Bianca's Week 7 Post

The Oxford Book of Children’s Verse edited by Iona and Peter Opie is a beautiful and diverse collection of poetry and verse spanning from the medieval and sixteenth century to the twentieth century. Containing hundreds of works, this book has poetry to suit every age group and covers topics that are both historical and fantastical. I would recommend this book in particular to children between 5 and 9 because it will expand both their vocabulary and their ideas of poetry themes and techniques.

Holes by Louis Sachar is one of my favourite novels! With little twists and turns throughout the novel, this book is a great read. The story centres around an unfortunate boy called Stanley Yelnats who is wrongly accused of stealing and taken to Camp Green Lake – a barren prison camp for boys in the desert. Whilst forced to dig a large hole in the ground everyday as ‘punishment’, he discovers what happened to the lake, what the Warden is really looking for and meets a boy called Zero with an interesting past. This story is perfect as a middle school class text because the language and tenor matches that which students between the ages of 10 to 15 years would be familiar with. There are a number of themes within the novel, including friendship, luck and historical racial tension, that could be discussed. Numerous activites could be used with students including role-plays, alternative endings and identifcation of the characters' traits and roles. There is also a well made movie release to match that could be used for text comparison.

Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman is a novel written in journal format from the perspective of a strong-minded 14 year old girl called Catherine living in 13th century England. This novel is both historical and hilarious, detailing Catherine's determination to avoid marriage by almost any means possible. Catherine's character development over the course of the novel is remarkable and reflects the challenges she faces. Karen Cushman's high level of research is evident throughout the novel, as shown in the amazing detail she provides to reveal how Catherine and the people around her live their everyday lives, and their perspectives, beliefs and ideas about the world in which they lived. This novel would be excellent for a middle school class study, and also integrated into History classes.