Each Little Bird That Sings

Each Little Bird That Sings
by Deborah Wiles
Realistic Fiction
Harcourt, 2005

Summary: Comfort Snowberger is a ten-year-old girl whose family owns a funeral home. She has attended more than 247 funerals. She lives with her father (a mortician), her mother (a funeral florist), her fourteen-year-old brother Tidings, and her faithful dog Dismay. Comfort considers her self to an “explorer, recipe tester, and funeral reporter”. She prides herself on thinking out of the box. Comfort is a girl that some would consider “eccentric”. Her Great-Great Aunt Florentine, and Great Uncle Edisto are a big part of her life. Comfort gets many of her quirks and personality traits from them. In the wake of her Great-Great Aunt Florentine’s death, her best friend Declaration Johnson begins to shun her with no explanation. On top of that, she has to look after her younger cousin Peach, who is a royal pain! Throughout the book, Comfort is confronted with a life of surprises.

“It’s not how you die that makes the important impression, Comfort; it’s how you live.”

- Great Uncle Edisto

Themes: family relationships; identity; death; friendships; emotions; belonging; self-esteem

Rationale for Use: Student-friendly language; elements of humor; interesting plot; believable adolescent characters and problems

Content Area Connections:

Science:

Teacher could use this book to connect to a study on rocks. Weather, specifically flooding, could also be connected to this text.

Social Science:

Teachers could use the map illustrated in the beginning of the book as a review of map legends and keys.

Also, students could read and discuss Comfort’s obituaries, and write their own for famous Americans and/or Presidents.

Possible Problems or Concerns: organization of text may be difficult for some students to follow; central theme of death may be too realistic for some students

~Amanda Booe

Behind You

Behind You
by Jacqueline Woodson
Contemporary Fiction

Summary: Jeremiah (Miah) Roselind is dead because of a horrible police error. Those he left behind are having a difficult time dealing with his untimely death. In each chapter we are privy to the grieving process of Ellie, Miah’s white girlfriend; Nelia, his famous mom; and Carlton, his gay childhood friend. Miah helplessly looks down on his friends and family as they attempt to move on with their lives, but they are all stuck in complicated emotional pain. Woodson carries us through each of their fragile lives as they find healing for their wounded spirits. The book not only deals with death and dying, but also with living after a great loss. It is an easy-to-read book. Jacqueline Woodson often writes about the emotions of grief. She is a prolific African-American writer of young adult novels who has been nominated twice for the National Book Award, and was the 2001 recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award. .

Rationale for Use: Woodson’s issues know no color. Her plots are not complicated, but they are problems young people encounter in today’s world: racism, sexuality, love, and acceptance.

Content Area Connections: Most Reading SOL content areas could be addressed using Behind You, especially demonstrating a comprehension of fiction. Character traits and story elements can be easily adapted for classroom study. Here is an example for understanding imagery and figurative language (page 51): “Future like a big empty trick-or-treat bag at the beginning of Halloween night.”

Possible Concerns: This is a thought-provoking story and might not be received well by those students who are not ready to think "deep."

~Belinda Todd

Heaven

Heaven
by Angela Johnson
Realistic Fiction
Scholastic, 1999

Summary: Marley, a 14 year old girl, lives a perfect life in Heaven, OH. She thinks it’s a perfect life, that is, until she realizes that her mom and dad are not really her parents. She discovers that her beloved uncle, Jack, is really her father. Upon the discovery that her life has been a lie, Marley starts out on an unexpected journey to find her identity. Marley’s anger forces her to see flaws in all of the beauty that once existed. In dealing with the pain in her life, she decides to take one day at a time and each day brings new realizations. She realizes that everyone deals with pain, that the word perfect is misunderstood, and that her flawed life has led her to Heaven.

Themes: Identity, Family, Friendship, Survival

Rationale for Use:

-Realistic characters and plot.

-Complex themes that adolescents can relate to.

-While the plot is complex, the story moves quickly and keeps you hooked until the end.

Content Area Connections:

Social Studies:

Geography – Throughout the story, various U.S. cities are mentioned, allowing the audience to learn more about the main character’s all around journey of self-identity. Students could piece the story together using a U.S. map. They could mark all of the cities and use relative location and cardinal directions to describe where the characters have traveled in order to get to Heaven.

Era Study – Students could list clues from the story to find a time frame that the story took place in. Listing types of transportation, communication, family life styles, and social issues, students can make connections to what they know about various time periods in our history and try to determine the time setting.

Possible Problems or Concerns: Language and plot are objectionable at times.

~Bridget Mansfield

Until We Meet Again

Until We Meet Again
by Anne Schraff
Realistic Fiction
Scholastic, 2002

Summary: Darcy was a sixteen-year-old high school student whose summer changed drastically. Darcy’s father had returned after a five-year absence, was back in their lives and buying them a house. Darcy’s grandmother, who lived with them and helped her mother take care of them when her father was away, had had a stroke and was very ill. Later at school she would find out that her boyfriend, Hakeem, was moving to another state because his father had cancer. Hakeem was always there for her, but now he was leaving. Another boy enters Darcy’s life, Brian. Brian was older and worker. Her was the brother of Liselle and Darcy was babysitting her daughter Kelena. Brian was picking up the pieces of Darcy’s broken heart. He was handsome, muscular and his cologne was always smelling good. They had a couple of dates. But then the date where Darcy lied to her father and told him that she had to baby-sit; instead she was going to meet Brian at the apartment. Brain got really ruff with her, and her father had come over to bring her some dinner and heard her screaming and broke the door down, slammed Brian up against the wall and grabbed Darcy and dragged her home. Darcy’s sister walks into the grandmother’s bedroom and found her on the floor, calls 911 and the paramedics take her to the hospital. Her grandmother comes home in a couple of days and dies.

Themes: Family, friendship and dealing with different emotions (love, grief, anger) and values.

Rationael for Use: Very well written. You actually feel that you are one of the characters and feeling the emotions they are going through. Real problems and issues.

Content Area Connections:

The students could describe and give measurements the apartment and compare the house in size, rooms and the yard. (Math)

They could make a map of the distance from Darcy’s home to school, and to the babysitters. (Math)

Discuss life choices; right and wrong. (English)(Life)

Possible Problems or Concerns: The print size was a great reading size and font. It was only 144 pages long, just long enough to keep the student’s interest. A realistic view of teenage life and making the right and wrong choices.

~Vera Grant

Schooled

Schooled
by Paul Langan
Realistic Fiction
Townsend Press, 2009

Summary: The Bluford Series is a recently published set of books that deals with everyday situations that adolescent teenagers deal with. The setting is primarily Bluford High School. In Schooled, the main character Lionel Shephard is a struggling reader. His dream is to play basketball for the NBA, but obstacles of school, family, and friendship stand in his way. His teachers threaten to fail him because of his poor work habits and grades, his father thinks playing basketball is unrealistic, and his friend, Jamar uses peer pressure to convince him to drop out of school and join him working at the local car wash where he won’t have to answer to anyone. After several twists and turns, and with the help of his teachers and father, Lionel realizes that if he is going to achieve his goal of being an NBA superstar, he will have to work hard and stay in school. This is a high interest/low readability book for adolescent readers that definitely gets their attention and keeps it to the end. The author’s inclusion of the father as the role model and supporting character are just what many of our male adolescent readers need.

Themes:Perseverance, Courage to deal with Peer Pressure, Family, Overcoming difficult challenges

Rationale for Use:High interest low readability, realistic adolescent characters and situations, teaches about peer pressure and perseverance

Content Area Connections:Citizenship Skills dealing with relationships between peers and family members

Possible Problems or Concerns:Mature content: drug reference to use of marijuana, violence: fighting

~Heather Fanja