Chapter Books

Holes by Loius Sachar

This book is about a boy, Stanley Yelnats who was falsely accused of a crime. He believes it is because of his great-great granfather who was cursed due to because of a broken promise to a old lady. For punishment he is sent to a "camp" which is really a dentention center that "builds character."  The boys at the camp have to dig holes everyday and they know that they are looking for something but they don't know what.  The warden over the camp is a very mean lady and so is the man who works under her that deals with boys on a day-to-day basis.  Stanley and his closest friend escaped the camp and ran into the desert.  While away Stanley unknowingly fulfilled the promise of his great-great grandfather to the descendant of the old lady.  The curse was broken and two boys figured out what the warden was after.  They returned to the camp, found the treasure, closed down the camp, and his family lived happy ever after.  This book hits important issues such as equality, morals, and respect.  Another classroom implication could be having the students write what they feel the moral of the story is.


The Best School Year Ever by

When anything goes wrong at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School, from the hexing of Bus Six to the mysterious disappearance of the kindergarten gerbil, it’s sure to have a Herdman behind it. The Herdmans are more than famous-they're outlaws. They smoke cigars, lie, and set fire to things, and that's only when they bother to come to school!Then a school project forces the students to think of compliments for all their classmates-including the Herdmans. Is it possible that behind their outrageous pranks there may be something good about this crazy clan after all. You could have the students do a newpaper headline saying the good news that the Herdmans really are good afterall! The students could also right notes to each other like they did in the book complimenting everyone in their class.

Stuart Goes to School by Sara Pennypacker

In this chapter book, all this worrying is embodied in Stuart, a new third grader at Punbury School. Stuart a huge worrier. He worries about first day of school clothes are ugly, his "fives" might come out backwards while he writes on the blackboard, and his having something interesting to share for show-and-tell is by no means certain. Due to a cape malfunction he ends up naked in front of the entire class he has a bad day. This causes him to worry more. The next two days provide a series of funny, silly school adventures. Stuart becomes locked in the boys' bathroom, explores the teachers' lounge, and tunnels his way out of his predicaments with the assistance of his sometimes-reliable cape. His second day is worse than the first. Day three ends up being a good day! He finds out he is the best drawer out of all his peers, he saves his teacher, and he makes friends. He ends up not worring anymore and being comfortable at school.The illustrations do a good job of expressing Stuart's thoughts, feelings, and worries. This book is great for 3rd grade because it is about a 3rd grader.  The students could make Venn Diagrams comparing their concerns to Stuart's.  They can also write how they got over them and advice to new 3rd graders.

 
Mississippi Mud by:

This is the story of a family moving during the pioneer days. Three children have their own chapters about their thoughts and feeling about moving from Kentucky to Oregon. The children are writting journals through poetry.  The images Turner creates are stunning and could keep children engaged.  This would be a great book when moving into a poetry unit.  The students could identify them and write some of their own.

Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction

My Green Thumb by: Maxine Effenson Chuck [fantasy]


In "My Green Thumb" a little boy, Isador, is telling the story about how he became a farmer. One day he was is in the garden with his father and it begins to rain.  Later, he notices that his thumb as turned green.  From then on everytime he touched a plant it grew insanely large.  He eventually learns how to control his power.  After advice from his grandfather he enters a pumpkin into the county fair and wins.  This book would be for students on a lower reading level.  This book would be good for helping student make connections.  This would also be a good book for a guided reading session because it is short but has some challenging words and ideas. This book would also be good for doing a running record on a student who has come from another school and as a teacher you are trying to determine what reading level they are on.

Double Trouble in Walla Walla by: Andrew Clements [fantasy]

In this book a little girl comes to school and she has a question about her homework.  When she opens her mouth to answer the question she says silly phrases.  Her teacher warns her to stop talking in such a silly manner.  Since she can't control what she is saying she continued and her teacher and her went to the principals office.  When her teacher tried to explain to the principal the teacher was talking to silly too. This spread to the teacher, principal, and then the school nurse.  Together they tried to figure out the solution.  They decided to say as many silly things as they could to see if it would fix it.  Sure enough after after pages of jibber jabber the four were cured and their day went on as planned.  This book is good for the class climate.  This book is also good for ELL students who are learning how to read English because it gives them the opportunity to pronouce letter combination in this language.

Saving Sweetness by: Diane Stanley

This book is about a little girl who lives in an orphange.  The foster mother was a horrible lady.  A little girl, the smallest one, left from the orphange and she decided to run into the desert.  The sheriff went into the desert to find her.  The sheriff kept getting himself into trouble and Sweetness kept bailing him out.  Before he would get the opportunity to take her back into town she would run away again.  Sweetness swore to never return to the orphange.  With the help of Sweetness the sheriff caught an outlaw this time Sweetness made the Sheriff promise to adopt her and all three of them went into town.  The sheriff ended up adpoting the entire orphange.  The outlaw married to foster and she was just as mean to him as she was to the children.  The children can write in a journal other ending to the story.  I think this is a good book to stop frequently during readings and have the students predict what will happen next.