McDaniel College
Cheryl Walker
Gretchen Ryland
Jess Hague
Liesl Parrish
4/23/10
'
Things do not change; we change.' Thoreau
Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. John Dewey
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Nelson Mandela
Life is a succession of lessons, which must be lived to be understood.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers. Harry S. Truman
Once you learn to read, you will be forever free. Frederick Douglass
The greatest gift is a passion for reading. Elizabeth Hardwick
The more you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn the more
places you’ll go. Dr. Seuss
OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to
Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women. Random House, NY 2000 (original 1869).
Josephine March and her sisters live in New England during the Civil War. When their father is called to serve in the Union army
everything changes. Will their lives and their family ever be the same again?
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Catalyst. New York: Viking, 2002.
Eighteen-year-old Kate, who sometimes chafes at being a preacher's daughter, finds herself losing control in her senior year as she
faces difficult neighbors and the possibility that she may not be accepted by the college of her choice. (LOC)
Boyne, John. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Oxford: David Fickling Books, 2006.
Bruno is bored in his new house. He doesn't understand why they can't live in Berlin anymore. Then he discovers the boy on the other
side of the fence and everything he thinks about their new home changes. (LOC)
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic Press, 2008.
In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young
people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily
takes her younger sister's place. (LOC)
D’Agnese, Joseph, Blockhead – The Life of Fibonacci, Henry Holt and Company, NY 21010
A young boy in Italy continually sees numbers in a pattern. Everyone calls him a blackhead. At time passes and he grows into a man,
his discovery is found to be monumental to understanding math and its relationship to nature. Does his life change?
Dashner, James. The Maze Runner. New York: Delacorte Press, 2009.
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he
finds himself in to escape. (LOC)
Draper, Sharon. The Battle of Jericho.
When Jericho and his cousin Josh get invited to become Warriors of Distinction, they are excited. That excitement soon turns to dread
as the pledges are asked to take part and witness wrongdoings, and eventually witness a death. (summary by Mrs. Walker)
Myers, Walter Dean. Sunrise Over Fallujah, Scholastic Press, NY, 2008.
The main character enlisted to fight and is sent to Iraq. As a part of the army that negotiates and gets to know the local people and
their culture, the group is not on the front lines. But are they? Life can change over time or in an instant.
Polacco, Patricia. January’s Sparrow.
After a fellow slave is beaten to death, Sadie and her family flee the plantation for freedom through the underground railroad. (LOC
summary)
Fleischman, Paul. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices. New York: Charlotte Zolotow Books, 1988.
A collection of poems describing the characteristics and activities of a variety of insects. (LOC summary)
Fleming, Candace. Boxes for Katje.
After a young Dutch girl writes to her new American friend in thanks for the care package sent after WWII, she begins to
receive increasingly larger boxes…each better than the next. (LOC summary and Mrs. Walker)
Fletcher, Christine. Ten Cents a Dance. New York: Bloomsbury U.S.A. Children's Books, 2008.
Set on the south side of Chicago in a neighborhood of poor workers who slaughter animals at the nearby meat—processing
plant, Ruby decides to get a job to help put food on the table. She can't stand working in the plant, pickling pigs’ feet.
Whenthe neighborhood “tough guy” tells Ruby how to make good money as a taxi-dancer, she gets the job. But while she
brings home food, she keeps the job secret from her mother and sister. She hasn’t gotten into trouble—yet.
Freedman, Russell. Kids at Work.
A photo story about the work of Lewis Hine and the effect it had on child labor laws in the early 1900’s.
Giblin, James Cross. Good Brother, Bad Brother. New York: Clarion Books, 2005.
"Edwin Booth often had premonitions that something bad was going to happen. But there is no evidence that he had any
advance warning on April 14, 1965, of the terrible event that was about to befall him and the nation..." (excerpt from the book)
Grimes, Nikki. Bronx Masquerade, Hampton-Brown, CA, 2002.
A teacher is trying to teach his students about poetry. They hate it, until he creates poetry Fridays and they get to express
how they feel about the constant change in a teenager’s life.
Green, John. An Abundance of Katherines. New York: Penguin Group, 2006.
Colin- a used-to-be child prodigy, a lover of girls named Katherine, and a teen trying to discover just who he is. Colin takes a
road trip with his best friend to attempt to discover his own identity as well as find the perfect equation to understandin why he
dates and is always dumped by Katherines (19 to be exact).
Haddix, Margaret Petterson. Found. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 2008.
When thirteen-year-olds Jonah and Chip, who are both adopted, find out they were discovered on a plane that appeared out
of nowhere, full of babies with no adults on board, they realize that they have uncovered a mystery involving time tavel and
two opposing forces, each trying to capture them. (LOC)
Haddix, Margaret Petterson. Sent. New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2009.
Jonah, Katherine, Chip, and Alex suddenly find themselves in 13 at the Tower of London, where they discover that Chip and Alex
are Prince Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury, imprisoned by their uncle, King Richard III, bt trying to reapir history without
knowing what is supposed to happen proves challenging. (LOC)
Levine, Gail Carson. Ella Enchanted. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1997.
In this novel based on the story of Cinderella, Ella struggles against the childhood curse that forces her to obey any order given to
her. (LOC)
Paulson, Gary. Hatchet. New York: Bradbury Press, 1987.
After a plane crash, thirteen-year old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive initially only with the aid of a
hatchet given to him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce. (LOC)
Schmidt, Gary. Anson’s Way, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, NY, 1999.
While serving in as a British Fencible to maintain the peace in Ireland, Anson finds that his sympathy for a hedge master places him
in conflict with the law and King George II. (LOC)