Monday, March 10, 2014

Review of "Harriet the Spy" by Louise Fitzhugh



All four kid book club members kind of recommend it. The moms had mixed feelings, but think it might be more appropriate for an older book club.
The girls had to say:
·      “Harriet writes mean things in her notebook sometimes. But she learns a good lesson – to be nicer to everybody and not be mean to her friends.”
·      “Harriet said mean things about Ole Golly’s mother.”
Here is a picture of the girls at book club. They each wrote a descriptive journal entry and got to read it out loud to the group. We tried to guess what they were describing. No one wrote anything mean, unlike Harriet!
 
Here we are working on our new blog:


Possible future books to read

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
Lily & Miss Liberty by Carla Stevens
The School Mouse by Dick King-Smith
Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by E. Coerr
The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
Lost Children of the Far Islands by Emily Raabe
Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
Holes by Louis Sachar
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh
The Great Squirrel Uprising by Dan Elish
The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Trumpet of the Swans by E. B. White



Resources



Books
·      100 Books for Girls to Grow On by Shireen Dodson – Has lots of book ideas for books which are appropriate for this age group and older. Includes ideas for activities and discussion questions.
·      The Mother Daughter Book Club by Shireen Dodson (this is more appropriate for pre-teen girls)
·      The New Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
·      Great Books About Things Kids Love by Kathleen Odean

Websites
·      Link to a website about open ended questions: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/article/open-ended-questions
·      How to use open-ended questions with children: http://storiesandchildren.com/open-ended-questions/
·      Reading Maniacs book club, includes list of books in the order they’ve read them over the years: http://www.kidsfirstsoccer.com/bookclub.html