Brief Review:

My mouth is a volcano is about a young boy who has issues with his mouth being a volcano and saying what was on his mind. When it was his turn to present things about himself as a star student, he was interrupted by his classmates and was upset about being interrupted. His mom explained to him that, that’s how everyone felt when he did that himself.

Idea of how it can be used in a classroom:

My mouth is a volcano could be used to explain when good times to talk are and when it is not okay to talk. The teacher could have the students write about a time where their own mouth was a volcano and how did they fix the problem with their mouths being a volcano.

Reading Level & Leveling System:

Accelerated Reader

3.8; Third Grade Eight Months

Book Rating:

I would rate this book a 5 because it shows what the young boy was doing and how it was irritating the other students. And when it happened to him he didn’t like what the other students were doing it, And realized the other students feel the same way when he does it and learns a strategy of how to fix his volcano.

As I said I would in my last post, I have read far further into Passenger, my selected novel. I have discovered that Alexandra Bracken, the author, not only uses imagery often, but uses strong words inside of that imagery. When words such as "clogged" and "hot" are used, readers can get a sense of how it was feeling at the time. This allows them to experience the book on a higher level, as they can associate the words with experiences I'm sure they've had in real life. In addition, Alexandra Bracken uses very specific words to convey her point. The words "charred" and "rotting sweetness" in the quote above are very specific and uncommon scents. By narrowing the smell down, readers know exactly what was being described. If anyone is interested in seeing what other readers make of Passenger and its style, here is a link to some comments regarding it https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20983362-passenger?from_search=true .

As per usual, I will continue to update my blog as I discover more about my chosen work of literature and author. Until then, happy reading!

-Julia

I read this book in 5th grade and loved it! Set in the Midwestern United States during the late 19th century, Jacob Witting, a widowed farmer who is still saddened by the death of his wife during childbirth several years earlier, finds that taking care of his farm and two children, Anna and Caleb, is too difficult to handle alone. He writes an ad in the newspaper for a bride. Sarah Wheaton, from Maine, answers his ad and travels out to become his wife. The Lexile level is 560L. I would use this in a 4th or 5th grade classroom. I would use this in writing centers and have students write a letter to Sarah from the point of view from Anna and Caleb. Since Sarah, Plain and Tall is so descriptive of nature, another writing activity is to have the students paint a verbal picture of an object or place in nature, using carefully chosen adjectives, especially color and texture words. Students can then read their writings aloud to partners, and partners will attempt to draw the objects or places based on the author's carefully chosen words. This lesson focuses on word choice and sentence fluency.