I Fly​
­­­ Bridget Heos ● Narrative informational text ● Dejected fly, overshadowed by butterflies ● Humor merged with facts ● Told through the voice of a fly Water is Water­​
­Miranda Paul ● WI author ● Narrative mentor text ● Science unit Game Changer­​
John Coy ● Segregation ● Secret basketball game (Duke vs. Eagles) ● New style of basketball ● Teams and races coming together to protect coach’s idea Boys in the Boat­­ ​
Daniel James Brown ● Olympic rowing team 1936 ● Adapted for young readers ● Chronicles this young man via the team/coach/boat design ● Working class kids vs. ivy league ● Highlights different sport (less traditional) Finding Winnie­​
Lindsey Mattick ● Story behind how Winnie the Pooh came about ● A. A. Milne’s decedent is author (great granddaughter) ● Rich language in the text ● Historically accurate for the time period ● Frames the whole story in a bedtime tale Earmuffs for Everyone­​
­ Meghan McCarthy ● Chester Greenwood became inventor ● Illustrated ● Patinest (what is a patten….improved upon design) ● Why do we think he invented earmuffs Most Dangerous­​
­ Steve Sheinkin ● Reads like a thriller ● Bio of one man, Daniel Ellsberg, and his role in govt and Vietnam ● Super top secret information/documents (Pentagon papers) released to public via NYTimes The Boy WHo Harnessed the Wind: Young Reader's Edition­​
­ William Kamkwamba ● Drought in Malawi ● Boy who created a windmill out of nothing ● This is the young reader's edition from the 2012 edition ● Theme: perseverance and creativity ● Humor of self Sex is a Funny Word­­ Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth ● Kids in the book are between ages 8­10 ● Comic book style ● Respect, Trust, Joy, Justice (themes introduces with each concept) ● Boys, Girls, All of Us (if everyone is different who can there be only two types of people?) This chapter addresses gender identity (non binary lens) Drum Dream Girl­­​
Margarita Engle ● In her culture, only boys can play drums, but she dreams of playing drums ● She is musical, associates with musical things in nature ● Eventually works with teacher who recognizes her talents ● Based on a true story­­ Cuba ● World famous jazz drummer Poems in the Attic​
­­Nikki Grimes ● Parallels girls and mother’s life ● Finds boxes in the attic with mother’s poem ● Visual parallel ● Kids in military families Last Stop on Market Street­​
­Matt De La Pena and Christian Robinson ● CJ and grandma on the bus ● Afternoon trip ● CJ notices what he and his grandma don't have, but she recognizes what they do have, how fortunate they are ● Grandma takes him to soup kitchen at the end... I Don’t like Koala­­​
Sean Farrell and Charles Santoso ● Funny picture book ● Creepy toy he tries to get rid of ● Boy goes to great lengths to get rid of this toy ● humor When Otis Courted Mama­​
­ Kathi Appelt ● Families told through coyotes as a family ● Step family ● Boy loves his mom and doesn't want to share her with Otis ● Blended family Granddaddy’s Turn­­​
Michael. S. Bandy and Eric Stein ● Boy and grandfather ● Pride in going to vote ● Because grandfather cannot read, the ballot is taken away from him ● Time travel to 1976 Lillian’s Right to Vote­­​
Jonah Winter and Shane Evans ● Voting rights 1965 ● Lillian is an old lady who has to climb a big hill just to vote ● Her journey's merge (history and literal ascent up the hill to vote) I Yam a Donkey­​
­ Cece Bell ● Story, picture and bad grammar by Cece ● Who’s on First­like word play ● There are other vegetables that play in ● Moral Maya’s Blanket La Manta de Maya­­ Story by Monica Brown ● Story presented in two languages ● The blanket transforms from blanket, to dress, to scarf, to headband, and book mark ● She does this with the help of her grandma ● Even though she no longer has the blanket as an adult, she writes the story of it The Sock Thief­​
­ Ana Crespo and Nana Gonzalez ● Little boy snags socks all the way to school ● Twists them together to make a soccer ball by the time he gets to school ● Based on a memory of a father’s childhood Ragweed Farm Dog Handbook­​
­ Anne Vittur Kennedy ● Dog writes a handbook for rules of work ● Great voice ● “You need to know about” ● “Whose job is whose” ● I wonder about varying sentence beginnings in a repetitive story The War that Saved my Life​
­­Kimberly Brubaker Bradley ● WWII ● Child with clubfoot, Ada ● Escape from apartment and evacuated to small village ● This story is different because the characters are complex and Developed George​
­ Alex Gino ● George is ready to tell people that she is really a girl ● Charlotte’s Web play is the reason she wants to tell ● Admits to be best friend and embraces it ● Different family dynamics Roller Girl­­​
Victoria Jamieson ● Young girls get to attend “cultural enrichment” ● Surprise it’s roller derby ● Astrid attends Roller Derby camp though her bff isn't ● Layers of friendship and humor in the camp Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer​
­­ Kelly Jones ● Family moves to farm inherited (Mexican American) ● They have no idea how to farm, moved to new place ● Sophie realizes the chickens have special talents (levitation, invisibility) ● Someone is trying to steal the chickens ● Much of story is told in letters (to the chicken supply store, dead grandma, dead uncle) In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse​
­­ Joseph Marshall III ● Road trip with grandpa ● Stop at places that were important in the life of Crazy Horse ● Moves from oral storytelling to historical narrative ● History of westward expansion in native voice Wolf by Wolf­​
­ Ryan Graudin ● Alternative history (requires imagination) ● Jewish girl as subject of Nazi medical experimentation ● Dr. makes changes physically but does not realize that she can also transform herself into any woman around her ● Decades later this power comes to be her advantage as she will assassinate Hitler ● It will have a sequel and a movie Zeroboxer­​
­Fonda Lee ● 17 year old lives in space ● Is a talented zero­gravity boxer (this is a sport) Dumplin­­ ​
Julie Murphy ● Willowdean is heavy ● Obesity runs in family ● Dumplin wants to enter a miss teen competition and so does her bff ● There are two boys in the story The Rest of us Just Live Here­​
Patrick Ness ● Teens on the brink of adulthood ● Four friends are the focus of the book ● Mom is a politician (wants a perfect family and the kids are not) ● Extra Terrestrial invasion impending All American Boys­­ ​
Jason Reynolds, Brendan Kiely ● Two stories collide ● Black Lives Matter links ● Rally/silence struggle Bone Gap­­​
Laura Ruby ● Perspective 1: Boy witnessed an abduction ● People don’t believe him for multiple reasons ● Perspective 2: Rosa really was abducted ● Commentary/Feminist Folklore ● Magical Realism (there’s a castle)