having props.  I would use this book in a very similar way in my classroom.

Hello, Universe

Hello, Universe 

Author: Erin Entrada Kelly

Grade Level: 4-7

Genre: Fiction 

Awards: Bluebonnet Award

Summary: This book tells the story of four unexpected people becoming friends.  The book takes place during their transition from sixth grade to seventh grade.  When one character, Chet, pranks Virgil, the others are inclined to go on a mission to rescue him.  While on this rescue mission, the reader learns more about these characters and the lives they live outside of school.  At the end, Virgil is rescued and the students become friends through this shared experience. 

Evaluation: Overall, I enjoyed this book.  The way this book was written reminded me of Wonder.  Similar to Wonder, the story is told from different points of view.  These different points of view add a lot to the overall story, deepening the impact things had on each character.  I also love the diversity of the characters in this book.  I would love to use this book in my classroom to show an example of a writer writing from different points of view.  Middle school students will also enjoy reading this because they are the same age as the characters in the book. 

The age appropriateness is between fourth and seventh grade.  There are some words used that may be harder to understand for younger readers.  Some of the themes might be harder for younger students to fully grasp and understand. 

I think this would be a good book to read as a book club book.  I think this book would keep students engaged and interested.  This book has important themes of bullying, going through life deaf, cultural differences, being yourself, and being a friend.  These themes help make the book more relatable and thus, more enjoyable for students.  As they notice these themes throughout, students can do writing reflections and discuss them with peers.  

A Different Pond

A Different Pond

Author: Bao Phi

Illustrator: Thi Bui

Grade Level: 3-5

Genre: Non-Fiction 

Awards: Caldecott Medal

Summary: This tells the story of a young boy and his father.  Every morning the young boy and his father go out fishing.  When the boy asks his father why they fish every morning, his father tells him it is so he can provide dinner for their family.  When they get home, his father leaves to work the first of his two jobs along with his mother.  At the end of the book, the family comes together to eat the fish the boy and his father caught.

Evaluation: There is so much more to this book than the summary I wrote.  This book is powerful.  It tells of the struggle a family faced as a Vietnamese refugees.  Even after working countless hours, the father and mother still lack the funds necessary to provide dinner for their family.  This book shows the great lengths a father is willing to go to in order to provide for his family.  I would love to use this book in my classroom because I think it is important to have students place themselves in someone else's shoes.

The age appropriateness is between third and fifth grade.  There are some terms mentioned that might be unfamiliar to younger readers.  Even if you were to define those terms to younger students, they still might not be able to grasp the full picture this book is illustrating. 

I could use this book during the unit on world issues and how they are portrayed in literature.  After I read this story, students could reflect on the world issue being discussed and the emotions evoked in them as the reader.

Holes

Holes 

Author: Louis Sachar 

Grade Level: 4-6 

Genre: Fiction 

Awards: Newbery Medal, Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award, and National Book Award for Young People's Literature

Summary: This is a story of a boy named Stanley Yelnats.  When Stanley is wrongfully accused of stealing, he is sent to Camp Green Lake.  His family blames the accusation on their bad luck which has followed them for many generations.  When brought to the camp, Stanley meets other troubled youth.  Their only job at this camp is to dig.  As the story progresses, Stanley befriends another boy named Hector Zeroni.  At the end of the book, Stanley's friendship with Hector frees his family of their curse and brings an unexpected treasure. 

Evaluation: I loved this book!  I read this one back when I was in middle school.  My classmates and I loved it.  The plot was interesting and kept me engaged throughout.  This is a book I would love to use in my class (possibly as a book club book).

The age appropriateness is between fourth and sixth grade.  I personally would not go lower on the grade because some subjects come up that might be too mature for younger readers. 

I would love to use this book for a book club.  There are a lot of discussions this book could lead to that would help build the overall classroom community.  There are also a lot of free online resources available for this book if you do choose to use it in a book club or as a whole class reading.