Please post your book share here, including: 1) Title, author, year of publication 2) Appropriate grade level(s) 2) A brief summary of the book (you don't need to include your lesson ideas)
Title: A Band of Angels Author: Deborah Hopkinson Illustrator: Raul Colon Year of Publication: 1999 Grade Level: 2-4
Summary: This book is a about an African American woman that is telling her niece about a story that her great-great-grandmother was involved in. Her aunt tells the story of how they were sent to Slavery, but then after the Civil War, slavery ended, yet there was still segregation in the schools. There was only one school that allowed African Americans, it was called Fisk School. She did everything to save money to go to this school. After lots of hard work, she had only made six dollars, which would only pay for three weeks of school. So after she went to the school, she continued the hard work to stay there. The school got really old and they could not hold school in it anymore unless they rebuilt the school. To raise money, Ella and the choir went to the Northern states to sing and make money to rebuild the school. The group got turned away from restaurants a lot because their skin color was black. When they sang traditional, popular white songs, the crowds were not that interested. So one day, Ella tried singing one of the old songs that she remembered from her family. When she did this, the whole audience loved it and wanted more. The people loved these songs, called jubilees, or spirituals. It meant a time of hope and freedom that kept people wanting more. The choir ended up singing all over the United States and Europe for major leaders, such as President Grant and Queen Victoria in England. They made enough money to create a Fisk University as well, and there is a Fisk Hall at this school to this day. The niece of the narrator of this story said that she wanted to go to school and get educated in honor of her great-great-grandma that went through so many hardships to go to school.
Title: This is the Dream Authors: By Diane Shore & Jessica Alexander Illustrator: James Randsome Year of Publication:2006 Grade Level:3-5
Summary: "This is a Dream" is a picture book about the civil rights movement. It explains and shows its readers that not so long ago, the United States did not support free rights to all of its citizens. The country was unfair to people of color and each page shows examples of this; people of color had to use different drinking fountains, they weren’t allowed in many restaurants, they weren’t allowed to attend the same schools as whites, and they had to sit in the back of public buses. At the end of the book it shows how much we have grown and how working together is better for everyone. This book has wonderful, colorful illustrations and the message is important.
Title: “The Ballot Box Battle” Author: Emily Arnold McCully Illustrator: Emily Aronold McCully Year of Publication: 1996 Grade Levels: 3-5 Summary: This story tells the tale of Elizabeth Cady Stanton through the eyes of her neighbor. Her neighbor was a little girl named Cordelia. Elizabeth Cady Stanton allows Cordelia to feed her horse and Elizabeth tells Cordelia many stories. Mrs. Stanton tells Cordelia of her brother Eleazur and how he had passed away when she was younger. Mrs. Stanton goes on to say that her father wished that she was a boy and that since her father had said that, she had challenged herself to make his wish come true. Mrs. Stanton is very active in the women's suffrage movement and takes Cordelia with her to the town hall where she tries to vote. Cordelia sees the negative way women are treated and goes to show everyone that women are equal.
Title: Rosa Author: Nikki Giovanni Illustrator: Bryan Collier Grade Level: 2nd grade Publication Date: 2005 Summary: This book gives a brief story of Rosa Parks and how she became a known leader in the battle for segregation. It briefly mentions some of the other events and leaders of the Civil Rights Movement but focuses on Rosa Park's bus incident as a major event that changed history.
Title: Pioneer Life A-Z Author:Bobbie Kalman Year:2001 Grade Level: 1-4
Summary: This book is about pioneer life using the alphabet. Each letter represents another aspect of pioneer life. It talks about the food they ate, the clothes they wore, and activities they participated in. This book lends itself to a number of activities. You can have your class make a quilt, churn butter, or recreate the village in which the pioneers lived.
Title: Number the Stars Author: Lois Lowry Year of Publication: 1989 Grade Level: 5+
Summary: This book is about two friends, Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen. Both girls are average 10 year olds growing up in Denmark in 1943 during the Holocaust. Annemarie Johansen is part of the events surrounding the rescue of the Danish Jews. Annemarie and her family risk their lives to help Ellen Rosen, who is Jewish, by pretending that she is Annemarie's older sister who died earlier in the war. The novel is full of action and is very powerful and thought provoking. The themes of Number the Stars are growing up, being brave, and standing up for what is right.
Title: I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl Author: Joyce Hansen Year of Publication: 1997
This book is a chapter book that would be good to use with fourth or fifth grade. It takes place during the end of the Civil War and is considered historical fiction. It is set up like a journal written by a 12-year-old African American girl who is a newly freed slave. She was mistakenly taught by her master’s children how to read and write. Even though the slaves are “free”, they are still on the plantation essentially doing what they did before the war ended. However, soldiers from the North are monitoring the plantation owners and telling them they must now pay their freed slaves wages and provide some sort of teacher for them. Patsy’s master does start giving the slaves some sort of wage but a teacher really does not come. Patsy begins to teach the children what she knows and becomes like a teacher to these other children and even some adults. The whole story explains how different historical events took place from her point of view. At the end of the book, there is a historical note that explains more about the historical events that tie into this book. There are also pictures, and examples of songs or poems that were around during the period.
Title: On Mother's Lap Author: Ann Herbet Scott Illustrator: Glo Coalson Year of Publication: 1992 Grade Level: 1-3
Summary: This story can help many children confront a variety of issues that they may be experiencing at home. It shows a single parent family that is poor. On Mother’s Lap is about a little boy who always sits on his mother’s lap when he is lonely. Sometimes he brings his stuffed animals and a blanket, but at the end, his little sister started to cry. He became nervous because he thought that he would not be able to sit on his mother’s lap anymore, but she told her son that there will always be room for him on her lap.
Title: The Mozart Question Author: Michael Morpurgo Publication: 2008 Grade Level: 3rd and up Summary: A journalist is given the chance of a lifetime when she is told to fly to Italy and interview Paolo Levi, a shy but world-renowned musician. Her only restriction is to not ask “The Mozart Question.” Unaware of what that means, the journalist opens her interview by stating she is not allowed to ask this. Levi is taken by her honesty and ends up revealing his life story. Levi discusses his stealth musical training with Benjamin, who later turns out to be an old family friend from the Nazi concentration camps. Levi’s parents reveal that they, along with Benjamin, stayed alive because they could play instruments for the officers. Mozart was played so often that Levi’s father swore to never play again after leaving the camps. With his father’s approval, Levi went on to become a sensational musician. However, Levi never played anything by Mozart until his father died. At which time he decided to “play it so well that he will love it, they will all love it, wherever they are” (66). This rich text integrates several social studies themes, such as history, the Holocaust, geography, Jewish culture, music as a language and survival. There are many other sub-themes that could come from these topics, as this text touches upon so much.
Title: It's Okay to Be Different Author/Illustrator: Tood Parr Year of Publication: 2001 Grade Level: K-3 Summary: This book describes situations in which people can be different. For example, it says, "It's okay to be angry, it's okay to have two moms, it's okay to come in last," ect. It basically enables children to feel comfortable and safe with their differences.
Title: Martin's Big Words Author: Doreen Rappaport Year of Publication: 2001 Grade Level: 4-6
Summary: This book is a brief summary about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and his dreams and achievements. It starts when he was a child and the world was confusing to him because of blacks and whites being separated. He grew up to be a minister and follow in his fathers footsteps. It is about Dr. King never letting go of his dream for equal rights for all American people. On several pages, there are quotes from Dr. King. These quotes are enough to tell a story on their own. The story continues on and discusses the years and years he spent trying and never giving up on his dream of equality. After his house was bombed, death threats, people being murdered, beat up, and put to jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. never stopped working. He “had a dream” and after many years of protest, his dream became a reality. Sadly, his work and life were ended tragically when he was shot while protesting in Memphis Tennessee. Although Dr. King’s life had been taken away, his words have lived on.
1) What To Do About Pollution, Anne Shelby, 1993 2) K-8 (Has concepts that can be talked about in the upper grades) 3) A picture-book guide to contemporary issues explains how young children can become involved in stopping pollution, aiding the hungry and homeless, and lending a helping hand. A very simple look at such problems as pollution, hunger, and loneliness and what can be done about them.
1) What To Do About Pollution, Anne Shelby, 1993 2) K-8 (Has concepts that can be talked about in the upper grades) 3) A picture-book guide to contemporary issues explains how young children can become involved in stopping pollution, aiding the hungry and homeless, and lending a helping hand. A very simple look at such problems as pollution, hunger, and loneliness and what can be done about them.
Title: I Have a Dream Author: Dr. Martin Luther King, JR. Foreword by: Coretta Scott King. Year of Publication: 1997 Grade Level 3-12
Summary:This book contains each word spoken on August 28, 1963 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On each page there is a picture “that demonstrates the beauty of his dream and the beliefs that motivated his life and leader ship” (from the foreword by Coretta Scott King in the book). This speech is one that is never leaves the history textbooks. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached to America that as a country we must view every person, no matter shape, size, color, gender, as equal. The Civil Rights Movement is a benchmark in American history because it shows change. Change is an action that America has been thriving for many centuries and especially because of Abraham Lincoln approving the Emancipation Proclamation. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as thousands of other Americans fought for equality, and now sixty years later America has changed.
17 comments:
Title: A Band of Angels
Author: Deborah Hopkinson
Illustrator: Raul Colon
Year of Publication: 1999
Grade Level: 2-4
Summary: This book is a about an African American woman that is telling her niece about a story that her great-great-grandmother was involved in. Her aunt tells the story of how they were sent to Slavery, but then after the Civil War, slavery ended, yet there was still segregation in the schools. There was only one school that allowed African Americans, it was called Fisk School. She did everything to save money to go to this school. After lots of hard work, she had only made six dollars, which would only pay for three weeks of school. So after she went to the school, she continued the hard work to stay there. The school got really old and they could not hold school in it anymore unless they rebuilt the school. To raise money, Ella and the choir went to the Northern states to sing and make money to rebuild the school. The group got turned away from restaurants a lot because their skin color was black. When they sang traditional, popular white songs, the crowds were not that interested. So one day, Ella tried singing one of the old songs that she remembered from her family. When she did this, the whole audience loved it and wanted more. The people loved these songs, called jubilees, or spirituals. It meant a time of hope and freedom that kept people wanting more. The choir ended up singing all over the United States and Europe for major leaders, such as President Grant and Queen Victoria in England. They made enough money to create a Fisk University as well, and there is a Fisk Hall at this school to this day. The niece of the narrator of this story said that she wanted to go to school and get educated in honor of her great-great-grandma that went through so many hardships to go to school.
Title: This is the Dream
Authors: By Diane Shore & Jessica Alexander
Illustrator: James Randsome
Year of Publication:2006
Grade Level:3-5
Summary: "This is a Dream" is a picture book about the civil rights movement. It explains and shows its readers that not so long ago, the United States did not support free rights to all of its citizens. The country was unfair to people of color and each page shows examples of this; people of color had to use different drinking fountains, they weren’t allowed in many restaurants, they weren’t allowed to attend the same schools as whites, and they had to sit in the back of public buses. At the end of the book it shows how much we have grown and how working together is better for everyone. This book has wonderful, colorful illustrations and the message is important.
Title: “The Ballot Box Battle”
Author: Emily Arnold McCully
Illustrator: Emily Aronold McCully
Year of Publication: 1996
Grade Levels: 3-5
Summary: This story tells the tale of Elizabeth Cady Stanton through the eyes of her neighbor. Her neighbor was a little girl named Cordelia. Elizabeth Cady Stanton allows Cordelia to feed her horse and Elizabeth tells Cordelia many stories. Mrs. Stanton tells Cordelia of her brother Eleazur and how he had passed away when she was younger. Mrs. Stanton goes on to say that her father wished that she was a boy and that since her father had said that, she had challenged herself to make his wish come true. Mrs. Stanton is very active in the women's suffrage movement and takes Cordelia with her to the town hall where she tries to vote. Cordelia sees the negative way women are treated and goes to show everyone that women are equal.
Title: Rosa
Author: Nikki Giovanni
Illustrator: Bryan Collier
Grade Level: 2nd grade
Publication Date: 2005
Summary: This book gives a brief story of Rosa Parks and how she became a known leader in the battle for segregation. It briefly mentions some of the other events and leaders of the Civil Rights Movement but focuses on Rosa Park's bus incident as a major event that changed history.
Title: Leah’s Pony
Author: Elizabeth Friedrich
Illustrated by: Michael Garland
Year of Publication: 1996
Grade Level: 3-4
Summary: Leah’s Pony is about a young girl named Leah who experiences the effect of the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s on her farm and family.
Title: Pioneer Life A-Z
Author:Bobbie Kalman
Year:2001
Grade Level: 1-4
Summary: This book is about pioneer life using the alphabet. Each letter represents another aspect of pioneer life. It talks about the food they ate, the clothes they wore, and activities they participated in. This book lends itself to a number of activities. You can have your class make a quilt, churn butter, or recreate the village in which the pioneers lived.
Title: Number the Stars
Author: Lois Lowry
Year of Publication: 1989
Grade Level: 5+
Summary: This book is about two friends, Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen. Both girls are average 10 year olds growing up in Denmark in 1943 during the Holocaust. Annemarie Johansen is part of the events surrounding the rescue of the Danish Jews. Annemarie and her family risk their lives to help Ellen Rosen, who is Jewish, by pretending that she is Annemarie's older sister who died earlier in the war. The novel is full of action and is very powerful and thought provoking. The themes of Number the Stars are growing up, being brave, and standing up for what is right.
Title: I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl
Author: Joyce Hansen
Year of Publication: 1997
This book is a chapter book that would be good to use with fourth or fifth grade. It takes place during the end of the Civil War and is considered historical fiction. It is set up like a journal written by a 12-year-old African American girl who is a newly freed slave. She was mistakenly taught by her master’s children how to read and write. Even though the slaves are “free”, they are still on the plantation essentially doing what they did before the war ended. However, soldiers from the North are monitoring the plantation owners and telling them they must now pay their freed slaves wages and provide some sort of teacher for them. Patsy’s master does start giving the slaves some sort of wage but a teacher really does not come. Patsy begins to teach the children what she knows and becomes like a teacher to these other children and even some adults. The whole story explains how different historical events took place from her point of view. At the end of the book, there is a historical note that explains more about the historical events that tie into this book. There are also pictures, and examples of songs or poems that were around during the period.
Title: On Mother's Lap
Author: Ann Herbet Scott
Illustrator: Glo Coalson
Year of Publication: 1992
Grade Level: 1-3
Summary: This story can help many children confront a variety of issues that they may be experiencing at home. It shows a single parent family that is poor. On Mother’s Lap is about a little boy who always sits on his mother’s lap when he is lonely. Sometimes he brings his stuffed animals and a blanket, but at the end, his little sister started to cry. He became nervous because he thought that he would not be able to sit on his mother’s lap anymore, but she told her son that there will always be room for him on her lap.
Title: The Mozart Question
Author: Michael Morpurgo
Publication: 2008
Grade Level: 3rd and up
Summary: A journalist is given the chance of a lifetime when she is told to fly to Italy and interview Paolo Levi, a shy but world-renowned musician. Her only restriction is to not ask “The Mozart Question.” Unaware of what that means, the journalist opens her interview by stating she is not allowed to ask this. Levi is taken by her honesty and ends up revealing his life story. Levi discusses his stealth musical training with Benjamin, who later turns out to be an old family friend from the Nazi concentration camps. Levi’s parents reveal that they, along with Benjamin, stayed alive because they could play instruments for the officers. Mozart was played so often that Levi’s father swore to never play again after leaving the camps. With his father’s approval, Levi went on to become a sensational musician. However, Levi never played anything by Mozart until his father died. At which time he decided to “play it so well that he will love it, they will all love it, wherever they are” (66). This rich text integrates several social studies themes, such as history, the Holocaust, geography, Jewish culture, music as a language and survival. There are many other sub-themes that could come from these topics, as this text touches upon so much.
Title: It's Okay to Be Different
Author/Illustrator: Tood Parr
Year of Publication: 2001
Grade Level: K-3
Summary:
This book describes situations in which people can be different. For example, it says, "It's okay to be angry, it's okay to have two moms, it's okay to come in last," ect. It basically enables children to feel comfortable and safe with their differences.
Title: Martin's Big Words
Author: Doreen Rappaport
Year of Publication: 2001
Grade Level: 4-6
Summary:
This book is a brief summary about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and his dreams and achievements. It starts when he was a child and the world was confusing to him because of blacks and whites being separated. He grew up to be a minister and follow in his fathers footsteps. It is about Dr. King never letting go of his dream for equal rights for all American people. On several pages, there are quotes from Dr. King. These quotes are enough to tell a story on their own. The story continues on and discusses the years and years he spent trying and never giving up on his dream of equality. After his house was bombed, death threats, people being murdered, beat up, and put to jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. never stopped working. He “had a dream” and after many years of protest, his dream became a reality. Sadly, his work and life were ended tragically when he was shot while protesting in Memphis Tennessee. Although Dr. King’s life had been taken away, his words have lived on.
1) What To Do About Pollution, Anne Shelby, 1993
2) K-8 (Has concepts that can be talked about in the upper grades)
3) A picture-book guide to contemporary issues explains how young children can become involved in stopping pollution, aiding the hungry and homeless, and lending a helping hand. A very simple look at such problems as pollution, hunger, and loneliness and what can be done about them.
1) What To Do About Pollution, Anne Shelby, 1993
2) K-8 (Has concepts that can be talked about in the upper grades)
3) A picture-book guide to contemporary issues explains how young children can become involved in stopping pollution, aiding the hungry and homeless, and lending a helping hand. A very simple look at such problems as pollution, hunger, and loneliness and what can be done about them.
Title: I Have a Dream
Author: Dr. Martin Luther King, JR. Foreword by: Coretta Scott King.
Year of Publication: 1997
Grade Level 3-12
Summary:This book contains each word spoken on August 28, 1963 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On each page there is a picture “that demonstrates the beauty of his dream and the beliefs that motivated his life and leader ship” (from the foreword by Coretta Scott King in the book). This speech is one that is never leaves the history textbooks. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached to America that as a country we must view every person, no matter shape, size, color, gender, as equal. The Civil Rights Movement is a benchmark in American history because it shows change. Change is an action that America has been thriving for many centuries and especially because of Abraham Lincoln approving the Emancipation Proclamation. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as thousands of other Americans fought for equality, and now sixty years later America has changed.
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