Published by: The MacMillan Company (1970)
Grade Level: 3-5
Brogeen is a leprechaun. He leaves his world and goes to another to find out what's scarifying decent people. He was sent out by the Queen of Fairies to track down a monster who is ruining the countryside. Here he meets a girls and a boy and two grown-ups that work in the circus. The girl's name is Brid and she wears a bracelet that looks like a lizard. Later, these people meet up with a troupe and Brogeen finds himself with a bracelet. All of the things it could be, it's a monster, it's really a bracelet, but it's also a monster, and it's actually a lizard. This lizard casts a great shadow on land by the light of the moon. This is apart of the Brogeen series and is filled with many fantasy stories of things coming to life and magical adventures that Brogeen the leprechaun experiences on his journey out of his world.
This book is a little difficult to read, but it is mid-century children's fantasy. In this book things come to life and there is a lot of adventure. And leprechauns are not real, but they are fun to imagine! I probably would not use this book in my classroom since it is dated. However, the story elements are consistent throughout the story and the plot develops well. This story displays typical Irish culture.
Published by: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Age Range: 8-12
Grade Level: 3-7
Ben and Me is a historical novel by Robert Lawson. This book takes place in Philadelphia in the 1700's during the time of the American Revolution. A mouse plays the main character of this book and his name is Amos. Benjamin Franklin is the other main character. Amos the mouse likes to help his family through devastating times. He also likest to go help Ben along the way. Amos is a creative, smart mouse who likes to help his family at hard times. Ben is courageous, experimental, and inventive. One day, Amos goes into Benjamin Franklin's house, because he wanted to make a deal that he would work of him if he provided his family with food, water, blankets, and clothes. Amos then meets Ben and makes the deal. Later, Ben invents a kite-flying machine that ends up being a disaster because of a storm. After that, Ben accidentally invents electrical tubes that shock Amos. Amos told Ben Franklin that there should be no more electricity. Ben agreed and went on not using Electricity. The book continues to go through Ben Franklin's life as told by Amos the mouse.
The plot to this book was ok, it's facts were true but sometimes altered to come from Amos' perspective. Ben Franklin probably did not go to mice for advice, but this book is a way to get student's reading about history and the life of Ben Franklin. This book would be for middle to younger aged elementary school students. It's funny and there are a lot of images. This was a cute historical book for younger children.
Of course during these stirring times I came in contact with all the great men of the Colonies. The one who impressed me most was, naturally, General George Washington.Not only was he a magnificent figure of a man and soldier, but the wheat grown at Mount Vernon was of a superb quality. Here were always a few grains to be found in his boot-tops and pocket flaps. Quite a few crumbs too, so I always looked forward to seeing him.
Title: The New Kid at School: Dragon Slayers' Academy
Author: Kate McMullan
# of Pages: 112 pages
Published by: Grosset & Dunlap; Revised/Expanded edition (May 1, 2003)
Age Range: 7-10
Grade Level: 2-5
The main character Wiglaf is treated poorly at home. He has an opportunity to go to a special school that trains heroes. The school consists of odd teachers, strange classes, and fellow students who are bound to become the hero's close friends. Wiglaf wants to become a dragon slayer, but he doesn't want to hurt anything. The violence in this book is kept to a minimum. Wiglaf can't even squish an an ant or kiss a rat. But he does want to get away from home and the minstrel that stayed with his family for the winter predicted that he would become a great hero. Wiglaf decided to go to the Dragon Slaying school where he took classes to learn how to defeat dragons. He learns that every dragon has a different secret. The spells that Wiglaf learns and other unusual and amusing moments throughout the book will be sure to grab students' interest!
This book uses children, magic, and fantasy to expand the minds of its readers. Dragons ar such a popular theme for young students. This book is also apart of the Dragon Slayers' Academiy Series. The setting is one such as a magical school, and the story is internally consistent. The characters are relatable and easy for many students to relate to. The fantasy elements are logical and use magic and dragons to enhance the plot. I really liked this book and this whole series. I think it would be a great chapter book for students to read, especially if they like dragons!
Published by: Puffin Books
Age Range: 8-12 yrs.
Grade Level: 3-7
In this book, with a little magic and use of the imagination the story comes to life. The main character James Henry Trotter goes to live with his two aunts, who he does not like, after his parents are killed. His parents were eaten by a rhinoceros. His aunt's names are Spiker and Sponge. While James is at his Aunt's house, there is nothing fun to do until James finds magic crystals and accidentally drops them by the peach tree. After this, throughout the story, weird things begin to happen. At the top of the tree there is one peach and it starts to grow, and grow, and grow and it does not stop! Eventually the peach is the size of a house. James then decides to go in the peach and he meet a bunch of new friends. There is a grasshopper, a centipede, a ladybug, and others. These come to life and are able to communicate with James and they become his best friends. When the stem is broken and the beach starts to roll away, James' adventures begin. The peach rolls all the way to New York city where they are welcomed with a parade. In New York City each of James' friends live a life of wealth and success. enticed becomes the Vice-president of a boot and shoe company, silkworm and spider start a weaving company, grasshopper becomes a member of the symphony, glow work becomes a light inside the statue of liberty and ladybug marries the head of the fire department. James who once had no friends, now has friends all over the world from misadventure.
The theme remains insistent throughout the story and the setting is believable. It takes place in real cities with real people, however the peach grows and bugs come to life. James is the main character who is relatable to students. He has few friends and lives with family members who he doesn't really like. Also this book could be relatable to students who get bored at home and want to take a fun adventure. The fantasy elements are consistent throughout the story. This book uses animal fantasy because the bugs come to life. This is a classic novel that will be on my classroom's bookshelf someday.
Classroom activities and lesson plans include:
Lessons on parts of plants
Lessons on different types of insects
Lessons on various cities that the peach travels to
Title: The One and Only Ivan
Author: Katherine Applegate
Illustrated by: Patricia Castelao
# of pages: 320 (This is about a second to third grade book, there are pictures and larger print)
Published by: Harper Collins 1st Edition
Award won: Newberry Medal 2013 and a New York Times Best Seller
Loosely
based off of a true story, The One and
Only Ivan takes place at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. Locked
up in small domains, or cages, Ivan and Stella have not had interaction with
other animals of their individual species for years. Humans come and go every
day staring at them, through the class, yet little attention is paid to the
treatment of the animals. Ivan is a silverback gorilla who is misunderstood by
humans. He is a very smart and is an artist.
Stella is an elephant that lives at
the circus with Ivan. Throughout their time at the Circus at Exit 8 they have
become best friends. There is one other member of the clan named Bob, who is a
stray dog. Bob does not have a home, however he often sleeps in Ivan’s domain
on top of Ivan’s stomach. Bob was Ivan’s first close friend at the circus;
together they shared each other’s warmth, company, and friendship. When Stella
begins to grow old and the circus starts suffering financially, owner Mack
decides to bring in a new animal, hoping to attract more crowds. A baby
elephant named Ruby becomes the newest member of the family.
Stella, Ivan, Ruby, and Bob together
keep each other company. At nights they talk and comfort each other to sleep by
telling stories and jokes. Near the end of Stella’s life, Ivan makes a promise
to her saying he always take care of Ruby and to do his best to gain a better
life for the both of them. After Stella’s death, this promise is heavy on
Ivan’s heart. He decides to use his art to try and get a message across to the
humans.
Owner Mack would often give Ivan art
supplies, however it was never enough. George works at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall
and Video Arcade cleaning and doing maintenance work at night. His wife is ill,
however their family desperately needed money to live off of. George brings his
daughter Julia along with him to work. While she is there, she does her
homework, however, she often rushes through it so she can spend time with the
animals or drawing. Julia and Ivan have a special connection because she is an
artist too. Julia is one of the few people who can actually understand what
Ivan’s paintings are supposed to be. The night when Julia gave Ivan her extra
finger-paints everything changed.
Ivan was on a mission to fulfill his
promise to Stella. He noticed that humans paid so much attention to the large
bulletin board outside on the freeway, and he wanted to make his own. He
remembered Stella describing to him how wonderful it would be to live in a zoo
rather than a circus. In a zoo they would have enough food and room to play and
be free. Ivan’s goal was to get Ruby out of the circus, and into a zoo. With
financial struggles, Mack’s demands increased. Mack ordered for more artwork
from Ivan to make more money. Ivan would paint for Mack in the day and for
Stella at night.A main theme in the
book is that humans waste their words, it was very hard for Ivan to learn how
to use, spell, and even understand the meaning of words, but he knew he needed
to words in order to communicate with humans.
After countless hours of work, Ivan
shared his hidden masterpiece with Julia. George and Julia spent all night
putting it together and trying to determine it’s meaning. It was a large puzzle
the size of a billboard capturing a picture of Ruby in a zoo; the picture also
had the word “home” written on it. George and Julia shared this with the public
causing people to become upset and protestors to fight for the fair treatment
of circus animals. Things were about to change.
This book is an emotional
rollercoaster that touched on many difficult topics including animal cruelty,
illness, death, grieving, family heritage, financial suffrage, friendships, and
saying goodbye to someone you love. In the end, the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and
Video Arcade was closed down and both Ivan and Ruby were moved to the zoo.
George was able to get a job at the same zoo where Ruby and Ivan were. George
and Julia adopted Bob. Now they all are living in an environment where they are
properly taken care.
Watch the book trailer below:
There are so many possible classroom activities for this amazing book! Here are some ideas for lessons:
Teach about mountain gorillas
Do a unit on art and different artists…especially Picasso because that becomes one of Ivan's nick names.
Teach students about fair treatment of animals
Lessons can be taught on similes and metaphors, because they are used often throughout the book.
Some Classroom Project Ideas Include:
Get a stuffed gorilla, and have each student take him home for one day to be a zoo keeper. They have to introduce Ivan the gorilla to their own domain and habitat and then share their expanse with the class and write about it in their writer's notebook
Have students make a family tree, this allows them to look back at who their ancestors are and where they came from.
Students could make a bookmark at the beginning of the unit. They could decorate the bookmark according to the theme of the book, draw pictures of the characters or setting, and use it in their writer's notebook to keep track of what page they're on. They can add to it throughout the unit
Character Characteristics Images: instead of using a venn diagram, pass out clipart of each animal that is a character in the story and have students gradually add characteristics and words or phrases or images inside that character that makes them unique from other characters. Then hand out a picture of a circus tent, and in this picture students will write what all of these characters have in common
Teach students who Jane Goodall is and ask students if they would either like to donate/raise money to adopt a chimp on her website, we could name it after our class. Another option is to have students write letters to Jane Goodall asking her their questions.
Perform art throughout the unit that resembles that of ivan's and other mentioned illustrators
Have students illustrate a story board
Just for Fun: Here is a picture of the real Ivan the gorilla!
