Schema: Ghosts, New Orleans, beignets

 The story is set in New Orleans and is about a family who opens a restaurant that is haunted.  Fred, the ghost is a little timid and all of his attempts to scare people off only make the place more interesting to them.  The main character, Marie, a child of the new owner, figures out a way to make him stay and be happy. They make a messy room for him where he feels at home, and they make a dessert, Powdered Ghosts Puffs, in his honor. The illustrations support the text and will be enjoyed by children especially on Halloween.

Cause and Effect: Because Fred couldn’t have a messy place to stay, the effect was that he was planning to leave.

Because Fred made the food fly around, the effect was that the people in the restaurant liked the atmosphere even more.

Drawing Conclusions: How did Marie draw the conclusion that Fred would stay if they made him his own space?

Text-to-Text Connections: obeying parents

Text-to-Text Connection: Harold and the Purple Crayon

Large font and colorful, but simple drawings make this a super read aloud. The plot sequence lends itself to teaching predicting. A young boy is about to draw when his mother says that no one draws on this particular day, Doodleday. He disobeys and begins to draw a fly which flies off of the page and is huge! He then draws a spider to eat the fly, then a bird to eat the spider. The text-to-text connection with There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly will be noticed.  Young listeners will love the story and art.

Cause and Effect: Because he draws a fly, the effect is that he must draw a spider to eat the fly…

Because he disobeys his mother, the effect is the disasters that occur.

Predicting: What will he draw next? Do you think he will draw on Doodleday next year?

The goose man is Konrad Lorenz, an Austrian born doctor who devoted his life to the study of ethology, an animal behavior involving instinct. This focus of this book is on the his work about geese and how they communicate with different types of honks and how they imprint on the first living creature they see.  Konrad learned how to imitate the goose honks to communicate with them. He had several pets throughout his life, and he won the Nobel Peace Price in 1973. The lively illustrations and amount of text on the page makes this book a very interesting read aloud that students will enjoy.

Author’s purpose: to share information about a famous scientist

Cause and Effect: Because Konrad was the first creature the baby goose saw, the effect is that the goose imprinted on him.

Drawing Conclusions: What conclusions does Konrad draw from observing the geese?

Mental Image: Several remarks are made in the book about the mess the animals made in the house.  Can you make a mental image of what a mess a monkey or a goose inside the house would make?

In this story Buddy notices a strange lizard with a blue tongue under some shelves in the library, and since he doesn’t know what it is, he calls it the “library monster.”  The key to the furnace room at the school is missing, and a light fixture in the school office is on the blink. Buddy is a reading therapy dog, and one of the kids he knows, Maya,  seems upset and  Buddy can tell this  by her smell. With lots of watching, running to see, and talking with a dog who lives near the school, Buddy figures out by listening to Maya read to him that the lizard, a skink,  is what he found in the library, and later learns Maya has been hiding it at school because her mother won’t let her keep it at home. She also took the reptile man’s box of mice, and at one point in the story they were loose in the school. Buddy wishes his people would listen to him, but they never do. If they did, they would know why he was running around and who left the note explaining about the lizard, mice, furnace room mystery.

Cause and Effect: Because Buddy could smell something strange, the effect is that he sought out the skink that was loose in the school.

Drawing Conclusions: Buddy draws some conclusions based on what he knows and makes lists of them during the story.

Inference: A key is missing, and then later we see Maya with a key. We can infer that she has the furnace room key that has been missing.  We can also infer that she is hiding something in this room.

Point of View: The story is told from Buddy’s POV.

Text to text connection: 10 Things I  Can Do to Help My World by Melanie Walsh

D.W., a preschooler, is concerned because she infers that the project Arthur is working on at school is making his hands, and those of her father, and Arthur’s  friend, Buster, turn green. The reader will conclude that it is the paint they are using by carefully looking at the pictures in the book. This is a great story to teach inference to young readers. Once again, with an eagle eye, the reader will find the names, Tolan, Tucker, Isabella, and Skye, Brown’s sons and grandchildren, scattered through the illustrations. This book would be great to pair with a nonfiction book for Earth Day in April.

Inference: D.W. infers the reason that Arthur’s hands are green.

Cause and Effect: Because Arthur is using green paint, the effect is his hands are stained green.

Large colorful illustrations feature an African American preschool aged boy and his mother. Matthew’s mother has a great ears and knows him well. He infers that she may be a super hero and that she may have x-ray vision because she tells him to stop jumping on the bed even when he is upstairs and she is downstairs. He decides to test her and hides in the closet, but while he is hiding a neighbor falls out of her window, and his mom suddenly changes into a Wonder Woman type outfit and flies up and saves her.

Inference: Matthew infers that his mom has superhero characteristics

Drawing Conclusions: What conclusions can the reader draw by looking at clues from the illustrations that lead the reader to conclude that Matthew’s mother is a superhero?

Text-to-text connections: Roald Dahl’s books and humor

Ms. Wiz, a witch, or as she likes to be called a “paranormal operative,” appears to Lizzie in a park and helps her find her lost cat. The story is similar to 101 Dalmatians except the evil woman wants cat fur to make her things. Large font and ink sketches make the book of five short chapters a perfect middle level read. At the end, Ms. Wiz turns all of the evil woman’s fur clothes back into the animals they were made from making her end up naked in her car when the police arrive to arrest her. Just a brief couple of sentences telling this add a bit of juvenile humor that intermediate level readers will enjoy. The author has been compared to Roald Dahl, and I would have to agree. The illustrator has illustrated some of Dahl’s books as well.

Cause and effect: Because Lizzie is so upset, the effect is that she can not concentrate at school.

Characterization: List all of Ms. Wiz’s traits: caring, kind, magical, loyal

Text-to-text: The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Heavy paper for the pages, simple illustrations, and straightforward text combine to create a book young children, especially boys, will enjoy. Tim tells the truth about the unbelievable things that happen in his house and yard, but his parents do not believe him. He then lies and says it was him that did the things, but also gets punished, by having to rake leaves, even though he is innocent. Finally he thinks to write a letter and invite the culprits to his home for a party. His parents make all of them rake, then they have a party. It would be fun to compare with The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Young children will be entertained and enlightened by young Tim.

Compare and Contrast: The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Drawing Conclusions: The parents draw the conclusion that the boy is being dishonest.

Point of View: The story is told from Tim’s POV.

Author’s purpose: to entertain and inform about the depression

Inference: The family was leaving Kansas, but then when the mysterious figure runs in front of the car, it seems that the family didn’t end up leaving Kansas. We may infer that the sudden stop caused the car to break down as we see the father working on the car after that.

Cause and Effect: Because of the drought, the effect is that the economy is depressed and people are out of work.

POV: The story is told from Jack’s POV.

Text-to-text connection: The Wizard of Oz

Text-to-self connection: wanting a parent’s attention

Characterization of Jack: Describe all of Jack’s traits such as his caring for his sisters, his desire to be loved by his father, his longing to help with the farm, his courage to confront the Storm Man and capture the thunder, his manner in dealing with the bullies, and the relationship he has with the Ernie.

Historical Fiction: Times were truly hard for the lack of rain during the 1930′s in Kansas, an area called the “Dust Bowl” because of the dry dusty soil that blew away because of the drought.  In order to survive and grow what feed they could for their cattle, the farmers would have jackrabbit drives, where they would round up the jack rabbits and club them to death.  Most of the rabbits would then be fed to other animals.  The people were afraid to eat them because of jackrabbit fever. The books provides a candid view of what life was like for people during this time period.

Drawing Conclusions: What do you conclude is the reason that Ernie tells Jack the stories he shares with him?

Synthesis: Can you think of another hard time in history where some type of superhero could have changed the harshness to happiness?  What would be the hero’s super powers?

This book is on the Texas Bluebonnet 2011 nominee list, written on a 2.3 AR level, and begins with the curse word “damn.”  Following on into the story the author injected two more “hell’s” and in my personal opinion the curse words were unnecessary.

Genre: traditional literature

Setting: Virginia

Predicting: Predict what young Sam will do when the man comes back with the request to make his wife young again

Character Motivation: What motivates young Sam to charge the man for what the hired hand did?  What motivates him to change at the end?

Compare and Contrast young Sam and old Sam:

Characterization of young Sam: He damaged the saw blades because he didn’t clean the logs first concluding that he is lazy; he cuts the boards unevenly concluding that he is careless; he refuses to sweep the shop concluding that he is again lazy and disrespectful toward his father; he is dishonest and arrogant as he “puts on airs” when he is in charge.

Characterization of old Sam: hardworking and kind

Internal consistency of young Sam’s character: What types of things would you see young Sam doing in the future?

Big Idea or Theme: Work hard and treat people well or trouble will find you.

What evidence supports the conclusion that young Sam learned a lesson?