The Levitical Readings and Reactions

  Title- The Gardner Author/Retold- Sarah Stewart  Illustrated by David Small Genre- Historical Fiction Grade level- 1st - 5th Grade Award- Caldecott Medal  The book is filled with letters on page and illustrations on another. The story starts off with a letter from Lydia Grace to her Uncle telling that she will be living in the city with him. Her grandma sends seeds with Lydia Grace as she goes to the city. Lydia Grace goes to the big city and meets her uncle, he doesn’t smile much. Her uncle owns a bakery and there are garden boxes in the window for her to plant her seeds. Ed and Emma beech help her uncle in the bakery. She found out that there was a secret place and she turned that place into an amazing garden. Emma helps her to water and take care of the plants. The plants start to grow and neighbors are helping to give seeds and flowers, many people are starting to come to the bakery as well. She finally shows her uncle the secret place on July Fourth. The next week,...

  Title- New Shoes Author/Retold- Susan Lynn Meyer  Illustrated by Eric Velasquez  Genre- Historical Fiction Grade level- 1st - 4th Grade The story begins with Ella Mae and her cousin Charlotte in front of a shoe store. They ask each other what shoes that they would get. Ella Mae goes home and she recives the shoes her brother has worn, but they don’t fit well. Her mother says they will have to buy new shoes for her. They go back to the shoe store and see a white girl and her father try on new shoes. After they leave, Ella Mae wants to try on some shoes, but they won’t let “colored people” try on shoes. She has to put her feet on paper and they have to outline her feet. She shoes Charlotte her new shoes and tells her what happened at the store. Charlotte said the same thing happened to her. Ella Mae came up with a new idea. They went to different houses and did odd jobs for a nickel and for outgrown shoes. They take the shoes and polish them and make them almost as good a...

  Title- The Moon Over Star Author/Retold- Dianna Hutts Aston Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney  Genre- Historical Fiction Grade level- 3rd Grade-5th Grade Awards- Coretta Scott King It starts of with a family in church singing. They prayed for the astronauts that were heading to the moon. Mae was very intrigued by going to the moon. She and her cousins would pretend to be astronauts going to space with the spare parts they found. Their whole family saw the ship take off and the “Eagle” land on the moon. Her gramps was very disconnected from the moon landing. He asked “Why spend all that money on going to the moon, while so many people need it here.” When they were watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon, Gramps became truly amazed. Later, Gramps told her the first time he saw a plane and how amazed he was by it. He encouraged her t keep on dreaming.  This is a great story to show how exciting it was when the US joined the space race. We didn’t see the true magnitude of what ...

Title- Grandfather’s Journey  Author/Retold- Allen Say Illustrated by Allen Say  Genre- Historical Fiction Grade level- 3rd Grade-5th Grade Awards- Caldecott Medal The story begins with a young man from Japan. He dressed in European clothes on his way to America. When they finally landed, he explored the US. He liked California the most though. He went back to Japan, got married and brought her to America. They lived in San Francisco and had a girl. The man started to miss his homeland and all the encapsulated it. He took his family back to his homeland when the daughter grew up. Instead of living in the village, she lived in the city, was married and bore a son. The boy listened to his grandfather talk about California. The grandfather left, but when he was gone, bombs destroyed his village. The grandfather returned. The last time the the grandson saw the grandfather, he longed to see the US again, but he couldn’t. The grandson left for America too. He grew up there and had a...

  Title- Rose Blanche  Author/Retold- Christopher Gallaz and Roberto Innocenti  Illustrated by Roberto Innocenti  Genre- Historical Fiction Grade level- 4th-8th Grade The story starts of a Girl Named Rose Blanche and she lived in a small town in Germany. Many trucks of soliders ran through her town. It was like any other day but more and more trucks rumbled through. One day, a truck stopped in the middle of the road and a boy ran from the truck. The mayor of the town stopped him and gave him to the German solider. The truck left but Rose followed it. She followed it the edge of town and through the woods. She she saw saw a barbed wire fence and children in black and white uniforms stood there. They were hungry and she gave them a piece of bread. She went back everyday and brought food. She realized some of the children had stars on their shirts. One morning the whole town started to flee, but Rose Blanche was no where to be found. She was trying to find the prison bu...

Title- My Little Island Author/Retold- Frané Lessac Illustrated by N/A Genre- Contemporary Realistic Fiction  Grade level- kindergarten - 3rd Grade The story begins with Lucca and the main character of the story land on an island in the Caribbean. The pair immediately see the colorful houses, boats, and plants. They got to Lucca’s aunts house and eat authentic Caribbean food. They then start to play in the fields with all the animals. The next day they go to market and see all the food for sale. The next day they go to the seashore and see the colorful fish and sellers of fish. They then go to Lucca’s old school, the volcano on the island, and they fished in a river. The next day they celebrated Lucca’s cousins wedding and they had a carnival through the streets of the town. They were about to leave, but they don’t say goodbye to their friends. They said “We’ll come back. soon!”  This is a great story to introduce student to them to island nation of the Caribbean. I would have...

  Title- Music, Music for Everyone  Author/Retold- Vera B. Williams Illustrated by N/A Genre- Contemporary Realistic Fiction  Grade level- kindergarten - 3rd Grade The story begins with a big pink chair in a living room. A girl nicknamed “pussycat” would practice the accordion and her mom and grandma would love to listen on the chair everyday. Her grandma is now sick and her whole family takes care of her grandma. Her grandma loved her friends and they would all come over to play music for her. The music reminded her grandma of music from her village. After they played for her grandmother, all her friends squeezed in to the big chair. They said everything is different without her grandma. Even the big money jar on the shelf seemed different without her. They had to empty the jar to take care of her grandmas medical bills.”Pussy Cat” took out her accordion and began to play once her friends left. She remembered how her mother used to play the accordion in front of crowds a...