Tag: upper elementary reading

  • Out of the Dust (1998) Book Unit
    $2.00

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters.

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters.

    About the book (Not included):
    Out of the Dust is a verse novel by Karen Hesse, first published in 1997 and the recipient of the 1998 Newbery Award. A poem cycle that reads as a novel, Out of the Dust tells the story of a girl named Billie Jo, who struggles to help her family survive the dust-bowl years of the Depression. Fighting against the elements on her Oklahoma farm, Billie Jo takes on even more responsibilities when her mother dies in a tragic accident.

    Interest level:
    Grades 5 – 8    		 Reading level:
    Grades 5 – 8

     

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  • Sarah, Plain and Tall (1986) Book Unit
    $2.00

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters..

    About the book (Not included):
    Sarah, Plain and Tall was written by Patricia MacLachlan, and the winner of the 1986 Newbery Medal, the 1986 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction and the 1986 Golden Kite Award. It explores themes of loneliness, abandonment, and coping with change.

    Interest level:
    Grades 4 – 8    		 Reading level:
    Grades 2 – 5

     

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  • Maniac Magee (1991) Book Unit
    $2.00

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters..

    About the book (Not included):
    Maniac Magee is a novel written by American author Jerry Spinelli and published in 1990. Exploring themes of racism and homelessness, it follows the story of an orphan boy looking for a home in the fictional Pennsylvania town of Two Mills. He becomes a local legend for feats of athleticism and fearlessness, and his ignorance of sharp racial boundaries in the town. It is popular in elementary school curricula, and has been used in scholarly studies on the relationship of children to racial identity and reading. 

    Reading level: 5th Grade

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  • The Midwife’s Apprentice (1996) Book Units
    $2.00

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters.

    About the book (Not included):
    The Midwife’s Apprentice is a children’s novel by Karen Cushman. It tells of how a homeless girl becomes a midwife’s apprentice—and establishes a name and a place in the world, and learns to hope and overcome failure. This novel won the John Newbery Medal in 1996.

    Interest level:
    Grades 4 – 8    		 Reading level:
    Grades 6 – 12

     

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  • A Year Down Yonder (2001) Book Unit
    $2.00

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters..

    About the book (Not included):
    A Year Down Yonder is a novel by Richard Peck published in 2000 and won the Newbery Medal in 2001.
    The Great Depression is finally over in 1937, but times are still hard. Because her parents cannot care for her while they struggle to regain their financial footing back in Chicago, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice is sent to live with her Grandma Dowdel in a small town in southern Illinois…

    Interest level: Grades 4 – 8 Reading level: Grades 4 – 8
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  • The Giver (1994) Book Unit
    $2.00

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters..

    About the book (Not included):
    The Giver is a 1993  novel by Lois Lowry. It is set in a society which at first appears to be utopian but is revealed to be dystopian as the story progresses. The novel follows a 12-year-old boy named Jonas. The society has taken away pain and strife by converting to “Sameness”, a plan that has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of Receiver of Memory, the person who stores all the past memories of the time before Sameness, as there may be times where one must draw upon the wisdom gained from history to aid the community’s decision making. Jonas struggles with concepts of all the new emotions and things introduced to him: whether they are inherently good, evil, or in between, and whether it is even possible to have one without the other. The Community lacks any color, memory, climate, or terrain, all in an effort to preserve structure, order, and a true sense of equality beyond personal individuality.

    Interest level:
    Grades 4 – 8    		 Reading level:
    Grades 3 – 8
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  • The Whipping Boy (1987) Book Unit
    $2.00

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters..

    About the book (Not included):
    The Whipping Boy is a Newbery medal-winning children’s book by Sid Fleischman, first published in 1986.
    It is the story of a friendship that develops between Prince Brat and his whipping boy, Jemmy, who was forced to take punishments for the prince. Though these boys seem to be complete opposites, they display courage and a willingness to help one another when they are faced with danger.

    Interest level:
    Grades 4 – 8    		 Reading level:
    Grades 2 – 5

     

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  • The View from Saturday (1997) Book Unit
    $2.00

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters.

    About the book (Not included):
    The View from Saturday is a children’s novel by E. L. Konigsburg, published in 1996. It won the 1997 Newbery Medal for excellence in American children’s literature, the author’s second Medal. Theme of the book: “Kindness and the courage it takes to be kind.”

    Reading level: 6th-8th Grade

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  • Walk Two Moons (1995) Book Unit
    $2.00

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters.

    About the book (Not included):
    Walk Two Moons is a novel written by Sharon Creech, published and winner of the 1995 Newbery Medal. The major themes in the story include the development of new relationships, dealing with grief, love, death, cultural identity, women’s roles as mothers and wives, the hardships of life, and the adventures of misunderstandings and coming to terms with reality.

    Interest level:
    Grades 4 – 8    		 Reading level:
    Grades 3 – 8

     

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  • Bridge to Terabithia (1978) Book Unit
    $2.00

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters..

    About the book (Not included):
    Bridge to Terabithia is a work of children’s literature about two lonely children who create a magical forest kingdom in their imaginations. It was written by Katherine Paterson and was published in 1977 by Thomas Crowell. In 1978, it won the Newbery Medal. Paterson drew inspiration for the novel from a real event that occurred in August 1974 when her son’s friend was struck dead by lightning.

    The novel tells the story of fifth grader Jesse Aarons, who becomes friends with his new neighbor, Leslie Burke, after he loses a footrace to her at school. She is a smart, talented, outgoing tomboy from a wealthy family, and he thinks highly of her. He is an artistic boy from a poorer family who, in the beginning, is fearful, angry, and depressed. After his meeting Leslie, his life is transformed. He becomes courageous and learns to let go of his frustration. They create a kingdom for themselves, which Leslie names “Terabithia.”

    Interest level: Grades 4 – 7 Reading level: Grades 3 – 7

     

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  • Dead End in Norvelt (2012) Book Unit
    $2.00

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters..

    About the book (Not included):
    Dead End in Norvelt is an autobiographical novel by the American author Jack Gantos, published  in 2011. It features a boy named Jack Gantos and is based in the author’s hometown, Norvelt, Pennsylvania. According to one reviewer, the “real hero” is “his home town and its values”.

    Interest level:
    Grades 4 – 8    		 Reading level:
    Grades 4 – 10

     

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  • Shiloh (1992) Book Unit
    $2.00

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters..

    About the book (Not included):
    Shiloh is a Newbery Medal-winning children’s novel by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor published in 1991. The 65th book by Naylor, it is the first in a quartet about a young boy and the title character, an abused dog. Naylor decided to write Shiloh after an emotionally taxing experience in West Virginia where she encountered an abused dog.

    Interest level:
    Grades 4 – 7    		 Reading level:
    Grades 4 – 7
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  • Holes (1999) Book Unit
    $2.00

    This resource offers vocabulary work, reading comprehension and discussion questions about the story and characters.

    About the book (Not included):
    Holes is a 1998 novel written by Louis Sachar. It won the 1998 U.S. National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and the 1999 Newbery Medal for the year’s “most distinguished contribution to American literature for children”. The story centers on an unlucky teenage boy named Stanley Yelnats, who is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile corrections facility in a desert in Texas, after being falsely accused of theft. The plot explores the history of the area and how the actions of several characters in the past have affected Stanley’s life in the present. These interconnecting stories touch on themes such as racism, homelessness, illiteracy, and arranged marriage.

    Interest level:
    Grades 4 – 8    		 Reading level:
    Grades 3 – 8
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