Hello everyone! This morning I did a book talk via Teams with grades 3-5. I am looking forward to doing these book talks every Thursday starting at 8:15.
This week I featured 4 books. I tried to select a variety of books that fits all reading levels, and I thought I did a pretty good job.
My first book was called Dear Deer by Gene Barretta. It is a book of something called Homophones. Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. The following is the synopsis from the back of the book;
Clever Aunt Ant has just moved to the zoo. Speaking in homophones she describes the quirky animal behavior she sees. There's the Moose who loved Mousse and Ate Eight bowls, and the Whale who was Allowed to Wail Aloud - and that's just for starters.
The second book I featured was called The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad. I really enjoyed this book, it is about a girl (Asiya) who wears her hijab for the first time in school it is "the color of the ocean" blue. Her little sister Faizah who absolutely adores her, loves the way she looks in it and is so proud of her. While in school Asiya learns that while her friends love her new hijab not everyone does. This book shows courage, and strength and teaches us that it is ok to be different.
Synopsis from the book; With her new backpack and light-up shoes Faizah knows the first oday of school is going to be special. It's the start of a brand-new year, and best of all, it's her older sister Asiya's first day of hijab - made of fabric of beautiful blue, like the ocean waving to the sky. But not everyone sees hijab as beautiful and in the face of hurtful, confusing words, Faziah will find new ways to be strong.
My third pick was called Great Escapes Journey To Freedom, 1838 by Sherri Winston.
This book is about Courage in the face of racism and danger. Taken from a very different time than we live in now, it is about a lady who escapes slavery to make her way to freedom. The following is the synopsis from the book;
1838-Kentucky. Determined to save her toddler son from being sold as a slave, the woman who became known as Eliza Harris began her long journey to freedom in the dark of night. She trekked through the forest, wild animals on her heels, in the freezing temperatures of winter. Her goal: the Ohio river, the boundary between the North and the South and between slavery and freedom in America. Although she knew the journey would be perilous, she no could longer live nor watch her children be raised in slavery. Eliza paused for a moment on the banks of the treacherous frozen waters in front of her. But she quickly decided she was not going to let fear stop her, especially when a new life-a free life- was just one the other side
My last pick was called Holes by Louis Sachar. When my son was in grade 5 he loved this book and of course loved the movie more.
Synopsis from the book;
Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day, digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes.
It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. but what could be buried under a dried up lake ? Stanley tries to dig u the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment and redemption.