Cheryl+Schwager

= = =Novel Assignments:=

Please post your book assignments below. It will be easiest to compose them in a word processor and then copy and paste them into your wikispace.


Book Title __STARGIRL__

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Author : Jerry Spinelli

Date of Publication 2000

Write a brief summary of the book you read without giving away the ending! This is a story about a girl that goes by the name of STARGIRL. She was homeschooled most of her life, but enrolls in Mica High school. Having no sense of conformity, she wears pioneer style clothing no make up, knows peoples birthdays, plays the ukulele to lunch and sings to students, cheers for the other team at games, has a pet rat she takes to school, and does random acts of kindness to makes people feel good about themselves. At first the students at Mica don’t know what to think, but as the school year progresses, they start to follow her lead and being themselves, but it doesn’t last long and eventually she is shunned. Leo falls in love with STARGIRL, but the shunning by the rest of his classmates gets to him, so he realizes he must choose between her and the whole school.

What did you like about the book? What did you dislike?

I loved how the book constantly had me wondering what odd behavior STARGIRL would do next, and how the students at Mica High were going to react to it. I loved the fact that t he events in the story are unpredictable, so you never know what will happen next. I also loved the lesson that can be taken away from this book. This book was a great reminder to not let others ruin our own spirit.

Write three essential (higher level thinking) questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book.

If Stargirl showed up at your school, how do you think you and your friends would treat her? Do you see Stargirl as a role model? Why? Stargirl does things without thinking or caring what others think of her. For example, she frequently sings in the lunchroom.What is something that you do despite of what other think or say.

Create a “FakeBook: (not Facebook) page for the main character or one of the main characters from your Contemporary Realistic Fiction Book. Use the instructions provided in a separate attachment to help you. When you’ve finished your work online, copy and paste the URL for your Fakebook page below: This is the link for the book: []



Name Cheryl Schwager

Book Title Scat

Genre: (Adventure-Survival or Mystery) Mystery

Author Carl Hiaasen

Date of Publication 2009

What did you like about the book? What did you dislike? I loved that the book had me constantly wondering how all the characters were connected or how all the pieces were going to fit together. I liked all the messages the book included. Messages about the environment, war, honesty, relationships, family, greed, trust, education, endangered animals, and making good choices.

Dislike: I felt because Scat was written in third person, I knew what was going on in the Black Vine Swamp before Nick, the main character, and his friend, Marta, figured it out. Nick does uncover some clues along the way, he never really does figure it all out (and neither does the reader) until all the loose ends are explained by an environmentalist, Twilly Spree, a wealthy environmental supporter at the end. Though I found myself glued to this book at the beginning, I found my self losing intrest after I solved the mystery. There were also alo t of plots the r eader has to jumpback and forth to which may be hard for kids to follow.

Write three essential (higher level thinking) questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book. Which character could you most identify with and why? Which character do you think displayed the most courage in the story and why?Was Scat a good title for the story? Why do you think the author chose this as his title? There were several characters that face abandonment in the story. How this has as shaped the way they live?

Comprehension Activity.

Choose five artifacts that you believe represent the main character of your novel (or one of the main characters in your novel) and provide an explanation for choosing each. Avoid making all obvious choices, but instead, get creative and think outside the box!



Artifact #1 –Empty house- represents abandonment I chose this because..Smoke feels sorry for the cub in the story because like the cub, he was victim of abandonment when his mother left him and his father and moved to Paris for another man. Mrs. Starch was also a victim of abandonment when her husband left her for another woman.



Artifact #2 – Cross- Represents sacrifice I chose this because... Nick’s father joined the army reserves for extra cash to send Nick to Truman School. He was sacrificing his life or the threat of being injured by doing so. Mrs. Starch sacrificed her job to try and join a baby cub with its’ mother. Nick sacrificed his life or the treat of being hurt by climbing the tree to give the baby cub to its’ mother.



Artifact #3 –Joined hands- represents relationships and team work. I chose this because...Nick has a wonderful relationship with his father unlike Smoke and his father. Nick, Marta, Tilly, Smoke, and Mrs, Starch all worked together to return the cub to its mother.



Artifact #4 –The trashcan - represents the environment I chose this because…we must quit trashing the environment and the habitat of animals. Scat is about the environment and protecting endangered species. When people or big businesses destroy the habitat of animals, they ruin their chance of survival. In Scat there was an illegal and undercover oil-drilling operation that had no respect for the environment due to greed. Tilly was a rich environmentalist that wanted to save the endangered pandas in the swamp. Mrs. Starch was a teacher that loved animals and was also concerned about the endangered pandas in the swamp. .



Artifact #5 –The feet represent Bullying I chose this because...Bullies walk all over others and “stomp” on their self esteem feeling of safety. “Smoke is considered a bully by the students at school and Dr. Dressler. Mrs. Starch bullies her students in the classroom.



Title: __Claim to Fame__ Author: Margret Haddix Published in 2009. Genre: Fantasy

Lindsay Scott was a cute little child star that played on a T.V sitcom. Everything was going well for Lindsay until she hit puberty. When she hit puberty, she developed an ability to hear everything anyone said about her anywhere in the world. Hearing everything that people said about her caused her to have a nervous breakdown when she was 11(to the rest of the world). She escaped all her fame and publicity when her show was cancelled, and she moved to a small town in Illinois with her father (he mother left her when she was a baby). Now at age 16, she is a hermit in her home. She considers her home a “safe” house because it blocks her power to hear voices. The walls of the house block everything people are saying about her and give her peace. She is afraid to leave her safe house especially when reruns of the TV show she stared in are on because of all the voices inside her head, which are all talking about her. One she is kidnapped by two other teens that think she is being held hostage by her crazy father. This begins Lindsay's journey to figure out why she is the ways she is. As the book goes on, Lindsay discovers things that she does and doesn't want to know, where her mother is, and why she can hear others.

I liked the book because it has a great message about caring what others think or say about, and no matter how hard you try, you’ll never please everyone. The book started out easy read and follow. Lindsay started as an interesting character, and I was curious about her in the beginning. About 1/2 way through the book, Lindsay's hearing”abilities" are revealed and the neighbor Althea started talking about transcendentalism, idealist, Utopians, Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne. After this they lost me! Her abilities didn't make sense to me for a majority of the book and still don't make sense. The mood and feel of the story changed so much that I got confused. The author tries to wrap the story up too quickly which was also a major disappointment.

Questions 1. Lindsay hears what others are saying bout her when she walks out side of her home. How is this similar to the way our society works? Are you obsessed about what you look like, and would you wanting to know what others think about you? 2. Do you often feel that others are talking about you? What makes this possible? 3. How does Lindsay change from the beginning of the book to the end of the book? Who is most responsible for making that change? Why do think so?

Dear Cheryl, I am 16 years old. I am a former T.V star from the popular sitcom, “Just Me and the Kids”. I have been out of the spotlight for five years. At age 11 I became a “hearer,” able to hear anything said about me, anywhere in the world. “I would call it a hidden talent, but talents are supposed to be happy possessions.... My secret skill has brought me nothing but pain”. The one place I’m not bombarded by voices is my home."Before I moved to Sprindale, I felt like I have the autographed -seekers in my head all the time." I had a nervous breakdown and have been living in isolation with my father ever since. I know that millions of people remember my “claim to fame,” since the program lives on in reruns even years after its cancellation. After my father’s death and being kidnapped by two boys, that thought that I was being held hostage by my fanatic father because they read the tabloids, things started to change for me. For five years, I have been forced to listen to all sorts of insane chatter from people talking about the TV show to those speculating on where I am now. I don’t like living this way, but hearing what people are saying about me is driving me crazy! Now people are snooping around and invading my privacy. I just want the press and everyone else to leave me alone so that my popularity dwindles and the voices to go away!! Sincerely, Claim to Fame
 * [[image:booksforyoungadults/newspaper.jpg width="103" height="132"]]Cheryl's Corner (Advise for readers) **

Dear Claim to Fame, What has really happened is a power manifested itself in you, so now you can hear what everyone is saying. This is not a gift at all, especially for a celebrity who is already in the spotlight. Vanity is your weakness and you have suffering a great deal from it. People are trying to be a part of your life again. You need to embrace the people that are reaching out to you. I know you dread hearing the voices, or people’s thoughts about you, but and you need to go back out into the world. This is not how you want to live. When you go outside, you need to start listening to the voices, absorb the situations people are facing, and change the context of the voices when you hear them. You must realize that one isn't always the center of the world and that others need our help. Cheryl



Name Cheryl Schwager

Book Title (1 pt.) __Epic__ Genre: Science Fiction (1pt.)

Author (1 pt.) Connor Kostric

Date of Publication (1 pt.) 2004


 * Write a brief summary of the book you read without giving away the ending! (3 pts.)** What would it be like to live in a world entirely dominated by one game; where every human being had to log into the game and their wealth, their political voice, their future, was shaped by how well they were doing in the game? Generations ago, on New Earth, violence was banned. All violence must be dealt with in a computer game, Epic. The idea of the computer game is to take out aggression on fictional characters rather than doing harm to a real people. Epic is not just a computer game, it's a matter of life and death and everyone plays. If you win, you have the chance to go to university, get more supplies for your community, and fulfill your dreams; the world is yours for the taking. If you lose, you lose everything. What ever happens to you in the game happens to you in the New World too. The game does prevent violence, but is conflict over resources on New Earth and resolved in an unjust way. Unfortunately though, the virtual arena (the place where violence is resolves) that people of New Earth have adapted was designed as a game, not as a way of mediating conflict. There are problems that arise over time. A select few become wealthier and more powerful within the game and more and more time is spent playing the game by society as a whole, so the real economy is declining and worst of all, there is a way to cheat! Eric, the main character, is seeking revenge for the unjust treatment of his parents. He undermines the rules of the game, and he and his friends are drawn into a world of power-hungry, dangerous players (The committee called The Central Allocations Team). Now they must fight the ultimate masters of the game. What Erik doesn't know is that The Committee has an evil, deadly secret, and challenging it could destroy the whole world of Epic.

What did you like about the book? What did you dislike? (3 pts.) I had a hard time when I started reading this book. I am not a gamer or into the whole computer game where you role play. It was really hard for me to follow. I became frustrated as I had to read and reread pages to figure out what was going on. The author would go from the New World to the computer game, Epic. The book's may have been better had the Epic game (which this society operated) had not been so medieval. I didn’t figure the whole thing out until the end. Some may like this, but I was frustrated.

I liked the lesson that the author wanted you to come away within the book. The game has come to mean much more to people than their own lives, taking valuable energy and attention away from the real problems that affect them. We are living in a time where we should be working together to make a world a better place and helping others, but instead we are wasting our valuable time on video games and other similar distractions dreamed up by corporate America. It also makes the reader have empathy for the people in our world that are living under an authoritarian government that forces the majority to slave away while they enjoy the benefits. I see this happening in our world today, and like many, the characters are hopeful about the future, which is still somewhat uncertain.

Write three essential (higher level thinking) questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book. (6 pts)

1. How is the computer game, Epic, similar to our modern day society?

2. Eric uses a female instead of a male for his fictional character in the game, Epic. He names her Cindella. Immediately upon entering the game as Cindella, things begin to look up. Characters that are a part of the game begin talking to her and giving her things. Soon, she realizes the characters are pointing her toward a quest. How do you feel the story may have been different if Eric had chosen a male as his character?

3. What would happen if you were a participant in the computer game Epic?




 * Book Title**: __Milkweed__
 * Genre**: Historical Fiction
 * Author:** Jerry Spinelli
 * Date of Publication**: 2003


 * Summary:** This book is about a young street boy who no name, no home, no family and no background, so he lives on the streets and steals food for a living. Later on he meets another boy, Uri, who takes him under his wing. He starts sleeping in a cellar with boys who are just like him, who steal to stay alive and do their best to go unnoticed by the Jackboots, who control Warsaw, Poland, the city where he lives. Misha is totally innocent, ignorant and naive so he only lives in the present At first he looks up to the Nazis. He sees the Nazis as something wonderful; he perceives their mocking salutes as a mark of respect. Misha becomes attached to a Jewish family, the Milgorms. Misha befriends, Jainna, a young girl and quickly becomes part of the family. He tries s to help them when they are forced to leave the city and move to the Ghetto. Though events he witnesses, he finally begins to understand that being a Jew is dangerous.


 * What did you like about the book? What did you dislike?** I loved this book! __Milkweed__ is a wonderful book about the Holocaust. This paints a vivid picture of the streets of the Nazi-occupied Warsaw during World War II, as seen through the eyes of a curious, kind, heartbreakingly naïve orphan. If you haven’t read this book, it is a must read.

There was nothing that I disliked about this book except for the fact that my hear was breaking as I read it!


 * Write three essential (higher level thinking) questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book.**

Do you think that Misha’s wife, Vivian understands why he acts the way he does and rips up the book?

How does Misha's identity changesthroughout the novel? Do you feel that your identity has changed over the last few years? If so, why? What other survival skills do the boys employ to live in the ghetto in Wardaw during WWII? Do you feel like you need to employ such skills to survive?

Comprehension Activity:

Create a diary for your character using Power Point. I do not have Keynote on my computer; so if you use Keynote, make sure to save your project as a pdf so I can view it. Your diary must have a minimum of 6 entries (one entry per slide) and each entry should be a minimum of 6 sentences in length. You may add pictures, etc. to your diary. Make sure you also include a cover slide (your diary cover). Attach your power point to the wiki

Book Talk for book Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. [] The pages I read from the book in my book talk are : pages 135-135



Title: __A Long Way Gone Memoirs of a Boy Soldier__ Genre: This book is a memoir which is a sub genre of an autobiography Author : by Ishmael Beah Date of Publication:2007

Summary: When you read A Long Way Gone, you will get the whole horrible story from the raw emotional perspective of a 12 year old! Of course, war is never "pretty", but shown from this child’s eyes, it caused you to shudder at what he had seen and lived through. Ishmael in Sierra Leone tells the story of how he lives the life of a fairly normal childhood until he is forced to run into the jungle as soldiers attack his village killing everyone they can catch and looting and burning the rest. For a short while he survives life constantly on the run. Then he is captured by a group of soldiers and retrained to think right and to be a soldier in the conflict. Some of the 'retrainee' soldiers are only 8 or 9 years old! At first you are not sure if the rebels are trying to overthrow the government or the army protecting the citizens. Turns out not to matter. Each side is equally brutal and vicious. There is no good guys, only bad. Ishmael l earns to fight, shoot and kill as well as the real soldiers. To help him avoid any feelings or reflection on his activities he is given access to various drugs to 'amp' him up further. By the grace of a higher power, he gets selected for deprogramming and entry back into society. Not an easy task, but due to the incredible efforts of UNICEF and others it is finally done. Find out what has become of this young man and his new life. It is an unbelievable story.

Likes: This book was an amazing book. It opened my eyes to how real and horrible some countries are. Young kids not even teenagers being forced to fight, snort cocaine mixed with gun powder, and watch people they love die gruesome deaths on a regular basis is just mind blowing to me. This book is not your average fairy tale. It is a very graphic and real book but if you are looking for something to open your eyes to what is really going on out there, read this one. This book will give students a deeper understanding of what war is like, and how it changes a person. This book can help you connect to not just the war in Serria Leone, but to every war. It unveils the horror of battle and its painful changes thrust upon people.  I think that this book should be read by all young adults. They should read it to learn about the world and about what it means to be human.

There was nothing that I disliked about the book except that it was sad.

3 Higher level questions:

Throughout the book, Beah discusses the impacts of child soldiering in villages throughout Sierra Leone. What impacts do you think child soldiering have on the international community? When Saidu dies, Beah and the other boys help with his funeral. This is the only funeral that the author shares with us. Why do you think he chose to share this memory with us? What purpose does it serve in the book? Children play many roles in war. Some are involved in direct combat while some serve as cooks, spies, and messengers. Do you think any role is less dangerous than others? Why or why not?


 * Comprehension Project**




 * E-Scrap Booking**

demonstate their thinking, understanding, and knowledge of the book __A Long Way Gone Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.__
Scraps are pieces of information, insights, emotions, thoughts, memories, and understandings. These elements can be combined into a visual, digital story. The E in e-scrapbooking means: E-scrapbooks are tools for reflecting on ideas and sharing perspectives. As such, they reflect both process and product. E-scrapbooks are a wonderful to track your learning, thinking, and understandings about the book A Long Way Gone Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Journals and logs have become increasingly popular. Your E-scrapbook is a wonderful way to combine your ideas into a single multimedia artifact. Rather than focusing on the "correct answer" or a "product," an e-scrapbooking will encourage you to explain your thinking in a chronicle order. While traditional scrapbooks focus on just telling the facts you have gathered, I want you to consider ways that this e-scrapbooks can reflect the learning that has taken place after reading __A Long Way Gone Memoirs of a Boy Soldier__. Your e-scrap book can demonstrate a change in thinking, depth in understanding, or your ability to see different perspective. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">There's not a "best" way to create an e-scrapbook. It doesn't take a particular type of hardware or software. The key is taking scraps of information and ideas and making sense of these. Reflection is one of the most important aspects of the learning process. It's a metacognitive process that involves thinking about thinking. This thoughtfulness can be expressed many ways. This scap book is a great way to record your understanding and transform it into an interesting, meaningful communication. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">An E-scrapbook is a great way for you to communicate your ideas, feelings,and perspectives about this book. You can choose any of the following for your E-scrap book: <span style="color: black; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">about the book
 * Visualizing Ideas: Creat an E- Scrap book using visuals to represent aspects of**
 * Ishmael Beah's life in the beginning of the story, the middle, and the end.**
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">electronic
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">educational
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">experiential
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">engaging
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">expressions
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">demonstrate and share your understanding of the book
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">discuss critical issues that were in the book
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">reflect on what the author wanted you to take away from the book
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">share important events in Ishmael Beah's life
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">use artifacts or photos to share your ideas and thoughts

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Here are some online scrapbooking sites, or you can create one in Microsolft Word or a Powerpoint.

[] []
 * Here is a rubric for the E-Scrap Book Project**



<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Name: Cheryl Schwager

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Book Title __The Arrival__

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Genre: Graphic Novel

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Author : Shaun Tan <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Date of Publication: 2006

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Write a brief summary of the book you read without giving away the ending! If you are writing about a collection of stories or poems, you need to talk specifically about 2-3 of the selections in the book. __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The Arrival __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;"> is wordless picture book. A man leaves his wife and child in a poor town to seek better a better life in an unknown country on the other side the ocean. He eventually finds himself in a city of foreign languages and customs, peculiar animals, and floating objects. With nothing more than a suitcase and a handful of money, he must find a place to live, food to eat and employment. Along the way, he befriends other more established sympathetic immigrants and benefits from their kindnesses. He listens to their stories of their struggles and survival in the world and benefits from their kindnesses.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Likes: The book had beautiful pencil drawings. His drawings do a great job of portraying the architecture and clothing that are at once historic and futuristic. The absence of words helped put myself shoes of an immigrant character.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Disliked: The story was understand in the beginning, then became complex as it went on. The story had animals/ creatures in it. I knew that they symbolized something, I just couldn’t figure out what it was! At times there were too many pictures and the story becomes confusing.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Write three essential (higher level thinking) questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book. This week, I want you to write questions strictly //for discussion// here – not project ideas (you’ll see why below).

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">1.I identify your favorite illustration in the book & explain why you chose that illustration. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">2. Look at page 14. Explain why do you think the whole family didn’t get on the train? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">3. Why do you think the author chose not to use words in the book, The Arrival? Explain the effect this had on you as a reader.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">How can you see this book being used in the curriculum? For what grade level would it be most appropriate? Give a specific example of how you as a teacher might use the book as part of the taught curriculum. What specificallywould you use it to teach and what would you have students do with it?

<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">I could see this book being used to teach immigration, refugees, journeys, and visual literacy in my curriculum. I could this book with my 4th graders for me to model reading a wordless picture book, but I see it used more with older students. I would use the beautifully illustrated book by Shaun Tan, __The Arrival__, as a springboard to help learners learn how to "read" a wordless book. Wordless books can provide much support in becoming more thoughtful and sophisticated readers. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">When sharing wordless picture books I will teach kids to: <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">As an extension: I would use the book to discuss the experiences of immigrants (which is in my social studies book). I would relate this to their own lives by discussing the issue of Mexican immigrants entering the United States and how this is s a hot media topic, especially in a time when we are so close to a presidential election.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Support their thinking with evidence in the pictures
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Notice ways in which illustrations go together
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Think about color choices and mood of the book
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Sequence events in the plot
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Make predictions
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Go back and reread to make sense
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Ponder the big message or theme