This is the story of Sarah, a young woman who answers an ad for a new mother for a family. After answering she quickly thinks she has made the wrong decision but she begins to grow a relationship with the family. She finds out through this relationship the joys, the pains, and above all the importance of being a motherly figure to others.
I loved this book! This spoof of our founding fathers is a great read for any age. The book tells about each gentleman and shares a funny story about their notoriety. At the conclusion of the book, there is a page full of the statements in the book that tells whether the statements are true or false. I will read this book in my classroom!
Karen Ackerman’s The Night Crossing is a very well written and heartfelt chpater book. Clara and her family are trying to escape from Austira. The setting is in 1938 when the Nazis invaded. Clara and her family have a great journey and she must help keep and save the family valuables.
The year is 1849, and Lucas has been left alone after his entire family dies from a disease called consumption. Unable to work the family farm by himself he becomes an apprentice to Doc Beecher. Lucas hears about a cure for the disease but Doc tells him its nonsense. Refusing to believe Doc, Lucas joins others in a dark and dangerous ritual that they believe is their only hope.
This is a story about Chuan, a young artist’s apprentice in ancient China. Chuan is very good at paper making and geometry and these talents help his friend Jing Jing build several kites with a bamboo flute tied to its head. When the children fly them, the noise made by the wind blowing through the flutes scares off an enemy army that is trying to take over the warlord’s palace. The illustrations were also very vivid in this book. At the end there was a neat instructional guide as to how to make kites from paper bags and I think this would be a fun activity to go along with the book.
Bud, Not Buddy is a great book set back in the 1930s. It’s about an african american boy who has lost his mother and wants to find his father. He runs away from orphanage in search for his father. All the boy has with him is an old suitcase. His suit case means the world to him. He keeps pictures of his mother, rocks his mother gave him, jazz concert flyers in his suit case. He thinks the man on the jazz flyer is for sure his father. In the end, it turns out he is completely wrong. This book is great for children to read to see what life was like for orphans back in the 1930s.
By: Deborah Wiles
This is a wonderful story about two boys who are great friends during the time of segregation and its end. It is summer time and both boys are looking forward to swimming together in the public pool for the first time. But, the cruelty of adults ends this opportunity. It would be a great story to read when beginning a unit on the civil right movement. I really enjoyed reading the story, and the illustrations are magnificent.
This is a wonderful book. It is a story about a girl finding a hidden room in her new house. She finds a skeleton in this room, as well as a diary. After reading the diary she learns that her new house was once a part of the underground railroad.
Moses is a wonderful book that recounts many stories of slaves who “rode” the underground railroad to freedom. This book is a Caldecott Honor Book and would be a great addition to any teacher’s collection of Historical Fiction texts.