Picture Book 17: The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

Author: Mordicai Gerstein

Illustrator: Mordicai Gerstein

Genre: Picture Book

Subgenre: Historical Fiction

Themes: following your dreams, passion, setting and completing goals

Characters:

~Primary: Philippe Petit

~Secondary: friends, police, judge

Awards:

~Caldecott Medal

~Horn Book Award

~Carnegie Medal

Date of Publication: 2003

Publication Company: Roaring Book Press

Summary: Philippe Petit was a performer who loved to push limits.  He could juggle, ride a unicycle, and tightrope walked.  He had even tightrope walked between the spires of Notre Dame Cathedral.  Now, he has his sights set on walking between the two tallest buildings in New York City, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.  But with all the obstacles blocking his path, will he be able to make his wish a reality?

Recommendation: This book has wonderful illustrations and a wonderful story.  Children will be amazed by Petit’s feat.  This story would be wonderful for the classroom, especially to talk about the importance of setting and achieving goals; however, it is important to stress that students exercise caution when doing tricks of their own.

Chapter Book 14: Morning Girl

Author: Michael Dorris

Illustrator: none

Genre: Historical Fiction

Subgenre:

Themes: family and siblings, childhood and growing up, loss and grief, communities and ways of life, discovering identity

Characters:

~Primary: Morning Girl, Star Boy

~Secondary: She Wins the Race (Mother), Speaks to Birds (Father), Red Feathers, Grandmother, Never Cry, Sharp Tooth, I Swam Too Far, She Listens 

Awards:

~Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction

Date of Publication: 1989

Publication Company: Hyperion

Summary: Enter the thoughts of Morning Girl and Star Boy as they experience growing up among the Taino people.  Both Morning Girl and Star Boy, despite their opposite personalities, are both striving to find their own identities among their family and their people.  By following their thoughts, readers are able to look past stereotypes at a culture on the brink of change.

Recommendation: I was very surprised by this book.  I was expecting a story, but it is more of a collection of thoughts.  I think that the characters in the book are very relatable; they are both struggling to find their identity among their people.  I really appreciate how the author was able to incorporate culture— it permeates the book, but it is also subtle.  I can definitely say that I have not read a book like this, and I would recommend it without reservation. 

Chapter Book 13: Run, Boy, Run (Mildred L. Batchelder)

Author: Uri Orlev

Illustrator: none

Genre: Historical Fiction

Subgenre:

Themes: The Holocaust, holding on to identity, trust and generosity, survival and self-reliance

Characters:

~Primary: Srulik Frydman (Jurek Staniak),

~Secondary: Duvid Frydman, Riva Frydman, Hersh Frydman, Yankel, Marisza, Azor, Marina, Grzegorz, Clara, Sasha, Christins, The Kowalski’s, Tadek, Pani Rappaport and Pani Staniak

Awards:

~Mildred L. Batchelder Honor Book

Date of Publication: 2003

Publication Company: Houghton Mifflin Company

Summary: At eight years old, Srulik is separated from his family in the Warsaw ghetto.  While people are being round up in the streets, he is able to escape with the help of a Polish farmer, who leaves him in the company of a group of boys roaming the countryside.  These boys teach him how to survive in the wild, but he loses them as well to the cruelty of the war.  Now, Srulik must pass himself off as a Christian boy in order to survive in Poland during the Nazi occupation.

Recommendation: This book was a very emotional read.  I would recommend this book to be used for readers above the age of twelve.  One of the best things about this book is that the topic and the writing is engaging, but the difficulty level of the text is not very high, making it a good book for older students who are reading at a lower level.

Chapter Book 12: Thunder Rolling in the Mountains

Author: Scott O’Dell and Elizabeth Hall

Illustrator: none

Genre: Historical Fiction

Subgenre:

Themes: Native American relocation, fighting for justice, peace, cultural clashes

Characters:

~Primary: Sound of Running Feet

~Secondary: Chief Joseph (Thunder Rolling in the Mountains), Swan Necklace, General Howard, Too-hul-hul-sote, Wah-lit-its, Red Moccasin Tops, Two Moons,  White Bird, Looking Glass

Awards:

~Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies

Date of Publication: 1992

Publication Company: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers

Summary: The world is changing for Sound of Running Feet.  All she would like to do is marry the man she loves, Swan Necklace, and continue to live on her people’s land, the Wallowa Valley, the Land of the Wandering Waters.  But white people have been drawn by the promise of gold to their valley, and the United States army is forcing them to leave for the reservations.  Her people, the Ne-mee-poo, also known as the Nez Perce, do not want to leave their land, and are ready to fight the army to keep it.  Sound of Running Feet is eager for her people to stay and fight, but she might not be prepared for what she has to give up for her people to stay in the Land of the Wandering Waters.

Recommendation: This would be a good book to use in a unit about Native American relocation.  The book is short, and the main character is relatable.  Many different students will be able to connect to different aspects of the book.  In addition, Thunder Rolling in the Mountains would be a good book to use to talk about the differences between how people think of themselves, and how the outside world labels them.

Chapter Book 11: Al Capone Does My Shirts

Author: Gennifer Choldenko

Illustrator: none

Genre: Historical Fiction

Subgenre:

Themes: family and siblings, childhood and growing up, special needs and disabilities

Characters:

~Primary: Moose Flanagan

~Secondary: Natalie Flanagan, Mr. and Mrs. Flanagan, Piper Williams, Theresa Mattaman, Jimmy Mattaman, Annie, Warden Williams, Prisoner 105, Scout,

Awards:

~Newbery Honor Book

~NYPL’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing

~ALA Best Book for Young Adults

~ALA Notable Book Award

Date of Publication: 2004

Publication Company: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Summary: Alcatraz Island does not sound like the most welcoming place to live, but it is the new home of Moose Flanagan and his family.  And although he will be living among convicted thieves, murders, and kidnappers, Moose does not plan on getting in any trouble.  All he wants to do is take care of his sister Natalie and play a little baseball.  When he meets the warden’s daughter Piper, however, all his grand plans go out the window.  Moose must deal with the rejection of his sister from his mother’s dream school, the school that will give her the help that she needs, and work to keep his family from being kicked off the island.  But when dreams of normalcy for his sister seem out of reach, Moose turns to an unlikely source for help.

Recommendation: As a future special education teacher, I would recommend this book to everyone.  It shows the difficulties and the joys that families of children with autism go through.  I would especially encourage people who know siblings of children with autism to read this book to get a better perspective on family dynamics and struggles of those caring for individuals with special needs.

Chapter Book 10: The Green Glass Sea

Author: Ellen Klages

Illustrator: none

Genre: Historical Fiction

Subgenre:

Themes: family and friends, abandonment and reunion, death and grieving, science and art as means of expression, language of math, coming-of-age

Characters:

~Primary: Dewey Kerrigan

~Secondary: Suze Gordon, Drs. Gordon, Jimmy Kerrigan, Charlie, Jack, Richard Feynman, Robert Oppenheimer

Awards:

~Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction

Date of Publication: 2006

Publication Company: Puffin Books

Summary: Dewey Kerrigan is almost eleven years old, and she is finally about to be reunited with her father, a mathematician working in Los Alamos, New Mexico.  World War II is still being waged, and Dr. Kerrigan is doing his patriotic duty by working on “the gadget,” a weapon that will help the United States win the war.  Dewey is happy to be living in Los Alamos, both because she has her father back and because she is surrounded by adults who can answer her questions about science and mathematics.  Dewey does not have as much luck making friends her own age, since physical and intellectual differences set her apart from her classmates.  Despite her differences, however, Dewey makes an unlikely new friend who helps her survive the changes that war brings.

Recommendation: The Green Glass Sea is a wonderful book.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in Los Alamos and how life was like for families there.  In schools, I think that this would be a good book for gifted students to read and for students with physical disabilities, because they would be able to relate Dewey, the main character, perhaps more than they feel like they can relate to students in their own classes and neighborhoods.

Chapter Book 9: One Crazy Summer

Author: Rita Williams Garcia

Illustrator: none

Genre: Historical Fiction

Subgenre:

Themes: family and siblings, abandonment and reunion, revolution, facing challenges, childhood and growing up

Characters:

~Primary: Delphine

~Secondary: Fern, Vonetta, Cecile/Nzila, Papa, Big Ma, Hirohito, Eunice, Sisters Pat and Mukumbu, Crazy Kelvin, Black Panthers

Awards:

~Newberry Honor Book

~Corretta Scott King Award

~National Book Award Finalist

~Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction

~Boston Globe Best Book of the Year

~ALA Notable Book

~NAACP Image Award

~New York Time’s Editor’s Choice

Date of Publication: 2010

Publication Company: Scholastic, Inc.

Summary: Sisters Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern remember very little about their mother.  She left when Delphine was not even five, and Vonetta and Fern were still little babies.  But now, at their father’s insistence, they are going to visit her, despite protests from their grandmother and all the terrible things that they have heard about her.  Meeting Cecile, or Nzila as she is now calling herself, is not what the girls have expected.  Instead, they are confronted with a poet, a reluctant revolutionist, and a woman with no interest in being their mother.  What is worse, Cecile seems determined to through them into a revolution that she does not seem interested in taking part in.  The girls have on crazy summer as they learn to navigate the streets of Oakland and the freedom fighters that live there.

Recommendation: I think that this would be an interesting book to teach children about the period from 1960 to 1975.  In school, we rarely made it far enough in our history books to talk about the Vietnam War, the anti-war movement, and Black Nationalism.  Because the book links familiar feelings and scenarios (being scared, getting along with siblings, moving and making new friends) with info that is new, children will easily be able to assimilate new information into their existing schemas.  In addition, the book is simply a wonderful read.