Horrid Henry

Simon, Francesca. Horrid Henry. Illustrated by Tony Ross. SourceBooks Jabberwocky, 2009. 90 pages. $4.99. ISBN 9781402217753.

Summary:

Rude, despicable, manipulative, and scheming, yet somehow hilarious, Horrid Henry will delight fans of humorous realistic fiction. Who doesn’t enjoy reading about a protagonist who is just so horrifically naughty? This installment begins with “Horrid Henry's Perfect Day,” in which he emulates the perfect behavior of his brother, Perfect Peter. Without the sound of brothers fighting to wake them, Henry’s parents don’t rise in time to get the boys to Cub Scouts. Perfect Peter, scooped of his role, is furious! What can he do but try out being horrid himself? Sometimes things for Henry just continue to go wrong, with all of his clever plans thwarted. Subsequent chapters include “Horrid Henry's Dance Class,” “Horrid Henry and Moody Margaret,” and “Horrid Henry's Holiday.”

Curriculum Connections:

Though Henry’s behavior and ideas are usually over-the-top, somehow they are just ridiculous enough so that it moves beyond offense and into hilarity. Horrid Henry could be used as an example text to highlight features of the genre of Humor or Realistic Fiction. His rudeness and scheming would delight as a class read-aloud.

Personal Reflections:

There is something very satisfying about a character who gets up to such awful mischief. One of my favorite stories was when Horrid Henry decides to create a form letter so he will never have to write another thank-you note again.

Age/Interest Range:

6-10

Genre/Themes:

Humor, Realistic Fiction, Family, Social Skills

Read-Alikes:

The Ramona Quimby (Cleary) series, the Ruby Lu (Look) series, as well as The Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Kinney) series have a familiar tone of humorous situations, sibling relations, and friendship. (Though no one can match Henry’s diabolical scheming!)

Finding the Titanic

Ballard, Robert D. Finding the Titanic. Illustrated by Ken Marschall, with color photographs. Scholastic Inc., 1993. 48 pages. $3.99. ISBN 0590472305.

Summary:

Somehow the nonfiction books on the Titanic never stay on the library shelves for long. In this Scholastic Level 4 Reader, the chapters are brief and engaging. Ballard begins by hooking the reader with his own dream to discover the Titanic; in the next chapter, we are introduced to Ruth Becker, a Titanic survivor, who was twelve years old when she boarded the fateful ship with her family. After we encounter the ship through Ruth’s eyes and learn of her escape and rescue, the action returns to the era of the discovery, in the mid-1980s. This is an effective technique to engage the reader’s interest with suspense. The text is enhanced by photographs of the Titanic and Ruth Becker, photographs of the wreckage (as seen by the underwater robots), and Marschall’s interpretative paintings.

Curriculum Connections:

This historical event has such a curious hold on readers and usually they seek these books out on their own, then recommend them to friends. This book is written at an accessible level, in an “advanced” early reader format, making it a natural choice for identifying and defining a secondary source through Ruth Becker’s story. With an accompanying, primary source account of a Titanic survivor (perhaps from Becker, if available), this could be an introductory lesson on types of information sources.

Personal Reflections:

Though shipwrecks are not a subject I enjoy contemplating, a student recommended this book to me so I knew I had to read it. I liked the form of the story---full of action and suspense---and I can see why this particular second grader liked it so much. However, the parting thought was unsettling. Ballard relates that another party returned to the Titanic, after Ballard’s mission, and removed many items from the sea floor. The final paragraph reads: “I was very sad when I heard this. The Titanic should be left in peace as a monument to those who lost their lives on that cold, starry night so long ago.” This personal opinion seemed out of place in a work of nonfiction.

Awards:

Age/Interest Range:

7-10

Genre/Themes:

Nonfiction, History, Social Studies, Shipwrecks

Read-Alikes:

Will Osborne’s Titanic: A Nonfiction Companion to Tonight on the Titanic is written at a similar (slightly higher) level and will appeal to readers who are hooked on this fascinating historical tragedy.

Drita My Homegirl

Lombard, Jenny. Drita, My Homegirl. GP Putnam’s Sons, 2006. 135 pages. $15.99. ISBN 9780399243806.

Summary:

Drita is a ten year-old refugee from Kosovo who arrives in Brooklyn with her family. She just wants to fit in and be liked by her peers, but things start out pretty lonely for her, with limited English skills, strange-smelling lunches, and unfashionable clothes. Maxie is one of the homegirls of the fourth grade: she's funny and athletic and has a lot of friends, but she's often impulsive and gets into trouble. When Maxie is unkind to Drita, their teacher proposes a special assignment: for Maxie to interview Drita about the story of her family and Kosovo. This sensitive story includes a lot more than just a book about two friends: it's about the things that we all have in common and about how our differences make the world a smaller place.

Curriculum Connections:

Drita My Homegirl would make an excellent read-aloud or reading group selection during a study of immigration. How are Drita and Maxie alike? How are they different? The story is told in alternating, first-person chapters, so that we “hear” Drita’s and Maxie’s unique voices and personalities. Lombard writes English as Drita hears it, when she is beginning to learn: "Ov curs, Drita. Tek va pass" ("Of course, Drita. Take the pass.").

Personal Reflections:

Asking students to gain a new perspective is a great prompt for thinking and writing. For example, “Imagine being woken up in the middle of the night and leaving your home with only the clothes on your back...Going to a new school and not being able to talk to anyone or understand them...” How would you feel? What would you be thinking?

Awards:

Age/Interest Range:

8-12

Genre/Themes:

Realistic Fiction, Immigration, Friendship, Social Skills, Kosovo, Social Studies

Read-Alikes:

The Year of the Dog (Lin) and How Tia Lola Came to Stay (Alvarez) are two books that also address social issues of characters with diverse backgrounds.

Dragon Rider

Funke, Cornelia. Dragon Rider. Translated by Anthea Bell. Illustrated by Brendan Fraser. Random House/Listening Library, 2004. $40.00. ISBN 9781400090907.

Summary:

When humans threaten to expand into dragon country, the dragon Firedrake decides to search for the Rim of Heaven, a place of safety that only the oldest of dragons remembers hearing about. Sorrel, Firedrake’s brownie companion, goes along for the adventure, and Ben, a homeless human orphan, joins them. This party of travelers quickly learns that they are not the only ones seeking the Rim of Heaven, and that sinister elements are aware of their progress towards that goal. The pace of the story builds toward an action-filled conclusion and the cast of supernatural characters (dwarves, djinns, a homunculus, and a mapmaking rat, for example) will delight fans of fantasy. Listeners of all ages will appreciate this wild adventure, full of humor, plot twists, and unlikely heroes.

Curriculum Connections:

This book would make an excellent read-aloud in a classroom, even without Fraser’s reading. One way to connect it to curriculum is with mapmaking: Gilbert Graytail's map for the travelers includes many colorful areas to indicate regions of danger, safety, cultures, friends and foes. However, this information is only given orally, once, and there is no map key! Students could draw maps to scale of their school playground, or classroom. With shading, they could indicate various elements but have other students guess at what the shading indicates.

Personal Reflections:

This book comes alive through Fraser’s reading: he uses unique and memorable voices that augment the many characterizations from the text. This story is lighter than Funke's other works (like The Thief Lord and the Inkworld series for older readers), and has alternating chapters between various angles of the story. This technique creates suspense for the reader, as the action in the different story threads may be deferred for a chapter or so, while we hear about other elements and characters.

Awards:

Age/Interest Range:

6-12

Genre/Themes:

Adventure, Fantasy, Friendship

Read-Alikes:

Peter and the Starcatchers (Barry and Pearson) is a swashbuckling adventure with lots of action and suspense, with alternating chapters, like Dragon Rider. Peter and the Starcatchers, read by the talented Jim Dale, is another great listen.

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things

Look, Lenore. Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things. Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Random House, 2008. 172 pages. ISBN $15.99. 9780375839146.

Summary:

Alvin is a normal, Chinese-American kid who likes baseball with his gung-gung (grandfather on his mother’s side), dressing up as Firecracker Man, and his dad’s Johnny Astro (http://www.johnnyastro.com/johnnymain.htm) toy from the 1960s. However, Alvin becomes mute during school hours, effectively invisible from the gang of popular boys. Because of this, he sees a psychotherapist (“a psychotherapist is a very smart crazy person that you should stay away from for your own good”), and he doesn’t speak much to her either, except to thrown some Shakespearean insults her way. Alvin is navigating the tricky social landscape of 2^nd grade: how to get “in” with the popular gang but also how to do what’s right by the friend you do have (even if she is a peg-legged, one-eyed girl). Alvin must make some difficult decisions, often with hilarious results.

Curriculum Connections:

This is an excellent text to share with guidance counselors, who often have social skills classes or small groups of students who discuss social topics like friendship and choices. The tone is so engaging, light, and funny, that readers will enjoy the experience of knowing Alvin, with his flaws and fears and challenges.

Personal Reflections:

Though Peck (2010) places this text as a transitional fiction book, I found the language and sentence structure to be a bit high, with some nuances that would be difficult for transitional readers to grasp.

Awards:

Age/Interest Range:

7-12

Genre/Themes:

Realistic Fiction, Friendship, Family, Social Skills

Read-Alikes:

The Hank Zipper series (Winkler) features a male protagonist who has learning disabilities, as well as strong themes of humor and friendship.