Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley

Summary: Ages 9-12 Amazon.com Review This much-loved retelling of the classic French tale Beauty and the Beast elicits the familiar magical charm, but is more believable and complex than the traditional story. In this version, Beauty is not as beautiful as her older sisters, who are both lovely and kind. Here, in fact, Beauty has no confidence in her appearance but takes pride in her own intelligence, her love of learning and books, and her talent in riding. She is the most competent of the three sisters, which proves essential when they are forced to retire to the country because of their father's financial ruin.

The plot follows that of the renowned legend: Beauty selflessly agrees to inhabit the Beast's castle to spare her father's life. Beauty's gradual acceptance of the Beast and the couple's deepening trust and affection are amplified in novel form. Robin McKinley's writing has the flavor of another century, and Beauty heightens the authenticity as a reliable and competent narrator.

This was McKinley's first book, written almost 20 years ago. Since that time she has been awarded the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown and has delighted her fans with another retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fable, Rose Daughter. Still, McKinley's first novel has a special place in the hearts of her devoted readers, many of whom attest to relishing Beauty time and again.

Possible other texts:

• Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley
• Spindle's End by Robin McKinley
• Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
• Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
• Deerskin by Robin McKinley

Classroom Implications: McKinley's first book, Beauty, provides an excellent starting point for students to dive into a fantasy study. McKinley also chooses strong female narrators and points of view for her characters, an added plus in fantasy.

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The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russell Freedman

Gr. 4-8. In lush operatic style, Pam Munoz Ryan's picture-book biography When Marian Sang (2002), with beautiful illustrations by Brian Selznick, celebrated the triumph of the great African American vocalist in the face of the vicious segregation of her time. Now for middle-grade and junior-high readers comes this handsome, spaciously designed photo-biography. In his signature prose, plain yet eloquent, Freedman tells Anderson's triumphant story, with numerous black-and-white documentary photos and prints that convey her personal struggle, professional artistry, and landmark civil rights role. Everything leads up to her 1939 historic performance at the Lincoln Memorial, where, denied the right to sing at Constitution Hall, she thrilled a crowd of 75,000 and a national radio audience. Freedman reveals that Anderson never invited political confrontation, but with the support of such friends as Eleanor Roosevelt, she had a profound effect on the nation. Documentation is an essential part of her exciting story, with many pages of source notes as well as an enthusiastic, annotated bibliography, and, of course, a discography. Older readers and adults will want this, too. Hazel RochmanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Classroom Implications: Pairing this book with Ryan's picture book is a great way to make nonfiction texts accessible for the intermediate and upper grade classrooms. This book is an essential for biography studies and nonfiction reading.

Additional Information and Links on Marian Anderson

Skills and Strategies

• Determining Importance
• Fact and Opinion
• Retelling
• Scanning
• Summarizing

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Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Gr. 5-8. Twelve-year-old Moose moves to Alcatraz in 1935 so his father can work as a prison guard and his younger, autistic sister, Natalie, can attend a special school in San Francisco. It is a time when the federal prison is home to notorious criminals like gangster Al Capone. Depressed about having to leave his friends and winning baseball team behind, Moose finds little to be happy about on Alcatraz. He never sees his dad, who is always working; and Natalie's condition-- her tantrums and constant needs--demand all his mother's attention. Things look up for Moose when he befriends the irresistible Piper, the warden's daughter, who has a knack for getting Moose into embarrassing but harmless trouble. Helped by Piper, Moose eventually comes to terms with his new situation. With its unique setting and well-developed characters, this warm, engaging coming-of-age story has plenty of appeal, and Choldenko offers some fascinating historical background on Alcatraz Island in an afterword. Ed Sullivan Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Classroom Implications: This text combines adventure, historical fiction, and a young boy's perspective and serves up a great addition to a historical fiction book club selection. The author is meticulous about historical accuracies and inaccuracies. If used in a book club or literature circle, teachers can access this literature circle guide for discussion questions and activities.

Skills and Strategies

• Determining Importance
• Making Connections
• Fact and Opinion

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Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson

Kindergarten-5. A Show Way is a quilt with secret meanings, and the image works as both history and haunting metaphor in this exquisite picture book. Based on Woodson's own history, the unforgettable story tells of African American women across generations, from slavery and the civil rights movement to the present. The cut-out jacket design is impressive, as is Talbott's mixed-media artwork inside, which extends Woodson's clear poetic narrative with beautiful collages that make use of big triangles, squares, and curves to emphasize portraits and landscapes and show connections and courage. The first double-page spread is of anguished separation when Soonie's great-grandmother is sold "without her ma or pa." Growing up on a plantation in South Carolina, Soonie learns from Big Mama about children "growing up and getting themselves free," and also how to sew quilts with signs that show the way to freedom. Time passes: Soonie's granddaughter, Georgiana, has twin girls who march for freedom in the 1960s. The final glorious spread shows Georgiana's granddaughter, Jacqueline Woodson, laughing at home with her own beloved daughter, Toshi Georgiana, whose picture is embedded in a quilt, connecting her with those who came before. A must for the classroom, this story will move many readers to explore their own family roots; link to the Booklist interview with Woodson , in which she talks about what she owes to those who came before her. Hazel RochmanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Classroom Implications: Woodson crafts a perfect text to introduce a study of family history in the classroom. This text inspires students to research their own family history. Tar Beach by Faith Ringold would make an excellent match with this text. This pairing opens the door to a parallel study on quilt making and community.

Skills and Strategies

• Descriptive Language
• Symbolism
• Point of view
• Characterization
• Timelines of text

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Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins

Grade 6-9–The author of the popular All Alone in the Universe (HarperCollins, 1999) returns with another character study involving those moments that occur in everyone's life–moments when a decision is made that sends a person along one path instead of another. Debbie, who wishes that something would happen so she'll be a different person, and Hector, who feels he is unfinished, narrate most of the novel. Both are 14 years old. Hector is a fabulous character with a wry humor and an appealing sense of self-awareness. A secondary story involving Debbie's locket that goes missing in the beginning of the tale and is passed around by a number of characters emphasizes the theme of the book. The descriptive, measured writing includes poems, prose, haiku, and question-and-answer formats. There is a great deal of humor in this gentle story about a group of childhood friends facing the crossroads of life and how they wish to live it. Young teens will certainly relate to the self-consciousnesses and uncertainty of all of the characters, each of whom is straining toward clarity and awareness. Allison Gray, John Jermain Library, Sag Harbor, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Classroom Implications: Noted for its unique writing style and narrative voice, this text brings a welcome new energy to vitalize classroom libraries. It contains illustrations and photographs, as well as presents two narrators of the story. This book may take some scaffolding around the author's style, but once students get the hang of it, they won't want to stop reading this story on teenage life.

Skills and Strategies

• Point of View
• Characterization
• Author's style

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Rules by Cynthia Lord

Gr. 4-7. "No toys in the fish tank" is one of many rules that 12-year-old Catherine shares with her autistic younger brother, David, to help him understand his world. Lots of the rules are practical. Others are more subtle and shed light on issues in Catherine's own life. Torn between love for her brother and impatience with the responsibilities and embarrassment he brings, she strives to be on her parents' radar and to establish an identity of her own. At her brother's clinic, Catherine befriends a wheelchair-bound boy, Jason, who talks by pointing at word cards in a communication notebook. Her drawing skills and additional vocabulary cards--including "whatever" (which prompts Jason to roll his eyes at his mother)--enliven his speech. The details of autistic behavior are handled well, as are depictions of relationships: Catherine experiences some of the same unease with Jason that others do in the presence of her brother. In the end, Jason helps Catherine see that her rules may really be excuses, opening the way for her to look at things differently. A heartwarming first novel. Cindy DobrezCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Classroom Implications: This is a great story that embraces diversity, instead of parading it in front of the reader. The characters are developed deeply and complexly rather than defined by their disability. This would be an excellent book club book around disabilities/abilities and social issues.

Skills and Strategies

• Characterization
• Conflict
• Making Connections

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Hattie Big Sky by Kirbie Larson

In this engaging historical novel set in 1918, 16-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks leaves Iowa and travels to a Montana homestead inherited from her uncle. In the beautiful but harsh setting, she has less than a year to fence and cultivate the land in order to keep it. Neighbors who welcome Hattie help heal the hurt she has suffered from years of feeling unwanted. Chapters open with short articles that Hattie writes for an Iowa newspaper or her lively letters to a friend and possible beau who is in the military in France. The authentic first-person narrative, full of hope and anxiety, effectively portrays Hattie's struggles as a young woman with limited options, a homesteader facing terrible odds, and a loyal citizen confused about the war and the local anti-German bias that endangers her new friends. Larson, whose great-grandmother homesteaded alone in Montana, read dozens of homesteaders' journals and based scenes in the book on real events. Writing in figurative language that draws on nature and domestic detail to infuse her story with the sounds, smells, and sights of the prairie, she creates a richly textured novel full of memorable characters. Kathleen Odean Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Classroom Implications: A historical fiction text that speaks to students using dramatic characterization, illustrative setting, and riveting internal conflict--a perfect book club choice!

Skills and Strategies

• Descriptive language
• Setting
• Conflict
• Characterization
• Theme
  

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Penny from Heaven by Jennifer Holm

Grade 5-7–Penny Falucci, 11, lives with her widowed mother and maternal grandparents, but her father's large, Italian family is tremendously important to her, too. It frustrates her that no one talks about his death, but as the summer of 1953 progresses, several events occur. First, her mother begins dating the milkman, and, when Penny's arm goes through the wringer on the washing machine, things come to a head. Finally, the secrets behind her father's death come out. Aunt Gina tells her about a minor incident that had horrifying consequences for him because of the restrictions placed on Italian Americans during World War II. Penny and her world are clearly drawn and eminently believable, made up of seamlessly interwoven details from everyday life. The period is lovingly re-created, from the fear of catching polio to Penny's use of the word swell. An author's note with photos is included. –Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Classroom Implications: Students reach back into life in the 1950's and find themselves in an Italian-American family in Brooklyn. This sparks an immediate discussion around setting and time periods. This book also provides the space for much work to be done around the rich characters in the text. The time line of the text tends to be more episode-driven rather than plot-driven, therefore students will use a different set of skills to negotiate the text (i.e. focus on retelling and interpreting skills).

Skills and Strategies

• Setting
• Characterization
• Interpreting
• Retelling--episode driven vs. plot driven
  

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The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

Grade 4-6–When Lucky's mother is electrocuted and dies after a storm, Lucky's absentee father calls his ex-wife, Brigitte, to fly over from France to take care of the child. Two years later, the 10-year-old worries that Brigitte is tired of being her guardian and of their life in Hard Pan (pop. 42) in the middle of the California desert. While Lucky's best friend ties intricate knots and the little boy down the road cries for attention, she tries to get some control over her life by restocking her survival kit backpack and searching for her Higher Power. This character-driven novel has an unusually complicated backstory, and a fair amount of exposition. Yet, its quirky cast and local color help to balance this fact, and the desert setting is fascinating. Lucky's tendency to jump to conclusions is frustrating, but her struggle to come to terms with her mother's death and with her new life ring true. Phelan's cover and line drawings are simple and evocative, a perfect complement to the text. Fans of novels by Deborah Wiles and Katherine Hannigan will be happy to meet Lucky.–Adrienne Furness, Webster Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Classroom Implications: Despite the nationwide controversy over this pick, LUCKY is filled with beautiful language, rich characterization and dynamic plot. This is an excellent text for intermediate and young adult (YA) readers to follow a character journey to find a place for her in the world. Patron provides a much needed text to support critical literacy in upper grade classrooms.

Skills and Strategies

• Setting
• Characterization
• Envisioning
• Making Connections
• Questioning
  

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