Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

Summary: Turtls is not like the other girls, she doesn’t like Shirley temple or babies. She likes the funny pages and her cat Smokey Turtle’s mom, Sadiebelle is a hard working, single mom. She clease houses and takes good care of her eleven year old daughter, Turtle. Her mom is also always falling in love, but this time her mom thinks that her current boyfriend, Archie, a salesman, is different. When Sadiebelle gets a new job, her employer refuses to house Turtle and her cat Smokey, so Turtle is sent to live with her Aunt Minnie in Key West, Florida. When she arrives her Aunt Minnie is surprised because she had not received her mother’s letter yet. Aunt Minnie eventually takes in Turtle. Now, Turtle has to live with her new cousins, Beans, who is mean and dislikes her, Kermit, who has a heart condition and has to take a lot of naps, and Buddy, the youngest who is always wetting the bed and follows his brothers around. After settling in, Turtle meets the Diaper gang, a group of boys her age that babysit the bad kids in her neighborhood. The Diaper gang includes Bean’s, Kermit, and Bean’s Best Friends, Porkchop and a boy named Ira. She also meets some Sailors names Slow Poke, who took her on a boat ride and who she forms a bond with, Johnny Cakes, who she tired get to let her work on his boat, and Ollie. Soon, she gets to meet her Nana, she thought was dead, but is disappointed to find that she does not like kids. Despite this, she is determine to get Nana Philly to like her so she bring her lunch, and spends time with her. While she is in her Nana’s attic she finds a treasure map to Black Caesar's treasure. She convinces the Diaper gang to help her and so they lie to their parents so they can take the day to search for the treasure. Its takes a while, but they eventually find the treasure, $20,000 worth, which they split between them and Nana Philly. But the end up stranded in a shack and have to wait to be rescued, which takes a while because then a hurricane passes by. However, they are eventually rescued by Slow Poke, Johnny Cakes, and Ollie. Soon her mother comes for her, along with Archie who is now her husband. Later one, when Sadie Belle and Turtle are supposed to meet Archie so they can leave, it is revealed that Archie has taken off to Cuba with Turtle’s share of the money. Sadiebelle is devastated, but Aunt Minnie offers to let her sister and turtle live there with her. Turtle, looks around at her family and people who love her and thinks to herself that this is the real treasure.

Review: This book is one that children 8-12 year olds can relate to, with all the hijinks that all the characters get into. Not only that but he events like moving to a new place and searching for pirate treasure, and the fun nicknames. A lesson with book would look like having the children describing how life was like for these characters in the Great Depression. I would not hesitate to put this book in my classroom library.

The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan

The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan

Summary: The year is 1937  and Jack’s Kansas town has been taken over by Dust. Some families leave, if they can, and head towards the coastal cities. Jack’s family decided to stay a little longer, to watch over their farm, but the thing is there are no farms left to take care of. However, despite that the farm is covered in dust, Jack’s father does other work, but he never let’s Jack help. Jack never helps. Whenever he goes into town there are rowdy older boys who like to beat jack up whenever they can. Jack goes to town anyway so he can  stop by the general store for a story from Ernie who works at the store, and a soda. Ernie always tells him stories about other boys named Jack who defeat giant Kings and monsters. The Jack in those stories are always brave and always a hero. Jack doesn’t feel that way about himself though. At home, are Jack’s sisters. One is Dorothy, who is bedridden with Dust pneumonia, and who likes to stories of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Jack talks to Dorothy about anything. Jack’s baby sister’s name is Mabel, and he is always watching after her, and she is always playing with an old black umbrella. One night Jack is looking out the window at the barn of a family who left town a while ago, and then suddenly there are the brightest lights shining from the blue barn. Jack blinks and the light is gone, he lays back down and thinks about the doctor had said earlier about Dust dementia. The next day Jack finds Mabel playing over by the barn, but when he tries to open it, he can not because doors are stuck. He tries again, but gives up and goes home. A another day later, Jack is walking back from town and he tries to open the blue barn doors again and this time he opens it. He looks around and then spots the weirdest thing, a puddle of water on the floor, and the barn smelt really funny, too. He hears something from on the second floor of the barn and decided he should run out of there. That night jack see the light come from the barn again and this time he decides it’s time to go see what it is. When he get there he finds a bag that rumbles and discovers that this is where the light is coming from. And when he looks up there is a face that looks like rain staring right back at him, so Jack bolts out of that barn. The next day Jack is coming home and hear his baby sister playing the barm. When he goes to get her he find the rain faced man again he fights him away, grabs Mabel and takes off toward home. He tells Mabel that they are to never go back in there. The next time the barn begins to shine, Jack stays in bed. The next day, Jack’s father still will not let him help with anything. And jack is tired of it all. Not helping. No rain. Dorothy’s sickness. So that night he goes into the barn and confront the monster living there. The monster reveals himself as the rain and that he is not letting any rain fall so that he can become more powerful so that he can eventually rule the Earth. Jack manages to take his bag, of what he realizes now is thunder, and races to the of a wind tower. Jack was going to make it rain again. He once heard from a man selling a thunder machine that wherever there is thunder, there is rain. The rain king comes up and fights Jack for the bag, but jack never lets go, not even as he starts to fall off the tower, causing the bag to rip open. Thunder pours out into the sky, taking the rain with it. And in second, it begins to rain. Rain begins to cover the whole town, and every rejoices. Jack’s family begins to look for him and they find him walking back from the tower. His father bends down, gives Jack a hug, and asks him to hello on the farm when the crop grows back.

Review: This book was an interesting way to tell about the dust storms in the 1930’s. I believe that children will relate to young Jack, the main character who feels like he can’t help anybody, but in the end he saves his whole town. It’s important that the students know, especially in Grades 4-8 as they become more involved in their communities, that  they can make a difference. I would use this book in a lesson about the period of the dust storms, the great depression, and what life was like for children and families during that time.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Summary: August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a condition that, not only kept him in and out of the hospital since he was born, but also made him look very different from everyone else. Auggie had always been home-schooled not because of he looked different but because he had not been healthy enough, but he is now. Auggie's parents were sending him to the fifth grade at Beecher Prep Academy Middle School. As Auggie began school, the other kids stared, they talked about him behind his back, gave him mean nicknames, and even played mean games about him. But luckily, August had his friends Summer and Jack. Summer and Jack also faced mean peers, who did not understand why they were friends with someone who looked so much different form everyone else and sometimes the peer pressure got to them. Auggie also had his sister Via who was starting high school at a new school. Via was always very understanding that Auggie had to be put first, even though that meant her parents couldn't go to her soccer games or help with her home work. But, Via didn't want to be put on the back burner anymore, and this causes her to push her family away. As Via starts high school, she finds that her best friends Miranda and Elle have changed their image and Via is left to find a new friend group. Through the school year we get to experience the halls of Beecher Prep and Via's new teenage life though the perspectives of Auggie, Summer, Jack, Via, Justin - Via's boyrfriend, and even Miranda. Through bullies, school trips, dating, and just a tough school year, in the end Auggie has won the hearts of everyone at Beecher Prep and the Pullman family is closer than ever.

In Reality: I fell in love with all the characters in this novel and I know that when introduced to a group of 4th and 6th graders, they would too! I would use Wonder in a Critical Thinking lesson, where students are taught that there is more to a story than just a story. For example, students could reflect on how they would react in situations the characters where in and why they would act that way or even think of their own precepts like Mr. Brown's class did from the book.