The Diary of Anne Frank

1. Frank, A. (1967). Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. New York, NY: Doubleday.
2. Grade Level: 5.9
Age: 11+
Genre: Autobiography
3. An effective way to introduce this book in the classroom setting would be after an ELA
(English Language Arts) Personal Narrative lesson. After introducing students to the idea of a
personal narrative, which tells about a personal experience of a persons life, I will introduce
them to the concept of autobiographies and the authors purpose of this type of work. Once I
believe that they are ready and understand the concept, well begin reading an example, which
will be the autobiography of Anne Frank.
4. The Diary of Anne Frank tells the life of Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl, who had to go into
hiding with her family during Nazi Germany. The diary begins on Annes thirteenth birthday,
June 12, 1942, the day she received the diary as a gift. Throughout the diary, Anne journals about
things girls her age typical experience until anti-Semitism force Jews into separate schools and
the attitude towards Jews change all together. The Franks move to the Netherlands to escape the
growing hatred in Germany, however Germany invades the Netherlands and the Franks are
forced into hiding with another family. Annes entries continue to be about life in the annex as
she matures and begins to analyze the world around her. Her entries end when the Nazi raids the
annex, after two years of hiding.
5. I would have my students make a timeline of Anne Franks life based on information in the
novel. On one side of the timeline I would ask them to write down facts of Annes life, and on
the other side they would write facts about what was happening globally. This would also be a
great activity because we could always return to it and have them use it as a creative writing
assignment prompt, if necessary.

The Book Thief

1. Zusak, Markus. (2005). The Book Thief. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
2. Grade Level: 5.0
Age: 10+
Genre: Historical Fiction
3. A great way to present The Book Thief would be during a unit about the Holocaust. It would
serve has a great transition from different types of fiction to autobiographies and other true
stories that would go along with a unit on the Holocaust. In the copy I have and in most copies of
this book, there are brief illustrations, I would blow up these drawings and do a picture walk
with my students and ask them to analyze what they think is happening, then they need to read
the book to see if their analysis was close or not.
4. In this novel, a young orphan girl named Liesel is placed with foster parents named Hans and
Rosa. Through a series of events it is found out the Liesel does not know how to read and Hans,
her foster father, helps her by designing their basement into her specialized learning center. As
Liesel learns new words, her love for words grows into a love for books. However, everything
changes when her family takes in a Jew and he hides in her basement. There is a new sense of
danger, especially when Liesel begins to steal books from the impressive private library of the
mayors wife. The story goes through Liesels life as she grows and many of her loved ones are
taken from her. Eventually when Death (personified) comes for her, the story ends.
5. In the book Liesel receives a gift from Max, the Jewish man that her foster family hides. The
gift is a book in which has a story and Max inspires Liesel to never forget the power of words
and to write her own story. After finishing the novel with my students, the follow up activity that
I would choose would be for them to write their own short story from the perspective of another
character.

Matilda
1. Dahl, R. (2007). Matilda. New York, NY: Puffin Books.
2. Grade Level: 5.2

Age: 8+

Genre: Fantasy

3. An interesting way to introduce this short novel would be by having groups of students make a
book talk or commercial about it, by only reading the back of the book for a brief summary and
looking at the illustrations on the front of the book. Each student group would have presented the
book in a different light and that variety will hopefully this will get the students a little excited
into wanting to learn more about the book.
4. Matilda is a young girl with a mean family that ignores her. As her family continues to ignore
her as she ages, she teaches herself how to read and eventually sets off to the library to expand
her knowledge and world. Throughout this period of her life, Matilda discovers that she has
telekinetic powers! Eventually Matilda begins going to school, where her teacher realizes that
Matilda is reading way beyond her grade level and is intelligent. However the headmistress of
the school, Mrs. Trunchbull, is a terrible woman, she is mean and will bully the children by
either throwing a girl by her pigtails in the play ground or forcing a boy to eat an entire chocolate
cake. Matilda learns more about her teachers past and Mrs. Trunchbulls tyrannical personality,
how she is living in Miss. Honeys house and has her inheritance. After learning about this
Matilda decides to use her telekinetic powers for good and scares the Trunchbull out of Miss
Honeys house, out of the school and away from the town. With the main antagonist out of the
way, Matilda should be living a happy life, but it turns out that her parents and brother are
moving to Spain and obviously Matilda does not want to leave, which leads to Miss Honey
adopting her and both of them living happily ever after together.
5. For this novel I would want my students to make a storyboard analyzing the themes
represented, such as good and evil and provide three examples with evidence from the text. I
would prefer that students draw their examples, however the option for the non-creative
students, could be to write quotes that prove their point.

Inkheart
1. Funke, Cornelia. (2003). Inkheart. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.
2. Grade Level: 4.9
Age: 10+
Genre: Trilogy
3. I would introduce this novel by asking my students to write a news article about a
conversation they had with someone who could read things to life like one of the characters in
the novel. This would force the students to develop questions and answers that would leave them
questioning and wondering, What would it be like? Which will in turn motivate them to read
the book.
4. Meggie is a young girl who has an interesting life, she has no mother and her father is a man
obsessed with books. One night a strange visitor named Dustfinger comes and has a conversation
with Mo, Meggies father, which causes them to run to visit Maggies aunt. After a series of
break-ins and kidnappings, our characters find themselves in Italy where Mo finally explains
what has been going on. Mo can read things to life, meaning Dustfinger and another character
named Capricorn, were read out of the book while Meggies mother was read into the book by
mistake. Capricorn has since then devised this plan to have Meggies father read what he wants
out of books, things such as money and his henchmen characters. But since Capricorn is having
some trouble catching Mo, they kidnap Meggie instead and by accident find out that she has the
same gift, of reading things to life. Capricorn decides to use her to read his most feared
henchman to life, a thing called The Shadow. However Meggie devises a plan with the author
(who was also kidnapped at one point of the story) to read The Shadow out of the book in a
way that it will kill Capricorn. During the actual night, which Capricorn has set up as a formal
event, Meggie continues to read the page that will kill Capricorn while Dustfinger and Mo set a
fire as a distraction. As the Shadow comes to life it kills Capricorn and disappears into the
characters and people that it had killed. Now that the threat from Capricorn is gone, Meggie and
her parents live together there in Italy with all the creatures and characters that have been read
out, who cannot go out into the real world.
5. I want my students to have some practice when it comes to creative writing and yet still tie in
the novel, so a post activity that I think would be helpful is to have students journal about a
specific character living in either the InkHeart world or living in the real world. The students
could describe what they think this character might look like and how they act and react to
different persons and situation that they might experience in either world. So for example, in the
novel, readers find out that Meggies mom is read into the book. A student could write a
description of Meggies mom and describe the struggles that she may have encountered by being
in an imaginary world and different time period than she was used to.

Inkspell
1. Funke, Cornelia. (2005). Inkspell. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.
2. Grade Level: 4.9
Age: 9+
Genre: Trilogy
3. I would introduce this novel by asking my students to keep in mind what they learned from
Inkheart, and to come up with questions and/or scenarios as to what may have changed and how
the different characters must be living.
4. Dustfinger finds a way to be read back into the world of Inkspell however this reader is a
crooked reader and makes a mistake by leaving behind Dustfingers apprentice, Farid. Farid
goes to find Meggie and convinces her to read him into the book, but she makes a mistake and
reads both of them into the book and they find themselves in the world of Inkspell. Meggies
parents read themselves into the book to go and find her, but are again hunted by evil characters
from Inkheart and find themselves caught in the middle of a war. Many new characters are
introduced when a giant war threatens to tear the world of Inkspell apart and cause many beloved
characters to die. The story threatens to be changed in many different ways and ends with
Dustfinger dying, Mo being changed by the bitterness of his heart and Farid being tricked into
joining the evil group of characters.
5. I follow up activity that would be fun for the students it to have them make a newspaper that
might appear in the world of Inkspell. It could detail the weather and have headlining news about
the war and what is happening in the lives of the characters from a readers perspective.

Inkdeath
1. Funke, Cornelia. (2007). Inkdeath. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.
2. Grade Level: 4.9
Age: 10+
Genre: Trilogy
3. From the previous novel, Inkspell, we understand that Mo is a wanted man; because of this an
interesting introduction activity would be to have the students make a Wanted poster for Mo
and any other characters they may want to draw.
4. We begin where Inkspell left off, with Farid joining a crooked reader in the hopes of
bringing Dustfinger back to life, but instead this reader treats Farid like a slave. The beloved
main group of characters is hiding out due to all being wanted for almost killing the evil king in
the previous book. Everyone wants to right the wrongs that have been happening ever since the
second book, too many details of the world they now live in has changed and it is slowly falling
apart. Their only hope is to appease Death and do as it asks of Mo, which is to kill the king who
was made immortal. Death says that it will give Dustfinger back if Mo can kill this king,
however if Mo fails then Death will take Dustfinger, Meggie and Mo as payment for having
created an immortal person. Mo becomes fearless and our band of characters goes on this
adventure to right the wrongs that had happened such as wrongful deaths and the creation of an
immortal person. Mo kills the evil king and a new benevolent queen is put into power.
5. A follow-up activity that I might use for this novel to bring the trilogy to an end is to have the
students make a mobile book report of the book, however I would extend it to all three novels so
that students could include their newspaper and drawing from the follow-up activities of
Inkheart and Inkspell.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

1. Smith, Betty. (1947). A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers
2. Grade Level: 5.8
Age: 11+
Genre: Realistic Fiction
3. An interesting way to introduce this novel would be explaining to the students the difference
of the times (1912 vs. 2015). During the time this novel takes place, the average cost of new
house $3,600.00; a gallon of Gas was 15 cents; a bottle Coca Cola cost 5 cents and the average
price for a new car was $900.00. I would ask students to come up with their own lists of
difference that might exist.
4. Francie Nolan is a young girl who is growing in a poor section of Brooklyn. Her mother
supports the family, as a janitor while her father is a singing waiter with an alcohol addiction.
The readers grow with Francie as she learns that people are not always kind and she matures.
Francie loves to read and learn while her brother dislikes it, however when money gets tight due
to Francies father dying and her mother expecting a third child, Francie has to give up her
dreams of going to high school and works to support the family, while her brother continues his
education. Francie grows in a young woman and learns the ways of the world, while her childlike innocence decreases, her love for reading only increases. A politician marries her mother and
agrees to adopt the baby and pay for both Francies and her brothers college tuition.
5. A nice way to follow-up on this novel would be have to students draw their favorite scenes
from the book so that they can compare their drawings to the scenes of the movie.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: Bad Beginning

1. Handler, Daniel. (1999). A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning. New York, NY:
Scholastic Inc.
2. Grade Level: 6.1
Age: 9-14
Genre: Mystery
3. A fun way to introduce this novel would be by having the students read the first page of the
book silently, then for someone to read it out aloud, and then for everyone to write down what
they learned from that one page. Then I could ask students to formulate their own questions to
find answers to during their reading of that chapter. This activity is to help students identify
context clues and it will teach them to cite text evidence from the novel.
4. The three the Baudelaire: Violet, Klaus and Sunny receive the most unfortunate news that they
have become orphans due to a fire that has started in their home. They are placed in the care of
their closest relative, Count Olaf, who seems to be after them only for their large inheritance,
which Violet will receive when she is eighteen. In this first book of the series, Count Olaf tries to
get the inheritance by marrying Violet, however his plan fails and the children escape his
clutches and run away.
5. A follow up activity that would be fun and creative for students would be to draw their favorite
characters face on a paper plate. It would encourage students to get creative and have a little fun.

Beauty and the Beast

1. Barbot de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne. (2012). Beauty and the Beast. New York, NY: Start
Publishing LLC
2. Grade Level: 2.0
Age: 3-7
Genre: Fairy Tale
3. I would read a random passage of the novel to my students and then have them design a front
cover for the novel.
4. Unlike the common Disney story, the original that I found starts with a merchant having three
daughters, each of who asks for a gift from their father. Their father gets lost in a forest and
stumbles upon a castle and it well taken care of and given the gifts that his daughters had asked
for, except the rose that his youngest daughter desired. Before leaving the castle the next day sees
a rose and goes to pluck it, only to run into an angry monster! The monster demands that if the
merchant wants to live, he will send his youngest daughter to come live in the palace as
punishment, which she does. She is well taken care of, eventually she realizes her love for the
beast and when she confesses her love for him, he turns into a handsome prince and the two
marry.
5. I follow-up activity I might ask my students to do is write a short story continuation as to what
happened after the Happily ever after ending.

Frankenstein
1. Shelley, Mary. (2010). Frankenstein. London: Bibliolis Books Ltd.
2. Grade Level: 12.4
Age: 14+
Genre: Horror
3. This would be a great novel to introduce during October, just in time for Halloween. I would
find a paragraph from the novel that describes the monster and ask my students to draw what
they imagine it to look like, without telling them the description is for Frankensteins monster.
The reason that I would not tell my students the description was of Frankensteins monster is to
destroy any limitations to their creativity.
4. A ship captain on his way to the North Pole finds a man named Victor Frankenstein who has
been traveling by dog sled and is sick from the cold. The captain takes him aboard and nurses
him back to health while listening to this story of how Victor created a monster that he is
chasing, in order to destroy it. Victor describes his schooling and how he decided to figure out
the secret of life, he pieces together a creature using old body parts and brings it to life, only to
be horrified by the creature. Victor goes back to restore his health with his family only to find out
that two of his loved ones have been killed by the monster. When Victor encounters the monster
he finds out that all it wants is a mate as grotesque as it is. Victor decides to make one but before
completing it, he destroys it since he realizes there cannot be two monsters in the world. The
monster kills all of Victors family and Victor then chases after the monster to destroy and kill it.
Victor dies because he was not able to recover and the captain is shocked to find the monster
crying over Victors body.
5. A simple follow-up activity for this novel is to have the students draw the mate of
Frankensteins monster.