By: Sara Pennypacker
Clementine is a story about friendship, and how far you would go for a friend. Clementine's best friend Margaret gets glue in her hair during an art project, and Clementine decides to help her out. Clementine's idea of help is to cut off Margaret's hair, and this lands her in extremely hot water with the principal and Margaret's mother. As Clementine's week progresses she keeps getting into more trouble as she tries to fix her problems. She ends up cutting off all her hair to make Margaret feel better, and she makes Margaret a hat to cover up Margaret's missing hair, but on Thursday Margaret stops talking to Clementine. By Saturday, even Clementine's mother is upset with her, and its up to Clementine to fix her friendship with Margaret, and get out of trouble with her parents.

This is a really great book about friendship. It shows how far Clementine was willing to go to help Margaret feel better. And it also takes a look at how children solve problems versus how adults solve problems. What seems like a good solution to the problem of Margaret's hair getting cut off is for Clementine to cut off her own hair. As an adult, we know that this is probably not the right thing for Clementine to do, and when she was "helping" Margaret cut off her hair she should have gotten an adult to solve the problem. This is also a good book on how everyone can have a bad week, like Clementine, but it is never too late to turn your week around.

By: Ellen Klages

The Green Glass Sea is the story about a young girl named Dewey who lives with her father on the Hill. Technically they don't exist, and neither does the Hill, all it is is a P.O. box number. The Hill is located in Los Alamos, and the scientists there were working on a top secret project that will help them win the war and defeat Hitler. Dewey is not the only child living on the Hill, and she soon becomes friends with another girl there named Suze. Dewey lives on the Hill from November of 1943 up until the atom bomb is dropped on Hiroshima. The whole time Dewey is living on the Hill, she wants to know what it is the scientists are working on, but it is forbidden for her to ask questions about the project. Eventually the project is completed and everyone on the Hill is able to view the test run. After seeing the demonstration, the scientists begin to realize what a huge mistake they have made, and they understand that they could never actually use this weapon on other human beings.

This is an excellent book for teaching students about World War II and the development of the atom bomb. This book is from the perspective of the children living on the Hill, and through them the perspective of the scientists is expressed. At first the scientists feel like the completion of their project is a matter of life and death, and it is the only way to defeat Hitler and the Japanese and win the war. They pay no attention to the consequences this project may have on other people. It is only until they see the destructive power of the bomb that they realize the real evil they have created. This is a great book because it tells the same story of World War II, but it expresses a side that was a secret at the time of the war.

I really enjoyed this book, and the different take on World War II that is presents. I obviously have a strong connection with this book because it takes place so close to home. I personally have been to Los Alamos and have seen pictures of Hiroshima after the atom bomb was dropped. I also have been to White Sands, the area where they first tested the atom bomb. Overall, this was an excellent novel and i would enjoy teaching it to students.

By: Cynthia Lord

Rules is told from the perspective of Catherine, and is about her younger brother being autistic. Catherine just wants to feel like any other normal 12 year old and she gets frustrated that her brother is not normal. Catherine makes a list of rules for David (her brother) that will help him understand social norms, and to help him not be a victim of bullying because he's different. At first Catherine gets really frustrated with David, but then she becomes friends with Jason, who has a mental disability. This unlikely friendship helps Catherine question what normal really is and helps her to become more accepting of others.

This is a great book for teaching acceptance in schools because young children need to learn that everyone is different. They also need to learn that is not okay to bully someone just because they have a mental disability or they are different from you. It is also important for children to realize that not everyone comprehends something the same way, and it is important to be understanding of everyone's differences.

I really enjoyed this book because it expresses how children view something like autism, and how they deal with it. Throughout the whole book Catherine was accepting of her brother and she defended him from people who were mean to him, but there were times when her frustration got the better of her. I had a really strong connection with this book, because I have a family member who is autistic. I know that it can be frustrating when people aren't accepting of people who have autism. But I think this was a good book because instead of taking the view point of a adult or parent that has a child with autism, it looks at the siblings of children with autism and how they come to terms with it.

 

"Porch Lies" is a collection of short stories that took place during the 1930s. It was common in the 1930s for people to sit on their porches after dinner with their friends and family and tell each other stories. These stories were called "porch lies". The point of these stories was for the audience to determine what bits of the story were true and what were exaggerations. Every story in this book has a different moral, and as the reader it is your job to find the moral of the story that is hidden within the "lies".

This collection of short stories is a great way for students to learn about different cultural practices as well as some history. These stories are set in the 1930s, and they give some insight as to how many people handled the Great Depression. More specifically, it takes a look at African Americans during the Great Depression, and how they turned to blues music for comfort. Not only does this book provide some history on the Great Depression, it shows cultural practices for African Americans during this time period. These book takes a look at how most African Americans passed time in the evening by telling porch lies, how they used blues music as a form of escape from the Depression, and it also gives insight into the language they used. When a character is speaking in this book, they language that is used is not proper. The speakers' grammar is somewhat lacking, and a good portion of slang is used. Although, in my opinion, this made it harder to understand the speakers in the book, it can be used as a tool for teaching students that not everyone will use the sound alike or use the same words or phrases when speaking. 

I honestly did not have a very strong connection with this book other than I find the time period of the Great Depression somewhat interesting. Not only did I not have a strong connection with this book, I also did not enjoy it. However, I do believe that this book is a great way to teach students about cultural diversity in history.