Don’t
judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins.... In Walk Two
Moons by Sharon Creech (RL 6.6), thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle and
her beloved grandparents travel by car from Ohio to Idaho, tracing the path of Sal’s
missing mother. Sal had
a loving relationship with her mother and is devastated by her sudden departure.
Walk Two Moons is about coming to terms with the loss of a loved one and about the development of new relationships and friendships. What will Sal find at the end of the road? We can learn more about Sharon Creech and her storytelling. Click on the red-highlighted words to get started.
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| Mrs. Nigro shares a favorite. |
This summer, the fourth grade Language Arts teacher is reading by her pool, in the mountains of Colorado, and on the beaches of North Carolina.
We think Mrs.
Nigro may want to pack a few titles from Carole Marsh’s Real Kids, Real Places for
her summer travels. Each mystery in the
series incorporates geography, humor, history, and culture—and includes related
quizzes and activities. Click on the
red-highlighted words to learn more!
In
The Mystery in the Rocky Mountains (RL 4.9), Grant, Christina, and two friends
join their mystery-writing parents on a trip to Denver, Colorado, and find
themselves navigating a haunted hotel, a scary ski slope, and mountains of
clues as they work to solve a mile-high mystery.
In The Mystery at Kill Devil
Hills (RL 4.5), the friends find themselves racing through aviation history to
locate the Wright Brothers’ plane, which has gone missing before a celebration
of Orville and Wilbur’s historic first flight.
More about Mothers and
Daughters: In The Mother Daughter Book
Club series by Heather Vogel Frederick (RL 4.2), four very different girls— at
their mothers’ urging— come together to read classic fiction, learning valuable
lessons about family, friendship, and middle school life along the way.
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| Lafayette Readers Layla and Mia like The Mother Daughter Book Club. |
Travel to a classic: The Hobbit, or There and Back
Again by J.R.R. Tolkien (RL YA).
Published in 1937, the story introduces us to respectable hobbit Bilbo
Baggins, who lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole— until wandering
wizard Gandalf recruits him to take part in an adventure from which he may never
return. Take a look at a book commercial,
created by Jamie W.
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| Krishna B. recommends The Hobbit. |
More about Moccasins: In Who Was Sacajawea?
by Judith Bloom Fradin (RL 4.9), readers learn about the life and times of the
Shoshoni woman who accompanied explorers Lewis and Clark on their historic early
nineteenth-century expedition. This
title from the popular Who Was? biography series describes Sacajawea’s early
life and education:
The Shoshoni did not have schools. Sacajawea learned by working beside the women
of her tribe. She collected wood for
fires. She helped make moccasins,
clothing, and tipis. She picked berries
and dug roots for her family to eat. She
learned to make medicine from plants.
We
walk many moons in Sacajawea’s remarkable moccasins: the sixteen-year-old
travelled thousands of miles on foot, on horseback, and by canoe— carrying a baby on her back!
Two centuries later, we celebrate
Sacajawea with a golden coin bearing her image. The Sacajawea dollar, minted since 2000,
originally featured an eagle on the "tails" side of the coin. Since 2009, the reverse design has changed
yearly, showing different aspects of Native American culture.
Walk
a Mile in Julian Twerski’s Shoes: Twerp by Mark Goldblatt (RL 5.1). When twelve-year-old Julian returns to school
after a week-long suspension, his English teacher makes him an offer can’t
refuse. If he keeps a journal—and writes
about the bullying incident that got him suspended—he will be excused from
writing a report about William Shakespeare.
On and on we go. We walk in everybody’s moccasins, and we have discovered some interesting things that way....
