2. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer (Recommended grade level: 3-5)
Summary:
This text is the autobiography of William
Kamkwamba. It is a young man's journey of hope, inspiration, and inventiveness. William created windmills to serve and improve his impov-erished African community. Through his journey, he used the Internet and technology to reach his goals to become
educated. He looked beyond his poor situation to become a leader in it, not a victim of it.
Meeting the CCSS:
This text provides teachers with multiple opportunities to address the Standards. Teachers can use this text to address cultural differences (RL.4.9) through its description of
life in another country. It can be used to teach theme (RL.4.2) through its message of perseverance, detail (RL.4.3) through the author's own description of his life, and character analysis (RL.4.3) by examining the characteristics of the main character, William.
3. Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds (Recommended grade level: 1-2)
Summary:
Jasper Rabbit loved to eat delicious crispy carrots from Crackenhopper Field. Then one day, the carrots began to follow
him. He started to hear them
behind him every time he
stopped to eat carrots, but
when he turned around, noth-
ing was there. Jasper didn't
know if it was just his imagina-
tion or not, but everybody told
him there were no such things as creepy, walking carrots. Then one day he decided to build a fence and a moat around Cracken-hopper Field to prevent the creepy carrots from following him. The carrots celebrated because Jasper fell for their plan and will never be able to reach them again.
Meeting the CCSS:
This text can be used to teach skills in a variety of CCSS strands. The text can be used to teach grammar skills--it utilizes a wide variety of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs (L.1.1; L.2.1). It can be used to teach structure (RL.2.5) with its clear beginning, middle, and end. Along with the skill of story structure, teachers can also ask students to write about the text, including details of the sequence of events (W.2.3).
Dr. Carlson is an Associate Professor at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Literacy Education and a B.A. in East Asian Languages and Cultures (Japanese). She is the winner of the 2013 A. Roy Myers Excellence in Research Award, the 2013 Kansas Reading Association Research Award, the 2009 Missouri State Council of the International Reading Association Research Award, the 2009 Kansas Reading Association Research Award, as well as other awards recognizing her research.
"It can be used to teach theme through its message of perseverance, detail through the author's description of his life, and character analysis by examining the main character, William."
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