Swindle

This kids-versus-adults-themed story is pure plot-driven fun from top to bottom. If you read it aloud, don't be surprised when your listeners beg you for "just one more chapter."-Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI (c) Copyright 2010.

 Published by Scholastic Press Copyright 2008

After spending a night in an abandoned house, Griffin “The man with the plan” finds an old Babe Ruth baseball card. Hoping to get some money off of his unique find, Griffin and his best friend Ben bring the card to a pawn shop called “Palomino’s Emporium of Collectibles and Memorabilia” owned by S. Wendell Palomino. The boys are disappointed when Palomine sells them the card for one hundred and twenty dollars; griffin saw “visions of solving the family’s money woes popping like soap bubbles”. Later Griffin see’s Palomine on the television announcing that he is going to sell the card at an auction for an estimated 1 million dollars. Griffin realizes that he was s. Wendell Palomine “Swindled” him out of a valuable card. Feeling constantly overlooked and under appreciated by adults, Griffin gathers up a gang of his peers to reclaim what he things is rightfully his. Getting the card back won’t be as easy as they think when things don’t go according to plan.

Reading level: 4-7 Lexil: 710L

Suggested Delivery: Whole class read aloud, independent read

Vocabulary: eerie, eaves, mulling, speculation, rankled, keyed, haughtily, tirade, grimaced, assailant, withering, tantalizing, clamorous, appraisal, heckled, heist, solidarity, rapt, relentlessly, chastened, dubiously, treacherous, hostile, intercepted, elude, acetylene

Electronic Resources:

http://gordonkorman.com/ The author’s website give information about him as well as other books that he has written that the students may also enjoy reading.

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/video.jsp?pID=1640149541&bcpid=1640149541&bckey=AQ~~,AAAAAFv844g~,BASb5BU03X-iSxP2xnUo82nI3lwCMiDm&bclid=1557820329&bctid=1562781814 Listen to Gordon Korman narrate the premise of the book and describe the characters. Great to show the kids before reading to get them interested.

http://kidshealth.org/kid/grow/school_stuff/bullies.html This book deals with bullies and the idea that a bully can even be an adult. This website is a good source to use for teaching kids how to deal with bullies.

Activities to increase comprehension:

Before reading: There are a lot of challenging vocabulary in this book, depending on the age of the students reading this, going over the vocabulary and/or doing a mini lesson on how to determine meaning of a word through context clues would be a useful things to do with the students to improve their comprehension when they read.

-This book is all about kids being cheated by an adult and wanting to get back what they were cheated out of, having the students think about a time in their life when they felt cheated or lied to by an adult, or a time when they didn’t have control is an activity that will get them thinking about the theme of the book before they read. This can be done through a writing assignment of a think pair share.

During reading: Griffin comes up with a lot of plans throughout the course of the book, when he comes up with a new plan have the students write down what they think might go wrong, and what they could do if that does happen.

After reading: The students could do a reflective writing assignment comparing a time when they felt like Griffin (unappreciated and swindled by an adult) and how it made them feel.