Zack Goodspeed is a regular kid who has a very irregular grandfather. Grandfather is an inventor who creates a gigantic spaceship so that he can start a colony on the moon. Zack and his friend Angelina stow away on board the ship and soon find themselves in the midst of an exciting and dangerous adventure.

The first in a series of 6 books written by famous Chrisitan author C.S. Lewis. Follow these brothers and sisters on their journey to the magical land of Narnia, a land they found in the back of an old wardrobe. ENRICHING ACTIVITY: Compare the events in the story to Biblical Lessons and events Watch one of the several movies adapted from the book and compare the two

 

• A website devoted to C.S. Lewis and his Narnia Chronicles

The main character, a mouse named Ralph, stumbles upon a toy motorcycle left out by a boy visiting the hotel Ralph lives in. The boy and mouse develop a friendship and help each other on small adventures. ENRICHING ACTIVITY: Read the sequel Ralph S. Mouse or write a story about what is going to happen next if the book were continued

 

• Check out this link off of Beverly Cleary's Official Webpage

After tragedy strikes, Martine (11) goes to live with her grandmother on an African game reserve. This may sound like a dream come true for a young child, but Martine finds herself unable to fit in in such a different culture. To make matters worse her grandmother doesn't seem to want her. Martine learns about a mysterious white giraffe that has been reportedly sighted on the reserve. Does this beautiful creature hold the answer to helping Martine fit in and can it unlock a secret about Martine that she doesn't even know she has?

Note: This book is available in our Library.

A story about a boy dealing with divorce and being in a new school. ENRICHING ACTIVITY: Start a journal or diary

 

• Link off of Beverly Cleary's Official Webpage

Summary from publisher page of book: "When he decides to turn his fifth grade teacher's love of the dictionary around on her, clever Nick Allen invents a new word and begins a chain of events that quickly moves beyond his control. ENRICHING ACTIVITY: Create your own dictionary of made up words.

• Check out this official webpage devoted to the book Frindle

Read about a boy who moves to a new home on his birthday. Life here isn't the same as it used to be. ENRICHING ACTIVITY: Make chalk drawings on BLACK CONSTRUCTION PAPER

 

• Read this website on this book

This Newbery Award Winner is about a young boy who is found guilty of stealing sneakers that literaly appeared out of thin air. Journey with him to Camp Green Lake, a boy's detention center. ENRICHING ACTIVITY: Watch the movie (rated pg) and look for differences between it and the book

• visit Louis Sachar's official webpage

A humorous collection of stories about a very unique school. Each chapter tells the tale of one of the students from the classroom on the 30th floor of Wayside School. ENRICHING ACTIVITY: Write Creative Stories based on people in your life (possibly write a collection just like Louis Sachar)

 

• visit Louis Sachar's official webpage

Scott Harrison is as fast as anyone he knows on skates. When he is challenged by and beats a member of the local hockey team, they ask him to join. Scott deals with doubt and fear as one of his teammates ruins his self confidence. What wil Scott do?

• Check out the other books related to hockey that Matt Christopher has written

Keith drops a sure touchdown pass that would have given his team the victory. Because of his drop their season was over. The rest of the book focuses on the next season, and Keith is having a hard time with his confidence. Confidence is what Keith will need as another player wants to play his positon. ENRICHING ACTIVITY: Write a letter to Keith, trying to help him become more confident as a receiver

 

• Check out the other books related to football that Matt Christopher has written

Mac is a leader of his soccer team as it's goalie and team encourager. However someone isn't so impressed. An anonymous (unknown) artist has been making fun of him in a weekly cartoon. See how this affects Mac and see if you can figure out who it is before he does. ENRICHING ACTIVITY: Come up with rhyming cheers for your favorite sports team. Draw a cartoon of Mac that he would be happy with. Attempt to draw the cartoons mentioned in the book.

• Check out the other books related to soccer that Matt Christopher has written

Kim Rollins spends his first day of baseball practice trying to learn a game he has never played before, only to realize that everyone else on the team hasn't played before either. Despite the inexperience the coach is determined to win the championship. Follow Kim and his teammates as the season progresses. Will they win the championship?

• Check out the other books related to baseball that Matt Christopher has written

Martin Luther King Jr. had a sister and a brother. His sisters name was Willie Chistine. His brothers name was Alfred Daniel. Martin loved to sing and he sung in his fathers church. Then two of his friends didn't want to play with him anymore because he was black and they were white. Martin began to cry. His mom told him that back then there were slaves. They got freed but people treated them badly. Now there were only white signs. Black people weren't aloud in some places like some parks, pools, hotels, restaurants and even some schools. Blacks were kept out of many jobs. Martin read books about black leaders. Martin entered the Morehouse College. Martin became a minister. He married Coretta Scott. Rosa Parks was arrested for sitting in a whites spot on the bus. The blacks people hated being kicked about. One day some threw a bomb into Martins house. The black people wanted to fight but Martin said NO!. Then the bus problems ended. Martin kept trying. When he made his speech everyone listened. The next year ,1964, white only signs were took down. Now blacks could go anywhere. On April 1968 Martin stood outside his motel room. A man named James Earl Ray was hiding near by. He pointed a rifle at Dr. King and fired the gun. An hour later Dr. King was dead. On his grave stone it said in his own words : Im Free At Last.

 

• See which student wrote the above report

BOOKER .T. WASHINGTON 1856 - 1915 Booker T. Washington opened a school for blacks and taught them and raised money. He also spoke to big groups and told them the student’s needs. Bookers mother was a slave and at age seven Booker cried water to the workers in the field. Booker worked with his stepfather in a mine, a mine is a tunnel for people to dig up salt. He worked for five hours in the morning. He also went to school and then he went back for two more hours. When he was older he went to Hampton Institute and worked as a janitor to pay for school. Booker finished school at Hampton in 1875. He worked at Hampton at night. Then he started a school in Tuskegee, Alabama because the children needed a teacher and a school. 400 students lived on campus. Fannie Smith and Booker got married and had one girl. Fannie died in 1884. Then he got married to Olivia Davidson they had two boys. She died in 1889. Then he met Margaret Murray. He hired her to work for him. He liked her and they got married and they had no children. Booker started the school on his beliefs. He thought both work and school. Booker hired George Washington Harvard. Booker and George shared many ideas with each other. W.E.B Du Bois didn’t like Bookers idea s. He thought that blacks and whites should have the same rights. Booker thought African Americans should get well paying jobs. So he made a book called Up From Slavery. Booker T. Washington died in his home on November 14, 1915.

 

• See which student wrote the above report