Jennifer+S.

Name__Jennifer Smith___

Stargirl
 * 1) Book Title (1 pt.)
 * 1) Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction

May 2002
 * 1) Author (1 pt.:
 * Jerry Spinelli**
 * 1) Date of Publication (1 pt.)


 * 1) Write a brief summary of the book you read without giving away the ending! (4 pts.)

A young free spirit girl was being homeschooled and decided to attend the local high school. The high school is typical, jocks, cheerleaders, nerds, outcasts, and normal students. This young girl flirts with a boy and he is embarrassed by her free spirit behaviors. They end up together with, yet the boy is faced with a decision, her or everyone else.


 * 1) What did you like about the book? What did you dislike? (4 pts.)

I liked how Stargirl was herself. She did what she wanted, liked, and felt. She did not let others steer her away from being herself and enjoying the life that she lived. I liked the quirky things that she did to make others feel special or loved. I did not like how she changed for someone but herself. I felt the beginning was slow and I was afraid I would not enjoy the book (but I really did, made me cry).


 * 1) Write three essential (higher level thinking) questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book. These should be questions that require students to dig into the reading to support their answers. One of the three can be a higher level thinking project or activity (6 pts).

How might the students of MAHS have reacted if Susan was there to stay? What changes take place to cause the “shunning” of Stargirl and Leo? Why do they not notice? Create a 10 day journal of the life of Stargirl at MAHS. Make sure you share her thoughts and feelings of each day and her experiences that are different from homeschool.

Comprehension Activity: - Fakebook Stargirl - [|www.classtools.net/fb/94/SR3TJK]

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Jennifer Smith Title: Payback Time

Adventure-Survival

Author: Carl Deuker

Publication date: 2010

3 essential questions that I would use in a culminating discussion are…

1. How would your family react in a situation similar to that of Kimi Yon when she was younger?

2. If you were to write a newspaper article about Kami Yon, what would your main points be that you would share about her? Why?

3. How would the story have changed if Mitch and Kimi had found that Angel Marichal was a gang member instead?

Comprehension Activity:

Artifact #1 – a computer

The computer a shield for Mitch to hide behind. Mitch is unhappy with his appearance and he hides himself behind his computer and writes his articles. It mentioned that he climbs high in the stands (but not too high, otherwise the numbers become blurry), opens up his lap top and begins to write. He can be the author of all the articles and no one has to see him.

Artifact #2 – Sweatshirt

Kimi’s sweatshirt is a symbol of her wanting to keep to herself. When Mitch picked up Kimi for the first time to ride to a volleyball game, she pulled her sweatshirt over her head and went to sleep. She knows she is pretty, smart and that Mitch will do anything that is asked of him.

Artifact #3 – Heron (I think, I already returned the book, but know it was a big bird of some kind)

When Mitch takes the time to give the heron a proper burial on his run, this symbolizes caring. This bird died for no reason and that really bothered Mitch. It showed that no living creature should be punished for no reason. I also think this connects with the end of the story when Mitch finds out what Angel did for the young boy who was hurt. Both Mitch and Angel did what they felt was right.

Artifact #4 – Food

Eating food is a way to make Mitch feel better. He mentions it a lot in the story, especially in the beginning and the unhealthy choices that he makes. His mother even admits to giving him food to make him happy. When he is at a game, he eats food when he sees that Kimi wants nothing to do with him.

Artifact #5- Car Keys

The car keys that Mitch held in his hand at the quick shop were a symbol of strength. He felt that once he let go of the keys he would be considered weak. He could no longer take the hits of the stranger but still needed to protect Kimi. In the end, she had no idea about the keys and still was thankful for his strength to keep them out of the car.

Name: Jennifer Smith_

Book Title (1 pt.)

Lockdown Escape from Furnace

Genre: Science Fiction

Author (1 pt.)

Alexander Gordon Smith

Date of Publication (1 pt.)

2009 Write a brief summary of the book you read without giving away the ending! (3 pts.)

A 14 year old named Alex is framed for the murder of his best friend Toby. Alex and Toby are the bullies of the school. They push other kids around and break into house to steal others personal items. He is sent to Furnace Penitentiary, where brutal inmates and sadistic guards reign, boys who disappear in the middle of the night. Alex and his cell mate Donovan fear for their lives every night as the siren sounds. Some return strangle altered and other are never seen again. Alex is faced with fears he never thought he had and realizes the pain he put others through will on the outside. Furnace is named for a good reason, it is so far underground, and there are no windows, fresh air, and red dirt walls. He gets a glimpse of freedom while waiting to shower after a long day of chipping rock with a pick. He believes he will be free again but not without facing his fears.

What did you like about the book? What did you dislike? (3 pts.)

There were some parts of the story that I did like, but most of it I did not care for. The message that I got from the book was, do on to others as you would want done to you. In the book Alex realized how the victims must have felt when he was torturing them when he was not in prison. Be young and enjoy your life, don’t grow up to fast. I did not care for the parts where the boy came back as an animal or became a man in black, although I like how Monte acknowledged Alex in the end. In the back of the book the author has a question answer page and that help me better understand why he wrote the book. After that, I enjoyed it a bit more. I am not a huge fan of fantasy/horror/science fiction. But it is not about me. It’s about learning about a variety of genres and authors to expose my students.

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

What is your theory about the way in which Alex was caught in the house at the beginning of the story? Why do you think that?

How would describe the feelings and thoughts of Alex and Zee being chased by the two dogs up the cell stairs?

At the end of the story, it does not say what happened after they jumped. Tell me what happens to Alex, Gary, Zee and Toby after the escape.

Alex tries to save Toby and Ashley from jumping off the top floor of Furnace. Alex feels that he needed to save Toby. Tell about a time when you felt like you had to save someone and when you made a difference in some one’s life.

Comprehension Activity: ( I made up the first part of the story to set the stage a little)

Time Spent in Furnace Penitentiary

By Jennifer Smith / New York Times

It was the Summer of Slaughter and the gangs in the area were on a killing spree. The police were enforcing a zero tolerance on youth crime. Neighbors were up in arms with all the crime. The Hoffer family had enough; they packed up their bags one night and fled from their home. Leaving behind all valuables they owned. Kelly Hoffer said, “Our lives are more important than our things, we have to leave today”. Knowing the Hoffer house was empty that was Alex Sawyer and his best friend Toby Jones one last chance to rob a house in the area. That was the night when Alex Sawyers life changed completely.

Alex told us that it was raining and they needed to hurry up and get inside. “We had an inside tip that the house was full of cash and electronics” said Sawyer. After inside, Alex and Toby split up and ransacked the house. Alex was upstairs when he heard a cry from Toby. While Alex was upstairs stuffing a stack of cash into his pockets, that’s when he heard a man call out his name. “I was so shocked, I could not figure out who was in the room and who knew my name” said a scared Alex. Alex went on to tell how he ran downstairs and that is where he was faced with the men in black. “They told me to say good bye to Toby… and they shot him, right in the head! Then the man threw the gun at me”. Alex said with a trembling voice. That is when Alex Sawyer ran out the front door to get away. The only crime he committed was robing and stealing not murder. Unfortunately, with the newly enforced laws against adolescents, Sawyer was thrown into Furnace Penitentiary.

Life inside Furnace Penitentiary according to Alex Sawyer was worse than a horror movie. The air is stale, the food is slop, and the people are monsters. “I remember when I arrived at the bowels of the earth, I can tell you what I saw, but not what I felt, my brain just shut down” said, Sawyer. He went on to describe what he saw, he said the walls were made of the rock of the earth, their surfaces rough and red. Half lit rooms with flickering lights, they looked as if they were on fire. There are jagged stairs that lead you to levels and levels of cells that resembled a rib cage against the fleshy walls. “They called us “new fish”, the inmates would yell at us and stair us down, some had on black bandanas, I figured they were an inside gang. I later found out first hand, they were.” Alex says as he rubs his ribs and winces. It took Alex weeks to stop having night terrors before he really started to realize that there were other inmates in Furnace for the wrong reasons as well. That is when he decided he needed to find a way out. “I had a few “friends”, Donovan always said, “you don’t have friends in Furnace”, but we were, he just did not want to seem weak! Zee, Donovan, Toby and me. We all came up with a plan to escape the hell of Furnace”. Alex describes the nights at Furnace, but not without tears. The sirens, screams, cries, pleas of “don’t take me, NO NO NO”. “It is horrible, you just roll up into a ball and pray to whatever God there is, that it is not you the wheezers are after.” I asked for Alex to describe why everyone was so afraid of a “wheezer”. He said they were men that had gas masks stitched on to their faces, you could see the stitches and their bodies would twitch and shake; they would mark your cell with tar. When they came to get you they would inject you with a syringe that had a brown dirty liquid inside. Then the men in black (just the like men in the house who shot his best friend Toby Jones in the head) would come and grab you by the neck and carry you out of your cell. It was after they took one of Alex’s acquaintances Montgomery that he and his “friends” came up with a plan to escape. The inmates had jobs in different parts of the penitentiary; each job finished up with a shower and clean clothes. After working and waiting for a shower, Alex said he felt a cool breeze just like he was standing on a mountain top. Fresh air that put him into a trance, he did not think much about it, until later when he realized here it had to be coming from. “I told the guys about the fresh air and how I had to check it out, they told me I was crazy, but if I had to say down here much longer, I would be crazy. The next day Zee and I went behind the barrier to check it out. We found a water source and a hold about the size of my fist that lead to light and a river. We knew that was our way out”. At that point, Alex and Zee when back and told Donovan the plan. Alex chimed up again, “that was the longest month of my life, getting ready to escape from Furnace”. The night before the escape the wheezer came for Donovan. He was taken and never seen again. “I will never again be back in Furnace, I promise you that! I am one of the lucky ones who learned a lesson and lived to tell about it and to change my ways!” Alex Sawyer said with a sigh of relief.

_

Name Jennifer Smith


 * 1) Book Title: Bruiser


 * 1) Genre: Fantasy


 * 1) Author: Neil Shusterman


 * 1) Date of Publication (1 pt.) 2010


 * 1) Write a brief summary of the book you read without giving away the ending! (3 pts.)

Brewster Rowlins the town outcast, voted by classmates “most likely to get the death plenty” is a loner. He has no friends and is afraid to have any. His Uncle Hoyt tells him to stay away from people they will only hurt him. Bronte decides that she is going to figure out why Brewster is the way he is which drives her twin brother Tennyson crazy. The more Bronte hangs out with Brewster she really starts to fall for him. Tennyson starts to feel the same way and wants Brewster around. Little do they know, the more they care, the more it hurts Brewster. Strange things are starting to happen and unless Brewster speaks up, no one will understand why.


 * 1) What did you like about the book? What did you dislike? (3 pts.)

I absolutely loved this book. From the very beginning I was hooked. I had a different story going in my head until the clues started to all make sense. I really enjoyed learning how Brewster takes the pain away from the people he cares about. The relationship that Cody and Brewster have is sweet and caring. You could tell how much Brewster cared about his little brother right from the beginning, when their bull died. I enjoyed learning how all the parts of the story came together. I disliked the part where Uncle Hoyt beats Cody and Brewster can only stand by and take it. That was the worst part for me.

Three essential Question:

1. What makes Tennyson and Bronte’s house a good one for Brewster and Cody to live in?

2. What impact does Mr. Sternberger have on Brewster? Why do you think that?

3. How does Neil Shusterman hook and hold the reader in this story?

__Comprehension Assignment__ Uncle Hoyt ( I want everyone to know how awful he treats the boys) - Well-worn pointy boots, tarnished belt buckle about half the size of a hubcap, tentacle like tattoos that disappear up into his shirtless sleeve, gray wispy hair, and a bristly beard stubble. Drunk or at least hung over (36). He is a selfish man who wants credit for caring for his sisters children. Selfish in a way that he does not want the boys to have friends or talk to anyone. He only wants Brewster for his satisfaction. He beats Cody because it makes him feel better and thinks he can get away with it. When Brewster wants to leave or do something for himself, Uncle Hoyt lays a guilt trip on him. Tells Brew that no one will like him, they will take him away from everyone for science purposes, and you owe me for taking care of you.

1) “IT’S DEAD, GET YOUR SNIVELIN’ ASS AWAY FROM IT OR I SWEAR I’LL WAIL ON YOUR HIDE TWELVE WAYS TILL DOOMSDAY.” (37) 2) “You’ll do what I tell you; you’ll do what I say, You’ll go pack your things, ‘cause we’re leaving right now”. (201) 3) ‘You’re weak and you’re worthless, that’s why you need me. You’re helpless and hopeless; your brother’s the same, You’ll remember how lucky you are that I’m here. So you’ll take what I dish, and you’ll like it”. (202) 4) “Take it away from me boy. ThasWhyYerrHere” (203)

_ __Name__Jennifer Smith


 * 1) Book Title: Between Shades of Gray


 * 1) Genre: Historical Fiction


 * 1) Author: Ruta Sepetys


 * 1) Date of Publication: 2011


 * 1) Write a brief summary of the book you read without giving away the ending! (4 pts.)

The story takes place in 1941 when 15 year old Lina is taken from her home by Soviet officers. They take her, her younger brother Jonas and her mother with only a suite case in tow. They have no idea the whereabouts of their father, a teacher at the university. Lina, Jonas, and their mother are thrown on to a freight train. They are forced to sleep, relieve themselves, and stay there until their destination. Rumor had it that the Soviet officers were taking them to Siberia to work under Stalin’s orders. The officer began to yell horrible comments to them and began to kick dirt on top of them, giving Lina and her mother the feeling of being buried alive. Lina hopes that through her art she will be able to send messages to her father and he will be able to come and save them. Lina and her younger brother are sentenced to 12 years of this horrible torture yet, are able find the strength to love and push on.

I have mixed feelings about this book. To read about horrible acts that have happened to people sickens me. I did not like reading some of the detailed events; yet understand how they need to paint the picture in order to understand the characters. I could not put the book down. I finished is in a day and a half, so keeping the reader’s attention was well done. Other than wanting to be naive about events that took place in the past, this was a good book and well written. I think many students would gain great insight from this book and remembering that everyone you meet is fighting a battle.
 * 1) What did you like about the book? What did you dislike? (4 pts).

1. While at the kolkhoz, prisoners wrote letters to loved ones and tried to tell them where they were by writing clues. If you were a prisoner at kolkhoz who would you choose to write a letter to and what clues would you include to help them find you.
 * 1) Write three essential (higher level thinking) questions that you might use in a culminating discussion of this book. (6 pts)

2. Lina, mother, and Jonas kept their spirits up by thinking about being reunited with their father. If you were in the same situation, what would keep your spirits up and allow you to continue on every day in the horrid conditions? Give detailed reasons.

3.When Lina was out stealing wood and Kretzsky told her to show herself he told her that he could not arranged for her to do a portrait here – he obviously helped her and her family out back when there were at the kolkhoz. He began to open up to her and share things about himself. She wanted to walk away, but realized he was crying. Do you agree with what she did next? Why or why not? What would you have done differently? Why?

Comprehension Activity: (15 points).

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__Jerry Spinelli Stargirl__ __Pgs 37 & 99__

__Name:_Jennifer Smith____


 * 1) Book Title: Knots in My Yo-Yo String


 * 1) Genre: Autobiography


 * 1) Author: Jerry Spinelli


 * 1) Date of Publication 1998


 * 1) Write a brief summary of the book you read without giving away the ending! (4 pts.)

The book Knots in my Yo-Yo String is a biography of Jerry Spinelli. The book starts out with is first memory as a boy and where he spent most of his time in Norristown, Pennsylvania on George Street. Most of his time was spent at the end of the block beyond the barrier. That is where he would play baseball, have pretend wars and cowboys with the other selected neighborhood kids. He discusses his hard time about his mother getting remarried, accidently throwing a stone at his best friend and losing his dog. He was a typical kid who had issues with school, family, sports, pets and even girls. It is not your typical biography with a whole lot of facts; he shares stories along with the facts that are funny and sad.

I liked how parts of the book were very descriptive, for example in the beginning when he is describing living behind the brewing company. When Butchie Bewsick’s family got a television. I could picture all the events taking place and see myself dealing with the same kinds of events, like when my neighbor got cable for the first time. I don’t know enough about authors and I probably would have picked a different biography to read if I had known more at the time. I would not say there was really anything I disliked, other than I look forward to reading about different people in the future.
 * 1) What did you like about the book? What did you dislike? (4 pts).


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

How did Jerry Spinelli view himself and his accomplishments by the end of the book?

If you could sit down with Jerry Spinelli, what 3 questions would you ask him that you did not learn from this book? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Name__Jennifer Smith__


 * 1) Book Title: On the Day that I Died


 * 1) Genre: Short Stories


 * 1) Author: Candace Fleming


 * 1) Date of Publication: 2012

A boy name Mike is drawn to a grave yard in Chicago. The graveyard is full of young people like him, age 17, younger or older. He is greeted by many ghosts who want their stories of death to be heard. Each of the 9 ghosts share their story of death. Each story takes place during a different time period and some die as heroes and others to irony. The story ends with the narrators own death. Gina 1949-1964 – Poor Gina just wanted to be heard, she needed an escape from her day to day life. No one would ever believe her and the priest’s would tell her to reflect on her sins, her lies. Until the day Anthony came, she thought she could make a difference and help by telling the truth, unfortunately, no one believed her. Who would think that one day her “stories” would catch up to her and cause death. Johnnie 1920-1936 –Johnnie the rebel of the neighborhood and school. He was a tough kid and wanted everyone to know it. He played a trick on his wicked teacher, Ms. Bolam and caused her to have a stroke, or so that is what they were told. Until the day when Johnnie thought he was gonna get back at her. In the end, who had the last laugh? Johnnie or Miss Bolam?
 * 1) 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. (4 pts.)


 * 1) What did you like about the book? What did you dislike? (4 pts.).

I really liked this book… I love the suspense and the way in which the writer sucked me into the stories. I know it was good when I come to the end and want more! I like how each of the ghosts got a chapter to tell their story and it did not jump back and forth from character to character. I also enjoyed the ending of the book. There was nothing that I disliked about the book.


 * 1) 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). (6 pts)


 * 1) What ghost story did you enjoy the most? Why?
 * 2) How can you describe what you were thinking when Mike decided to return the shoes to Carol Anne?
 * 3) In Scott’s story what do you see as other possible outcomes instead of the gargoyle falling toward him?

8. 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 specifically would you use it to teach and what would you have students do with it? (7 pts.) I could see this booking being used in 8 and up. I feel that the stories were a bit on the gory side, but tastefully done. I could see it being used to teach characters, plot and even compare and contrast. A teacher could use this to lead into the writing of a short story in class. As a book of ideas for students, maybe even creating a class book of short stories compiled by students – each student choose a time period then create a character and story. I would have students analyze the stories by looking at any patterns in the deaths, recognize the hidden meanings and to create stories on their own.