Feathers

Title: Feathers
2008 Newbery Honor Book
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Published: 2007
Plot Summary: A white boy is the new kid at a predominately black school in Brooklyn during the 1970s. His classmates nickname him Jesus Boy. Fannie's contemplations of faith, hope, prejudices, etc are sparked by school events surrounding Jesus Boy and by family life.
Main Characters: Frannie, Jesus Boy, Sean, Samantha
Theme(s): the ways in which people find hope in the world
Reader's Response: Readers grapple with the things that give us hope and the things that threaten that same hope.
Teaching Idea: Students compare and contrast the ways in which the civil rights movement and the black panther movement worked to bring about change.
Grade Level: 4 - 7
Reading Level (Lexile): 760

The Hundred Dresses

Title: The Hundred Dresses
1945 Newbery Honor Book
Author: Eleanor Estes
Published: 1944
Plot Summary: This is the story of a poor Polish immigrant named Wanda Petronski who tells her well-off American classmates that she has 100 dresses. Wanda classmates, observing the shabby clothing that signifies poverty, deride and tease Wanda. Maddie realizes the brutality of her silence as she watched her friends tease Wanda day after day.
Main Characters: Wanda Petronski, Maddie, Peggy
Theme(s): the complicity of silence in carrying out injustices
Reader's Response: Readers will examine the process by which group identity is often formed and legitimized by marginalizing people from different backgrounds.
Teaching Idea: Discuss bullying. Have students create 2 to 3 minute short videos about bullying scenarios and how to deal with bullying.
Grade Level: 3 - 4
Reading Level (Lexile): 870

Smoky Night

Title: Smoky Night
1995 Caldecott Winner
Author/Illustrator: Eve Bunting/ David Diaz
Published: 1994
Summary: Looking down from their window, Daniel and his mom watch people riot in the streets.
Memorable Quote: They don't care anymore what's right and what's wrong.
Artistic Example: Photographs of symbolic debris such as bits of food and coat hangers give the story a very realistic feel.
Teaching Idea: Encourage tolerance of diversity and foster students strong sense of connection and responsibility for their communities by discussing ways children can volunteer in their community. Students create a journal of volunteer ideas and experiences. Some students that volunteer in their community will be featured on school's morning news show to share volunteer experiences.
Grade Level (Lexile): K5 - 3
Reading Level: 360

Golem

Title: Golem
1997 Caldecott Medal Winner
Author/Illustrator: David Wisniewski
Published: 1996
Summary: Rabbi Loew forms a giant, Golem, from clay to defend the Jews of Praque from persecution.
Memorable Quote: Would a people who celebrate the end of their own slavery wish to inflict slavery on others?
Artistic Example: Layered cut-paper collages of Rabbi Loew giving life to the clay formed Golem convey the richness of symbolism in Jewish mysticism.
Teaching Ideas: Discuss the art technique of collage. Students will use magazines to make a collage inspired by another collage illustrated book about a group of people who have historically fought against prejudice and intolerance such as African Americans in Nikki Giovanni's Rosa.
Grade Level: 3 - 6
Reading Level (Lexile): 690