A Corner of the Universe, Ann Martin

A Corner of the Universe, Ann Martin

Martin, Ann. A Corner Of The Universe. New York: Scholastic, 2004. Print.

Twelve year old Hattie is growing up in the 1960's, a time where obscure family dynamics were often denied. Hattie leads a fairly average life with her parents who run a boarding house, until her Uncle Adam (twenty-one years old) moves in with her grandparents because the school for the mentally ill that he was sent to had shut down. Adam is schizophrenic and autism tendencies that test the family's limits, but Hattie takes to him almost immediately; she understands him when the rest of the adults in her life do not. A tragic ending to the story leaves Hattie speaking words beyond her years that urge the listeners to go out and live life with a passion.





Electronic Resources:

Discussion Questions
This a great link from Scholastic for educators, as it includes discussion questions to discuss with students concerning setting, characters, theme, etc.

Getting to Know Ann Martin
This page provides biographical information on Ann Martin, including frequently asked questions and video interviews. A fabulous opportunity to create connections between the author and her novel. Ann is noted for her Babsitter's Club Series that many students may have been exposed to.

Teaching Suggestions:

Key Vocabulary:

mental illness
autism
schizophrenia  
denial
boarding
infatuation
deceive

Before Reading:
 Encourage students to think about what it would mean for them if a family member they did not know existed showed up in their life. Would they be excited? Or would they be upset and shy? Why would a family choose to deny another member? Is this acceptable or unacceptable, and why?

Responding to the Text:
Ask students to reflect in their on what it was about Hattie that made it so she was able to relate to her Uncle Adam so well. What qualities did she exhibit? What is significant about these qualities? Ask students to think and reflect on what may have happened for Adam had Hattie not been a part of his life. Encourage students to think of someone who has a significant relationship with them. Perhaps it is a family member or a friend. How are their relationships similar or different from Hattie's relationship with Adam?

 

Feathers, Jaqueline Woodson

 Feathers, Jacqueline Woodson


Woodson, Jacqueline. Feathers. Chicago: Speak, 2010. Print.

Frannie is growing up in the 1970's in a world where blacks and whites did not intermingle. Frannie attends a school where the majority of the students are black. The balance tips when there is a new student who is not only white, but has long hair--and resembles Jesus. This becomes his nickname and many students reject him. Frannie's family believes and follows the bible, and Frannie empathizes with Jesus because she knows what it is like to new to some place too. When she finds out that he knows sign language, she develops a bit of kinship with the newcomer. Frannie learns that through hope and faith, one can see past the differences that unfortunately set people apart.






Electronic Resources:

Jacqueline's Website 
 This link will bring readers to Jacqueline's website where she discusses her reasons for writing the books that she has, as well as frequently asked questions, and her biography.

Reading Group Pamphlet 
This link can direct educators to a pamphlet that can assist in getting reading groups jump started. The pamphlet includes discussion questions for Feathers, as well as other novels written by Jacqueline.


Teaching Suggestions:

Key Vocabulary:

bilingual blasphemy corduroy cornrows Depression draft

fangy flinched formal Good Samaritan goulash graffiti greens

kink metaphor nonfiction overpass pea coat

pockmarks ricochet segregation signing surreal thriving translate

Before Reading:
Activate students' prior knowledge of segregation and civil rights. This may be an opportunity to bring up some of the big events of the time to assist students in creating the proper set of mind when they navigate the text of Feathers.  

Response to the Text:
Ask students to thoughtfully consider the perspectives of Frannie and Samantha concerning their new classmate. What events or ideals influenced those perspectives and why?  It is important for students to utilize evidence in the text to support their response. Students can reflect on what their opinion would have been had they been classmates of Frannie and Samantha.

The Popularity Papers, Amy Ignatow

The Popularity Papers, Amy Ignatow

Ignatow, Amy. The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang. New York: Amulet Books, 2010. Print.

Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang are in their last year of elementary school before they get to junior high. Currently, their social status could use some improving, and the girls venture to understand what makes the popular girls, popular. Lydia cannot draw very well and writes in blue cursive, while the majority of the drawings are drawn by Julie. The girls learn the do's and don't's of boys, and even take on a new sport together. Their journal ultimately splits the girls apart, only to bring them back together again.




Electronic Resources:

Interacting with the Popularity Pages on Facebook 
Here, the graphic novel, The Popularity Pages, has its own Facebook page that is guided by the author. Readers can follow her traveling as an author, and the traveling of The Popularity Pages.

Amy Ignatow's Blog
Here, readers and fans can further follow Amy Ignatow's traveling. Her blog is a bit more on the personal side than her Facebook, and readers may appreciate seeing this side of an author of such a popular book among youth.

Teaching Suggestions:

During Reading:
 Encourage students to take note of the girls' behavior that leads them in disarray. Is one friend more wrong than the other? As they are making note of this, they should be gathering evidence in the text and graphics to support their thoughts.

Response to the Text:
Ask students to create their own mini-version of The Popularity Pages. Perhaps this can consist of three to four journal entries that comment on day to day activities that also include graphics to go along with the entries, similar to Amy Ignatow. Encourage students to think about how the graphics can help a reader become more engaged with the story and understand it better.


 
  

Who Will Tell My Brother? Marlene Carvell

Who Will Tell My Brother? Marlene Carvell

Carvell, Marlene. Who Will Tell My Brother. Burbank: Disney Pr, 2004. Print.

Through lyrical, free verse poetry, Evan Hill demonstrates his objection to having an "Indian" as the school's mascot--a crusade that had begun with his older brother. Evan visits the board every month to see to it that it is removed, but to no avail. During graduation, when the Indian banner became displayed, individuals in the audience took place in a silent protest as they sympathized with Evan. Evan learns a great deal about courage and perseverance.








Electronic Resources:

About the Author 
Readers can gain the back story of Marlene Carvell, and how she came about her writing of Who Will Tell My Brother?

Article on Ending Racial Bigotry 
This is a news article found on nativenews.org that may spark the interest of the students as they research the debates that take place concerning offensive mascots.

Teaching Suggestions:

Key Vocabulary:

alienation
offensive
mascot
intolerance
stereotype
ignorance
determined
methodically
urgently
prejudice
humiliation


Before Reading:
Take some time to review some current cases regarding the removal of particular mascots. Discuss the obstacles one would have to face to change something that has been around "forever." Is it worth the pain and suffering along the way?

Responding to the Text:
Encourage students to write their own poem about something they would like to change or in response to Evan's poetry. Ask students to share their poems with the class if they wish, and compare and contrast similar and different themes that exist in the students' poetry.  

Sand Dollar Summer, Kim Jones

 Sand Dollar Summer,  Kim Jones

Jones, Kimberly K.. Sand Dollar Summer. New York: Aladdin, 2008. Print.


Children's Choice List.



Annalise is twelve years old when a car accident severely injures her mother. Her mother's recuperation rests on moving Annalise and you little brother, Free, to the coast of Maine where Annalise has her first encounters with the ocean. As Annalise struggles to adapt to her new life, she befriends the elderly man, Ben, who takes her under his wing and teachers her about the ocean, and some life lessons too. Annalise's character undergoes some changes during this emotionally turbulent summer.


 Electronic Resources:


FAQs
A list of readers' frequently asked questions of Kim Jones concerning her novel, Sand Dollar Summer. This page also provides the opportunity for readers to submit their own questions to the author.


Author Bio
Provides a brief biography of Kimberly Jones, as well as a few additional links that can extend further research of the author.

Teaching Suggestions:

Key Vocabulary:

mutism
experience
attention
recovery
recuperation
announced
immediately
tides
apologize

During Reading:
Encourage students to take some time to write a letter to Annalise at a point in the book where she is struggling to understand a life lesson or her mother. Ask them to tell her what they would do if they were in her shoes.

Responding to the Text:
Ask students to reflect in their journals on the Annalise's role in her family and how that role changed or adjusted with her stay in Maine. How does her relationship with Free affect her relationship with her mother? They should use evidence from the text to support their opinion(s) on Annalise's role.
 

Counting on Grace, Elizabeth Winthrop

 Counting on Grace, Elizabeth Winthrop

Winthrop, Elizabeth. Counting on Grace. New York: Yearling, 2007. Print.

Children's Choice List.

Grace is twelve years old, growing up in 1910, the era of the textile mills--and child labor. Grace desperately wants to help her mother at the mill, but the task requires a worker to be right handed, and unfortunately, Grace is left handed. She works at it, but also makes mistakes that have consequences for her and her family. But on Sundays, Grace and her friend, Arthur have special lessons from their teacher. Together, they write a letter to the Child Labor Board. An undercover enters Grace's town in order to collect evidence for the board. Grace's brief relations with this investigator and the photos he took truly change the Grace thinks of herself, as well as her family's future.


Electronic Resources:

An Interview with Elizabeth Winthrop 
This link will bring readers to a transcription of an interview with Elizabeth Winthrop concerning Counting on Grace. Winthrop reflects on the girl who represents the book and how the pictures similar to this became circulating about; the photo on the cover one was once on a stamp in 1998. The Q & A with Winthrop will shed some light on much of the implicit meaning behind her novel.


Teacher's Guide
Provides a great deal of additional electronic resources for teachers who want to extend the learning of the historical context of Counting on Grace for students to make further connections with the real story within in the historical fiction.

Teaching Suggestions:

Key Vocabulary:

anonymous boast brindle bureau certification commotion conjure cringe disturbance

doff droning drudgery feeble gravelly hasty kerosene lantern menace muddle

notion overseer peevish pinafore portly prattle precise premise puny roving

scribe shiver solemn stupefied temporarily torment wringer

 

 Before Reading:
Ask students to discuss what they know about immigration today and about people who are seeking jobs. What age requirements for work are established today? Encourage them to keep this discussion in mind when navigating mill life with Grace.

Responding to the Text:
 In response to Counting on Grace, ask students to reflect on the characters in the novel using the following questions in their journals: Which other character in the story is Grace most like? Which character is most different? Why? Which character has the most empathy for Grace, and why is this significant?

The Cat With The Yellow Star, Elizabeth Winthrop

The Cat with the Yellow Star, Susan Goldman Rubin

Rubin, Susan Goldman, and Ela Weissberger. The Cat With The Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin. New York: Holiday House, 2008. Print.

Rubin collaborated with Ela Weissberger to write the true story of a young girl, Ela, who was transported to the concentration camp, Terezin, in Czechoslovakia. Of the 10,632 children who were brought there, only 4,096 survived, and Ela was one of them. In room 28, she made friends through art and music. The children performed in the opera, Brundibar, where Ela got to play the important role of the cat, and for once, did not have to where the yellow star that labeled her as a Jew. Narrated with pictures from the time period really bring this story to life.


Electronic Resources:

An Educator's Guide 
This link directs you a .pdf file that is an educator's guide for navigating The Cat with the Yellow Star when reading it with students; it also includes historical context, as a guide.

CBS News: How the Nazis Conned the World
This link brings readers to the news article that examined the opera, Brundibar, in 2007. The article discusses the exploitation of the children that participated in the opera; Ela Weissberger was one of them. This article is an extension from the text, and may answer any lingering questions.


Teaching Suggestions:

Key Vocabulary:

biography
holocaust
concentration camp
Judaism
exploit
memoir
Czechoslovakia
Terezin
barracks

 Before Reading:
Activate students' prior knowledge concerning World War II and the holocaust. Ask students what they already know, and if they have any questions that will most likely be answered during the reading of the text. Assist students in locating  Czechoslovakia on the map in comparison to the other European countries. Encourage students to do any "pre-research" to help them make connections between the text and the holocaust.

Responding to the Text:
In partners or small groups, have students discuss other books that they have read that have been about survivors, similar to Ela. Encourage groups to examine the qualities of a survivor and what makes Ela similar to others that they have read about. After the groups disperse, ask individuals to reflect on the discussion as they consider their personal thoughts and the thoughts of their peers in response to The Cat with the Yellow Star.