If the Shoe Fits

If the Shoe Fits

By Gary Soto

G.P. Putnam’s Sons (2002) ISBN: 0399234209

Gary Soto, an author of many genres, elucidates both the life of living with little money and the love that endures regardless of a family’s income. In If the Shoe Fits, the main character, Rigo, has three brothers and one sister. As the youngest boy, Rigo gets stuck with his older brothers’ second-hand clothes. Tired of the tired hand-me-downs, Rigo is surprised with a new pair of loafers on his 9th birthday. Proud of his new shoes, Rigo sports them to school, but is quickly picked on by a school bully, Angel. As a result, Rigo throws his loafers in the closet where they stayed all summer, until he gets invited to a girl’s birthday party. Rigo takes out his shoes, wears them to the party, but earns sore feet. Later that night, Rigo’s uncle shares that he has a new job. Rigo notices his uncle’s worn clothes, much like Rigo’s. In the end, Rigo decides to give his loafers to his uncle so that he can wear them to his new job.

Quantitative: Lexile Level--AD730L; ATOS--3.2

Qualitative: If the Shoe Fits is best for students in third grade. Students can connect with the idea of giving to our loved ones as Soto presents. With Spanish words used, language may prove a challenge for some students. For this reason, this book may need adult direction. Soto provides a small glossary in the back of the book to help decipher the Spanish.

Curriculum Suggestions: Soto has a talent for creating realistic fiction. Students could examine Soto’s use of detail and his emphasis on family and community to write their own piece of fiction or an autobiographical narrative. By tracking Rigo’s character development, students will not only see how Rigo changes over the course of the text, but they can also use it as a model to create their own character. If the Shoe Fits could also serve as a text to discuss idioms.

Content Area: English; Health--Bullying; Health--Families; Mexican Americans

Common Core Standards: RL.3.1-6

Addition/Digital Content:

• Gary Soto: Official Site--http://www.garysoto.com

• ReadWriteThink-- www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/gary-soto-poet-children-20210.html

*Meets the “Reading for Pleasure Picture Book” requirement

Leverage

Leverage

By Joshua C. Cohen Penguin Group, Inc. ISBN: 978052542306

Leverage is a fictional story of a high school athletic program that may as well be a major university. Performance enhancing drugs, brutal hazing rituals, and sadistic teenagers surround the two protagonists,  Kurt Brodsky and Danny Meehan. Kurt is a new transfer/recruit to Oregrove High School (where football is religion), who is “a physical specimen and an animal on the field” in the eyes of his coaches.  However, Kurt’s stuttering problem diminishes his football prowess and his peers often assume he is just another dumb jock. The novel’s second and also detached narrator, Danny, is a tiny freshman who expresses a fear for his life, as any 9th grader would in this intense football-fueled environment. Leverage depicts the struggle of two boys attempting to fit into a culture that promotes bullying, violence, and winning with little thought or consideration of the consequences. No one is immune from the football team’s wrath--even a gymnast and a friend of Danny’s, Ronnie, tragically falls victim to the brutal bullying and hazing that occurs at Oregrove High. In Leverage, unlikely friendships form even when considering the highly contentious relationships that exist at Oregrove High. This is a timely book that really connects to a male audience and touches on very “real” issues that a young man experience in a testosterone-driven culture.

Quantitative: Lexile Level--870L; ATOS--5.2

Qualitative: Told in alternating narrative voices, this book may prove difficult for a more inexperienced reader. Chapters alternate between Kurt and Danny’s points of view, allowing the reader to see what’s going on at Oregrove High through different lenses. Students may struggle with piecing the narratives together in order to make sense of the plot, but part of the beauty of this narrative style is that allows the reader to connect to both the buff athlete and the demure underdog. The realistic high school dialogue which includes slang and profanity makes this a book more appropriate for the upper grades, but the vocabulary itself could be accessible by junior high level students. With cultural references to YouTube and other modern media, students can really connect with the social media elements the book presents. Leverage touches on complex issues such as: bullying, hazing, performance enhancement drugs, adult responsibility, disabilities, teen violence, and teen suicide.

Content Area: English; Health--Healthy Relationships; Physical Education

Curriculum Suggestions: I see Leverage being used in a 9th grade health class. With the book’s emphasis on bullying, teen violence, and steroids, Leverage would prove a useful tool when addressing these topics in a high school health class. The book is particularly appropriate for 9th graders since incoming freshmen tend to lack the tools needed to cope with issues such as the ones presented in Leverage. Teachers could use Leverage as a means of introducing real-world examples of similar situations such as the incident between two Miami Dolphins football players. Other books to explore: Friday Night Lights, Gym Candy.

Common Core Standards:  RL.9/10.1-6

Additional/Digital Content:

• Miami Dolphins bullying controversy-- http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/11/04/243058164/miami-dolphins-suspend-richie-incognito-over-slurs-threats

• Teens worry about performing at an elite level- http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high-school/teens-big-worry-high-school-athletes-steroids-rage-article-1.275874-

• Derrick Jordan, UMass basketball star, comes out-- http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/sports/ncaabasketball/umass-guard-derrick-gordon-joins-list-of-openly-gay-athletes.html?_r=0

• Jason Collins, NBA player, comes out-- http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/news/20130429/jason-collins-gay-nba-player/

Personal Thoughts: Leverage is a great book for boys, especially those interested in sports related narratives. I have recommended this book to many boys and they come back saying the same thing, “I couldn’t put it down!” This book really captures the fanatic nature of football, a billion dollar industry in the United States.

*Meets the “Reading for Pleasure HS/MS” requirement

Crickwing

Crickwing

By Janell Cannon Harcourt, Inc. (2000) ISBN: 0152017909

Crickwing is a story about a cockroach who endures bullying by his fellow insects, only to later behave in the same manner as his aggressors. Crickwing earns this unfortunately nickname after a near-death experience with a hungry toad left his wing twisted and mangled. After this incident, Crickwing avoids the other creatures to avoid being tormented. All he wants to do is build sculptures using colorful leaves, roots, and petals, but his natural predators help to destroy his artwork.

Still angry from being picked on and having his sculptures destroyed, Crickwing stumbles across a group of worker ants. He takes his anger out on the ants. Just as he had his sculptures destroyed, Crickwing proceeds to destroy the ants’ work. Eventually, the ants retaliate, capture Crickwing, and present him to their queen. As punishment, the prisoner was slated to be sacrificed to the army ants. Feeling compassion and regret, the worker ants release Crickwing who then helps them to defeat the army ants. Filled with joy, the worker ants invite Crickwing to join their colony--he agrees.

Quantitative: Lexile Level--AD590L; ATOS--4.2

Qualitative: Crickwing poses great complexity especially when considering the descriptive language used in the book. Words like ravenous, clobbered, cowering, exoskeleton, among others could prove challenging for young readers. Given this use of vocabulary, Crickwing would be best for students in the 3rd to 5th grade range. Prior knowledge may be required due to the introduction of various animals like the ocelot and, again, words directly related to entomology. Although the book provides a notes page that elaborates on the traits of cockroaches and ants, further information maybe useful.

Content Area: English; Health--Relationships; Health--Bullying; Science--Biology, Art--Sculpture

Common Core Standards: RL4.1-3

Next Generation Science Standard--Grade 4:

LS1.A: Structure and Function

Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction. (4-LS1-1)

Curriculum Suggestions: Because of the content and message, teachers could choose to use Crickwing to focus on either the study of insects or healthy relationships or both. With the CCSS, this book allows teachers to instruct across the curriculum using one resource.  

Additional/Digital Content:

• Literature Lesson-- http://www.thedailycafe.com/Crickwing%20Lit%20Lesson%201.pdf  

• Lesson using Strong Language to Express Precision-- http://www.cpalms.org/Public/PreviewResource/Preview/36335

• Animal Planet Cockroach Cam--http://www.apl.tv/cockroaches.htm

• National Geographic Army Ants Video-- http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/worlds-deadliest-ngs/deadliest-army-ants

Other Books by Janell Cannon:

• Stellaluna
• Trupp: A Fuzzhead Tale
• Verdi

*Meets the “Reading for Pleasure Picture Book” requirement

Online Shaming

Online ‘Shaming’ A New Level of Cyberbullying for Girls

Reporter: Temitayo Fagbenle

Original air date: January 7, 2013

Student reporter, Temitayo Fegbenle investigates the new phenomenon of online shaming, often referred to as “slut shaming,” where students will bully young girls via social media about their sexual exploits. Often, the cyberbullying stems from pictures or videos the young women naively send to boys they like and then those images are shared with wider audience. Many students don’t recognize the repercussions of their actions, especially from a legal standpoint. This story spotlights not only cyberbullying, but the lack of control parents and administrators have over the salacious material.

Quantitative: Flesch Reading Ease--60.5; Flesch Reading Level--8.3

Qualitative: A story for middle and high school grades (7-12), but could be used in grades 5 or 6 depending on the maturity of the students. This text isn’t overly complex, but it does discuss activity that will most likely impact an older age group. Issues like appropriate media use, student rights, and legal implications make this a text that address school board policies and even child pornography.

Content Area: English; Health--Bullying; Health--Relationships; Health--Tolerance; Government/Ethics; Information Literacy; Peer Resource.

Curriculum Suggestions: This piece could be applied to any unit on bullying. High school students could draw on the modern-day connections to The Scarlet Letter. In a government or ethics class, students might want to examine the laws the “slut shaming” violates (or not). Is this a First Amendment issue? What laws are in place that protect minors from these viral attacks? What responsibility does the school have to protecting children? The article indicates that students are not any more vicious than they were 20 years ago; the venue for the attacks have changed. A school that has a peer resource class could also devise ways to intervene when such acts occur.

Another approach might be to have students investigate other issues--related to bullying or not--on campus to produce an investigative piece just like Temitayo Fagbenle.

Common Core Standards: RI.11/12.7-8; SL.11/12.2-5; RH.11/12.1-2

Additional/Digital Content:

• NPR’s “Online ‘Shaming’ A New Level of Cyberbullying for Girls”--

http://www.npr.org/2013/01/07/168812354/online-shaming-a-new-level-of-cyberbullying-for-girls

Transcript--http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=168812354

• Literature Connection→ Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson--

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/439288.Speak

Personal Thoughts--The avenues for this hot topic are endless. Students could conduct research and even assess how their campus copes with the issue. It can be touchy, so spending time creating an open and caring environment for sharing is critical when discussing emotionally charged topics such as this one. Expect some shocking and uncomfortable conversations.

*Meets the "Media Item" requirement