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MR. JOHN LANDRY
INDEPENDENT READING UNIT INFORMATION
SMITH MIDDLE SCHOOL
GLASTONBURY, CT SMITHMS
SchoolNotes last updated: Tue Nov 26 18:16:19 CST 2002
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Welcome to the Independent Reading Unit Information Site
Summary of Independent Reading Unit for seventh and eighth grade students
The goal of this project is to instill a love for reading through student choice, peer collaboration, and information technology.
BRIEF PROJECT OVERVIEW
Day 1
Students from English classes visit the library media center where book talks on eight titles are conducted. As a visual aid, a PowerPoint presentation will run in the background. Students will choose a title from the following lists:
Seventh Grade Titles
Within Reach by Mark Pfetzer and David Galvin
Woodsong by Gary Paulsen
Katie.com by Katherine Tarbox
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Bud, not Buddy by Paul Curtis
Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card
Tangerine by Edward Bloor
King of Shadows by Susan Cooper
Eighth Grade Titles
Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World by Jennifer Armstrong
Hawk: Occupation Skateboarder by Tony Hawk
Battle Dress by Amy Efaw
Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg
The Land by Mildred Taylor
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick
Students who miss book talks can visit the Smith Middle School Library Media Center web page at http://schoolnotes.com/06033/landryj.html and see a brief written review of each title.
Day 2
The independent reading collection will be brought to the Student’s English teacher’s classroom. Five copies of each book on the list will be available per class. Several collaborative reading groups of three to five students per title will be formed in each class. A key to making this an enjoyable experience is to allow the students choice* in book selection. Today is the day for students to choose their book and meet their collaborative group.
*Unlimited student choice is not a possibility because no school system has the funding to have multiple copies of every book students may choose. A reading list, created by an expert in young adult literature, which strives to meet the needs of all members of the student population is the best solution to student choice.
The next three to four weeks
The English teacher is in charge. He or she will conduct the class activities, discussions and assessments in a way that fits his/her teaching style as well as the students' learning styles.
Independent Reading Unit Seventh Grade Titles
Bud, Not Buddy By Christopher Paul Curtis
The story of ten-year-old Bud Caldwell. Bud lives in Flint, Michigan in 1936 during the Great Depression when times are tough for everybody. Bud has it extra tough because his mother died when he was six years old and he has been living in an orphanage ever since her death. Join Bud on a search for his father through orphanages, food lines, and cardboard box villages into a world of Jazz music. Available in book and audio book format
Katie.com - A True Story for the Internet Age by Katherine Tarbox
Katherine Tarbox of New Canaan, Connecticut writes about when she was a thirteen-year-old loner. With few friends, divorced parents, and a mother who was always at work, Katherine turned to AOL chat rooms for meaningful conversations. Katherine met "vallleyguy" or Mark on-line. Despite the fact that he was twenty-three and she was only thirteen, Katie liked Mark because he made her feel special. After a year of this online relationship, Mark pressured Katie to meet him in person. The meeting took place in Texas while Katie was attending a national swim meet. She discovered Mark was actually 41 years old and he sexually molested Katie. The second half of the book describes how Katie and her attornies prosecute Mark in court and how the people in Katie's community treat her like a monster rather than the victim of a monster. No sexual acts are described in detail in this book, but some sexual acts are mentioned by name. Available in book format.
King of Shadows by Susan Cooper
Nat Field has suffered in his young life. His parents died in an accident when he was young, but his luck changes when he is selected by a dazzling international director to perform at Shakespeare’s Globe, London’s amazing new copy of the theater for which Shakespeare wrote his plays four hundred years ago. After feeling dizzy and very strange during a rehearsal, Nat wakes up the following morning to discover he is in London in the year 1599. He is now acting in the original globe and his costar is Shakespeare, a warm-hearted writer/actor whose friendship changes Nat forever. This book, although fiction, provides an accurate look at many aspects of daily Elizabethan life. Available in book and auidiobook format.
Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card has created an alternate reality version of the Colonial United States. The reader will recognize the historical names of Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Ben Arnold and others. The story centers around Alvin Miller Jr., the seventh son of a seventh son. Early in his life, Alvin Miller Jr. discovers he has the power to shape objects to make them useful to mankind. However, from his birth on, some force has been trying to kill Alvin Miller Jr., but another force is working to protect him. This book is highly recommended to readers who love to see how complicated plots can be tied together in the end by a masterful author. Also recommended to readers who enjoy the colonial period in our country's history. Available in book format.
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Stargirl Caraway does things her own way at Mica High. Stargirl is a sophomore when she begins her public education after a lifetime of home schooling. She commits random acts of kindness all around school and town while carrying her pet rat, Cinnamon, and playing her ukulele. Stargirl becomes a cheerleader and she cheers for both teams. When the student population turns against her after the Mica basketball team loses in the Arizona State Basketball Tournament, Stargirl doesn’t seem to notice. Leo, Stargirl’s boyfriend, notices how the Mica students shun Stargirl and Leo. He can’t deal with it and he asks Stargirl to become more “normal”. Stargirl becomes Susan Caraway, but her problems are not solved and she is unhappy. A great book celebrating nonconformity. Available in book and audiobook format
Tangerine by Edward Bloor
If you like mystery stories, this is a book for you. Twelve-year-old Paul Fisher lives in the shadow of his older brother, and football star, Erik. Paul is legally blind from a childhood accident, but he finds a way to play soccer despite his handicap. Recently, Paul sees flashbacks from his young childhood. Will Paul solve the mystery of his youth and will he adapt to living in a new community in Tangerine, Florida where so many strange things are beginning to happen?Available in book and audiobook format.
Within Reach: My Everest Story By Mark Pfetzer and Jack Galvin
With the help of his teacher, Mark Pfetzer has written a book about his climbing trips to the world’s tallest peaks including Mount Everest. The thing that makes Mark’s trips so incredible is his age. At the time of his first high altitude climb, all Mark’s friends are in middle school in Middletown, New Jersey, because Mark is only thirteen years old. He must convince his parents, teachers, and the assistant superintendent of schools about the educational benefits of his climbing trips, which happen during the school year. However this is the easy part, how in the world is a thirteen-year-old kid going to raise $5,000 to climb mountains in the Himalayas? A great story of determination to see a young man set goals and attain them no matter what the odds. Available in book format
Woodsong by Gary Paulsen
Published in 1990, Woodsong is a personal account of Gary Paulsen's extensive experience with nature. Divided into a series of short chapters, the book describes, among other things, Paulsen's first attempt at running dogs with a sled, Paulsen seeing a doe get caught and eaten by brush wolves, a crazy banty hen named Hawk who protected her chicks including six grouse chicks from every living thing in the farmyard, Paulsen's near-death experience with a black bear, and several dog anecdotes. With each nature story, Paulsen learns a new lesson about humanity and develops a deep respect for nature which he passes on to the reader. The last third of the book is an account of Paulsen's first attempt at the Alaskan Iditarod. Paulsen's straight forward and simple writing style makes this book a must read for nature lovers. Available in book format.
Independent Reading Unit Eighth Grade Titles
Battle Dress by Amy Efaw
Seventeen-year-old Andi Davis is leaving her family to attend West Point as a cadet-in-training. Being one of the few women in a male dominated school and profession is not going to be easy, but Andi is thrilled to be leaving her dysfunctional family. After growing up with the verbal abuse from her mother and neglect from her father, Andi thinks the hazing that she will receive at West Point will be mild. Andi soon learns otherwise. She is pushed to the brink of her mental and physical endurance during Beast, the first six weeks or basic training at West Point. Drawing on her personal experience as a cadet at West Point, Amy Efaw has written a fast moving, realistic story about training and schooling on of the best known military schools in the United States.
Available in book format
Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah
After her mother died giving birth to her in 1937, Adeline Yen Mah the fifth child, was considered bad luck by her family. When her father remarried Niang, a seventeen-year-old Eurasian beauty, one year later, Adeline and her brothers and sister were treated as second-class citizens within their own home. To escape the constant psychological abuse at home, Adeline puts all her efforts and energy into her schoolwork. She excels as a student, but her father and stepmother continue to treat her like she is worthless at home.
Sharing a room with Aunt Baba was the only good thing about living at home for Adeline. Aunt Baba always nurtured and praised Adeline. Unfortunately, when Niang discovered that Aunt Baba gave Adeline one dollar for her tenth birthday, she demanded that the two be separated. She claimed that Aunt Baba was a bad influence. Events in Adeline’s life quickly spiraled downwards. Adeline’s father and Niang sent her away to a French Convent school in the heart of China while the Chinese Communists were taking over the country. At the convent school Niang was encouraged to enter a national writing contest. Niang soon became the only student left in the convent school as the Chinese Communists approach. Niang escapes the Communist with help of her aunt and returns to her father’s home for a short while. Meanwhile the results of the writing contest are made known and Niang won the contest bringing honor to her father. He decides to send her away to a medical school in England.
Available in book format.
The Land by Mildred Taylor
In this prequel to the Newberry award winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor writes about Paul Edward Logan and how he purchased 400 acres of land in Mississippi for the Logan family. Racism enters all parts of Paul’s life in this story about the Reconstruction period in the United States. Edward Logan, Paul’s white father and a former slave owner, had two of his five children with a former slave, Paul’s mother. Paul is allowed to sit at his father’s table for meals except when guests are present. He is “my daddy’s colored son.”
After a painful break from his family, Paul sets out to start his own life in Mississippi. He commits himself and his best friend, Mitchell, to two years of backbreaking work clearing forty acres of land for a white man in return for the deed to the land. Unfortunately in the end Mitchell is shot by drunken white trash and the white owner of the forty acres reneges on his deal with Paul. “You think I care about a paper signed with a nigger?" This story is a painful reminder of the suffering endured by African Americans at the hands of racists, but not all whites are demonized in the book. There are a few white people willing to help African Americans.
Above all this is a wonderful story about pain, suffering, joy and the endurance of the human spirit.
Available in book and audiobook format
The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick
Rodman Philbrick has created a bleak future for earth, but the final message is hopeful for humanity. Spaz lives in world divided into latches ruled by latch bosses and their gangs. “The Big Shake” destroyed all the cities of the world and allowed the latch bosses to take over the latches, but the true rulers of the Earth are the Proovs. The Proovs live in a paradise called Eden that normal people cannot even reach without dying. The Proovs are genetically enhanced humans. Spaz has been separated from his family and the only person he really loves his sister, Bean. He is now in the Banger’s latch under the rule of Billy Bizmo and he collects “taxes” for Billy. It is while Spaz is collecting for Bizmo, when he meets the old gummy, Ryter. Ryter, get this, doesn’t plug in to mind probes for entertainment. He writes books and believes in the equality of all humans. When Spaz learns that Bean is near death with an illness, he decides to break the rules and cross over latches to return to the latch from which he been exiled. Ryter decides to help him.
Available in book and audiobook format.
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script. Through the process of writing about his experiences, Steve comes to a conclusion: “If you know something is wrong and you do nothing to stop it, then you are just as guilty as the person committing the wrong.” Steve learns the difficulties involved in being an honest person in a society, which applies enormous peer pressure on young adults. NOTE: THIS BOOK IS ON THE HIGH SCHOOL READING LIST AND SHOULD BE READ BY AN EIGHTH GRADER GOING INTO NINTH GRADE. Available in book and audiobook format.
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World by Jennifer Armstrong
Many times the truth is better than fiction. Jennifer Armstrong has done a masterful job of recreating the greatest tale of survival on record. In 1914, Ernest Henry Shackleton led a British crew of twenty-eight men to the South Pole where their mission was to walk across the continent. A continent which supports glaciers up to two miles in depth. "In the winter the temperature can sink to 100 degrees below zero . . . winds of 200 miles per hour . . . the seas surrounding the land begin to freeze at the terrifying rate of two square miles every minute . . .(1)" In 1915 Shakleton's party was stranded in the frozen Antarctic sea with no way to contact the outside world. All twenty-eight men survived. The story is enhanced by original photography by Frank Hurley, expedition photographer.Available in book and audiobook format.
Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg
What happened to six month old Nikki Zamborska on Wednesday, November 25, 2:43 PM Eastern Standard Time? Branwell Zamborska, Nikki’s half-brother dialed 911 then mysteriously went mute. While Nikki struggles for survival in a hospital, Branwell is locked up in Clarion County Juvenile Behavioral Center. Branwell remains mute with all the adult psychologists who attempt to communicate with him. Only Connor Kane, Branwell’s best friend can communicate with Branwell through the use of index cards which indicate shared experiences from their friendship.
Branwell leads Connor on a quest for the truth about what happened on that day. Connor slowly unravels the truth through interviews with several people in Branwell’s life including Vivian, the seductive English au pair. Konigsburg has written a wonderful psychological mystery.
Available in book and audiobook format.
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