When my children's lit professor assigned this book, I was not thrilled. I don't want to read a book about a boy who was raised by ghosts. That sort of story doesn't appeal to me at all, but I found myself staying up until 1am trying to finish it. This is a well written story about a boy whose parents are killed when he is a baby and then he ends up getting raised by ghosts, a vampire, and a werewolf. Despite the spooky theme of the book, it actually teaches extremely good lessons. Bod, the protagonist, grows up and becomes his own throughout the story. He learns how to read and write by tracing/rubbing letters on gravestones, he learns about history by the dead people who lived through it, but most importantly, he yearns to learn more. What Bod really wants to do is read and learn as much as he can. This book shows how important education is in a totally different way than most people imagine. I would use The Graveyard Book with upper elementary- no younger than 5th grade- for many reasons. When teaching this book in the classroom, there are obvious lessons you can teach such as figurative language, references, writing styles, etc. But there is so much content that can go beyond that. You could use this to teach about European history (or any history for that matter), early American history, the human body (science), geography, and many others.

If I were teaching this, one of the activities I would do would be to have the students pick out a prefabricated name and birth/death date out of separate piles. I would then have the students do heavy research on that time period (I could give a location if necessary such as the US). They would then write a fictional story about their character and give the character an inscription on a headstone that they would draw. 

Lexile: 820L

Grade Equivalent: 5.4

Wonderful website I found full of The Graveyard Book resources:

https://sites.google.com/site/theghoulgate/home

This lovely book is about a kid who doesn't like the new boy in town. He wants to make that kid's life miserable, so his dad tells him to make enemy pie. But in order for the enemy pie to work, the two boys have to "pretend" to be friends for an entire day. Of course the two boys end up being friends. This is a great book for the classroom for multiple reasons. I would use it to teach tolerance and bullying awareness. For an activity, I would use this as a fraction activity. Pie is a main theme of the book, so I would use slices of pie (fake pie) to teach fractions or even pie charts.  http://youvegotthismath.com/2016/10/31/addingfractionspuzzles/

Age Range- 5-8 years

Lexile: 330L 

Andrea Beaty, author of "Iggy Peck, Architect", "Rosie Revere, Engineer", and "Ada Twist, Scientist" (along with others) has written these great STEM books that I believe will inspire many kids (and adults)! This particular book is about a boy named "Iggy Peck" who loves constructing things out of all sorts of weird materials like diapers. His parents are weary and his teacher HATES architects, so Iggy feels defeated. But on a class trip, the whole class gets stuck on an island and can't get to the other side because the bridge had collapsed, so Iggy, with the help of his classmates, builds a bridge to save the day. 

I would 100% use this in class for different types of math lessons! Here are some ideas:

1. Have the students go home and measure a room of their house (with the help of an adult). If they don't have a measuring tape at their house, you can let them measure the classroom instead. 

2. Let the students design their dream house on graph paper. This could work on shapes, dimensions, length/width, measuring, and working with scale.

3. Have the students use Legos to design a bridge, house, or other structure.

ATOS Reading Level: 4.1

Lexile: AD 850L

"Bridge to Terabithia" is a very sad book that confronts the realities of life in a way that really connects with kids. The book is about Jess and Leslie, two friends who create an imaginary land called Terabithia which they visit often. After Leslie dies in a tragic accident, Jess reflects back on his memories and is transformed in the rest of the book. Though this novel has much to offer in terms of literary devices- character development, vocabulary, symbolism, etc. But it also opens an array of other opportunities. Nature is a large part of the book as well as imagination and friendship. Because I am a big believer in STEM, I think this book would be a great opportunity to work on some STEM activities. There are many STEM lessons that involve designing bridges, building them, and testing their strength. Doing this activity would also focus on teamwork and cooperation. Overall, this book has many possibilities and I highly recommend it for any older classroom. 

Guided Reading Level: T

Lexile: 810L

Grade Level Equivalent: 4.6

This wonderful and beautifully illustrated book tells of a boy named Ben who has a super cool, brand new bike that the school bully steals from him. After school, Ben finds his banged up bike, but also sees the bully hanging on a branch over a cliff about to fall off. After much deliberation, Ben makes the right choice to help the bully even though he has been mean to him, making this book a great one for teaching manners and character to young (and old) students. I would personally use this in the classroom for many different reasons. It opens up a discussion for bullying, for making good decisions, and for safety. Bicycles in general offer up a lot of learning opportunities: physics, rotational motion, STEM activities, inclined planes, etc. A teacher could also do some sort of typical "after-reading" book activity like summarizing, sequencing, etc, but change it to incorporate a bicycle into the worksheet/activity. 

A.R. Level 3.6

Lexile Level: AD730L

I personally recommended: Ages 2-10+

I love this!

In the front of the book on the info page, it says "In books, kids do crazy things, like... ride a bicycle without protecting their heads. In real life, you should always remember to wear your helmet when riding your bike"