4th Grade Theme 4 Reader’s Library
The Best Fish Ever
Selection Summary:
In The Best Fish Ever, Manny dreams of playing the Fisherman in
the Drama Club production of “The Fisherman and His Four Wishes.”
Manny is confident he will get the role, but Manny is sorely disappointed
when Mr. Greene, the drama teacher, offers him the part of the fish instead.
Manny decides to take the role and promises himself he’ll be the best fish
ever. At the performance, he is rewarded: the fish is the audience’s favorite
player.
Key Vocabulary:
Drama: literature written to be performed as a play
Tryouts: tests of ability to perform roles in a play
Character: one of the people in a book or play
Shrug: lift the shoulders to indicate not knowing or not caring
Performance: presentation of a play
Cora at Camp Blue Waters
Selection Summary:
In Cora at Camp Blue Waters, Cora prefers to stay inside and draw.
Her parents feel she needs more time outdoors and send her to summer
camp. At first, camp is almost as bad as Cora imagined. Then Cora meets the
art counselor, Bill, who teaches drawing and painting outdoors. Under Bill’s
tutelage, Cora develops an artist’s curiosity about the outdoors that endures
long after camp has ended. One winter day, as Cora is drawing an idea of the
natural world that lives in her head, she notices that “the outside has come
in.”
Key Vocabulary:
Homebody: someone who likes best to be at home
Encourage: urge
Wail: complain loudly
Playing fields: large open spaces where people play games, such as soccer
or softball
Poison Ivy: wild plant that can produce a very itchy rash on the skin
Murals For Joy
Selection Summary:
In Murals For Joy, Celia Delaney’s cousin Joy comes to spend four
vacation weeks with Celia in the city. Joy is bored until she learns about
famous African Americans at the local Youth Center. When the center’s
walls are later defaced with graffiti, Joy offers a solution: murals that show
important African Americans-murals that people will take pride in and not
destroy. In the process of helping paint the murals, Joy’s feelings toward the
city have changed.
Key Vocabulary:
Grumble: complain
Mumble: speak with a low voice, blurring words
Musician: someone who writes, conducts, or performs music
Director: head
Ruthie’s Perfect Poem
Selection Summary:
Ruthie Carter loves to read and to write poems, but she does not like
to be notices, or to work with other children. When visiting author Mary
DeLaney selects stories and poems by five students-including Ruthie-to be
read aloud during her visit, Ruthie panics. But when the moment comes,
Ruthie takes her grandma’s advice: “Don’t think about yourself but about
how much I am going to love hearing you read.” Ruthie reads her poem to
applause and cheers.
Key Vocabulary:
Imagine: form a picture or make up a story in your mind
Scribble: write without concern for how the writing looks
Author: someone who writes books, poems, or plays
Assembly: people gathered together for a meeting, performance, or other
reason