Lord of the Flies

The book Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a startling piece of realistic fiction. However, especially in today's elements in school I think it would be a great teachable moment for the students. the book is about a group of students who become the only inhabitants of a island during a war. The boys quickly try and form a leadership but like all governments face issues. These issues eventually boil over into bigger issues and the government splits. The tribes use tactics to lure other tribesman away and create a power struggle. Thus the once one unit now has a war within itself. The students could use the book to describe how the boys are like a country and how the country has changed and turned into a totally different entity from when it started. They could use our own government as a basis.


Golding, W. (2014). Lord of the flies. NY, NY: Spark Publishing.

The Fault In Our Stars

The Fault In Our Stars by, John Green is a young adult realistic fiction. The book tells the love story of Hazel and Augustus (Gus) two young lovers with a terrible thing in common, they have both had or have cancer. In the book they meet at a meeting for teens with cancer and begin to hang out more and more. Sprinkle some other kids here and there, but the story is pretty much about their budding love. Gus arranges for Hazel to meet her favorite author, who lets them down. After that the story takes a turn for the worst and things go down hill. For the young readers a activity they could do is to write a reaction piece to the meeting with the author. this could be on the basis of it they would want to meet a person they admire, with the chance of being let down.


Green, J. (2015). The fault in our stars. New York: Dutton.

Where's Spot?

Continuing with the younger children's theme, as I have a 5 month old I chose Where's Spot by Eric Hill. This is a realistic fiction book that well, asks the question where is spot. The reader needs to help Spot's mother Sally find him throughout the book. This great for a young reader as they must find spot. The children as a activity could make a collage of all the of all the places Sally looked for spot.


Hill, Eric. Where's Spot?. 1st ed. Puffin Books, 2010. Print.

Where the Red Fern Grows

The next book for my blog is "Where The Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls. This is a historical fiction genre and centers Billy Coleman and his dogs Old Dan and Little Ann. Billy and his pups become great hunters and fearless in the raccoon hunting world. They win bets and competitions and even win enough money to move out of the country and into the city. Tragedy strikes however and we learn to deal with loss. With the loss we can use Where The Red Fern Grows to teach grief and mourning, and the circle of life. This is a great book and it brought back memories of reading it when I was young. The other lesson is to work hard for something that you want. It took Billy two years to save up for his dogs and he worked hard and saved.


Rawls, W. (2016). Where the red fern grows. New York: Delacorte Press.

The Champ: The Story of Muhammad Ali

This book in my collection is The Champ: The Story of Muhammad Ali. This is from the nonfiction genre and is a biography. The story is about the boxing life of Ali and how a young kid from the south rose to be a Olympian and Heavyweight champion of the world. The story delves briefly in issues like racism, the Vietnam War, and religious beliefs, but only to mention how Ali thought about these things and his conversion to Islam. In the classroom the story can be used for rising above things like racism and peoples opinions, if you work hard dreams can come true.


Bolden, T., & Christie, R. G. (2007). The champ: the story of Muhammad Ali. New York: Dragonfly   Books.

The Diary of a Young Girl

This book, The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank is a book from the biography genre. This book is also a coming of age story that deal's with real issues. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl in the Holocaust who hides with her family and another in a attic above a store, hoping to not get caught by the Nazi's. Frank keeps a diary of her time in the attic and chronicles the world around her. Sadly Anne did not survive the war, but her story lives on and gives hope to people facing obstacles in life.

Wood's Runner

This week's blog is going to start with the Wood's Runner by Gary Paulsen. This coming of age book is from the historical fiction genre. The lead Samuel must overcome extreme odds to reunite his family and help a girl he befriends named Annie. Samuel goes from being a boy to man in the course of the book. The book tackles real issues that stemmed from the Revolutionary War. This is a great read for young people to show that the issues they face today are pare in comparison to what people have felt throughout time and in other nations.

Oh, the Places You'll Go

The is entry will be on a book I read to my daughter last night "Oh, the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss. First off the tears that began to swell up were from cutting onions earlier in the night I sear. The book describes the highs and lows that life can bring you. Dr.Seuss tells you to preserve and keep trotting through the valleys and mountains that is life. It really tugged on the heartstrings. The book is illustrated perfectly as the highs are very bright and the lows are almost grey and dark. the book is science fiction as it takes place in a different world. This story can be used by a class to describe the places the students wish to go in their lives and illustrate them just like the book.
Seuss (2000). Oh, the places you’ll go! New York: Random House Children’s Books. 

Rumpelstiltskin

This entry will pertain to folklore and the tale I chose is Rumpelstiltskin. This version was told bu Paul Zelinsky and done in 1989. Zelisnky follows the same route as other Rumpelstiltskin tales, and he illustrates his own book. however, Zelinsky almost gets to be a little more devious and down right mean spirited. When he doesn't get his way he throws a tantrum. What can be done as a project in class is that would be fun is to put on a play with the kids and let them take the story where they would like to take it, just like adding to a tale, just like the re-tellers of Rumpelstiltskin.
Paul O Zelinsky- Rumpelstiltskin. (n.d.). Retrieved February 05, 2017, from http://www.paulozelinsky.com/rumpelstiltskin.html

Finding Buck McHenry

The next book I would like to talk about is Finding Buck McHenry. This book links cultures together and tries to how what diversity used to be, nonexistent. In the book a young boy, Jason is cut from his baseball team. he loves baseball and is crushed by the cut. he gets a idea to start his own team  and begins to assemble players. besides the other kids who got cut Jason befriends Kim who also wishes to play. While this is going on Jason befriends the gray hair African American janitor Buck MacHenry. Buck begins to help in coaching the kids and brings in his flame throwing grandson Aaron to play on the team and get Aaron over the crash that took the lives of his parents. While teaching them baseball, Jason a avid baseball card collector finds  Negro League baseball card of a former player named Buck Mchenry who shares a resemblance with Buck Machenry, could they be one in the same? Buck does have a lot of Negro League stories and he knows a lot about the segregation they felt throughout the playing days. In the end the characters find out who their coach really is and they learn about what it was like back when segregation was everywhere. This book uses baseball to tackle real issues that can attract the young reader and teach them at the same time.

The Giver

The second book I would like include in my literary blog is the science fiction book The Giver by Lois Lawry . The Giver takes place in a setting that is kind of like it could be a alternative society to the one we are living in now. The book is in a way a pre-warning of things to come if we do not change our ways. This could be because of us letting government take too much control (i.e. a extreme radical form of Communism) or the fact that world is too much and we need to simplify it too take away the conflict that divides us. The main character Jonas is chosen to become the new receiver of memories from The Giver. The memories are kept by certain people as they feel that the masses aren't able to properly process the way things used to be. Upon going through his training Jonas realizes the way they are living is wrong and he needs to do something, what that something is he does not know. Jonas then begins to plot what he can do to in order to restore what he can to society. The book is very thought provoking to me now in my older days than when I read it when I was younger. I remember really starting to like the book when I heard the song "My name is Jonas" by Weezer as they made me feel it was ok to like it. The message I see now is more that we need to be more informed and at the same time we need to be better people so that our society would enver become what Jonas had to endure.

A Good Day

The first book is for my blog is the first book I read to my daughter, A Good Day by Kevin Henkes. The book is intended for small children but like most book for small children A Good Day has a clear message. No matter how your day is going there is a light at the end of the tunnel and perseverance will help make things better. The other message is that for every bad day there is a good day. This book is from the realistic fiction genre. The things that happen in this book happen all the time and usually occur quite frequently. The first activity that someone's could do in response to this simple yet insightful book in a classroom setting would be to have people think of something bad that may have happened to them and then something good which in turn shows that for all the bad things there are good things. The second activity could be to share experiences in which they made someone's day better just like the little girl finding the lost feather. Even though, the bird lost his feather he could still fly, but the girl finding the feather turned her day into such a good day. This book is great in the terms like I mentioned. I hope that kids are being read too and the books have a strong message jus as this one days. The sun is going to come up again and things will get better, is a message so many people need in this day and age. Keep working hard and good things will happen.