Author/Illustrator: Claudia MillsPlot Summary: A pair of fifth grade twins have diverse talents and strengths but learn from each other when their father becomes unemployed and their mother goes back to work. They learn unlikely lessons from each other, as well as friends they didn't realize they had.
Comments: I'm a bit reluctant to admit that I liked a book for the same reasons that it was endorsed by the National Christian School Association but this is a nice, wholesome book about friendship and the real issues that upper elementary and early middle school students face. Innocent and non-dysfunctional angst written with just the right amount of sophistication. The issue of unemployment is especially poignant right now. Also, it was interesting that the ATOS and Follett book levels are so different; makes one wonder how useful they really are or is this book just hard to place?
Extensions:
1. This is a suggestion for organizing a literature circle in a 5th grade class - http://www.litcircles.org/Structure/struct5.html. This would be an appropriate title for a book talk and an option for a book from which fifth graders to read and discuss.
2. Students reading the book(5 - 6 students) will create a quilt square using the characters from the book. The square will show a picture of the character that the students draw and a scene from the book with some words describing the personality of the character or some of the challenges the character faced. http://www.litcircles.org/Extension/storyquilt.html
Themes/keywords: self-perception, family problems, unemployment, schools, friendship, brothers and sisters, twins
Age/Reading Level: Interest level 3 - 6; ATOS - 4.8; Follett-6.4; Lexile - 770
Standards:
ELA8RC1(4th through 8th grade) The student reads a minimum of 25 grade-level appropriate books
or book equivalents (approximately 1,000,000 words) per year from a variety
of subject disciplines. The student reads both informational and fictional texts
in a variety of genres and modes of discourse, including technical texts related
to various subject areas.
Publisher's Info: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York. 2006
ISBN-13: 978-0-374-31798-0
ISBN-10: 0-374-31798-4
Awards/Review Sources:
Wilson's Children 10/01/06 | School Library Journal 05/01/06 |
| Booklist 02/01/06 | Horn Book 10/01/06 |
| Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 04/01/06 | Kirkus Review 03/15/06 |
Genre/Dewey: Fiction
Websites:
Author's website
An interview with the author
This has a comprehensive list of the author's books with the numerous awards they have received
Notes for Booktalk:
Additional books by the same author - a series of five books from West Creek Middle School - Makeovers by Marcia; Alex Ryan; Stop That!; Lizzie at Last; You're a Brave Man, Julius Zimmerman; and Losers, Inc.
Vocabulary:
Comments