THE DANGER BOX

By Blue Balliet
Publisher: Scholastic Press
ISBN: 978-0-439-85209-8

FROM THE FLAP: A boy in a small town who has a different way of seeing. A curious girl who doesn’t belong. A mysterious notebook. A missing father. A fire. A stranger. A death. These are some of the things you’ll find within the danger box, the new mystery from Blue Balliet. Open with care.

KATE’S TAKE: This mystery pulls readers in and doesn’t let go until the last page.

CODE CRACKERS Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic, and Interpersonal

Ask each student to write a question about a story element in the book. Then, have each pupil rewrite the question using the code on page thirty-eight of the book. After the questions are rewritten in code, ask students to exchange questions and have them crack the code and answer the questions.

DARWIN DIORAMAS Visual/Spatial

Ask students to create a diorama of Darwin’s trip to the Galapagos Islands based on information found in the book.

GAS GAZETTES Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Verbal/Linguistic

Ask each student to write a “Gas Gazette” about him or herself at the beginning of the school year. When you send home your newsletter, include one of the “Gas Gazettes” with each newsletter. This is a great way to introduce the “star of the week” if you implement Responsive Classroom techniques.

HOMETOWN HOTSPOTS Verbal/Linguistic, Visual/Spatial, and Interpersonal

Ask pairs of children to build a scale cardboard model of a famous town or state landmark. When all the models are built, students can take a walking tour of the town or state. Special thanks to Derek O’Riorden for this great end of the year activity.

LIKELY LISTS Verbal/Linguistic and Interpersonal

Next time you study biographies, ask each student to make up a list of words that describes their famous person. After students have presented their biography book reports, number the lists and post them around the room. Ask students to write down the name of the famous person that each list describes.

BOOK BUDDIES
-Charles and Emma: The Darwin’s Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
-Masterpiece by Elise Broach
-The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
-The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin
-The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

INTERVIEW WITH MUDVILLE AUTHOR, KURTIS SCALETTA

KN: On your website Roy has a top-five baseball list and Sturgis has a top-ten music list. Did you make other contrasting lists in order to get to know your characters?

KS: I make a lot of those lists mentally, even if I don't write them down. I feel like, at least with major characters like Roy and Sturgis, authors should be able to answer the kinds of questions they'd be able to answer about their friends: what do they read or watch on TV, what kind of music do they like, what do they want to be when they grow up, and who are their heroes? But I only include those interests if they stand out or are a big part of a character's personality. Sturgis's music and books are a way for him to get to know his dad better, so they're important. Roy's taste in music isn't important so I don't mention it, but at I do know that about Roy -- he's OK with whatever's on the radio, unless it's jazz. But one thing about kids is that their tastes are always changing and they're always discovering new things. So as a writer, I have to keep that in mind. For example, Roy likes reading non-fiction better than fiction, but he tries reading something different in Mudville.

KN: I have to ask. Have you really cooked and eaten the dishes on Mr. McGuire’s favorite recipe pages? If so, have you served them to anyone else?

KS: Ha. Funny you should ask! My wife celebrated the week Mudville came out by planning a whole week of menus around Mr. McGuire's experiments. We had spinach surprise and spam manicotti and chili dog pie [ http://mudmambas.wordpress.com/2009/02/22/as-seen-in-the-novels-chili-dog-pie/.] Chili dog pie is actually really good, although it's not that healthy. What's scary is that I made those recipes up for the book, but was able to find every one online when I put the website extras together. They were all real things people had done.

KN: Before the story starts, you quote Roy Hobbs from The Natural, “A father makes all the difference.” Did you make Roy’s mother be uninvolved so you could focus on Roy’s relationship with his father?

KS: Yes, that's exactly what it was. It was a book about fathers and sons and brothers, so I decided to downplay the mothers of both of the main characters in Mudville. Women (and girls) are also only a minor presence in Mamba Point, which is mainly about brothers and masculine friendships. I'm making up for it with my third novel, which is in progress. There are several important female characters of different generations (and different species!) that the hero gets to know, and they're all important to him without filling a role as his mother or his girlfriend. It's of the things that I feel really good about as I slog through the nth draft. I'm confident that boys will connect with those characters and find them appealing.

KN: Mudville is a pleasure to read. Could you please talk about what you did to make sure Roy’s voice is consistent and strong throughout the novel?

KS: Thanks for the compliment! Roy's voice is a synthesis of my voice and one of the great narrators in baseball fiction, Henry Wiggen. He's the narrator and hero of The Southpaw and Bang the Drum Slowly and two other novels by Mark Harris [http://mudmambas.wordpress.com/2008/05/30/in-memory-of-mark-harris/]. Wiggen is unpretentious and often funny, but those books are gorgeously written. Harris himself was taking a lot of cues from Ring Lardner's Jack Keefe stories. Anyway, that's how I found Roy's voice... the plot is like a W. P. Kinsella book, but I really owe a lot more to Mark Harris, and I said so in the acknowledgments.

KN: Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

KS: Well, I already worked in one plug but let me work in another. I have a new book coming out this summer. It's not a baseball book, or even a sports book, but I hope people who liked Mudville will like this one, too. It's called Mamba Point, and it's about an American kid living in Monrovia, Liberia (that's in West Africa) who befriends a black mamba, one of the deadliest snakes in the world. A lot of the book is based on personal experience, because I moved to Liberia myself when I was thirteen. My dad worked at the U.S. Embassy, just like Linus's dad does in the book. I never befriended a mamba, but I did see a couple.

KN: Thanks so much for the interview.

KS: Thanks for the invitation. I really like your blog; the educational tie-ins are creative.

KN: Thanks for the compliment.

THE MYSTERIOUS HOWLING: THE INCORRIGIBLE CHILDREN OF ASHTON PLACE SERIES

By Maryrose Wood
Publisher: Balzer and Bray, An imprint of Harper Collins
ISBN: 978-0-06-179105-5

FROM THE FLAP: Of especially naughty children, it is sometimes said: “They must have been raised by wolves.”

The Incorrigible children actually were.

Discovered in the forests of Ashton Place, the Incorrigibles are no ordinary children: Alexander keeps his siblings in line with gentle nips; Cassiopeia has a bark that is (usually) worse than her bite; and Beowulf is alarmingly adept at chasing squirrels.

Luckily, Miss Penelope Lumley is no ordinary governess. Only fifteen years old and a graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Penelope embraces the challenge of her new situation. Though she is eager to instruct the children in Latin verbs and the proper use of globes, first she must eliminate their canine tendencies.

But mysteries abound at Ashton Place: Who are these three wild creatures? Why does Old Timothy, the coachman, lurk around every corner? Will Penelope be able to civilize the Incorrigibles in time for Lady Constance’s holiday ball? And what on earth is a schottische?

Penelope is no stranger to mystery, as her own origins are also cloaked in secrecy. But as Agatha Swanburne herself once said, “Things may happen for a reason, but that doesn’t mean we know what the reason is—at least not yet.”

KATE’S TAKE: A deliciously old-fashioned novel laced with foreboding.

CASSIOPEIA CHALLENGES (Logical/Mathematical and Interpersonal)

Cassiopeia creates her own math problems. Ask students to create their own math problems based on scenes in the book. Have each student prove the problem is solveable before challenging another student to solve it.

CHARACTER ACROSTIC POEMS (Verbal/Linguistic and Interpersonal)

Ask each student to pick a character from the book and write an acrostic poem to describe each character. Students should describe physical and personality traits of the character as well as the person’s role in the book.

FOLK DANCE FUN (Kinesthetic and Interpersonal)

Miss Lumley and the children learn to dance the schottische, a popular folk dance of the time. Teach your class how to do a folk dance. This website has great teacher support for this activity: http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=16243

TABLEAUX VIVANT (Visual/Spatial and Interpersonal)

Ask groups of three or four students to perform tableaux vivants for the class. Students will design sets and props and dress up as characters from a book the class has studied over the year or from a classic tale. The rest of the class will guess which story the students are portraying.

TASTY TREATS (Verbal/linguistic and Interpersonal)

Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia indulge in many delicacies such as petites madeleines at the Christmas ball. Ask each child to bring in a favorite recipe from home and correlate the recipes together to create a class recipe book.

BOOK BUDDIES:

-The Witch’s Guide to Cooking with Children by Keith McGowan
-The Witch’s Guide to Hunting with Children by Keith McGowan
-Werewolves by Stephen Krensky
-Werewolves Don’t Go to Summer Camp by Debbie Dadey
-Werewolves Don’t Run for President by Debbie Dadey

THE WORRY TREE

By Marianne Musgrove
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8791-8

FROM THE FLAP: Juliet’s a worrywart, and no wonder! Her little sister, Oaf, follows her around taking notes and singing “The Irritating Song” all day long. Her parents are always arguing about Dad’s clutter. Nana’s so tired of craft lessons that she starts barbecuing things in the middle of the night. And Juliet’s friends, Lindsay and Gemma, are competing to see which of them is her best friend. Juliet can’t fit in any more worries!

But then she makes a remarkable discovery. Behind the wallpaper in her new bedroom, Juliet uncovers an old painting of a very special tree. Nana remembers it well: It’s the Worry Tree, and with the help of the Worry Tree animals, Juliet just might be able to solve some of life’s big problems.

A Living Forest (Bodily-Kinesthetic)

Have students pretend they’re trees. First they crouch as if they’re seeds. Have them unfurl their bodies as the sun shines and the rain falls. Once they’ve reached their full grown height, remind them to keep their roots anchored and have their branches stretch toward the sun. Have a storm come and tell students that even though their branches might sway, their trunks stay balanced and centered no matter what the conditions around them.

Collection Classification (Naturalist and Logical-Mathematical)

Ask students to bring in a collection from home. As individuals, have students classify their collections by an attribute such as size, shape, or color. As a class, classify and sort the collections by attributes. Graph the results.

Fly Away Worries (Intrapersonal, Visual-Spatial, Verbal-Linguistic, and Interpersonal)

Give students a piece of origami paper. Have them write a worry on the white side of the paper. Then, using the directions from http://www.origami-club.com/en/kids/index.html, instruct them how to fold their worry into a bird, or another animal mentioned in the book. Have the students pin their worry to the tree. At the end of the day, the teacher can pick one worry off the tree and read it out loud making sure to leave out any names or other identifying information. The class can brainstorm ways they’ve overcome that specific problem.

Grandparent Interviews (Verbal-Linguistic and Interpersonal)

In class ask students to write ten interview questions for their grandparents or another older family relative or acquaintance. The students’ questions should center their grandparents’ childhoods. Ask students to invite their grandparents to the classroom or bring in a photo of their relative and present their findings to the class.

Extensions: Write a creative story about your grandparents’ favorite toy.
Write a see-saw book comparing and contrasting your childhood to your grandparents’ childhood.

The Worry Tree (Visual-Spatial)

The teacher affixes a large trunk with six branches to a bulletin board in the classroom. Ask students to dip one of their palms into a tray of green paint, and make a hand print onto the classroom worry tree. Now the tree is leafy and ready to receive the classroom’s origami worries.

Book Buddies:

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker
Dessert First by Hallie Durand
Ivy and Bean by Annie Barrows
Piper Reed, Navy Brat by Kimberly Willis Holt
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr

FINEST KIND by Lea Wait

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 978-1-4169-0952-1

FROM THE FLAP: It’s 1838. Jake’s father has lost his job and his savings. Hearing of work in Maine, the family leaves their large home in Boston and heads north, taking with them a few furnishings and a deep family secret. In Maine they find only a dirty, isolated farmhouse, and a job for Father that takes him away from home.

“I’ll have to depend on you,” Jake’s mother tells him. But how can Jake find food? How can he prepare for the dangerous cold of a Maine winter? How can he protect his mother and his family’s secret?

Slowly, Jake learns the ways to survive, catching game and storing food for the long winter months. Nabby McCord, whose family also has a secret, helps him. So does Granny McPherson, who may be a witch. But when it comes to earning the money they need, Jake knows he’s on his own. He shows his determination as the winter approaches, but does he have what it takes to bring his family together to face their future and their past?

Finest Kind is the powerful story of a boy who is forced to become a man and to learn the truth about courage, friendship, and secrets.

Family Secrets (Linguistic)

Jake’s family’s secret is that his little brother has cerebral palsy. Choose a specific disability and compare and contrast the current medical treatment and understanding of that disability versus them past medical treatment and understanding of that disability. Or write about a friend or family member who is differently abled and describe your relationship with him or her.

Plant Classification (Naturalist)

Jake had to learn about the different plants in his area to survive. Take a walk outside and collect species of plants or draw pictures of them. Classify the plants into categories such as flowering or non-flowering, herbaceous or woody stems, and whether or not they use the wind, water or animals for seed dispersal.

Relay Races (Bodily/Kinesthetic and Interpersonal)

Jake is surprised when Tom is not a good sport after their race. As a class, brainstorm a list of supportive comments before, during and after a race. During the race, require that each teammate shout a supportive comment during each team-member’s turn. If anyone demonstrates bad sportsmanship, that member has to run an extra leg of the race or if it is after the race, that team is automatically disqualified.

Songs from the 19^th Century (Musical)

Jake and his mother sing to soothe Frankie. What songs did they sing? In cooperative groups have students pick one song written in the 19^th century and perform it in class. Encourage students to play instruments as well as sing.

Wax Museum (Linguistic/Interpersonal)

Have students research 18^th and 19^th century presidents. After each student picks a specific president, have them write a short biography of that president. Ask students to dress up as that president, read their bio, and ask their classmates to guess who they are.

Book Buddies:

-A Small White Scar by K.A. Nuzum

-Bigger by Patricia Calvert

-Rules by Cynthia Lord

-Wintering Well by Lea Wait