Leaf by Leaf: Autumn Poems selected by Barbara Rogasky

Bibliographic Information:

Rogasky, Barbara. Leaf by Leaf: Autumn Poems. New York: Scholastic Press, 2001. Print

Plot Description: This collection of short poems celebrates the beauty of fall, from the turning colors of the landscape to the cooling of the air as winter approaches.  Twenty-four poems and excerpts explore the outdoor world in its many changes for plants and animals alike.  Poems are printed in light text over striking photographs of people and scenes, natural and urban.

Quantitative Reading Level: Lexile n/a (non-prose); GL 5.5

Qualitative Reading Analysis:  The language of these poems is familiar, but as poetry, it is sometimes playful.  Measures of sentence structure and conventionality are not well-suited for these poems, even though some are excerpts from formatted poetry.  All of them share a theme of recognizing Fall’s beauty, so there is a layer of meaning, but not inherently complex, rather, artistic.

Content Area: English Language Arts

Content Area Standard(s):

CCSS for Reading Literature, Grades K-5: 2) Recount stories and determine theme from details, including how characters respond to challenges; 4) Describe how words and phrases supply rhythm and meaning. 7) Use information gained from illustrations and words to demonstrate understanding. 10) Read and comprehend literature at grade level.

Curriculum Suggestions:  The poems in this book would make an excellent Read-Aloud for a fall day, perhaps coupled with a poetry writing assignment.  It is very accessible to even lower level readers and thus would be great independent reading choice as well.

Supporting Digital Content:

“The Wild Swans at Coole” by Yeats: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdic4rNp_gY

“Come Up from the Fields Father” by Whitman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCSa39zTzQI

Subjects/Themes:  Seasons, Nature, Change, Death and Rebirth

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Bibliographic Information:

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Viking Press, 1939. Print.

Plot Description: It is the 1930’s in Oklahoma, where commercialized agriculture and severe drought have resulted in the devastating sandstorms known as the Dust Bowl.  There is no work and families are going hungry.  One of those families is the Joads, who pack up their belongings and head west to California in search of jobs picking fruit.  Along the way they encounter many other people and families in search of work out west and struggling to survive.  In California they find migrant camps flooded with hungry people competing for the few jobs there are and that pay less than a living wage.  They encounter the prejudice of locals and other minority groups who call them “Okies,” and suffer through the miserable conditions of the “Hoovervilles.”  Despite their suffering and the losses they incur along the way, the Joad family maintains their sense of family and human dignity, right up until the heart-breaking end of the novel.

Quantitative Reading Level: Lexile 680, GL 4.9

Qualitative Reading Analysis: This book is at the forefront of the debate on whether Lexile scores (or other attempts to quantitatively measure text complexity) are relevant for matching complex texts with the right reader.  Despite a low Lexile score, this book is evidently complex in terms of its many layers of meaning and the knowledge demands of the reader.  Although the language is mostly conversational and sentence structure is simple, the characters have thick accents of Oklahomans which may be tricky for even high school readers.  The novel incorporates several key themes, including the strength of family, the relationship between self respect and wrath, and the plight of the powerless in corporate America.  Steinbeck also employs the literary technique of switching between expository and narrative text, allowing the story of this family to serve as a portrait for all poor people at that time.  Furthermore, students need to understand the historical context in which this story takes place.

Content Area: English Language Arts

Content Area Standard(s):

CCSS for Reading Literature, Grades 11-12: 2) Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text; 3) Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed); 6) Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement); 9) Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.

Curriculum Suggestions:  Although this book is on the exemplar list for grades 9-10, I recommend it for 11^th graders who, in California, study the Dust Bowl and Great Depression in U.S. History.  It would also make an insightful pairing with the middle school text Esperanza Rising (also reviewed in this blog), which portrays the migrant struggle of that time and place through the eyes of Mexican migrants.

Supporting Digital Content:

Dorothea Lange photography: http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/lange/

Subjects/Themes: Migration, Strength of Family, Dignity and Wrath, the Powerless and the Powerful, Human Rights

Squirrel and John Muir by Emily Arnold McCully

Bibliographic Information:

McCully, Emily Arnold. Squirrel and John Muir. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2004. Print.

Plot Description: Squirrel and John Muir interweaves historical fact with imagination in this tale of John Muir’s friendship with a young girl in the Yosemite Valley.  Squirrel, as she is affectionately known by her family, is a tomboy who was born in raised in the Sierra wilderness.  Her father owns the first hotel in the area and hires a young John Muir to run a sawmill for him.  In every bit of his spare time, however, John Muir is out exploring the wilderness, talking to flowers, listening to snow – all of which Squirrel finds odd but intriguing.  Their unlikely friendship blossoms as he shows her the wonders of the area and teaches her the deeper lesson of embracing change.

Quantitative Reading Level: Lexile 620, GL 3.3

Qualitative Reading Analysis: The text is organized simply, with a clear storyline told in mostly familiar language.  Sentence structure combines simple with compound sentences, and the beautiful watercolor illustrations directly support interpretation of the text.  Its meaning might be moderately complex for some readers who do not have the background knowledge or life experience to identify with the themes of appreciating nature or the vastness of wilderness.

Content Area: English Language Arts

Content Area Standard(s):

CCSS for Reading Literature, Grade 3: 3) Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events; 7) Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).

Curriculum Suggestions:  A lesson or unit on environmental education would be well-supported by this text, which can introduce students to John Muir the historical figure, Yosemite and the national park system, and the concept of nature conservation in general.

Supporting Digital Content:

“19^th century Photographs of Yosemite Valley” Slideshow from Smithsonian: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/john-muirs-yosemite-10737/?no-ist#ooid=k5YjdwOqbLuHeO-oum0zv2z04nV-Wcw_

Subjects/Themes: Nature, plants and animals, conservation, friendship.

Hurry Freedom: African Americans in Gold Rush California by Jerry Stanley

Bibliographic Information:

Stanley, Jerry. Hurry Freedom: African Americans in Gold Rush California. New York: Random House, 2000. Print.

Plot Description: Hurry Freedom chronicles the African American experience of the California Gold Rush, from free Northerners to slaves brought by their masters.  It centers on the life of Mifflin Gibbs, a friend of Frederick Douglass who arrived in California with almost nothing but over time built himself a successful shoe business.  Historical data about the two thousand blacks who lived from the Bay Area up to the foothills reveal deep inequity in the judicial system and society despite the fact that slavery was illegal.  Gibbs and his partners started an Underground Railroad in California, educating slaves and assisting them to acquire their freedom.

Quantitative Reading Level: GL 7.3; Lexile 1090

Qualitative Reading Analysis: This book is moderately complex for a middle school reader, mostly for the vocabulary which balances familiar and some abstract, historical language.  Sentence structure is clear with only minor complexity in compound sentences. Pictures and drawings serve are supplementary for understanding the text.  The purpose is twofold; to portray the life of a key historical figure as well as to profile the conditions of all black living in California at that time.  Finally, the knowledge demands of the text are moderate in that students will likely benefit from having some background in history, specifically slavery, race relations and civil rights movements and leaders.

Content Area: California History, Reading for Information

Content Area Standard(s):

CA State History Standards Grade 8: 8) Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people in the West from 1800 to the mid-1800s and the challenges they faced.

CCSS for Literacy in History, Grades 6-8: 4) Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies. 5) Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally). 6) Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts). 7) Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

Curriculum Suggestions:  This book should play a prominent role in any study of the settling of California and the Gold Rush, offering students a more balanced perspective of the social atmosphere of the west at that time.  Although the text is written at an upper middle school level, e  Although the text is written at an upper middle school level, excerpts could be used as supplementary curriculum at the fourth grade study of California history as well.

Supporting Digital Content:

Primary Source photos: http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/calcultures/ethnic_groups/subtopic1a.html

Personal Thoughts: Having grown up in northern California, I am very familiar with the classically told history of the gold Rush era, of pioneers and their families travelling west to “manifest destiny.” This book offers a much-needed voice to the history of just one of the oft ignored minority groups that played a very formative role in the settling west – the voice of African Americans who worked thanklessly to support white gold hunters as they sought their fortunes.

Mama Built a Little Nest by Jennifer Ward

Bibliographic Information:

Ward, Jennifer. Mama Built a Little Nest. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2014. Print.

Plot Description: This picture book features rhymes paired with informational text describing a selection of birds and their diverse nesting behaviors, including the materials they are composed of and places they are found in nature.  Each bird and nest is beautifully illustrated with paper-cut collage in bold colors and shapes.  Finally, the author relates the concept of nest back to the home of the young reader.  The book also contains and author note for the reader describing her love of birds and the rich diversity observable in the different species.

Quantitative Reading Level: RL 2.5

Qualitative Reading Analysis: This text is only slightly complex, with simple ideas and pictures that support readers in understanding the descriptions of the text.  The language is moderately complex for the second grade level, using mostly familiar language with some academic tone.  The purpose is transparent throughout the text as a description of nests and their variety, and readers need very little background knowledge to follow along.

Content Area: Biology/Life Sciences

Content Area Standard(s):

CA State Biology/Life Sciences Standards Grades K-2: Life Sciences 2) Plants and animals meet their needs in different ways.

CCSS for Reading Information, Grade 1: 3) Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text; 6) Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text; Grade 2: 1) Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text; 6) Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.

Curriculum Suggestions:  Mama Built a Little Nest is an appropriate book to use for basic life science lessons related to animals and their habitats, as well as for practice reading and understanding informational texts.  The rhymes composing half of the book are very accessible for young independent readers and may serve as a bridge to comprehension of the expository parts that accompany them.

Supporting Digital Content:

BBC Video on Weaver nests: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6svAIgEnFvw

The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan

Bibliographic Information:

Pollan, Michael. The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye View of the World. New York: Random House, 2002. Print

Plot Description: In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan examines the history of four plants – apple, tulip, marijuana and potato – and their co-evolutionary development with humans over time, primarily through the desires they arouse in us.  Pollan makes the provocative case that our experiences with sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control in response to these plants demonstrate the “complex reciprocal relationship” that we share.

Quantitative Reading Level: Lexile 1350

Qualitative Reading Analysis: This informational text is very complex and particularly suitable for high level readers.  A range of ideas are presented in support of Pollan’s central theme, with his historical analysis and contemporary narrative interwoven in a thoughtful but challenging way.  He regularly employs both figurative language and subject-specific vocabulary.  Although this book is written for a general audience, the reader would benefit from some basic knowledge of biology and ecology.

Content Area: Biology/Life Sciences; Agriculture; Botany; Ecology; Reading, Informational Text

Content Area Standard(s):

CA State Biology/Life Sciences Standards Grades 9-12: Cell Biology 1 – The fundamental life processes of plants and animals depend on a variety of chemical reactions that occur in specialized areas of the organism’s cells; Genetics 2 – Mutation and sexual reproduction lead to genetic variation in a population; 4 – Genes are a set of instructions encoded in the DNA sequence of each organism that specify the sequence of amino acids in proteins characteristic of that organism; 5 – The genetic composition of cells can be altered by incorporation of exogenous DNA into the cells; Ecology 6 – Stability in an ecosystem is a balance between competing effects.

CCSS for Reading Informational Text, Grades 11-12: 1) Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. 2) Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.  3) Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text. 5) Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging. 6) Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text.

Curriculum Suggestions:  This book would be an excellent supplementary read for an AP science class, as well as an English class exploring complex expository texts at the Junior or Senior level, in excerpt or read completely.  It is also great independent reading for a highly-developed readers interested in science, botany or gardening.

Supporting Digital Content:

The True Cost of Food (Sierra Club) video: http://content.sierraclub.org/creative-archive/video/2012/05/true-cost-food

PBS Video on Thee Botany of Desire: http://video.pbs.org/video/1283872815/

Personal Thoughts: Though this typically book is classified in the sciences, it beautifully examines these plants through lenses of social and natural history, philosophy, the politics of food and agriculture, mythology, memoir and more.  This is the kind of inter-disciplinary, complex but finely narrated reading that I hope all students grow to appreciate.

Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Bibliographic Information:

Ryan, Pam Muñoz. Esperanza Rising. New York: Scholastic Press, 2000. Print.

Plot Description:

When tragedy strikes, 13-year-old Esperanza is forced to leave her life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to live in a Mexican farm labor camp in California in the midst of the Great Depression.  In just a few months she losses her father and her home and her mother becomes gravely ill.  Once completely waited upon, Esperanza learns how to care for herself and work alongside the other migrants in the fields.  In addition to Esperanza’s story of overcoming adversity and embracing a new sense of hard work, community and belonging, the conflicting views of organized labor and striking amongst the laborers are movingly depicted.

Quantitative Reading Level: GL 5.5, Lexile 750, RL 6.2

Qualitative Reading Analysis: This book is moderately complex, employing a variety of literary devices including foreshadowing, symbolism and irony.  There are also many symbolic objects and names, including chapters named by seasonal fruits of the laborers work and the name of the protagonist herself.  Spanish words and historical references are peppered throughout the story that will likely require some outside investigation.  Figurative language is also present throughout the story.

Content Area: Reading, Literature. Social Studies.

Content Area Standard(s):

CCSS for Reading Literature, Grades 6-8: 2) Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. 3) Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).  4) Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone
5) Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot. 6) Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

CCSS for Writing, Grade 6-8: 9) Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

CCSS for Language, Grade 6-8: 5) Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.  6) Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Curriculum Suggestions:  This book pairs well with John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath by allowing students to compare and contrast the experience of different migrant groups during the Great Depression.  It is an excellent middle school synthesis of themes from Literature, History and Ethnic Studies.

Supporting Digital Content:

Reader’s Theater Script: http://pammunozryan.com/pages/scriptEsperanza.pdf

Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ-wK_7jz9A

Subjects/Themes: Overcoming Adversity, Social Classes, Human Rights, Immigration/Emigration, Family

Awards: Jane Addams Children’s Book Award 2000.

Who’s Got Spots? by Linda W. Aber

Bibliographic Information:

Aber, Linda W. Who’s Got Spots? New York: Kane Press, 2000. Print.

Plot Description:

Kip is excited about singing with his classmates for the upcoming Autumn Fest at school.  Unfortunately there is an outbreak of chicken pox just when rehearsals are beginning.  Kip learns about the contagious nature of the illness and worries that too many students could get sick before the show.  Knowing that there must be at least seven healthy students for the show to go on, he decides to calculate the likelihood of that.  This book introduces surveying and data collection as well as charting and graphing.

Quantitative Reading Level: GL 2.5, Lexile 250, RL 3.1

Qualitative Reading Analysis: This book is only slightly complex, mathematical content aside.  The story is chronological and clear in its organization and pictures directly support it.  It uses simple language with only one basic level of meaning.

Content Area: English, Reading.  Mathematics: Measurement and Data. Health.

Content Area Standard(s):

CCSS for Mathematics, Grade 1: 4) Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another.

Curriculum Suggestions:  This text provides a fun introduction to the topic of Chicken Pox and supports a cross-curricular unit on math and health; the activity would be easily repeatable (although with Chicken Pox no longer being so prevalent since its vaccination, another illness or situation could be substituted).  There is an additional activity to check for understanding with chart reading at the end of the book.

Subjects/Themes: Surveys and Data, Chicken Pox, Health

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Bibliographic Information:

Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, Not Buddy. New York: Delacorte Press, 1999. Print.

Plot Description:

In Michigan in 1936, ten-year-old Bud is on the run after escaping an abusive foster home.  It has been four years since his mother died and he has never known his father, but she left him several clues that lead him to search for Herbert E. Calloway, a jazz musician in a nearby town.  Being on his own so early in life has taught him a lot about survival, which he summarizes in his list of “Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself.”  Bud’s quest and the memorable people he encounters along the way is a modern take on the hero’s journey.

Quantitative Reading Level: GL 5.2, Lexile 950, RL 5.0

Qualitative Reading Analysis: This book is moderately complex.  Text structure and organization of events is simple and straight-forward, and language is mostly familiar.  There are various historical references, however, that will likely require a young reader to do some outside research (e.g. references to Pretty Boy Floyd and Paul Robeson).   There is also a light amount of symbolism, including the nameof the protagonist.

Content Area: English, Reading.  Social Studies.

Content Area Standard(s):

CCSS for Reading Literature, Grade 6: 2) Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. 4) Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone
5) Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot. 6) Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

CCSS for Writing, Grade 6: 9) Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

CCSS for Language, Grade 6: 5) Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Curriculum Suggestions:  This text could be used as part of an inter-disciplinary unit on the Great Depression, with a focus on the impact on African Americans and/or other minority groups including foster children.  It would also be excellent independent reading.

Supporting Digital Content:

Book Trailer: http://vimeo.com/41836333

Meet the Author: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5HkR1o2LiI

Subjects/Themes: Running Away, Bullying, Overcoming Adversity, Survival, Family

Awards: Coretta Scott King Award 2000, Newberry Medal 2000