The Great Gilly Hopkins

The Great Gilly Hopkins
Author: Katherine Paterson
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2009-10-06
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0061975176

The timeless Newbery Honor Book from bestselling author Katherine Paterson about a wisecracking, ornery, completely unforgettable young heroine. Eleven-year-old Gilly has been stuck in more foster families than she can remember, and she's hated them all. She has a reputation for being brash, brilliant, and completely unmanageable, and that's the way she likes it. So when she's sent to live with the Trotters—by far the strangest family yet—she knows it's only a temporary problem. Gilly decides to put her sharp mind to work and get out of there fast. She's determined to no longer be a foster kid. Before long she's devised an elaborate scheme to get her real mother to come rescue her. Unfortunately, the plan doesn't work out quite as she hoped it would... This classic middle grade novel has moved generations of readers and inspired a major motion picture starring Octavia Spencer, Kathy Bates, Glenn Close, and Danny Glover. The acclaim for the book included the National Book Award, the Christopher Award, and the Jane Addams Award. The joys and struggles of adoption, told in a real and accessible way, are beautifully expressed in Katherine Paterson's The Great Gilly Hopkins. Don't miss it!

The Janitor's Boy

The Janitor's Boy
Author: Andrew Clements
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2012-05-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0689850514

Ordinarily, no one would have imagined that Jack Rankin would vandalize a desk. But this was not an ordinary school year for Jack.... When Jack Rankin learns that he is going to spend the fifth grade in the old high school -- the building where his father works as a janitor -- he dreads the start of school. Jack manages to get through the first month without the kids catching on. Then comes the disastrous day when one of his classmates loses his lunch all over the floor. John the janitor is called in to clean up, and he does the unthinkable -- he turns to Jack with a big smile and says, "Hi, son." Jack performs an act of revenge and gets himself into a sticky situation. His punishment is to assist the janitor after school for three weeks. The work is tedious, not to mention humiliating. But there is one perk, janitors have access to keys, keys to secret places....

Elly: My True Story of the Holocaust

Elly: My True Story of the Holocaust
Author: Elly Berkovits Gross
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2010-02-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0545231191

Told in short, gripping chapters, this is an unforgettable true story of survival. The author was featured in Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.At just 15, her mother, and brother were taken from their Romanian town to the Auschwitz-II/Birkenau concentration camp. When they arrived at Auschwitz, a soldier waved Elly to the right; her mother and brother to the left. She never saw her family alive again. Thanks to a series of miracles, Elly survived the Holocaust. Today she is dedicated to keeping alive the stories of those who did not. Elly appeared on CBS's 60 Minutes for her involvement in bringing an important lawsuit against Volkswagen, whose German factory used her and other Jews as slave laborers.

Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls

Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls
Author: Anne Troy
Publisher: Novel Units, Incorporated
Total Pages: 36
Release: 1998-12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN:

Suggests activities to be used in the classroom to accompany the reading of Where the red fern grows by Wilson Rawls.