MHRC

Title/Author Summary
Did you know that If you Line up every kind of plant and animal on Earth... ..one in every four will be a beetle. This book has fascinating details about adaptations; diet; environment; predators and prey. Silhouettes that show actual size

Mentor Text

Common Core

The Beetle Book/ Steve Jenkins SLJ Best Books 2012 ALA 2013 Notable (NF) Gr. 4-7

The Great Race/ Nathan Kumar Scott & Jadish Chitara

(NF)

The Great Race is a retelling of an Moral/theme of the story Indonesian Folktale. Kanchil, a Folktale/trickster tale mouse deer who is full of himself, allusion challenges the other animals in the forest to a race to see who is the fastest. No one will race him except for a small snail. As we can expect, the deer stops to graze, to rest, to take a drink etc.. And is so shocked when the snail beats him, that he the snail to a race back up the hill where once again the snail beats him. (this time the deer doesnt stop)

3RL.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales And myths from diverse cultures; determine the Central message, lesson or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text. 4RL.2 and 5RL.2 also relate to theme of a story. 4RL.9 Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics and patterns of events in stories, myths and traditional literature from different cultures. 5RL.9 Compare and contrast stories in the same genre on their approaches to similar themes and topics. Write or discuss opinionwinning fair and square vs trickster. RL.1 write opinion piece,

supporting point of view with reasons

Can we Save the Tiger? / Martin Jenkins

2012 ALA Notable

(NF)

This book about endangered animals contains beautiful illustrations. For the 6 animals that are highlighted in the book, there is a page of factual information and statistics (life span, where they live, how many left in the wild; etc) and also a short narrative, explaining the reason(s) why the animal is becoming extinct, in a way that children can understand.

Cause and Effect

This book would be a great lead-in to a research project on endangered animals. Let students choose an animal from the endangered animal list and create a facts page and a short narrative explaining why the animal is becoming endangered. W2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. W7: Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic. (could create a class book) Or Write a persuasive report on why we should or should not save endangered animals. W1: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

Citizen Scientists/ Loree Griffin Burns

(NF)

Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macys Parade/ Melissa Sweet

A beautiful nonfiction book that contains all the elements that should be there: table of contents; index; glossary; bibliography; pictures; captions; headings; table of contents; author introduction; lists; diagrams The first Macys parade had live animals and was held to honor Macys employees who were immigrants. Balloons Over Broadway contains many interesting facts about the beginnings of the Macys

Connections to self/ how students can participate

Primary Sources

2012 ALA Notable 2012 Sibert Medal Book (NF)

Thanksgiving Parade and the man who created the original balloons featured in the parade. There are many opportunities in the book to point out primary sources, such as a picture of one the original balloons, or a reprint of a 1933 newspaper ad for the parade. Primary Sources

Buffalo Bird Girl- A Hidatsa Story/ S. D. Nelson SLJ Best Books 2012 (NF) Gr. 3-6 Unspoken A Story From the Underground Railroad/ Henry Cole ALA 2013 Notable SLJ Best Books 2012 (FIC) Gr. 3-8

A young girl discovers a runaway slave in the familys barn. Girl secretly provides food to a runaway slave. Pencil drawings capture the storys drama. Use to interest students in nf books on topic.

Wordless Book middle grade students

A picture is worth a thousand words, then have students write some of themtheir own interpretations of the illustrations.

Same common core as E-Emergency

E-MERGENCY/ Tom Lichtenheld and Ezra FieldsMeyer 2012 ALA Notables (FIC)

Gr. All?

An alphabet book for the middle grades. Is filled with puns and plays on words. All the letters live together in a big house and one day the letter E falls down the stairs and needs to spend some time recuperating from the resulting injuries. This book requires the reader to really look at the pictures in order to comprehend the full meaning of the humorous text.

Acronymns Puns Play on Words

3 RL 7. Explain how specific aspects of a texts illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story. 4 RL 7. Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflect specific descriptions and directions in the text. 5 RL 7. Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone or beauty of a text.

Each Kindness/ Jacqueline Woodson SLJ Best Books 2012 ALA 2013 Notable (FIC) Gr. 2-5

Inference Character Education

10

The Quiet Place/ Sarah Stewart

11

Written in the form of a series of Writing letters letters from a young immigrant Multicultural girl to her grandmother, this story SLJ 100 Magnificent tells of the isolation initially felt by books 2012 Isabel and her gradual adjustment to her new life. Gr. K-3 (FIC) On the Road to Mr. This book is about a one-legged Allusion (Boy who cried Mineos/ homing pigeon who doesnt want wolf) Barbara OConnor to go home and the cast of Onomatopoeia

3 RL 3 Describe characters in a story and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

SLJ Best Books 2012 Gr. 3-6

(FIC)

characters who, all for different reasons, want to capture the bird. Theres Mr. Mineothe pigeon belongs to him and he wants to find the pigeon because hes worried about him. Theres Stella who thinks the pigeon would make a good pet and her friend Gerald who helps her. Then theres Mutt, a boy who is known for lying all the time. He needs to capture the bird so that he can prove that a one-legged pigeon really did land on his head 3 days in a row. Other characters are also looking for the pigeon. The characters all come together at the end of the story. The chapters are short, most are 2-4 pages in length, making it a good choice for a read-aloud. (Easy to read a chapter here and there) Many things to discuss. Including the characters motivations and how the pigeon ties all the characters together.

Character Motivation

4 RL 3 Describe in depth a character, setting or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text. 5 RL 3 Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text. 5 RL 5. Explain how a series of characters, scenes or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama or poem.

12

Wonder/ R.J. Palacio

Perspective Character Education

SLJ Best Books 2012 ALA 2013 Notable Gr. 4-7 (FIC)

13

The One and Only Ivan/ Katherine Applegate SLJ Best Books 2012 Newbery Winner 2013 Gr. 3-7 (FIC)