PICTURE BOOKS: ISSUES AND MIDDLE SCHOOL CONTENT

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ENVIRONMENT
The World That Jack Built by Ruth Brown. Dutton, 1991.
"Jack" is the factories that pollute our world. Read about Love Canal or Weldon Springs. MO.
Write a protest song about the pollution.

The Old Ladies Who Liked Cats by Carol Greene. Harper, 1998
A town is nearly destroyed when cats are kept in at night.
Research and write a story about another environmental disaster when man has interrupted a food chain. See:Food Chain

WAR AND NON COMBATANTS
Cello of Mr. O by Jane Cutler. Dutton, 2000
Civilians, who constituted about half the victims of war at the beginning of the 20th Century, have become the great majority of victims.

Concert Reading: Read a short selection to music that fits the mood.
Four moods: happy, sad, scary, quiet. Good source of music: movie sound tracks.

Write a recipe for a city or people under siege.

THE HOLOCAUST
My Brother's Keeper by Israel Bernbaum
Terrible Things by Eve Bunting. Jewish Society '95
Cats in Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse. Scholastic. 2005.
Saving the starving Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. Use this pattern to write about the Japanese Concentration Camps in the U.S. in WWII. See:San Francisco Museum

One (season) morning your room is (describe) and strangely quiet. Outside your window (describe the weather) calling you, changing you until you feel yourself becoming a different person and you realize that you are a ( what?) and are imprisoned in (what?)
You look at your clothing. Your covering is (describe) and makes you feel (how?) Outside everything is changed, You, too, are changed. You are (describe your circumstances) now. By day you ( describe). By night you are (describe).Silently you ( describe your feelings and the reason) But wait! You hear (what?) You see (what?)You feel a strong sense of (what?) because (why?)Now you sense a familiar smell. You walk slowly toward the source and look through a window at another world waiting. You push open the door and feel (what?) You run inside, hungry and happy to be home again and ( what other feeling?)

THE EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY

THE MINUS SIDE
Kamishibai Man by Alan Say. Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
For years the old man clacked his clappersto attract the children and told wonderful picturestories. Then the TV antennas went up and the children no longer came. Years later on a visit to the city the parents remembered him as children and begged once again for stories.
Research the positive and negative effects of television. Does one outweigh the other?
Defend your position. For a starting point see: www.aapcal.org/aapcal1/tv.html
The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Ted Dewan.Doubleday, 1998.
Can too much technology be a bad thing?
It is when too many robots are loose.
Research: Guess the answers: Chernybol
1. # of people evacuated _______
2. # died immediately _________
3. % increase in cancer in children ________
4. Total # died in the accident _________
See:Chernybol

TECHNOLOGY: THE PLUS SIDE

Create a song showing how technology can make life easier.
A HISTORY OF ROBOTS IN SONG (Tiny Bubbles)
Clockwork robots moved in stages
Told time in the Middle Ages
Robot arm came in fifty-four
It could slide like a telescope or bend like a trunk to the floor

Chorus:
Ten feet tall Or very small
Handy, dandy R O B O T

Does tough jobs that bring men pain
Measures a volcano or a hurricane.
Assembly line jobs done without mistake
Robots work very quickly and consider them a piece of cake.
Tiny robot, electric eye
Opens doors as folks walk by
Other robots that come to mind
Wash your clothes, cook your food, add up numbers, what a find!

(Repeat chorus)

Tiny robots enter veins
To relieve your aches and pains
Need to see a doctor today?
She can operate upon you even if she's far away.
In the future robots think,
Solve a problem, quick as a wink
If it breaks it can repair itself
Handy Robots on every 2lst century shelf

Kevin R. Carlos M. Grade 7

THE HOMELESS

Mutt Dog by Stephen King. Harcourt, 2005.
In the city Mutt Dog had to be brave and fast and smart. He ate whatever he could find and looked for a new place to sleep every night. One evening he found a shelter with people inside who were cold and hungry and tired like him but there wasn't enough room or even enough food for a dog.

Research:
Validate the following statements. See:More Facts
A) Homeless people want to be homeless.
B) Homeless people do not work.
C) Homeless people are mentally ill.
D) Homeless people are dangerous.

MEDIA IN SOCIETY

The Nutty News by Ron Barrett. Knopf, 2005
A take-off on the tabloids. Which headlines are believable?

Duck Drinks Lake! No one is happy about this," said a swimmer standing on the bottom of Lake Dippatoe.
Runway Runaway; Airplane Goes from New York to Los Angeles and Never Leaves the Ground!
Mayor Did Not Give Jobs To His Family! " We just happen to look alike," said the mayor.
Research: Read the news article at Bell Hoax. How do you know it cannot be true?

OUTCASTS OF SOCIETY
You're Different, That's Super by Carson Kressley. S&S, 2005.
Trumpet, the horse with a horn was rejected by all until he used the horn to open the door of a burning barn.

The Ugly Pumpkin by Dave Horowitz. Putnam, 2005.
No one wants this pumpkin until he discovers he isn't a pumpkin at all!

Create a fact & fiction book of a person of achievement who was first rejected as "different"

For models see: Gifted or Goof-Off and
Blunder or Brainstorm by Nancy Polette.

CHANGING ROLES OF WOMEN

I Could Do That by Linda White. Farrar, 2005
The first woman in the U.S. to hold political office.
Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving by Laurie Anderson. S&S 2002
Research: In teams of four examine film, music, newspapers/magazines and advertising.
Answer this question: Has media changed or simply recorded the roles of women in the past 50 years.

INNER CITY
The Inner City Mother Goose by Eve Merriam. Random, 2004.
A parody of problems.
The Wonderful Towers of Watts by Patricia Zelver. Boyds Mill, 1994.
How a poor man brought lasting beauty to a poor part of Los Angeles.
Write a Mother Goose parody about Old Sam.

FREE SPEECH/FREE SOCIETY
In 1990 the average 14 year old had a language storehouse of 25,000 words.
In 2004 the average 14 year old has a language storehouse of 10,000 words.
Source: Burbank, Lynn. Visual Literacy Thornburg Center 2004.

So Many Dynamos by Jon Agee. Farrar, 1993.
Palindrome phrases.
Elvis Lives by Jon Agee. Farrar, 2000.
Anagrams. See more at Anagrams
Workshop by Andrew Clements. Clarion, 1999.
Personification of workshop tools.
Happy Hockey Family Moves To The Country by Lane Smith. Puffin, 2005
Different locations, diffeent meanings! What is an elevator?
Look Out! Letters Alive. by Keith Polette. Pieces of Learning, 2000.
Great for generating vocabulary.
Activity: Brainstorm words related to one letter. Use in a poem.
Puns: The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. Adapted by Bruce Coville.
The Classic Tale of Quasimodo's Bell Ringer
Nose Drops by Larry Shles. Jalmar, 1994.
Hoots and Toots
Visual and verbal elaborations tell the tale of a nose lost from its face.

RESOURCES
Books by Nancy Polette available from Pieces of Learning
Blunder or Brainstorm
Gifted or Goof-Off
Damsel or Daredevil
The Best of Nancy Polette
Research Without Copying
Activities for Any Novel