Tikki Tikki Tembo

Retold by: Arlene Mosel

Illustrated by: Blair Lent

Multicultural/Folk Tale

~This is a classic tale set in China about two young boys. At this time in China, it was custom for the first born son to be given a long and honorable name, while the second child was given a very short and not so honorable name. There was a mother who named her first born son Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo, meaning the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world, while her second born son was named Chang, meaning little or nothing. One day the two little boys were playing by the well and Chang fell in. Tikki tikki tembo went to tell his mother, and then got The Old Man With The Ladder to save Chang. The Old Man got to Chang, and pumped water out of him and put air in, leaving Chang as good as new. The brothers stayed away from the well for while until one day the boys played on the well again. This time Tikki tikki tembo fell in and Chang had to go tell his mother. Tikki tikki tembo's name was so long and Chnag was so out of breath she could barely understand him. Finally she understood and Chang went to get The Old Man With The Ladder. The Old Man was dreaming and Chang had to say Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo's name so many times for The Old Man to understand what was going on. Finally he realized what Chang said and they went to save Tikki tikki tembo, but by the time they got to him he had been there awhile and it took a long time for tikki tikki tembo to get back to normal. From that moment on, the people in China started naming all their children with short names.

~Tikki tikki tembo would be a great book to read to introduce children to Chinese culture. Read this book and then talk about Chineese customs and traditions, or have someone who is Chinese to come and talk to students about this. Later, have students research the Chinese New Year, and then celebrate that in the classroom.

Small Steps

By: Louis Sachar

Fiction

*I chose to read this book because it is somewhat a squeal to the book holes, in that it has two of the characters from the book, Armpit and X-Ray and how they are continuing their life after Camp Greenlake. One of the students in the field was reading it, and I loved the book Holes so I thought I would ready it. It talks about drugs in parts and has some young adult content so I would not recommend this books to younger grades.*

~This book was about a young man named Theodor or as his friends called him Armpit. He has gotten out of a juvenile correction facility called Camp Greenlake where his punishment was to dig holes all day long. He now works for a landscaping company digging holes, but he is good at it and likes making good honest money. He is going to summer school also because he wants to get his high school diploma and has to make up for the time he was at Camp Greenlakc. His therapist told him to just take small steps, one day at a time, and he does just that. One day his old buddy X-Ray, who was also at Camp Greenlake, comes by and wants Armpit to make some money by buying tickets to the Kiara DeLeon concert and selling the tickets for more than what they bought them for. Armpit reluctantly agrees and X-Ray sells all the tickets except for two. Armpit decides to take a girl Tatiana from school to the concert but she backs out last minute, so he takes his best friend and neighbor, Ginny who has cerebral palsy to the concert. Armpit didnt know, but X-Ray had given him 2 counterfeit tickets so he could make money off the two he was going to give to Armpit. Ginny ends up having a seizure and the police try to arrest armpit for counterfeit tickets and for drugging Ginny. Luckily, they finally listen to armpit and let him help her. They end up getting to meet Kiara DeLeon and they all become friends. They start a big investigation on the counterfeit tickets to catch the guy who sold them. Kiara starts to like Armpit and wants to have breakfast with him. They really start to like eachother and Kiara writes him letters. Finally Kiara offers to fly Armpit to San Fransisco to see her. While in San Fransisco, Kiara and Armpit get in a fight. He see's that her door is open when he gets back to the hotel and walks in to see her getting beaten with a bat by her manager and stepfather El Genius. He wanted to kill her so that he could take all of her money. Armpit stops El Genius and calls the police, everyone ends up being ok and El Genius is put in jail. Armpit does not here from Kiara but her new song "Small Steps" says everything.

~This would be a good book to do a character analysis of. Have students talk about Armpits character and if his actions reflect on his character. Also have students talk or write about whether or not they think X-Ray is a good friend to keep around. X-Ray seems to always find a way to get Armpit in trouble. Talk to students of how important it is to have good friends that are good influences on you. It would also be good to just do reading comprehension questions and have a book club conversations about the book. It has some good real life learning situations that would be good for students to understand.

To Dance: a ballerina's graphic novel

By: Siena Cherson Siegel

Illustrated by: Mark Siegel

Realistic Fiction/Graphic Novel

~This was a really cute book about how a little girl followed her dreams to become a ballerina. The little girl in the book is from San Juan Puerto Rico and she loved to dance especially when there are big open spaces. When she was 6 the doctor said she had flat feet and so her mother enrolled her in dance lessons to help her flat feet. She was too young for ballet so she did more gymnastics in her dance classes. She the moved to Boston for a year when she was 9 and took ballet lessons there and loved it! She then moved back to Puerto Rico and got to perform in the Nutcracker there. That summer she flew to NY t attend the American Ballet Theatre summer program. She wanted more than anything to be a real ballerina. When she was 11 she auditioned for the School of American Ballet in NY and was accepted. Almost all she did all day was ballet and she finally got her first set of tap shoes but they hurt her feet so bad. She kept on dancing. She finally got into her first ballet and her feet were no longer flat. When she was 16 her mom and dad divorced, and dancing was all she had to keep her mind off things at home. Dancing was her entire life until one day she got hurt. She decided she should go to college and she did. But ballet was still in her soul. She still danced in open spaces.

~This would be a great book when studying character traits. The girl in this book never gave up on her dreams and that is an important trait to teach students. Have write about their goals in life and create an outline of how they are going to accomplish these goals. Then have them drawl pictures along with the outline of the steps towards their goals.

~This was a