Happy New Year!

As the new year begins,
try a story about a new beginning!

Hope was Here. New York : Putnam, 2000.
Hope is not happy when her aunt moves the two of them from New York City to a small town in Wisconsin. But slowly, as her aunt runs the local restaurant and Hope works as a server, they develop a new life that offers the possibility of happiness.  For 12 – 16 year-olds. [Aunts; Cancer; Dating (Social customs); Friendship; Newbery Medal; Waiters and waitresses; Wisconsin; Young adult fiction]

 

 

 

Bondoux, Anne-Laure. The Killer’s Tears. New York : Delacorte Press, 2003.
Young Paolo is cared for by the man who murdered his parents on a remote farm in Chile. Paolo is cared for more kindly than ever before in his short life, raising the question: who are the good people in life? For 11 – 15 year-olds. [Chile; Fear; Fathers and sons; Murder; Orphans; Runaways]

 

 

 

 

Bredsdorff, Bodil. Crow-girl. New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2004.
A girl lives by the sea. When her grandmother dies, she sets out alone on a journey, meeting new people and creating a new family. For 10 – 13 year olds. [Courage; Denmark; Family life; Orphans]

 

 

 

Cassidy, Anne. Looking for JJ. New York : Harcourt Inc., 2007.
Seventeen-year-old Alice has just finished serving a six-year prison term for murdering a child. She has a new identity, but will she be able to keep her anonymity from the British  media? Will she be able to make new friends and start a new life? For 12 – 16 year-olds. [Child abuse; Criminals; England; Murder; Young adult fiction]

Clements, Things Not Seen.  New York : Philomel Books, 2002.
Fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes one morning to discover he is invisible. Life becomes more and more complicated as his parents and his new friend, Alicia, try to help him. For 11 – 15 year-olds. [Blindness; Faith; Fear; Friendship; Love; Parent and teenager; Science fiction]

Janey's Girl

Friesen, Gayle. Janey’s Girl. Toronto : Kids Can Press, 1998.
Fourteen-year-old Janey unexpectedly meets her father for the first time when she visits her grandmother’s farm in rural Rosedale, B.C. More family secrets are revealed and Janey learns how to make decisions for herself while still showing love and respect for her mother. For 12 – 16 year-olds. [British Columbia; Dating (Social customs); Divorce; Fathers and daughters; Mothers and daughters; Secrets; Teenagers; Young adult fiction]

 

Giff, Patricia Reilly. Pictures of Hollis Woods.
Twelve-year-old Hollis goes to live with Josie, a retired art teacher, after years spent in various foster homes. It seems she at last found a home, but all that is threatened when Josie becomes more and more forgetful. For 11 – 14 year-olds. [Artists; Foster children; Orphans; New York (State); Newbery Medal]

 

 

Guest, Jacqueline. Rink Rivals. James Lorimer & Co., 2001.
Life changes for twin brothers when they move with their family from a remote Cree community to the city of Calgary, Alberta. For 10 – 13 year olds. [Alberta; Courage; First Nations; Hockey; Juvenile delinquents; Moving, Household]

 

 

 

 

 

Heneghan, James. Bank Job. Victoria, BC : Orca Book Publishers, 2009.
Thinking they are being helpful, thirteen-year-old Nell and her friends rob banks in Vancouver, B.C. to help her foster parents pay for needed house renovations. For 11 – 15 year-olds. (Faith; Family life; Foster children; Juvenile delinquents; Theft; Vancouver (B.C.)]

 

 

 

 

Hill, Kirkpatrick. Winter Camp. New York : Puffin Books, 1995.
Eleven-year-old Toughboy and his younger sister must survive the harsh Alaskan winter at a friend’s winter trapping camp after their parents die. For 9 – 12 year olds. [Alaska; Brothers and sisters; Courage; First Nations; Orphans; Survival; Winter]

Hobbs, Will. The Maze. New York : Morrow Junior Books, 1998.
After spending years in foster homes, fourteen-year-old Rick runs away from a youth detention centre, fearing for his life, and finds himself in a remote part of Utah where he helps a biologist reintroduce condors into the wild. For 11 – 15 year-olds. [Condors; Endangered species; Foster children; Runaways]

Ibbotson, Eva. Journey to the River Sea. New York: Macmillan Children’s Books, 2001.
Sent with her governess to live with the dreadful Carter family in exotic Brazil in 1910, Maia endures many hardships before fulfilling her dream of exploring the Amazon River. — OhioLINK For 11 – 14 year-olds. [Adventure and adventurers; Amazon River; Brazil; Friendship; Historical fiction; Orphans]

 

 

 

 

Kerz, Anna. The Mealworm Diaries. Victoria, BC : Orca Book Publishers, 2009.
Jeremy has nightmares after he and his mother move from rural Nova Scotia to urban Toronto until he unwillingly starts working on a science project with a classmate. For 9 – 12 year-olds. [Friendship; Grief; Guilt; Moving, Household; Schools]

 

 

 

Rabbit Hill (Puffin Modern Classics)

 

Lawson, Robert. Rabbit Hill. New York : Puffin, 1944, 1972.
The animals are full of suspense: Who is this family who is moving into the Big House? How will life change for all of them?  For 8 – 12 year-olds. [Animals; Country life; Friendship; Moving, Household; Newbery Medal]

 

 

McClintock, Norah. Back. Victoria, B.C. : Orca Soundings, 2009.
JoJo returns his home neighbourhood after serving time in prison. But will the people who remember what he did let him start a new life?  For 12 – 16 year-olds. [Criminals; Dating violence; Fear; Murder; Revenge; Young adult fiction]

 

 

 

Mikaelsen, Ben. Touching Spirit Bear. HarperCollins, 2001.
Cole avoids a prison sentence by agreeing to spend time on a remote Alaskan Island where he is suprised by an encounter that changes his life. For 11 – 15 year-olds. [Alaska; First Nations; Juvenile delinquents; Survival]

 

Nolan, Han. A Face in Every Window. New York : Harcourt, Inc., 1999.
Fourteen-year-old JP finds his family falling apart after the death of his grandmother. His mother moves them to a neighbouring town in Pennsylvania and welcomes all sorts of strangers into their home. His mentally challenged father won’t listen to anyone and takes to sitting on the roof.  Everything has changed and everyone makes fun of JP. There is nowhere he belongs. How will he find balance in his chaotic world? For 12 – 16 year-olds. [Family life; Mentally handicapped]

 

Paterson Katherine.  The Day of the Pelican. Boston : Sandpiper, 2009.
Thirteen-year-old Meli’s life changes after her brother escapes from Serbian captors during the fighting in Kosovo and her Albanian family has to flee, staying in refugee camps until they are able to emigrate to America. For 11 – 15 year-olds. [Courage; Faith; Family life; Historical fiction; Homelessness; Immigrants; Kosovo (Republic); Muslims; Refugees; War]

 

Perkins, Lynne Rae. Criss Cross. New York : Harper Collins Publishers, 2005.
Teenagers start to look at life and love in new ways in a small American town during the 1960s. For 12 – 16 year-olds. [Dating (Social customs); Friendship; Love; Newbery medal; Self-perception; Summer]

 

Philbrick, Rodman. The Mostly True Adventures of  Homer P. Figg. New York : Blue Sky Press, 2009.
Twelve-year-old Homer runs away from his cruel uncle to rescue his older brother who has been forced to serve as a soldier in the American Civil War. For 11 – 15 year olds. [Adventure and adventurers; Brothers; Historical fiction; Uncles; Orphans; War]

 

Reeve, Philip. Fever Crumb. New York : Scholastic Press, 2009.
Fourteen-year-old Fever has been trained as an engineer in a futuristic culture which believes women are not capable of rational thought.  When she leaves her home in London, she makes suprising discoveries and faces unexpected dangers.  For 12 – 16 year-olds. [England; Foundlings; Identity; Science fiction; Technology]

 

Riess, Kathryn. Blackthorn Winter. Orlando : Harcourt, 2006.
Fifteen-year-old Juliana discovers mystery and romance after she moves from California to a small English village. For 12 – 16 year-olds. [Artists; Dating (Social customs); England; Family life; Moving, Household; Mystery and detective stories; Teenagers; Young adult fiction]

 

Ritter, Choosing Up Sides. New York : Puffin Books, 2000.
Thirteen-year-old Luke must decide whether to continue to obey his father, who believes being left-handed and playing baseball are of the Devil, or  to forge a new life of his own. For 11 – 15 year-olds. [Baseball; Faith; Fathers and sons; Historical fiction]

 

Shea, Pegi Deitz. Tangled Threads. New York, NY : Clarion Books, 2003.
Thirteen-year-old Mai Yang spent ten years in a Thai refugee camp before moving to Providence, Rhode Island where her grandmother tries to maintain their Hmong heritage while her cousins show her new American customs. For 11 – 15 year-olds.  [Cousins; Friendship; Grandmothers; Immigrants; Laos; Loyalty; Moving, Household; Refugees; Rhode Island; Thailand; Sewing; War]

Singer, Nicky. Gem X. New York : Holiday House 2006.
Sixteen-year-old Maxo wakes up one morning to find a crack in his face which leads him to the discovery that he lives in a strangely-controlled world full of human experiments. For 12 – 16 year-olds. [Dating (Social customs); Family life; Genetic engineering; Science fiction; Teenagers; Young adult fiction]

Zach's Lie (Zach's Lie, #1)

Smith, Roland. Zach’s Lie. Toronto : Scholastic, 2001.
Jack, along with with his sister and mother, moves to Nevada to start a new life after his his father, arrested for drug trafficking, becomes a witness in a court case against a drug cartel.  For 11 – 14 year-olds. [Basques; Drug traffic; Moving, Household; Nevada; Prisons; Schools; Secrets]

 

 

 

 

Stead, Rebecca. When You Reach Me. New York : Wendy Lamb Books, 2009.
What if you could go back in time and correct the mistakes you have made? Fans of A Wrinkle in Time will enjoy this 2010 Newbery winner. For 11 – 15 year olds. [Accidents; Friendship; Guilt; New York City; Newbery medal; Space and time]

 

Taylor, Theodore. The Maldonado Miracle.  Orlando, Fla. : Harcourt, 2003.
Twelve-year-old Jose illegally crosses the border from Mexico to join his father in California, but life becomes far more difficult than expected. For 11 – 14 year-olds. [California; Child labor; Faith; Historical fiction; Illegal aliens; Immigrants; Mexico; Migrant labor; Runaways]

 

Tullson, Diane. Riley Park. Victoria, BC : Orca Book Publishers 2009.
Seventeen-year-old Corbin, a hockey player,  survives the death of his best friend in a vicious fight after a party. For 12 – 16 year-olds. [Dating violence; Fear; Friendship; Gangs; Murder; Young adult fiction]

 

Venkatraman, Padma. Climbing the Stairs. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2008.
Fifteen-year-old Vidya, her older brother and her parents move to the home of her paternal grandfather after her father is severely beaten during a non-violent demonstration in 1941 India.  Instead of looking forward to someday attending college, she now has to face a life of servitude. This compelling young adult novel sensitively portrays different intepretations of the Hindu caste system, India’s struggle for independence and the complications of World War II. For 12 – 16 year olds. (India; WW 2; Historical fiction; Sex role; Hinduism; Family life; Brain damage; Prejudice; Love; Marriage; Jews; Courage; Guilt; Young adult fiction)

 

Whelan, Gloria. Chu Ju’s House. New York : HarperCollins, 2004.
Fourteen-year-old Chu Ju leaves home in order to save her baby sister. She gets a job taking care of silk worms and planting rice seedlings, but will she ever be able to see her family in the countryside again? For 11 – 14 year-olds. [Child labor; China; Courage; Loneliness; Runaways; Sex role]

 

Whelan, Gloria. Homeless Bird. New York : Harper, 2000.
Thirteen-year-old Kola’s family has decided it is time for her to be married. But what does she want to do? And how can she find a way to determine her own destiny in the face of tradition? For 11 – 14 year-olds.  (Courage; India; Marriage; Sex role)

 

Wilson, John. Where Soldiers Lie. Key Porter Books, 2006.
After his parents die, sixteen-year-old Jack is sent from Canada to live with relatives in Cawnpore, India. Filled with historical details about the 1857 war. For 12 – 16 year-olds. (Adventure and adventurers; Courage; Historical fiction; India; Romance; Soldiers; War)

 

Woodson, Jacqueline. Feathers. New York : Puffin Books, 2007.
Sixth-grade Frannie is reading a poem about hope in class. But there’s not much hope in her life. Her friend Samantha is becoming peculiar. The class bully is becoming more trouble. And the new boy, nicknamed ‘Jesus Boy’, says he’s not white but he sure looks white. What’s going to happen next? For 11 – 14 year-olds. [African Americans; Bullying; Deaf; Faith; Family; Friendship; Hope; Moving, Newbery Medal; Household; Racism; Schools; Vietnam Conflict; Winter]

 

Woodson, Jacqueline. Hush. New York : Putnam’s, 2002.
Toswiah Green’s family is forced to move to another city where they are part of the witness protection programme after her father, a police officer, testifies against another officer in a murder trial. For 11 – 15 year-olds. [Courage; Faith; Family life; Honesty; Moving, Household; Mystery and detective stories; Police; Secrets; young adult fiction]

Read to Create

Instead of writing a report, why not make a model?

Directions for making your own project

Grade eight science students in Mr. Apostolopoulos’s class made models of cells using styrofoam and wood, using cookies, cake and even pizza!

model by Ryan

model by Roshan, Ryan and Shane

Learn about cells by reading some of these books:

Johnson, Rebecca L. Daring Cell Defenders. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press, 2008. “Bacteria and viruses are all around you. If they get inside your body, they can make you very sick. Fortunately, your body is built to keep illness-causing invaders out. If some do get in, special cells inside your body come to the rescue.” — back cover

Johnson, Rebecca L. Powerful Plants. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press, 2008.  “You probably know that all living things need food to survive, including plants. So where do plants get their food? They make it themselves! This book takes you inside plant cells and shows you up-close photos of all the differentt cell parts.” — back cover

Johnson, Rebecca L. Ultra-organized Cell Systems. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press, 2008.  “Do you realize there are about 100 trillion cells in your body? That’s a lot of cells to manage! It’s a good thing they are organized into systems that all work together. This book takes you on a journey inside your body to see many types of cells, and more–magnified hundreds or thousands of times larger than their actual size.” — back cover

Keyser, Amber. The Basics of Cell Life with Max Axiom. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press, 2010.  A graphic novel about the basics of plant and animal cells.

Rogers, Kirsteen. Complete Book of the Microscope. London, UK: Usborne, 2006. “Winner of the Rhone-Poulenc Junior Science book Prize, this book is a breathtaking introduction to an extraordinary new dimension. Fantastic photographs, thousands of even millions of time larger than life, reveal the secrets of the micro universe, while step-by-step project ideas and Internet links to recommended websites will help you set off on a micro world tour of your own.” — back cover

Read! Read! Read!

“Read in order to live.” Gustave Flaubert

“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.”  Confucious

“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.” Maya Angelou

“The more that you read, the more things you will know.  The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”  Dr. Seuss

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” Charles W. Eliot

“Books had instant replay long before televised sports.” Bern Williams

“Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence. If you gain fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year.”  Horace Mann

“We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.”   B. F. Skinner

“Frederick Douglas taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom. But reading is still the path.”  Carl Sagan

“It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations–something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.” Katherine Patterson

“There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.” Jacqueline Kennedy

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”  Ray Bradbury

“There is ample evidence that one of the major differences between poor and good readers is the difference in the quantity of total time they spend reading.” National Reading Panel, 2000

“I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.” Anna Quindlen, “Enough Bookshelves,” New York Times, 7 August 1991.

“In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read.”  S. I. Hayakawa

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.” W. Somerset Maugham

“Force yourself to reflect on what you read, paragraph by paragraph.”  Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“I had just taken to reading.  I had just discovered the art of leaving my body to sit impassive in a crumpled up attitude in a chair or sofa, while I wandered over the hills and far away in novel company and new scenes…  My world began to expand very rapidly,… the reading habit had got me securely.” H. G. Wells

“We read to know we are not alone.”     C.S. Lewis

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” attributed to Mark Twain

“The art of reading is in great part that of acquiring a better understanding of life from one’s encounter with it in a book.” André Maurois

“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” Oscar Wilde

“When you reread a classic you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than was there before. ” Clifton Fadiman

“Never read a book through merely because you have begun it.”   John Witherspoon

“When I got [my] library card, that was when my life began.”  Rita Mae Brown

“What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it thinks about education.”  Harold Howe, former U.S. Commissioner of Education

Summer Reading

Borrow a great novel  from the Fraser Valley Public Library:
http://www.fvrl.bc.ca.

Or find fantastic bargains at Hemingway’s New and Used Books:
http://www.hemibooks.com.

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Almond, David. Raven Summer.
All of Almond’s novels are for readers with speculative minds. “What if. . .” is always the question that changes the course of what might have been a straight-forward realistic novel.  And in this novel, the question is “What if an abandoned baby leads to children who have lived through horrific acts of war? What shall we do? Send them back to their nightmares?” Since Almond is a British writer, some of the references will not be familiar to Canadian students. Nevertheless, this story full of surprises will intrigue readers aged eleven and up.

Avi. A Place Called Ugly.
14-year-old Owen refuses to leave his family’s beach house that’s about to be destroyed at the end of the summer.

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Baker, Deidre. Becca at Sea.
Becca is surprised by an eccentric aunt, bossy cousins and all sorts of adventures when she is sent to live with her grandmother on an island off the coast of B.C. You could compare this story to ‘Arthur, for the Very First Time’ by Patricia MacLachlan.

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Banerjee, Anjali. Seaglass Summer.
While spending the summer with her uncle in the Pacific Northwest instead of visiting relatives in India, eleven-year-old Poppy Ray discovers the life of a veterinarian isn’t as glamourous as she’d expected. Readers of Becca at Sea by Deirdre Baker might comparing these two cheerful novels about indepedent and adventurous heroines.

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Birdsall, Jeanne. The Penderwicks.
Four sisters, aged four through twelve, have adventures one summer while vacationing with their widowed father.

Blume, Judy. Fudge-a-Mania.
Pete spends an antic-filled summer vacation in Maine with his younger brother, Fudge.

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Bulla, Clyde Robert. Shoeshine Girl.
Sarah Ida is not happy to be spending the summer with her aunt. And her aunt isn’t happy when she discovers that Sarah has been ‘borrowing’ money from her new friend. She decides it is time for her niece to get a job!

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Cooper, Susan. Over Sea, Under Stone.
Simon, Jane and Barney, on holiday with their parents in Cornwall, England, are pulled into an ancient fight for an Arthurian treasure with the forces of darkness determined to defeat them.

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Crum, Shutta. Spitting Image.
Twelve-year-old Jessie starts to discover how complicated life can be when a government volunteer comes to help the people in her Kentucky town. All Jessie wants to do is earn some money to help her friend Robert get new glasses. Instead, she hurts the people she loves and learns how to think before she acts in this bittersweet story set in the 1960s.

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Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963.
The Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963 where their life unexpectedly changes.

Dyer, Hadley. Johnny Kellock Died Today.
Twelve-year-old Rosalie’s teenaged cousin vanishes in Halifax during the summer of 1959, and while she and a friend search for him, Rosalie discovers family secrets.

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Eckert, Allan W. Incident at Hawk’s Hill.
Based on a true story, the Newbery novel tells of a little boy who wanders away from his home one day in 1870 and disappears. How does he manage to survive most of a summer all by himself except for a badger for companionship?

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Enright, Elizabeth. Gone-Away Lake.
Portia and her cousin Julian have adventures while exploring abandoned summer houses around a swampy lake.

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Friesen, Gayle. The Isabel Factor.
Anna ends up going to summer camp in the Gulf Islands without her best friend. How will she survive the counsellor-in-training programme without Zoe? Or will making new friends be the best thing that could ever happen to her?

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Hahn, Mary Downing. Time for Andrew: A Ghost Story.
Drew, spending the summer with his great-aunt in the family’s old house, travels eighty years into the past to trade places with his great-great-uncle who is dying of diphtheria.

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Hobbs, Will. Leaving Protection.
Sixteen-year-old Robbie is proud to be old enough to work on a fishing boat off the coast of Alaska for the summer until the captain starts acting suspiciously. Maybe bad weather won’t be the greatest danger on the ocean!

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Horvath, Polly. My One Hundred Adventures.
Twelve-year-old Jane lives at the beach in a run-down old house with her mother, two brothers, and sister. She spends the summer baby-sitting, meeting her mother’s former boyfriends and making some astonishing discoveries about life.

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Horvath, Polly. The Vacation.
Henry is left in the care of his aunts, Magnolia and Pigg, when his mother and father go to Africa.

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Korman, Gordon. The Discovery.
Four kids make a dangerous discovery during a summer deep sea diving trip in the Caribbean.

Laird, Elizabeth. Hiding Out.
Peter’s parents have an argument while on holiday with friends in France. In the confusion and turmoil, Peter gets left behind when everyone heads for the ferry to go back to England.

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Martin, Ann M. A Corner of the Universe.
Hattie spends the summer becoming friends with a girl who works at the carnival that has come town and getting to know her childlike uncle. And she begins to question the adults who think they know what is best for her.

Mowat, Claire. The French Isles.
Andrea unexpectedly encounters mystery and romance and makes new friends during a summer on the islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon.

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Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Alice In Rapture, Sort Of.
The summer before Alice enters the seventh grade, she discovers that love and boyfriends can be very confusing.

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Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Shadows on the Wall.
Fifteen-year-old Dan, on a family holiday in York, England is overwhelmed by inexplicable feelings of dread whenever he visits some ancient landmarks.

Oppel, Kenneth. Starclimber.
Matt Cruse is looking forward to his summer in Paris, France with Kate de Vries, but life becomes even more exciting when the Canadian government offers to send the two of them on an expedition into space aboard the Starclimber.

Peck, Richard. Fair Weather.
In 1893, thirteen-year-old Rosie and members of her family travel from their Illinois farm to Chicago to visit Aunt Euterpe, and attend the World’s Columbian Exposition.

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Perkins, Lynne. Criss Cross.
Debbie, Hector and Lenny discover that their friendships are changing during a hot summer when romances seem to be starting.

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Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief.
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson keeps getting in trouble at school. To complicate matters, he discovers he is a demigod, the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea. And when his mother sends him to a summer camp, he finds himself on a quest to save the world from the wrath of the gods.

Robertson, Keith. Henry Reed, Inc.
Henry and his friend Midge enthusiastically set up a research firm, start projects and make money during a summer vacation.

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Staples, Suzanne Fisher. The Green Dog.
Suzanne, a daydreamer who likes to fish and walk through the woods, enjoys spending time with her new dog during a summer vacation.

Taylor, Cora. Adventure in Istanbul.
Jennifer and Maggie, on a Mediterranean cruise with their grandmother and their friend Sam, race to save the life of their father who has disappeared somewhere in the Middle East.

Taylor, Cora. Murder in Mexico.
Maggie and Jennifer, on holiday in Mexico, are plunged into murder and intrigue and don’t know if they’ll ever get home again.

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Tullson, Diane. Red Sea.
Fourteen-year-old Libby is unwilling dragged along on a sailing adventure with her mother and stepfather. Pirates attack, her stepfather is killed, and Libby has to find a way to save her mother.

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Whelan, Gloria. Summer of the War.
Fourteen-year-old Belle spends her summers with her grandparents on Turtle Island, Michigan. But during the summer of 1942, her older cousin Caroline arrives and trouble starts. Caroline prefers cities and scorns rural life. She also prefers to spend her time with Ned, who no longer seems to notice Belle, at all. This quiet novel about the effects of the war will appeal to girls 12 to 15 years old.

http://images.btol.com/ContentCafe/Jacket.aspx?UserID=ebsfraser&Password=fraser&Return=1&Type=L&Value=1551433613

Withers, Pam.  Camp Wild.
Wilf is resentful because his parents have sent him off to camp for another summer because they don’t have time for him. So he steals a canoe and takes off down the river. But two other campers decide to come along and all three boys end up having a wilder ride than they’d expected. This short novel published by Orca is a quick read for sixth to ninth graders.

Wynne-Jones, Tim. Rex Zero and the End of the World.
Rex has just moved to Ottawa from Vancouver. It’s the summer of 1962 and there are television reports about the possibility of nuclear war. How can he be expected to settle into a new home and make new friends when the world might end?

Happy reading!

Learning in the Library

‘Scope and Sequence’ for Instruction in K-5 School Libraries

Here is a draft, a suggestion, an outline for learning in the library.

Kindergarten
A. Literature

1. The student will be acquainted with these authors:
Judi Barrett
Norman Bridwell
Margaret Wise Brown
Virginia L. Burton
Pat Hutchins
Robert Kraus
Bill Martin, Jr.
David McPhail
Robert Munsch
Dr. Seuss
David Shannon
Rosemary Wells
Charlotte Zolotow
2. The student will be familiar with these types of literature:
a. nursery rhymes
b. fairy tales
c. familiar cultural patterns (alphabets, numbers, days,…)
d. rhyme-rhythm patterns
B. Skills
1. The student will know the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
2. The student will be able to identify these parts of a book:

a. cover
b. spine
c. spine label
d. dust cover
3. The student will turn pages of a book from the top corner rather
than the bottom so as to avoid causing tears in pages.
4. The student will be able to put picture books on the correct shelf by matching one letter on the spine with one letter on the shelf.

Grade 1
A. Literature

1. The student will be acquainted with these authors:
Jean de Brunhoff
Eric Carle
Paul Galdone
Robert Kraus
Robert Munsch
Margret and H.A. Rey
Dr. Seuss
Rosemary Wells
Gene Zion
Charlotte Zolotow
2. The student will be familiar with these types of literature:
a. nursery rhymes and fairy tales
b. wordless books
c. familiar cultural patterns (alphabets, numbers, days,…)
d. repetitive patterns
i. ‘Million of Cats’ by Wanda Gag
ii. ‘A House is a House for Me’ by M. Hoberman
iii. ‘The Chick and the Duckling’ by M. Ginsburg
e. chronological patterns
i. ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’by Eric Carle
ii. ‘The Mare on the Hill’ by Thomas Locker
iii. ‘The Giving Tree’ by Shel Silverstein
B. Skills
1. The student will know the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
2. The student will be able to identify these parts of a book:

a. cover
b. spine
c. spine label
d. dust cover
e. title page
3. The student will understand the meaning of these terms:
a. title
b. author
c. city of publication
d. publisher
e. copyright
f. call letter
4. The student will turn pages of a book from the top corner rather
than the bottom so as to avoid causing tears in pages.
5. The student will be able to put picture books on the correct shelf by matching one letter on the spine with one letter on the shelf.


Grade 2
A. Literature
1. The student will be acquainted with these authors:
Ludwig Bemelmans
Russell Hoban
Ezra Jack Keats
Steven Kellogg
Arnold Lobel
Robert Munsch
Peggy Parish
Patricia Polacco
Cynthia Rylant
Judith Viorst
Bernard Waber
Brian Wildsmith
2. The student will be familiar with these types of literature:
a. nursery rhymes
b. fairy tales
c. main character patterns
i. ‘Wallace’s Lists’ by Barbara Bottner
ii. ‘A Colour of His Own’  by Leo Lionni
iii. ‘Milton the Early Riser’ by Robert Kraus
iv. ‘Lovable Lyle’ by Bernard Wabers
d. cumulative patterns
i. ‘Cat Goes Fiddle-i-Fee’ by Paul Galdone
ii. ‘Henny Penny’ by Paul Galdone
iii. ‘Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears’ by V. Aardema
e. interlocking patterns
i. ‘Each Peach Pear Plum’ by Janet Ahlberg
ii. ‘If You Give a Mouse a Cookie’ by L. J. Numeroff
iii. ‘The Runaway Bunny’ by Margaret W. Brown
f. Caldecott winnners
B. Skills
1. The student will know the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
2. The student will be able to identify these parts of a book:

a. cover
b. spine
c. spine label
d. dust cover
e. title page
f. flyleaf
3. The student will understand the meaning of these terms:
a. title
b. author
c. city of publication
d. publisher
e. copyright
f. call letter
4. The student will turn pages of a book from the top corner rather
than the bottom so as to avoid causing tears in pages.
5. The student will be able to locate picture books:

a. put picture books on the correct shelf by matching one letter on the spine with one letter on the shelf
b. find picture books by specific authors once reminded of the author’s surname
6. The student will have a basic understanding of the Dewey Decimal Classification System:

a. who created it
b. the purpose of creating it
c. the 10 main classes
d. fiction books really belong in the 800s
e. folklore is in 398.2
f. wild animals and plants are in the 500s
g. pets are in 600s
h. sports are in 700s
i. poetry is in 800s
7. The student will be able to find the correct shelves for the 10 classes of the Dewey Decimal System.
8. The student will be able to take simple notes:*

a. be able to sort facts into categories
b. be able to generate categories for topics
c. be able to identify key words to use for notes
d. be able to write sentences using key words
e. be able to write topic sentences for categories

Grade 3
A. Literature

1. The student will be acquainted with these authors:
Tony Abbott
David A. Adler
Anno
Ann Cameron
Beverly Cleary
Coy Cowley
Sharon Creech
Johanna Hurwitz
Dick King-Smith
Suzy Kline
Leo Lionni
Arnold Lobel
Patricia MacLachlan
Jon Muth
Mary Pope Osborne
Barbara Park
Bill Peet
Thomas Rockwell
Cynthia Rylant
William Steig
Geronimo Stilton
Sarah L. Thomson
Chris Van Allsburg
E.B. White
Vera Williams
Jacqueline Woodson
2. The student will be familiar with these types of literature:
a. nursery rhymes
b. fairy tales
c. problem-solving patterns
i. ‘How Pizza Came to Our Town’ by D.  Khalsa
ii. ‘Peter’s Chair’ by Ezra Jack Keats
iii. ‘Loudmouth George’ by Nancy Carlson
d. realistic stories
e. humorous stories
f. animal stories
B. Skills
1. The student will know the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
a. distinguish between research books and story books
b. distinguish between anthropomorphic and realistic animal stories
2. The student will be able to identify these parts of a book:
a. cover
b. spine
c. spine label
d. dust cover
e. title page
f. flyleaf
g. verso (back of title page)
h. table of contents
i. glossary
j. index
3. The student will understand the meaning of these terms:
a. title
b. author
c. city of publication
d. publisher
e. copyright
f. call letter
g. reference books
4. The student will turn pages of a book from the top corner rather
than the bottom so as to avoid causing tears in pages.

5. The student will be able to locate picture books:
a. put picture books on the correct shelf by matching one letter on the spine with one letter on the shelf
b. find picture books by specific authors once reminded of the author’s surname

6. The student will have a basic understanding of the Dewey Decimal
Classification System:

a. who created it
b. the purpose of creating it
c. the 10 main classes
d. fiction books really belong in the 800s
e. folklore is in 398.2
f. wild animals and plants are in the 500s
g. pets and automobiles are in 600s
h. sports, art and hobbies are in 700s
i. poetry is in 800s
j. countries of the world are in 900s
7. The student will be able to find the correct shelves for each of the 10 classes in the Dewey Decimal System.
8. The student will be acquainted with World Book Kids Online:

a. be aware of the various categories on the home page
b. be able to conduct a simple search
c. be able to use the outline on the lefthand side of an article
d. know that the first paragraph of an article is easiest to read
e. know the purpose of the citation line at the end of an article
9. The student will be able to take simple notes:*
a. be able to sort facts into categories
b. be able to generate categories for topics
c. be able to identify key words to use for notes
d. be able to write sentences using key words
e. be able to write topic sentences for categories


Grade 4
A. Literature
1. The student will be acquainted with these authors:
a. Canadian:
Gordon Korman
Jean Little
Farley Mowat
Mordecai Richler
b. International:
Avi
Judy Blume
Betsy Byars
Beverly Cleary
Joy Cowley
Roald Dahl
Leo and Diane Dillon
Kirkpatrick Hill
Joanna Hurwitz
Dayal Khalsa
Dick King-Smith
Kathryn Lasky
Lois Lowry
Megan McDonald
A.A. Milne
Phyllis Reyolds Naylor
Barbara Park
Peter Reynolds
Cynthia Rylant
George Selden
Johanna Spyri
Jacqueline Woodson
Jane Yolen
2. The student will be familiar with these types of literature:
a. nursery rhymes and fairy tales
b. First Nations folktales
c. biographies
d. humorous stories
e. realistic stories
f. historical stories
g. classics
B. Skills
1. The student will know the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
a. distinguish between research books and story books
b. distinguish between anthropomorphic and realistic animal stories
2. The student will be able to identify these parts of a book:
a. cover
b. spine
c. spine label
d. dust cover
e. title page
f. flyleaf
g. verso (back of title page)
h. table of contents
i. glossary
j. index
3. The student will understand the meaning of these terms:
a. title
b. author
c. city of publication
d. publisher
e. copyright
f. call letter
g. reference books
h. credibility
i. reliability
4. The student will turn pages of a book from the top corner rather
than the bottom so as to avoid causing tears in pages.

5. The student will be be able to find books on fiction and nonfiction shelves:*
a. alphabetize three-letter call labels
b. match call labels on a card with call labels on the spines of books on fiction shelves
c. sequence three-digit numbers
d. match three-digit numbers on a card with call labels on the spines of books on nonfiction shelvles
e. find fiction books on the shelves given an author’s surname
6. The student will have a basic understanding of the Dewey Decimal
Classification System:

a. who created it
b. the purpose of creating it
c. the 10 main classes
d. fiction books really belong in the 800s
e. folklore is in 398.2
f. natural sciences are in the 500s
g. pets and automobiles are in 600s
h. sports, riddles, jokes, art and hobbies are in 700s
i. poetry is in 800s
j. countries of the world and biographies are in 900s
k. First Nations books are in the 970s
7. The student will be acquainted with World Book Kids Online:
a. be aware of the various categories on the home page
b. be able to conduct a simple search
c. be able to use the outline on the lefthand side of an article
d. know that the first paragraph of an article is easiest to read
e. know the purpose of the citation line at the end of an article
f. be able to copy the citation line when doing research
8. The student will be able to take simple notes:*
a. be able to sort facts into categories
b. be able to generate categories for topics
c. be able to identify key words to use for notes
d. be able to write sentences using key words
e. be able to write topic sentences for categories
8. The student will be able to write a basic bibliographic entry for a book:
a. author
b. title
c. place of publication
d. publisher
e. copyright date
9. The student will be aware of basic online safety rules.

Grade 5
A. Literature

1. The student will be acquainted with these authors:
a. Canadian:
Pierre Burton
Alan Cumyn
Sean Cullen
Polly Horvath
Gordon Korman
Roy MacGregor
Kenneth Oppel
Kit Pearson
Eric Wilson
b. International
Eoin Colfer
Sharon Creech
Tony DiTerlizzi
Eleanor Estes
Erin Hunter
Brian Jacques
Dick King-Smith
Kathryn Lasky
Robert Lawson
C.S. Lewis
Patricia MacLachlan
Linda Sue Park
J. K. Rowling
Cynthia Rylant
Lemony Snicket
E.B. White
Laura Ingalls Wilder
2. The student will be familiar with these types of literature:
a. Newbery winners
b. historical fiction
c. adventure stories
d. mystery stories
e. realistic fiction
f. fantasy stories
B. Skills
1. The student will know the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
2. The student will be able to identify these parts of a book:

a. cover
b. spine
c. spine label
d. dust cover
e. title page
f. flyleaf
g. verso (back of title page)
h. table of contents
i. glossary
j. index
k. internet links
3. The student will understand the meaning of these terms:
a. title
b. author
c. city of publication
d. publisher
e. copyright
f. call letter
g. reference books
h. credibility
i. reliability
4. The student will turn pages of a book from the top corner rather
than the bottom so as to avoid causing tears in pages.
5. The student will be be able to find books on fiction and nonfiction shelves:*

a. alphabetize three-letter call labels
b. match call labels on a card with call labels on the spines of books on fiction shelves
c. sequence four-digit numbers (e.g. 398.2)
d. match three-digit numbers on a card with call labels on the spines of books on nonfiction shelvles
e. find fiction books on the shelves given an author’s surname
f. find nonfiction books on shelves given a four-digit dewey number
g. shelve fiction books using the first three letters of an author’s surname
6. The student will have a basic understanding of the Dewey Decimal
Classification System:

a. who created it
b. the purpose of creating it
c. the 10 main classes
d. fiction books really belong in the 800s
e. folklore is in 398.2
f. wild animals and plants are in the 500s
g. pets and automobiles are in 600s
h. sports, riddles, jokes, art and hobbies are in 700s
i. poetry is in 800s
j. countries of the world and biographies are in 900s
k. First Nations books are in the 970s
l. Canadian history is in 970s
7. The student will be able to use World Book Kids and Student Online:
a. be aware key differences between the two sites
b. be able to conduct a simple search
c. be able to use the outline on the lefthand side of an article
d. know that the first paragraph of an article is easiest to read
e. know the purpose of the citation line at the end of an article
f. be able to copy the citation line when doing research
g. be able to find related articles
8. The student will be able to take simple notes:*
a. be able to sort facts into categories
b. be able to generate categories for topics
c. be able to identify key words to use for notes
d. be able to write sentences using key words
e. be able to write topic sentences for categories
9. The student will be able to write a basic bibliographic entry for a book:
a. author
b. title
c. place of publication
d. publisher
e. copyright date
10. The student will be aware of basic online safety rules.
11. The student will be able to evaluate online sites:*
a. know the purpose of acquiring background knowledge
b. be aware of sites which are not considered reliable
c. know some key features of reliable sites
d. be able to use a questionaire to evaluate websites

* Skills are listed in suggested teaching order, easier skills being listed before more sophisticated skills.

[This page may be copied for non-profit use if the following credit is provided: ©2011 Sophie Rosen.]

New Website!

Looking for a great new website about books and reading
for students in elementary and middle school?

Try SlimeKids!

The creator, Andy Fine, has a master’s degree in teaching,  and writes, “SlimeKids was created to provide students with a playful, easy-to-use interface through which they could learn about and access valuable online resources. The website is designed to self-motivate students to make their own choices and judgements about what is most useful for them. One important aspect of SlimeKids is that it helps students to explore their interest in books and reading, which has been the main goal of my career. SlimeKids is an interactive website through which students can read, search, watch videos and play language arts-related games.”

Take a look at a book trailer for . . .  Touching Spirit Bear

http://images.btol.com/ContentCafe/Jacket.aspx?UserID=ebsfraser&Password=fraser&Return=1&Type=L&Value=9780380805600

Take a look at a game . . .  Verb Viper

Take a look at all the links to reference materials and authors’ websites . . .

Have fun!

Dewey Decimal Classification System

How are books organized in libraries?  Not by colour. Not by size.  Not by age.   Instead, all the books in libraries are organized by topic. Over one hundred years ago, a librarian in the United States came up with a numbering system that is now used in thousands and thousands of libraries all over the world: the Dewey Decimal Classification System.

Melvil Dewey was born in in a small town in the state of New York during the winter of 1851. Even when he was young, he liked organizing things and he liked  math. While attending college, he worked in a library which he considered quite disorganized.  So, when he was 21 years old, he invented his own system for arranging books .

Here is how it works. . .

  • There are 10 main classes:

000-099  General Works including encyclopedias and computer science
100-199: Philosophy and Psychology
200-299: Religion and Mythology
300-399: Social Sciences including organization, governments and laws
400-499: Languages including dictionaries
500-599: Natural Science
600-699: Technology and Applied Science
700-799: Fine Arts and Recreation
800-899: Literature
900-999: History, Geography and Biography

  • In each class, there are 10 divisions.

500-509: General Sciences
510-519: Mathematics
520-529: Astronomy
530-539: Physics
540-549: Chemistry
550-559: Earth Sciences including Geology and Meteorology
560-569: Paleontology
570-579: Life Sciences including Ecology and Microorganisms
580-589: Plants
590-599: Zoology

900-909: General History including world exploration
910-919: Geography of the World
920-929: Biography
930-939: Ancient History
940-949: History of Europe
950-959: History of Asia
960-969: History of Africa
970-979: History of North America
980-989: History of South America
990-999: History of Other Areas including Australasia and Antarctica

  • And in each division, there are 10 sections.

910: General geography and travel
911: History of geography
912: Maps and Atlases
913: Geography of the ancient world
914: Geography of Europe
915: Geography of Asia
916: Geography of Africa
917: Geography of North America
918: Geography of South America
919: Geography of Other Areas

All the books in a library, both fiction and nonfiction, have a place in the Dewey Decimal Classification System:

  • Folklore: 398.2
  • Picture Story Books: 800s
  • Novels and Short story collections: 800s
  • Poetry: 800s
  • 800s Biographies: 920s

But most libraries take some of the books and put them in their own sections.  What does your library do?


Librarians put label on the spines of the books so that everyone knows where they belong. Here are some of the sections that might be in your library in addition to the books with Dewey numbers on the spines.

  • F = all the novels
  • E or P = all the picture books
  • B = all the biographies of individual people

 

Within a section of the library, most the books with the same number or letter on the top line of the spine label are arranged in order by the author’s last name.

  • Novels by Deborah Ellis: F Ell
  • Picture Books by Robert Munsch: P M

But in the biography section, books are arranged by the subject’s last name.

  • Books about explorer Henry Hudson: B Hud
  • Books about author Lucy Maud Montgomery:  F Mon

To learn more about the Dewey Decimal Classification System and to practise using this great way of finding books, play some of these games!