Product Description: Comparative study of Cinderella Stories, Literary analysis of Charlotte's Web; Responding to Alice in Wonderland through Art; Comparing the book and film versions of The Wizard of Oz. Meant for grades 2-6

(view table of contents)

Product Description: Teacher Monica Edinger shares fantastic literature response activities that encourage students to dig deep into favorite books, mining them for meaning and connections to real life and other texts. As they analyze literary elements and interpret story events, students practice reading strategies and hone comprehension skills...read more

Inspired by a true account, here is the compelling story of a child who arrives in America on the slave ship Amistad —and eventually makes her way home to Africa.When a drought hits her homeland in Sierra Leone, nine-year-old Magulu is sold as a pawn by her father in exchange for rice. But before she can work off her debt, an unthinkable chain of events unfolds: a capture by slave traders; weeks in a dark and airless hold; a landing in Cuba, where she and three other children are sold and taken aboard the Amistad; a mutiny aboard ship; a trial in New Haven that eventually goes all the way to the Supreme Court and is argued in the Africans’ favor by John Quincy Adams. Narrated in a remarkable first-person voice, this fictionalized book of memories of a real-life figure retells history through the eyes of a child — from seeing mirrors for the first time and struggling with laughably complicated clothing to longing for family and a home she never forgets. Lush, full-color illustrations by Robert Byrd, plus archival photographs and documents, bring an extraordinary journey to life.