Fiction Friday!

Wow, it is already Friday!! This week went super fast, and I think it was because of my summer class! It is pretty boring, but I'm already a third of the way done!

So today I am linking up with Amanda at The Teaching Thief for her Fiction Friday linky! 

Do you teach about figurative language, idioms, or figures of speech? Well, then you are in luck, because I have a book for you!

More Parts, written by Tedd Arnold, is about a little boy who is absolutely BOGGLED by the crazy things that adults say! For example, when his dad asks his son to "please give him a hand," the little boy gets super paranoid and glues gloves onto his hands - just to make sure they stay on, of course.

This book is very funny and cute, and it would be a great addition to any mini-lessons on figurative language! As an extension activity, you might want to have students choose a specific idiom and illustrate both what it sounds like it means literally and then what it actually means. It could be a cute display of learning and would increase your students' vocabularies for sure!

Moving on...

I recently just finished a fantastic chapter book - The Mighty Miss Malone by the amazing Christopher Paul Curtis. Do you love him as much as I do??

The Mighty Miss Malone is sort of a companion book to Bud, Not Buddy - but it's not imperative that you read that book first. This is the story of Deza Malone, an 11-year-old girl living in Gary, Indiana during the Great Depression. While reading this book, I was reminded of how incredibly difficult the Depression was and I learned how it affected children and morale overall. It was also really interesting (and, of course, heartbreaking) how race relations were so different in cities like Gary compared to Flint, Michigan.

You could use this as a general read-aloud, as a vehicle to discuss character traits, or as a supplemental text if you teach about the Great Depression. Students might enjoy hearing the story because they can relate to Deza and can imagine themselves in her tattered shoes.

The author's note at the end of this story was especially sad when he pointed out how many American children live in poverty every day. He wants Deza to be a face for child poverty so people want to take a stand against it. How can you argue with that?

What have you been reading? Feel free to check out my Goodreads widget in my sidebar to see what I'm currently reading! :)