This is an activity I did when I taught two sections of sixth grade reading, but it could be done by splitting one class into two groups. On...

Dirk Tyrone awakes groggily, unable to recognize where he is, knowing only that he's bound and unable to move. He's also unable to c...

Billy is a worrier. He has typical worries like clouds and rain. He has atypical worries like hats and shoes. He has an active imagination t...

The Giver – Certainly the most well known of the three titles, this Newbery Medal winner tells the story of Jonas and his community. Jona...

Hunky Dory is a model student. She can "make flowers droop like wet spaghetti" and "thunder rumble like a whale's bellyac...

Queen Olympia was last seen falling into the river beside Beaurivage Castle just before the wedding of Marigold and Christian. She was last ...

When the opening page says, “Chowder had always been different,” and features a bulldog on a toilet, well, you know you got yourself a … wel...

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street picks up the family’s story three weeks into the school year following the eventful Penderwick family vaca...

Like Not a Box , the first picture book by Antoinette Portis, Not a Stick celebrates the creativity of kids. Or in this case, a pig. This l...

Blue Balliet has successfully drawn me into three different art topics about which I would have said I had no interest. None. Chasing Vermee...

To try and understand how important Chico Bon Bon's tool belt is to him, know this: When Chico Bon Bon goes to bed, he takes off his too...

Everybody needs a friend. If you are sitting on a teeter-totter, it just won't work right without a friend on the other side. When you n...

Nothing really happens after school, right? Oh sure, there's a snack and homework and dinner and bed time. The usual stuff, but nothing ...

Adventure. Peril. Lost Jewels. And the Fearsome Toothy Cows of Skree. The Wingfeather Saga: Book One. (I had to include all that as it's...

After posting about The Incredible Book Eating Boy , I thought it would be a great book for starting the school year with first or second gr...

Henry's my kind of kid. He loves books. Except, uh...well...you see, he...um... Well, let's start at the beginning. "It all beg...

Not a Box is dedicated "To children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes." At one time or another - and upon first glance this m...

Hello to everyone attending the LEA Convocation in Minneapolis! If you are reading this before attending the Help Readers Love Reading! sec...

Anyone who has read Hatchet or the other Brian books needs to read Guts . Then they need to reread all the Brian books. (Okay, I don't ...

Read Chapter One aloud. By that I mean: bait your hook, cast your line, wait as your students eye the bait and wonder if it looks tasty, wai...

At its simplest, Hatchet is a story about a boy who finds a way to survive in the wilderness, alone, and with no supplies other than a hatc...

Students know my read aloud rules: 1. Don't interrupt Mr. Wilhorn. 2. If you need something, see rule #1. (Okay, I'm not quite that ...

Most kids wouldn't be too interested in art theft. Whoopee. A painting. What is it, some old picture of some old woman? Well, let me get...

Watch The Sound of Music before reading Surviving the Applewhites . Chances are some students won't be excited about a musical, especia...