Posts tagged ‘self-esteem’
45. A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
Retell: Camilla Cream is very worried about what other people think of her. She loves to each lima beans but would never admit that to anyone at school. One day she wakes up covered in stripes. No doctor can cure her, people make fun of her and the media is obsessed with her. In the end her condition improves when she learns to be herself.
Topics: teasing, fitting in, self confidence, first day of school
Units of Study: Talking and Writing About Texts, Character, Social Issues
Tribes: right to pass, mutual respect
Habits of Mind: persisting
Reading Skills: interpretation, synthesis
My Thoughts: A Bad Case of Stripes is a great book for encouraging discussion about the importance of individuality. I think it may also be a good text for modeling how important it is to pay attention to details that may seem small but are actually really important. For example, if the reader passed over the part about Camilla liking lima beans, the ending of the book could be confusing. If you are teaching the Habits of Mind, you could ask students to pay attention to how the doctors and specialists ‘persisted’ when trying to solve the problem.
26. Emily’s Art by Peter Catalanotto
Retell: Emily loves to paint. She enters her painting of her dog Thor in the school art contest. After narrowly losing the contest, Emily vows never to paint again. With her help from her friend Emily realizes that she should continue doing what makes her happy.
Topics: art, contests, friendship, school, painting, self-esteem
Units of Study: Realistic Fiction, Talking and Writing About Texts, Social Issues
Tribes: attentive listening, appreciations, personal best
Reading Skills: inference, making connections, interpretation
My Thoughts: I feel like I’m coming across a lot of books about young artists lately (see post on Ish). I’m a big fan of books with illustrations that not only support the text but enhance it. At the beginning of the book the illustrations of Emily are vivid and opaque. However, as soon as she loses the contest, the illustrations of Emily are transparent, conveying the idea that she feels alone and invisible. Another cool feature about Emily’s Art is how the book begins. It reminds me of the Harry Potter films. The story begins with a scene that draws the reader into the story and then like the opening credits in a movie, the title page appears. I plan on using this book early in the year when we do a lot of community-building. It’s a great book for showing how far appreciations can go.
21. The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake
Retell: Every day students tease Maleeka Madison. Whether it be her good grades, her homemade clothes or her dark skin, it seems like the world is against Maleeka. She does others’ homework in exchange for friendship. That is until Miss Saunders, a new teacher from the business world, challenges Maleeka to think for herself.
Topics: self-esteem, confidence, body image, race, middle school, peer pressure, money issues, assault, clothing, status, taking a stand, arson, bullying
Units of Study: Character, Social Issues, Historical Fiction (Writing), Literary Essay, Talking and Writing About Books
Tribes: appreciations/no put-downs, right to pass
Reading Skills: inference, interpretation, synthesis, making connections
Writing Skills: keeping journals, writing poetry
My Thoughts: This is a fantastic text to read aloud in a middle school classroom. I’m not sure that I would read the text as a whole to everyone in an upper elementary grade classroom. I would encourage certain fifth grade book clubs to read and discuss this book. I plan to read certain sections from this book. For example, Maleeka keeps a journal which she writes from the perspective of an African girl aboard a slave ship. There are several scenes throughout the book where Maleeka’s historical fiction writing parallel’s her own life. This would be a great way to show how writers of historical fiction create characters who struggle with similar issues to their own. This is an excellent cautionary tale detailing what can happen if you refuse to let others force you into situations that you know are wrong.
16. Ish by Peter H. Reynolds
Retell: A young boy loses confidence on his artwork after his brother insults his work.
Topics: art, interests, self esteem, confidence, sibling issues
Units of Study: Realistic Fiction, Launching the Writers Workshop, Character
Tribes: mutual respect, personal best
Reading Skills: inference, making connections
Writing Skills: using a mixture of dialogue and description
My Thoughts: A friend of mine who is an art teacher once told me that between the ages of 8 and 10 many kids give up artistic pursuits. Apparently this age group becomes obsessed with making their art look realistic. Many people, myself included, stopped drawing and painting at this age because they lost confidence in their artistic ability. Ish is a story that addresses this issue in an adorable way. During read aloud students can analzye the role of the narrator’s sister who helps encourage him to recognize the beauty in his work. This book lends itself well to a discussion on personal best. Later in the book, the young artist starts a writers notebook making this a great book to launch classroom writers notebooks.
14. There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom by Louis Sachar
Retell: It is easy to dislike Bradley Chalkers. He beats up other students, lies about everything, and refuses to do his homework. Bradley’s life begins to change when he meets Carla, the school counselor who inspires him to be a gold star student.
Topics: school, counseling, disagreeing, lying, making excuses, power, trust, friendship, homework, imaginary friends, partnerships, fights, confidence, putdowns, name-calling, safety, sibling issues, self-esteem, rewards, gold stars, asking for help, just right books, love of reading, affirmations, trust
Units of Study: Character, Literary Essay, Talking and Writing about Texts
Tribes: mutual respect, appreciations/no putdowns, right to pass, personal best
Reading Skills: inference, interpretation, empathy, making connections, synthesis
My Thoughts: My heart still aches after reading this book. It’s not a depressing book it’s just that I spent the book fearful that Bradley was going to keep digging himself into holes (not literal holes that’s Sachar’s other book). As you can see from this post’s tags, there are so many ways that one could use this book during interactive read aloud. The book lends itself very well to examining character relationships. Many of the secondary characters make significant changes that affect Bradley. I think many students will be able to make connections to Bradley’s complex relationship with his sister, Claudia. Sachar encourages his readers to try and understand the bully rather than demonize him/her. Bradley reminds me of one of my former students. I think I’m going to buy this book and send it to him.
Teachable Texts 