Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women
has been loved by generation upon generation of readers. The March family’s
life in New England during the Civil War is unadorned but dignified. Meg, Jo, Beth
and Amy are distinctive personalities, engaging in all the dreams, despair,
pranks and laughter that betide most siblings. The girls are loyal to each
other and to their parents, becoming essential to the welfare of the family
when their father goes off to serve as a chaplain in the war. What many readers
of this classic may not know is that author Louisa May Alcott took inspiration
for her classic novel from her personal experience during the Civil War. Driven
by her concern about the realities and import of the conflict, Alcott traveled
to Washington, D.C., to serve as a nurse. While inexperienced, she
resolutely cared for sick and wounded soldiers, writing letters home that
captured her observations and feelings. Alcott contracted typhoid in the
hospital and had to return to her family. The reception of her first published
work – Hospital Sketches, based on her war letters – encouraged her
to introduce a vivid realism to her future writing. She set Little Women
during the war and was clearly able to understand the hardships of those
participating on the front as well as those keeping home fires burning.
Kathleen Krull’s biographical picture book Louisa May’s Battle: How the
Civil War Led to Little Women, illustrated by Carlyn Beccia,
recounts this intriguing literary history for young readers. Ages 6 up.
Related resources may be found at: TeachingBooks.net
The novel Wonder by author
R. J. Palacio is, simply put, wonderful. It’s emotional, funny, and very, very
inspiring. In fact, the book has inspired the Choose Kind movement, engaging
kids and adults in thinking about the power of being kind in the world. What
makes this book so affecting? It is beautifully written; the dialogue rings
true and the characters are memorable. On the first page, the fifth-grade
protagonist introduces himself: “My name is August, by the way. I won’t
describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.”
Readers learn that Auggie was born with a severe facial deformity, and though
he considers himself an ordinary kid in most ways, he has to deal every day
with the fact of his extraordinary face. Homeschooled until now, Auggie faces
the daunting prospect of entering public school in fifth grade. When we join
Auggie on his journey, we experience how hard it is for his classmates to move
beyond his face. As Auggie’s story unfolds, successive chapters in the voices
of his sister and a few classmates bring different points of view, allowing
readers themselves to grow in understanding. One chapter highlights a passage
from Saint-Exupéry’s The
Little Prince: “It is only with one’s heart that
one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” Ultimately, this is a story of community, compassion, empathy and
friendship, orbiting around Auggie’s extraordinary courage. Ages 9 up.
Related resources may be found at: TeachingBooks.net
In Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My
Daughters, Barack Obama invites his daughters, and by extension all young
people, to see in themselves the qualities and ideals of thirteen trailblazing
Americans. Following a leading question beginning "Have I told
you...", a graceful paragraph accompanies each one of Loren Long’s
creative portraits, capturing the zeal and skill of each person. Georgia
O’Keefe “helped us see big beauty in what is small.” Albert Einstein “braid[s]
great ideas with imagination.” Helen Keller “taught us to look at and listen to
each other.” Maya Lin thought “public spaces should be filled with art.” Jackie
Robinson “showed us all how to turn fear to respect.” Sitting Bull's
"spirit soared free on the plains, and his wisdom touched the
generations." Our first president George Washington “helped make an idea
into a new country, strong and true, a country of principles, a country of
citizens.” Obama’s love for and belief in his daughters shine through on every
page, providing a wonderful way to share one’s own admiration for a student,
child, grandchild, niece or nephew – and to quietly identify the scope of our
American compatriots, the traits and ideals that unite us. This is a handsome
and moving picture book. Ages 6 up.
Related resources may be found at: TeachingBooks.net
On July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin
and Neil Armstrong became the first two humans to set foot on the Moon, journeying
into space aboard Apollo 11. In this engaging autobiography, Buzz Aldrin charts
his lifelong fascination with moving fast, venturing into the sky, and,
interestingly, collecting rocks! His movie hero the Lone Ranger inspired his
solo bicycle trip across the George Washington Bridge when he was ten. He continued
to seize every opportunity to do adventurous, if difficult, things: West Point,
the Air Force, sixty-six combat missions in the Korean War, back to school for
aeronautics and astronautics specializing in “rendezvous,” and finally becoming
an astronaut in America’s NASA space program. Reaching for the Moon conveys, through its first-person narrative, just
what it felt like to prepare for and then take that momentous trip to the Moon,
to step out of the Eagle onto its
surface, to look back at Earth. Artist Wendell Minor drew on documentary
materials from NASA in creating his wonderfully precise, absorbing
illustrations. Aldrin and Armstrong felt America’s pride behind them as they
placed a plaque to remain on the Moon: “Here men from the planet Earth first
set foot upon the moon, July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.” A
helpful timeline – “a century of flight and space exploration,” including tragedies as well as successes – ends the book, a vivid journey in space
exploration. Ages 5 up.
Related resources may be found at: TeachingBooks.net
