Posts filed under ‘nonfiction’
15. Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine
Retell: This is the true story of Henry “Box” Brown. After his family was sold to another plantation, Henry decides to escape to freedom via the postal service.
Topics: underground railroad, slavery, perseverance
Units of Study: Nonfiction, Content-Area Reading and Writing, Historical Fiction
Tribes: personal best
Reading Skills: inference, emapthy
Writing Skills: incorporating symbolism, using setting details
My thoughts: I can see why this won a Caldecott Award. The illustrations by Kadir Nelson are larger than life. What’s nice about this book, as well as many biographies written for young readers, is its author’s note. Reading both the story and the author’s note is a nice way to compare narrative and expository nonfiction. Though Henry’s Freedom Box is a biography, I could also see reading this book during a unit on historical fiction to examine how an author tucks in historical details.
13. A Dandelion’s Life by John Himmelman (The Nature Upclose Series)
Retell: John Himmelman tells the life story, from seed to bloom, of the unappreciated dandelion.
Topics: dandelions, flowers, life cycle, narrative nonfiction
Units of Study: Nonfiction, Content-Area Reading and Writing
Reading Skills: prediction, determining importance, monitoring for sense
Writing Skills: incorporating transitional phrases, including text features
My Thoughts: A Dandelion’s Life is but one of several narrative nonfiction books in the Nature Upclose Series. After reading this book I had a new appreciation for the dandelion. This is a decent, simple example of narrative nonfiction that could be used as a mentor text during the Content-Area Reading and Writing unit. If you’re a fourth grade teacher in New York, you will be pleased with how well this book could align with the Science unit: Food Chains and Life Cycles. Our fourth grade team is considering aligning that Science unit with the Content-Area Reading and Writing units, making A Dandelion’s Life a perfect read aloud fit. The illustrations don’t just exclusively feature the dandelion. Throughout the narrative butterflies, snakes, fireflies, birds and crickets make appearances. I can envision readers using the illustrations to envision the habitat of each creature. I think I’m going to keep my eye out for more books in this series.
Teachable Texts 