The Watsons go to Birmingham is both a heart wrenching yet funny and relatable book about the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham. As someone who as grown up in Alabama my whole life, I remember reading this book and laughing at some of the mannerisms Grandma had because it was something that I had seen from other grandmothers around me growing up. However, it also covers the tragic 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham. This would be a great book to link to Alabama History or to read before a field trip to Birmingham to give students a context to what they will see on the trip and the history of the city. An activity that you could do with this book is having students link this book to a place in Birmingham and having them research their chosen place and present it to their classmates. 

Lexile Measurement: 920L

Bud is a determined to find his father despite what is thrown his way. He battles foster parents and siblings, his ability to keep up a lie, as well as hunger and homelessness during the Great Depression. Bud’s mother died when he was six leaving him an orphan because his father was not apart of his life. When Bud runs away from a foster home after being locked in a shed with vampires, he sets his sights on locating his long lost father. Bud’s journey to find his father leads him to an outcome he never expected. Bud uses a map to find various routes during his journey, an activity for students to do is use a map to help Bud find his way from city to city. The students could calculate how long bud would need to travel by foot and by car. An extension to this activity is to have research the cities and find information about those cities during the Great Depression and record them in a graphic organizer. The DRA reading level is 40-50.

Coming to America: The Story of Immigration is a wonderful book to help students learn about immigration. The text tells the story of various immigrant groups coming to America and the challenges that they faced. The text also celebrates their cultural contributions to our country. As an extension activity, students could be put in small groups where each group researches one of the cultural groups mentioned in the text in depth and then presents their findings to the class. 

Guided Reading level: O

Duck for President takes children on a wonderful journey through the election process. Duck runs for control of the farm, then for governor, and finally for president. Throughout the book, children are introduced to the many facets that go along with elections in kid-friendly language that they can understand and relate to. This book would be great when talking about personification, because Duck and the other animals are assigned responsibilities that people would normally do! Another way to use this book, would be to have students participate in a mock election/debate. The students would be assigned roles and then act them out in small groups to the class. 

Lexile: 680L

Fountas and Pinnell: L 

Vashti Harrison is a genius! I can not wait to provide this text to young readers in my future classroom. This book showcases powerful women of color. This is truly a text deserving of awards and accolades. The illustrations are gorgeous and the content is powerful. I could see myself using this book for Social Studies and and English Language Arts!