Walk Two Moons... and Read Many Books!

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.

During the journey west, Sal shares with Gram and Gramps the story of her friend Phoebe Winterbottom, whose discontented mother also left her family. As Phoebe’s tale unfolds, similarities and differences between the two friends’ lives become clear, and we begin to understand Sal’s story.   

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.

Mrs. Nigro shares a favorite.

Mrs. Nigro enthusiastically recommends the 1995 Newbery Medal winner, promising, “The story-within-a-story is one you won’t want to put down.  You will laugh, and you will cry.”  
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.

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.

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. 

Julian begins writing about sixth-grade life.  Page after page-turning page, there remains one story Julian can't bring himself to tell, the one story his teacher—and readers—most want to hear.  Inspired by the author’s own childhood growing up in 1960s Queens, New York, Twerp is filled with humor and heartache.  Like Walk Two Moons, this conduct-of-life story will have readers laughing and crying along with its cast of imperfect but perfectly-created characters. 

Summer Reading is taking us places!  It's like Salamanca observes in Walk Two Moons:  
On and on we go.  We walk in everybody’s moccasins, and we have discovered some interesting things that way....