Piglet Gets A New Job

Piglet Gets a New Job by Joe Corcoran is a modern fairy tale chapter book for children in grades 4 through 6. Yet, another book found off https://freekidsbooks.org/piglet-gets-a-new-job/! Thank goodness for the internet and this amazing website.

This little piglet was born into the circus and had been performing her whole life. Her job was to be launched out of the cannon and fly through the air only to be caught by the net, a crowd favorite. When one day, the ringleader had prepared the cannon and the crowd was anticipating the launch. All of the sudden the ringleader's face was covered with black smoke and he could hear the crowd roaring with laughter. When the smoke cleared, the ringleader saw the piglet half in and half out of the cannon. She was stuck, squealing and flailing her legs all over in the attempt to escape. After the show had finished, the ringleader had to tell the piglet that she had gotten too fat and she was going to have to leave the circus. The circus packed up and left the piglet behind, she watched the only family she had ever known drive away.

The ringleader had told the piglet to avoid humans and stay to herself, the humans were always up to no good. The piglet takes off and experiences many new things, adventures she never thought were possible. In fear of the humans, the little piglet practices new tricks to try and get back in the circus, although she was not very good. The piglet continues on with her adventures until she is able to find her new job and her new family.

This book shows an important message to young students that may feel lost and alone. Some students might have a hard time opening up when going through troubling family situations. This book would be good for these children to read, allowing them to see that we must never give up and that we can always find someone to be there for us. These are important topics for children to learn about and reading about them might be easier than talking through them. Another great book to add to your list!

Sister, Sister, Where Does the Sun Go at Night?

Life has been crazy this past week so I was extremely thankful when I ran into this website where I could download children's books for free! How awesome is that?! I will share with all of you this link in case you are having a hectic week and cannot make it to the library. At https://freekidsbooks.org/ you are provided with all kinds of children's books that have free downloads. You can find books that you want to use in the classroom, books for to read at night to your own children, and even books just for enjoyment. As I was scrolling through, I found the book Sister, Sister, Where Does the Sun Go at Night? This book is a non-fiction children's book that you could use in a science class grades 1-3 to discuss how the Earth rotates around the sun, making it "disappear at night."

Non-fiction books can often be portrayed as boring. However, this book does an excellent job of keeping the topic interesting. This book is about a brother and sister trying to figure out where the sun goes at night. The book provides all of these different crazy ideas that children may have about where the sun goes. To give you an idea, an excerpt from the text is below.

"I think
That maybe, while it is night
Here on earth,
It is a glorious day in
The ocean's darkest depths.
And the mermaids come dancing out
Of their undersea caves
To frolic with the sharks.
We have seen it ourselves
When we went to Mumbai last summer.
Remember
How the sun lets go of the sky
Each evening at dusk
And slides soundlessly into the sea?
That’s where I think the sun goes at night
To flood the underwater
With golden light.
I’m clever, aren’t I sister?"

We may laugh at this crazy idea, but many of our students might actually think this way! The book goes through several different examples, provided with illustrations for the children to look at to further understand. Towards the end of the book, the sister state that in all of the books she has read it says the Earth rotates. Then she explains what all of the books say to her brother and he says, "Can it be true, sister, can it be true?"

After the book ends, it provides you with a "find out more" section, where it explains in more scientific terms of the Earth's rotation and why the sun seems to disappear. The book then provides you with an experiment! I know... AWESOME! This book would be a fantastic way to engage your students in a topic that could potentially be pretty boring. I also would like to add that this is a very awesome non-fiction book. The children's crazy ideas and illustrations are so much more intriguing than your typical textbook.  I absolutely love this book and this website!

Read Like a Writer

Currently, I am still reading the book Animorphs by K.A. Applegate. As I shared last week, this is a science fiction book that has our planet under attack by a strange species of aliens, known as Yeerks. A group of young children ran into a different alien, a good alien known as the Andalites, who granted the children a special power to stop the Yeerks with his last dying breaths. These children could then morph into an animal they touched, hence the name Animorphs. Morphing into an animal would allow them to go undetected by the Yeerks.

This author clearly has a large imagination. I love the way she is able to describe scenes in the book, painting a picture in the reader's mind. I often find myself having a hard time connecting with science fiction works. However, the author does an excellent job of providing mystery and suspense throughout the story. Dragging you into the alien madness you never thought you could be interested in.

If I were to use this text in a classroom, I would use it for the upper elementary grades. I am thinking 5th and 6th, possibly even into 7th and 8th, depending on how you are using the book. I would want my students to use their imaginations and use descriptive words to paint that picture for the reader, as Applegate does.

Here are some of the passages I would use:

"<You do not understand. Yeerks are different. They have no body like your or mine. They live in the bodies of other species. They are...> I guess he couldn't think of a word to explain Yeerks, so he closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate. Suddenly a bright picture popped into my head. I saw a gray-green, slimy thing like a snal without its shell, only bigger, the size of a rat, maybe. It wasn't a pretty picture. "I'm guessing that was a Yeerk," Marco said. "Either that or a very big wad of slimy chewing gum." <They are almost powerless without hosts. They-> Suddenly we felt that bast of pain, straight from the alien. I could also feel his saddness. He knew his time was almost up. <The Yeerks are parasites. They must have a host to live in. In this form they are known as Controllers. They enter the brain and are absorbed into it, taking over the host's thoughts and feelings. They try to get the host to accept them voluntarily. It is easier that way. Otherwise the host may be able to resist, at least a little.>"

"<I know that you are young. I know that you have no power with which to resist the Controllers. But I may be able to give you some small powers that may help.> We all looked at each other. All except Tobias, who never took his gaze off the alien. <If you wish, I can give you powers that no other human has ever had.> "Powers?" What was that supposed to mean? <It is a piece of Andalite technology that the Yeerks do not have, a technology that enables us to pass unnoticed in many parts of the universe - the power to morph. We have never shared this power. But your need is great.> "Morph? Morph how?" Rachel asked, her eyes narrowed. <To change your bodies, to become any other species. Any animal.>"

After reading these passages and possibly a few more to my students. I would start writing on the board adjectives and descriptive words, asking them what descriptive words are popping up into their heads after reading. Leaving those words up there while they write. I would have them go work individually on writing what animal they would morph to and why. Also including how that would help them in defeating the Yeerks. The students would be working on good descriptive words, enhancing their vocabulary and working on painting that picture for the reader. I would ask them to create a story that readers can visualize while they're reading. After the students have completed their stories I would randomly pass the stories out to different students. I would then ask the students to draw what they think is happening in the story. This would allow the students to see if they created a good visual representation with their words.

There are many other ways to teach this aspect of writing, but I think this would be a fun and exciting way to let my students use their imaginations in the classroom. We so often see students being scolded for using their imaginations in their work, but I want them to be creative as they possibly can with this activity.

 

Animorphs - The Invasion

Some of my favorite book series include The Hunger Games and the Divergent series. After reading the back cover of Animorphs, I just had to try it. "We can't tell you who we are. Or where we live. It's too risky, and we've got to be careful. But everyone is in danger. Yeah. Even you." The author, K. A. Applegate, catches the reader's attention with this introduction. It makes you wonder what could possibly be happening? This is what lead me into choosing Animorphs - The Invasion by K. A. Applegate, the first book in the Animorphs series.

After reading the first page of this book, I was hooked.

"My name is Jake. That's my first name, obviously, I can't tell you my last name. It would be too dangerous. The Controllers are everywhere. Everywhere. And if they knew my full name, they could find me and my friends, and then . . . well, let's just say I don't want them to find me. What they do to people who resist them is too horrible to think about. I won't even tell you where I live. You'll just have to trust me that it is even a real place, a real town. It may even be your town."

I was so intrigued to see what was happening in this book after reading that. Jake and his friends were walking home from the mall one day, they cut through the dangerous short-cut way when all of the sudden a bright flash of light appears in the sky. I know exactly what you're all thinking, a UFO. (Science fiction books are a little over the top sometimes.) Guess what it was... a spaceship. Then out walks an alien, or so they thought. This creature is not your ordinary slimy green alien, but a creature that looked as though someone had fused a person and a deer together. As this creature slid out of his spaceship, the kids realized he was dying. With his last breaths, the creature, known as an Andalite, shares with the children information that these creatures called Yeerks were trying to take over the world. Yeerks are able to take over human bodies and control their thoughts and actions. Not only did the Andalite share important information, but he gave the children a superpower to morph into any animal they touch. This will help them defeat the Yeerks.

After typing some of this out, the book seems kind of cheesy. However, the author does an amazing job of dragging you in as a reader. I feel as though if I would have read this book when I was younger I would have loved it. Now that I am all old and crusty, my imagination is not as good as it used to be. This book is an action-packed science fiction, with a little hint of a romance of course, Jake has a crush on his friend Cassie. I still am intrigued to see what happens to these young kids as they try and save the world from the evil Yeerks. Do you think they can do it? I will keep reading and let you know!