5th Grade Theme 3 Reader’s Library
Bunker’s Cove
Selection Summary:
Bunker’s Cove is the story of Jack Bunker, a colorful sailor out of the
Revolutionary War. He lived on coastal Maine, untouched by the war until
British soldiers burned down his sister’s farm. Furious, Jack and a friend
steal a British supply ship, the Falmouth Packet, giving away the supplies.
Jack and his volunteer crew, chased by the British, cleverly manage to
escape and sink the ship.
Key Vocabulary:
Import: bring in from another country to sell
Unruly: hard to control
Prospered: did well
Thriving: successful
Dead Ahead: right in front of (an observer)
The Drummer Boy
Selection Summary:
The Drummer Boy is about Eliza Potter, a Rhode Island farm girl,
and Thomas Strand, a British drummer boy in his father’s regiment at
Newport Harbor. As war breaks out between Britain and the colonies,
Eliza’s brother, John, is taken prisoner by Thomas’s regiment. When the
troops stop to rest near Eliza’s farm, Thomas faints. Eliza and her mother
help revive him, an act of kindness that results in John’s release. Thomas
tells the Potters that he hopes to return to Rhode Island and become a
boatbuilder after the war-which he later does.
Key Vocabulary:
Harbor: part of a body of water that is sheltered from the weather and is
deep enough for ships to anchor
Regiment: unit of soldier
Discouraged: lacking courage or confidence
Liberty: freedom
Deborah Sampson
Selection Summary:
Deborah Sampson was a girl who grew up a bound servant in
Massachusetts around the time of the Revolutionary War. Inspired to fight
for liberty, she disguises herself as a young man and enlists. She manages to
avoid detection even when wounded, until she falls sick in Philadelphia.
Honorably discharged, she goes on to marry, raise a family, and go on
speaking tours.
Key Vocabulary:
Unfortunate: unlucky
Bound: having a duty to do something
Recruiter: one who signs up recruits, new soldiers
Comrades: friends who share an experience