Refugee by Alan Gratz (historical/realistic fiction, grades 5-8)
Could you survive in extreme conditions? In this beautifully written book, there are three stories of three different families trying to escape different countries in three different decades. Josef and his Jewish family live in Germany in the 1930's. His dad is kidnapped by the Nazis and soon they will all get thrown into concentration camps if they don't escape. They board a ship of refugees headed for Cuba but trouble is brewing. Isabel and her family live in Cuba in 1994. There is rioting and little food to eat. When her father is threatened to be thrown into prison, Isabel's family joins a neighboring family on their little, homemade boat and try to sail to Florida. They encounter storms, sharks, and a sinking boat. Mahmoud and his family live in Syria in 2015 where there is constant fighting and bombings. When the front wall of their apartment building is blown away from a bomb, they must flee with little more than the clothes on their back. The family travels by cars, buses, boats, and on foot as they try to make their way north to Germany, one of the few countries accepting Syrian refugees. Their journey is very dangerous as they pass through unsettled areas. All three stories come together in the end in this heart-wrenching but powerful book. Readers will learn what it really means to be a refugee. They will learn why families are sometimes forced to leave their homes and what perils they must go through to survive the journey to a new country. Refugee comes out on July 25, 2017 and I hope many will read it!
In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives by Kenneth C. Davis (nonfiction, grades 6-12)
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Andrew Jackson are considered America's Founding Fathers and they all fought for freedom for the United States. Unfortunately, they did not feel that the same freedom extended to their slaves. This book tells the stories of five of their enslaved persons: Billy Lee, Ona Judge, Isaac Granger, Paul Jennings, and Alfred Jackson. In this book, we learn about the home lives of the four presidents, how they fought for freedom, and how they fought to keep their slaves. More importantly, in this book we learn about the five enslaved persons. We get a glimpse into what their lives were like, how slavery could tear apart families, and their complicated relationships with the presidents. In the Shadow of Liberty contains photographs, illustrations, and timelines as it tells the interesting, but unattractive, side of four of our great presidents.
The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown (nonfiction graphic novel, grades 3-8)
Imagine that there is so much dust that it gets everywhere in your house, even in the food that you eat! What if there were huge dust storms that were so thick, people and animals became lost or, even worse, suffocated? What if these dusty conditions and the dust storms (sometimes more than 70 per year) lasted for TEN years? All of this happened during the 1930's "Dirty Thirties". In this book, the author first explains the conditions that made the Dust Bowl possible. Then, he tells what life was like during this very difficult time in our country's history. There is a lot of information packed into this smaller book but the illustrations in this graphic novel are what really bring it to life. Through the illustrations, I could really get a sense of what it was like during this time period. The Great American Dust Bowl would be a perfect book to use when studying the 1930's and would pair nicely with Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. Many students will also pick this very accessible book up on their own to read. Finally, one maker activity idea would be to have students design something that would help to keep the dust out of the house (or an area of the house).
Lots of heavy reading this week! Now for a lighter topic...
Lots of heavy reading this week! Now for a lighter topic...
Things to Do by Elaine Magliaro (poetry picture book, grades PK-3)
What are things that you have to do? Wake up? Eat? Play? In this unique picture book, the author uses poetry to present things that different objects, such as the honeybee, the sky, the rain, and boots, do. Here are two examples from the book:
"Things to do if you are BIRDS
Go find your breakfast.
It's strewn across the lawn.
Better come get it
before it's all gone!"
and
"Things to do if you are BOOTS
Splish in puddles.
Splash on the walk.
Make the Fallen
raindrops talk."
The illustrations are muted watercolors and show the child looking at/thinking about each object as it's presented. This beautiful picture book is perfect to read aloud to children and would be great for introducing point of view. Students could think of their own object and then write a poem from that object's point of view.
Happy Reading!
