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You have accessed the blog site for Choosing and Using Books for Children. Throughout the term we'll use our blog to record the books we read and the ideas we have for using them when we're teachers. By the end of March, our class will have read at least 280 books. Happy reading!

Two important protocol actions for EVERY post:
1. Underline or italicize all book titles (choose one formatting style and stick with it--underline OR italicize for all book titles)
2. Add your name in the "label" box before you post each documentation.

One important recommendation:
Create your documentations in a separate Word document, then cut and paste in a blog post.

Basic Documentation

Book Title:

Author(s):

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist:

Publisher:

Copyright Date:

Genre:

Brief Annotation:

Your Rating (1-5) and why:

Readers who will like this book:

Teaching Strategy from Tompkins or Yopp & Yopp (you'll link a strategy to at least 10 of your 40 books) :

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud:

Optional, but noted as extra effort:

1. Interest Level (age):

2. Grade Level Equivalent (grade):
Use book wizard to help with the previous 2 areas


3. List awards

4. Does this book have a book trailer? If so, cut and paste the web address here.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Skylark

Book Title: Skylark


Author: Patricia MacLachlan


Publisher: Harper Children’s Audio


Copyright Date: 1994


Genre: Audiobook / Historical Fiction


Brief Annotation: This is the follow-up novel to the award-winning Sarah Plain and Tall. Now married, Jacob and Sarah seem to be settling into a happy life together. The children couldn’t be happier with their new mother and the joy she has brought back into their home. But a terrible drought takes center stage, threatening to take away that happiness. They struggle to haul water and watch the supply dwindle as neighbors are forced to leave their land. Their fear is soon realized… in order to survive, Sarah must travel back East with the children. Jacob remains steadfast with the land, with no idea when the family will reunite again. Maine is green and beautiful, but it is not home anymore for Sarah. Sarah, Anna, and Caleb count the moments until they are all together again.


Your Rating (1-5) and why: 3 – After loving Sarah Plain and Tall, I was really looking forward to this follow-up. I also thought it would be fun to listen to the audio version which is narrated by Glen Close. The story and the audio recording were both a big disappointment. MacLachlan doesn’t really further develop the characters we came to love in Sarah Plain and Tall. Overall, the story falls flat. I’m generally not inclined to choose to listen to a book – it’s hard for me to stay focused and connect as easily. There was some of that with this audio book, but mostly I just found the narration annoying. Glen Close is extremely talented, but this performance was too much and her voice for Caleb was especially irritating. I wonder if my review would have been a little less harsh if I had read it, instead of listening to the audio version – although I think I still would have found the story to be disappointing.


Readers who will like this book: I think young (mostly girl) readers who enjoyed Sarah Plain and Tall will enjoy reading more about these characters.


Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: (Assuming we had read Sarah Plain and Tall in class)… what would you like to see these characters doing now? What is their life like?


Interest Level (age): 9-11

Grade Level Equivalent (grade): 3.3

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