, , , , , , , , ,

This week’s book into movie – How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your DragonHow to Train Your Dragon  (Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III)

Cressida Cowell

Young Hiccup may be the son of Stoick the Vast, chief of the Hairy Hooligans, but he isn't exactly heroic Viking material.

When he and the other boys of his tribe are sent on a mission to fetch dragons to train, Hiccup comes back with the scrawniest creature ever seen. Toothless, as Hiccup names him, is also rude, lazy, and greedy, but when the tribe is faced with horrible danger, Hiccup's unorthodox dragon-training techniques prove successful and he and his unique beast become true heroes. Sprinkled throughout with funny sketches, scribbles, and ink blots, this is a goofy and exciting tale of an underdog who proves that brains can be just as important as brawn.

Kids will hoot at the ridiculous names and sympathize with Hiccup's exasperation with his truly obstinate but strangely lovable dragon. A delightful read that fans of Ian Whybrow's "Little Wolf" series (Carolrhoda) will particularly enjoy.

Watch the trailer for the movie

More information on the book

, , , , , ,

Fantastic Mr Fox – fiction activities, the trailer, the book


Fantastic Mr. Fox

~ Roald  Dahl

Illustrated by  Quentin Blake



Format: Paperback 96 pages



ISBN-13: 978-0142410349

Released:   August 16 2007

Publisher: Puffin

Ages: 9-12

Themes: animals

Price: $7.50





In the tradition of The Adventures of Peter Rabbit, this is a "garden tale" of farmer versus vermin, or vice versa. The farmers in this case are a vaguely criminal team of three stooges: "Boggis and Bunce and Bean / One fat, one short, one lean. / These horrible crooks / So different in looks / Were nonetheless equally mean." Whatever their prowess as poultry farmers, within these pages their sole objective is the extermination of our hero--the noble, the clever, the Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Our loyalties are defined from the start; after all, how could you cheer for a man named Bunce who eats his doughnuts stuffed with mashed goose livers? As one might expect, the farmers in this story come out smelling like ... well, what farmers occasionally do smell like.

This early Roald Dahl adventure is great for reading aloud to three- to seven-year-olds, who will be delighted to hear that Mr. Fox keeps his family one step ahead of the obsessed farmers.

When they try to dig him out, he digs faster; when they lay siege to his den, he tunnels to where the farmers least expect him--their own larders! In the end, Mr. Fox not only survives, but also helps the whole community of burrowing creatures live happily ever after. With his usual flourish, Dahl evokes a magical animal world that, as children, we always knew existed, had we only known where or how to look for it.

Play the Whackbat game

Watch the movie trailer

Fiction Activities
Vocabulary List for Fantastic Mr. Fox

Lesson Plans for Fantastic Mr.Fox

Fantastic Mr. Fox A matching game to reinforce characters in
this popular Roald Dahl novel. http://www.quia.com/custom/2198main.html

Reading Quiz  http://www.puiching.edu.hk/~pc-ckc/fox.htm

Novel Study  http://www.tlt.ab.ca/projects/Div1/Grade3/fantasticfox/foxy.html

Vocabulary PowerPoint   FantasticMr. Fox

EThemes  http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00000553.shtml

Rainbow Journey Two  http://www.e-magine.education.tas.gov.au/n-touch/surftherainbow/projecttwo/fox.htm

Lesson Plans http://www.mce.k12tn.net/reading48/lesson_plans_for_fantastic_mr.htm

Vocabulary Exercises Activity1 http://www.shorncliss.qld.edu.au/000884.asp
&  Activity 2 http://www.shorncliss.qld.edu.au/000885.asp

Fantastic Mr. Fox NovelStudy  http://www.tlt.ab.ca/projects/Div1/Grade3/fantasticfox/foxy.html

Novel Study http://www.lgsd.k12.nf.ca/imc/PrimaryNovels.asp

Buy the book - amazon
/strong>




, , , , , , , ,

Brilliant, hugely ambitious, and life changing – The Book Thief

The Book Thief 

by Marcus Zusak


  • Format:  560 pages
  • Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers;
  • Published:  March 14, 2006
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375831003

Reading level: Young Adult

 Zusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it,The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when shes roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to an array of satisfying details, giving Liesels story all the nuances of chance, folly, and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative.–Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA 
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Markus Zusak talks about the writing of The Book Thief

Pre Reading Activities

Book Club discussion notes

Reading Group Guide - discussion questions

Marcus Zusak talks about writing The Book Thief



, , , , , , , , , , , ,

With the movie coming soon – time to catch up with Percy Jackson (and use some lesson plans)

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

by Rick Riordan

The escapades of the Greek gods and heroes get a fresh spin in the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, about a contemporary 12-year-old New Yorker who learns he's a demigod.

more synopsis ... also provides links to:

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is scheduled to release on February 12, 2010 in the United States.

Read an extract

Hear the first part of the book, as read by the author.

  • Video interview with Rick in North Carolina

  • Video interview with Rick in Cincinnati

For Teachers ...

  • The Lightning Thief: A Teacher’s Guide.

A complete Lightning Thief unit

  • The Lightning Thief: A Reader’s Guide.

  • Rationale. A curriculum rationale, based on NCTE models, for those teachers considering Percy Jackson for classroom use.

  • Literature Circle Questions

  • Biographical Information on Rick Riordan.

  • A Readers Theater from Lightning Thief.

  • Percy Party event guide.

  • Project ideas.

, ,

First look. Wolf pack ready to grin and bare it for “New Moon”

Animal instincts: Paul (Alex Meraz), Sam (Chaske Spencer), Jared (Bronson Pelletier) and Embry (Kiowa Gordon), a gang of werewolves in New Moon, due Nov. 20.Step aside, aloof vampires with all your undead issues. The wolf pack is ready to howl.

Unlike cold-blooded neck biters, these poster guys for animal magnetism are hot. So hot that their temperature runs a steady 108 degrees, as anyone who has read Stephenie Meyer's series of gothic romances knows.

MEET THE WOLF PACK: Birth and brawn combined

That gives them a great excuse to doff their shirts on-screen and expose the physiques they've been pumping up for playing werewolves in The Twilight Saga:New Moon, the sequel to last year's supernatural sensation, due Nov. 20.