Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang

1. Author: Mordecai Richler
2. Title: Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang
3. Illustrator: Alfred A. Knopf
4. Genre: Fiction
5. Subgenre: Chapter Book
6. Theme: The power of imagination
7. Primary Characters: Jacob Two-two, Hooded Fang, Shapiro, O'Toole, Louis Loser
8. Secondary Characters: Emma, Marfa, Daniel, Noah, Jacob's parents, Justice Rough, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Fox
9. Award/Date: None/1975
10. Publisher: Random House, Inc.
11. Summary: Jacob Two-two is the youngest child of five siblings. He often has to say things twice just to be heard. After his father finally sends him on an errand, he goes to the store and asks Mr. Cooper something, but he says it twice. After Mr. Cooper asks police facetiously to arrest him, Jacob runs off. All of a sudden, he is in a prison. The rest of the book follows Jacob and his adventures on trying to escape from the Hooded Fang.
12. How used: The book has a mysterious element to it. It uses a lot of clues to help children figure out what is going to happen. When in the end you find out he had been asleep the whole time, you remember that it talks about Jacob rubbing his eyes after he had ran out of the store and sat down. Children can put their reading skills to the test and see if they can catch all of the clues in this story.

The Boy Who Saved Baseball

1. Author: John H. Ritter
2. Title: The Boy Who Saved Baseball
3. Illustrator: John H. Ritter
4. Genre: Fiction
5. Subgenre: Baseball
6. Theme: Through hard work and inspiration, anything is possible.
7. Primary Characters: Tom Gallagher, Cruz de la Cruz, Maria, Dante Del Gato, Doc
8. Secondary Characters: Clifford, Mr. Gallagher, Mrs. Gallagher, Rachel, Ramon, Cody, Wil, Frankie, Graydog, Mr. LaRue, the Mayor
9. Award/Year: None/2005
10. Publisher: Puffin Books
11. Summary: The story begins with a man named Doc agreeing to enter into a land deal with the developers. Unfortunately, this happens to be the very land with the baseball field that Tom Gallagher and the whole community love so much. The deal is that if Tom's team wins, then the town keeps the baseball field and land. However, if the town loses, then the developers will be allowed to take over the land, which means there will be no more baseball field. The story follows the struggles of the team, which is not very good in the beginning, and their journey to trying to get better by getting a famous baseball player to coach them.
12. How used: First of all, this story would be a great book to get boys more interested in literature because it involves sports. Secondly, this story uses a lot of foreshadowing, which is an element of reading that helps to build a person's analytical skills. This story would be great to analyze for elements of literature as well as to analyze for entertainment.

The Courage Seed

1. Author: Jean Richardson
2. Title: The Courage Seed
3. Illustrator: Pat Finney
4. Genre: Realistic Fiction
5. Subgenre: Cultures
6. Theme: We all have courage within us if we simply believe in ourselves.
7. Primary Characters: Mary, Aunt Betsy, Night Singer
8. Secondary Characters: Mary's parents, Mrs. Lasater
9. Award/Date: None/1993
10. Publisher: Eakin Press
11. Summary: A young girl, Mary, loses her parents because of a car accident. She is forced to move in with her Aunt Betsy. While struggling with losing her parents, she also struggles with the idea of going to school with people who probably wouldn't accept her. With her grandfather's previous advice and finally giving things a shot, she discovers the children there are from other places around the world and are from different cultures.
12. How used: This story can teach children to give things a chance. We all have a little courage in us if we just simply try to find it. Mary not only discovers it is ok to be herself, but she opens herself up to other cultures, like what our students will need to learn as well.

An Innocent Soldier

1. Author: Josef Holub
2. Title: An Innocent Soldier
3. Illustrator: None
4. Genre: Fiction
5. Subgenre: War
6. Theme: Friendship can pull you through anything.
7. Primary Characters: Adam, Konrad
8. Secondary Characters: The farmer, the farmer's wife, French marshal, Sergeant
9. Award/Date: Batchelder/2002
10. Publisher: Scholastic
11. Summary: Adam is a sixteen-year old boy who was working on a farm. One day, the farmer wakes him up and takes him downtown with him. To Adam's surprise, the farmer has passed Adam off to take Georg's, the farmer's son, place. Despite a terrible start with a sergeant that mistreats him, Lieutenant Konrad, 17, takes Adam as his assistant. Despite their class/rank differences, the story follows their growth into friends and their struggles and triumphs of the french/russian war.
12. How used: This story can teach children the disadvantages of war and the need for friendship. The story is necessarily about a happy topic, but the author uses humor to lighten the mood. Since this is for an older age group, it can teach the children about different styles of authors' writings.

Kira, Kira

1. Author: Cynthia Kodohata
2. Title:Kira-Kira
3. Illustrator: None
4. Genre: Fiction/Family
5. Subgenre: Japanese-American culture
6. Theme: There is always hope in every tragedy.
7. Primary Characters: Katie, Lynn, Sammy, Mr and Mrs. Takeshima (parents)
8. Secondary Characters: Uncle Katsuhisa
9. Award/Date: Newbery/2004
10. Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
11. Summary: Katie is a young japanese-american child who idolizes her sister Lynn. The story follows her through the moving from Iowa to Georgia, through losing her best friend/her sister Lynn, and through her finding a way to help her family see that their is still a light despite losing Lynn.
12. How Used: The story is a terrific book to teach children about other cultures and loss. The mother is often irritated at Katie because she doesn't use the word Kira-Kira correctly, which is Japanese for glittery/shiny. It shows the cultural problems between the parents who have strong japanese values and their children who seem to show more american culture than japanese. As for the loss, loss is a terrible part of life. This can be an inspirational story to children who lose someone close to them.

Keeping the Night Watch

1. Author: Hope Anita Smith
2. Title: Keeping the Night Watch
3. Illustrator: E.B. Lewis Holt
4. Genre: Family/Chapter Book
5. Subgenre: Abandonment/ Poetry
6. Theme: With time, things will get better.
7. Primary Characters: C.J., Byron, Father, the little sister, mother, grandmother
8. Secondary Characters: Maya, Preacher
9. Award/Year: Coretta Scott King/ 2008
10. Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
11. Summary: C.J. is a teenager who is struggling to deal with the return of his father who had left his family. This chapter book is actually made up of several poems that tells the struggles of the three children to cope with the father returning. Although the younger children act more happy to have their father home, you see signs of their concern that the father may leave again.
12. How used: Today, so many children are experiencing broken homes. One parent homes are extremely common. This book can help children to see that it's ok to be upset when a parent leaves or even returns, but you just have to make sure that you learn to mature with the situation. It also shows children how poetry can express a story and feelings.

Stranger in the Woods

1. Author: Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick
2. Title: Stranger in the Woods
3. Illustrator: Not stated
4. Genre: Fiction
5. Subgenre: Children/Snowmen
6. Theme: Love of animals
7. Primary Characters: The animals
8. Secondary Characters: The children
9. Award/Date: None/2000
10. Publisher: Carl R. Sams II Photography
11. Summary: Many animals in the forest are coming together trying to discover who is the stranger in the forest. After finally getting the courage to check out the stranger, they find a snowman with seeds and vegetables to feed the animals. It turns out to be a snowman that some children built to help feed the animals during the cold winter months.
12. How Used: So many children love to read about animals! Children also tend to love playing in the snow. This story takes elements that are often entertaining to children and puts them together. This story also personifies the animals, which could help the children see an example of personification. It also uses onomatopeia and alliteration when the animals speak.