This books tells the story of a young girl who is so excited to learn to read, but soon realizes that she struggles to read the letters and numbers because they all get jumbled together. Finally in fifth grade, Trisha meets a teacher who recognizes what she CAN do and enlightens her to the magic of reading. This book never directly mentions dyslexia, but it would be great to have for students that can relate to this problem or have learning disabilities. This book provides hope and encouragement to struggling students! I would love to read this to my students and then analyze how Trisha overcame her problem of not being able to read. 

Lexile: 650L

Fountas and Pinnell: M

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is an incredible novel by C.S. Lewis. I read this book in 5th grade with my class. It is about four children who make their way to a far away land called Narnia; there they become prisoners to an evil witch who calls herself the Queen of Narnia; huge sacrifices are made and war is brought up between the four children and the witch.

This story can be read in a 5th grade classroom; I would use this to have discussions on sacrifice, character analysis, and theme during the reading. You could also use this to do a compare and contrast between the four siblings, and describe the relationship between the four and how they work together. You can also have the students write about what it means to be a  hero and what makes Aslan a hero.

Bud, Not Buddy is about a young boy who is sent to an orphanage at the age of six after his mother passes away. This story is taken place during the Great Depression. Bud is determined to find his biological father while he is moving from the orphanage to different families. I read this story a couple of years ago and thought it was fantastic.

This novel could be read in a 3-5th grade classroom aloud, or it could be read in 6-8th grade. I would use this story to have comprehension, analysis and theme discussions as reading it aloud in the class. I would have 5th grade students choose one object or person from the story that is a symbolic representation and have them write about it. For 3rd or 4th graders, I would have them choose one of the main characters and create a word web describing that character.

I was first introduced to this tale in movie form, however, to my great pleasure I stumbled across it at the book store on April Fool's day. To say I had to pinch myself to make sure I was not being tricked is an understatement. I whisked it to the front desk to purchase immediately and could not put it down! In this book, things like witches, wizards, kings, spells, seven-league boots and fire demons were everyday normal things.  The Hatter sisters, Sophie, Lettie, and Martha knew the warnings and stories. So, when a big black castle showed up on the horizon that moved warnings were whispered about in the village but life remained the same that is until the Witch of the Waste paid Sophie Hatter a visit and cursed her! From that moment on Sophie had to set out to find someone to break the curse and return her to her normal 17 year old self. Her mission is not as easy as it seems though as she finds the Wizard Howl and gets tangled up in all sorts of trouble. 

This book would be another good book to do an in-depth class study on and breaking it down into chapters for character analysis, plot, theme, problem/solution studies and much more. I foresee the students being activity engaged in trying to figure out the poems and untwisting the plot. 

Reading Level: 3rd to 6th grade

LEX 800L

After living ten years being treated horribly by his aunt, uncle and cousin, Harry Potter discovers he is a wizard on his 11th birthday. From that moment on he is invited to a Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he learns there is more to being a wizard than spells and wands. Together with his new friends school is a lot more interesting than figuring sums and trying to remember who ruled England in what century. Harry's out to discover who he is and the journey he takes to get there will keep you on the edge of your seat and keep reading to find out more.  This book would do well with a unit study as a class. Through the unit study the class would focus on point of view, character analysis, figurative language, plot, and theme. The students would have to write, re-read, analyze, work in teams, draw, seek evidence, and practice many language arts aligned skills to dive into the book. 

Reading Level: 4th grade to college

LEX 880L