Seedfolks

By Paul Fleischman

A vacant lot, rat-infested and filled with garbage, looked like no place for a garden. Especially to a neighborhood of strangers where no one seems to care. Until one day, a young girl clears a small space and digs into the hard-packed soil to plant her precious bean seeds. Suddenly, the soil holds promise: To Curtis, who believes he can win back Lateesha's heart with a harvest of tomatoes; to Virgil's dad, who sees a fortune to be made from growing lettuce; and even to Maricela, sixteen and pregnant, wishing she were dead.

Thirteen very different voices -- old, young, Haitian, Hispanic, tough, haunted, and hopeful -- tell one amazing story about a garden that transforms a neighborhood.

Reading level: Grade 4 and up (some of the content might be for an older audience. Use your discretion. In my school the 6th graders were reading this book!)  Lexile: 710L

Suggested Delivery: 

Electronic Resources:

http://www.paulfleischman.net/ - Authors website, Here you can get information about the author, his books and contact information to get in touch with him. You can also see other works that he has written if you enjoyed Seedfolks.

http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780064472074 Here you can read a sample from the book for free. You can use this to project some of the pages of the book on the board and have the students read along with you. 

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/seedfolks-lesson-plan This sight has some lesson plan ideas and information about the book.
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/harpercollins/seedfolks_rg.pdf Printable lesson plan with lesson ideas, reading strategies and discussion questions

There are so many great lessons and resources that can be found online for this book! I highlighted just a few of the many out there. 

Activities to Increase Comprehension:

Before Reading: Discuss society and cultures and how they integrate into communities. 

During Reading: Discuss the different character and create a character map after ever chapter to keep track of all the characters in the book (there are a lot of characters) 
This chart I found online and really liked because it makes you think about each character not only what they planted and who what are but that was their purpose in the story. 

After Reading: In the 6th grade at the school I work at, the students are writing their own chapter for the book. They can create another chapter for a character that already was mentioned or they can create their own new character to add to the book. (Relating to Language Arts)

I also thought that it would be a great idea for students to create a mural of the classroom garden after all the students create their own chapters. (Relating to Language Arts and Art)

Create a project where the students can think of the garden as a business. They can think about how much the seeds cost, how much water will be needed, how much time is spent on taking care of the plants and then how much the vegetable or flower would sell for and how much the profit would be. (Relating to Math) 

Have the students research what kinds of plants are prevalent in different cultures or parts of the world. (Relates to Social Studies and Science)

There are so many ideas that I can think of from this book. Its a simple book that you can really do a lot with.

The Book Thief

By Markus Zusak

"I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right."

It's just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . . Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist-books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau. This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul. From the Hardcover edition.

This book is all about words. Their power. "The words. Why do they have to exist?" For Liesel they exist to enable her and others to survive. For the Nazis they exist to cause harm and persuade others. Words are the cause for Nazi Germany and the reign of Hitler as well as the savior for the people of Himmel Street. Through the eyes of Death we see human nature and circumstance pushed to the limits. Death is sarcastic, honest and the perfect narrator for a book set in a time of so much death and destruction. However he shows us the life of Leisel and how their can be hope in the darkest of times. 

This book is worded and written so beautifully you will find yourself falling in love with the words

Reading level: 12 and up; Grades 7 and up Lexile: 730L

Suggested Delivery: Independent Read

Electronic Resources:
http://zusakbooks.tumblr.com/ This is Markus Zusak's Tumbler/website. Gives information about Markus and his books. 

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/markuszusak/ Gives information about Markus and his books. 
http://www.thebookthief.com/ - This site is related to the movie that is coming out that is based on this book. This would be a great site to introduce the book and get kids interested or to follow up after reading.
http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=925&a=1 Audio books, Lesson plans, Useful links, vocabulary lists, interviews with Markus (Great Resource for teachers!!)

Activities to Increase Comprehension:

Before Reading: Students can have a discussion about the Holocaust and what they know about it to get a bit of background knowledge before reading the book. 
Students can also watch the movie preview as a preview to the book and what they are about to read. 

During Reading: The book is broken up into ten parts within each part are chapters. Have the students look at all the chapter titles in the part they are about to read and have them make a prediction of what will happen in that part of the book. Have the students use background knowledge, context clues, and historically relevant information to make informed predictions. 

After Reading: Have the students write a story from the perspective of an emotion or inanimate state such as death, passion, love, greed etc. Have the students create a character map and think about what these characters would look like, how they would act, how would they see things.