Brown girl Dreaming

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015

Brown girl Dreaming

By: Jacqueline Woodson- 6-8th grade

Rating- 

Jacqueline Woodson. Brown Girl Dreaming. London: Peguin Random House, 2014, Pages: 336, Reading Level: 6th grade-8th grade, Lexile: 900L, Ages: 12-14, Genre: Autobiography and Informational

She talks about her childhood as an African American in the American Northeast and South in the 1960's. Born in Columbus, Ohio, to the descendants of former slaves, Jacqueline is named after her father, Jack. Jacqueline soon comes to be called Jackie. While Jackie’s early years are spent in the North, frequent trips are made to the South for Mary Ann to visit her parents as well as Grandpa Gunnar and Grandma Georgiana, who live in the Nichol town area of Greenville, South Carolina. Mary Ann deeply loves the South, but Jack cannot understand why she feels that way. The region is segregated and the people are racially charged. Their very different feelings about the South causes arguments between Jack and Mary Ann. Eventually, Jack and Mary Ann split and Mary Ann and her three children, Hope, Odella, and Jackie, move south to live with her parents. She also decides that she wants to become a writer. It is the one thing she loves to do, and she knows that she is good at it. Each summer, Jackie and her siblings return to South Carolina to visit their grandparents. In New York, the afro has come into style, and Mary Ann’s baby brother, Robert, has one as well. He ultimately gets in trouble with the police and is sent to prison. He returns to society as a Muslim. About the same time, Jackie and Maria come to admire Angela Davis of the Black Panther movement. I would incorporate this into my classroom by having a read aloud with the poem, “February 12, 1963,” the first poem in Brown Girl Dreaming, and encourage students to use Woodson’s free verse style to write a poem commemorating their own birthday or the birthday of a friend or relative.

Rating System

Rating	Description of rating
3 6-8	Excellent book!  Run out right now and buy it!!! This book has strong vocabulary for the proper age of the student. Has a lot of illustrations and students can make a connection within the book. This book has a beginning, middle, and end. And teachers can easily incorporate this book within their classroom.
2 3-5	Good book.  You want to read this one. This book has normal vocabulary that the student will already know at their age. Has a little bit of illustrations and students will make a connection within the book sometimes. This book has a beginning, middle, and end. And teachers can maybe incorporate this book within their classroom.
1 K-2	This book is okay, you might like this one. This book doesn't have strong vocabulary for the student's proper age. Has no illustrations and students aren't able to make a strong connection within the book. This book is missing either a beginning, middle, or end. And teachers can't incorporate a strong lesson from the book.

Rosa

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015

Rosa

By: Nikki Giovanni- 3-5th grade

Rating- 

Nikki Giovanni. Rosa. Scholastic Inc: New York, 2005 , Pages: 40, Reading Level: 3rd grade-5th grade, Lexile: 900L, Ages: 11-14, Genre: Autobiography and Multicultural


Fifty years after her refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus, Mrs. Rosa Parks is still one of the most important figures in the American civil rights movement. This picture book of Mrs. Parks is a celebration of her courageous action and the events that followed. Nikki Giovanni's strong and inspiring text combines with Bryan Collier's striking illustrations to retell the story of this historic event from a unique and original perspective. It allows you to feel and see what Rosa Parks had felt during this time. I would use this book within my classroom by having students write a series of newspaper articles detailing Rosa Parks’ arrest and the boycott that followed. Students can use a book or the internet to find their facts. They should include the answer to “who,” “what,” “when,” “why,” and “how.”

Rating System

Rating	Description of rating
3 6-8	Excellent book!  Run out right now and buy it!!! This book has strong vocabulary for the proper age of the student. Has a lot of illustrations and students can make a connection within the book. This book has a beginning, middle, and end. And teachers can easily incorporate this book within their classroom.
2 3-5	Good book.  You want to read this one. This book has normal vocabulary that the student will already know at their age. Has a little bit of illustrations and students will make a connection within the book sometimes. This book has a beginning, middle, and end. And teachers can maybe incorporate this book within their classroom.
1 K-2	This book is okay, you might like this one. This book doesn't have strong vocabulary for the student's proper age. Has no illustrations and students aren't able to make a strong connection within the book. This book is missing either a beginning, middle, or end. And teachers can't incorporate a strong lesson from the book.

The Diary of a Young Girl

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2015

The Diary of a Young Girl

By: Anne Frank - 6-8th grade

Rating- 

Anne Frank. Diary of a Young Girl. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group: New York, 1996 , Pages: 352, Reading Level: 6th grade and up, Lexile: 1080L, Ages: 12 and up, Genre: Diaries and Journals

In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed, they and another family lived in the "Secret Annex" of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. But turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short. This is a great book to read to students in middle school. In history when they are first learning about big events that have occurred they will come across the Holocaust and this is a great way to show the Jews perspective. This would be great to have group journals where the students will individually write their own journals and discuss within their groups what they thought about it.

Rating System

Rating	Description of rating
3 6-8	Excellent book!  Run out right now and buy it!!! This book has strong vocabulary for the proper age of the student. Has a lot of illustrations and students can make a connection within the book. This book has a beginning, middle, and end. And teachers can easily incorporate this book within their classroom.
2 3-5	Good book.  You want to read this one. This book has normal vocabulary that the student will already know at their age. Has a little bit of illustrations and students will make a connection within the book sometimes. This book has a beginning, middle, and end. And teachers can maybe incorporate this book within their classroom.
1 K-2	This book is okay, you might like this one. This book doesn't have strong vocabulary for the student's proper age. Has no illustrations and students aren't able to make a strong connection within the book. This book is missing either a beginning, middle, or end. And teachers can't incorporate a strong lesson from the book.