Children's+Literature

  =__//**Children's Literature**//__ =

// Rules // Cynthia Lord 2006  This story is about a young teenage girl named, Catherine, and her little brother, David. From the beginning you can tell that Catherine has a hard time dealing with David’s behavior due to his autism. Catherine gives David rules for most situations he may encounter throughout the day. Catherine carries around a sketch pad to keep track of all of David’s rules. Every Tuesday and Thursday David goes to a clinic for speech therapy, hearing tests, and occupational therapy. One day while Catherine was waiting for David to come out of therapy she decided to draw a boy, Jason, who was in the waiting room with her. Jason is in a wheelchair and cannot talk. He uses his communication book with pictures of different things he may want. While drawing Jason, Jason’s mom became very angry that Catherine would stare at her son and draw him. During Catherine’s next visit to the clinic, she thought it would be best if she drew Jason some picture cards for his communication book. She noticed that the cards were not very colorful and thought it would be a good idea to use the cards to form a friendship with Jason. Through her friendship with Jason, Catherine was able to overcome some of the issues she was having with having a brother who was handicap. She did not realize how ashamed she was of having a brother who embarrassed her a lot. With the help of Jason, Catherine realized that she caring so much about what people thought of her because David had autism and Jason was in a wheelchair. 

//Secrets Aren’t Always for Keeps // Barbara Aiello and Jeffrey Shulman 1988 In this story, a young elementary school girl named Jennifer has a pen pal in Australia. Jennifer has spent a long time writing to Kay and telling her everything about her life but she kept the secret of her Learning Disability from Kay. Jennifer was afraid that Kay wouldn’t understand how she was different and why she had to attend a “special class”. In the end, Kay had known about Jennifer having a Learning Disability the entire time and it did not change their friendship one bit! I really liked that this book included questions for Jennifer to answer about her Learning Disability. The answers explain that kids with disabilities are not stupid or lazy but they need to find their own way of learning that works best for them. Jennifer talks about being teased, her handwriting, how she got a LD, what a resource room is, and even gives examples of how words look jumbled to her when she reads.







//Pay Attention, Slosh!// Mark Smith 1997 Josh is in 3rd grade. He doesn’t understand why he can’t pay attention during classes or sit still. Josh sometimes forgets where he puts things and is unable to control his muscles at times. He is a wiz when it comes to math, computers, and loves soccer. Josh always knew when he was going to get in trouble but once he started acted up he could not control himself. Josh’s friends soon started to call him, Slosh. It wasn’t until he was diagnosed with ADHD or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, that Josh was able to get help from his teachers, parents, and doctors. I think this book is an excellent example how medication is the last resort when helping a child. Josh was never able to concentrate in class and was always in trouble due to his ADHD but once the doctors prescribed him medicine he was able to concentrate in class and follow his teacher’s instructions. Although medicine is not always the answer, in this case Josh was able to live a “normal” life without the constant distractions.   //Freak the Mighty// Rodman Philbrick 1993 In daycare, Max Kane meets a small boy, Kevin, who is on crutches and loves robots. Max proceeds to call Kevin, Freak. Many years later when Max and Kevin are in middle school, Freak moves in next door to Max. Max notices that Kevin has still not grown since daycare. Max and Freak end up becoming very good friends. Max saves Freak’s life when he is chocking in the lunchroom and Freak saves Max’s life when he is kidnapped by his father. The two boys call themselves “Freak the Mighty”. Max records their adventures together soon after Freak dies from a seizure. Max publishes his adventures in a book.

This book shows how two boys who originally did not get along end up being best of friends. Max had a tough life growing up due to his father and his learning disability, while Kevin struggled with his birth defect. This book shows that even though Max had a learning disability he was able to write an amazing book about his adventures with Kevin and Kevin did not allow his birth defect affect his brilliant imagination.

The website below is actually a teacher’s website to assess her students as they read the book. The assessments are separated by chapter. The site also allows the student’s to check their knowledge of the book by filling in the blanks of the summary. It is an excellent resource for teachers to use when reading this book to the class. http://www.cowden-herrick.k12.il.us/staff/burruscasey/elearning/ftm/activities.html

//Why Cody Can't Learn// Mildred Joyce 2007 This is a children's picture book explaining dyslexia to younger students. A little girl named, Cody tries to learn how to read but she can't seem to remember the letters or numbers. Cody's mom does not have much patience and her teacher is not much help either. This book is great for kids to help aide in their understanding of the disability.