Literature Guides

A Single Shard Literature Kit™, Grades 5-6
$12.95
Gain a sense of responsibility and knowing what it's like to have someone's fate in their hands. Our resource is great for quizzes, vocabulary and writing prompts. Predict what will happen between Tree-ear and Min, and whether Tree-ear will become a potter. Match characters to their actions in the story. Use words in a sentence to show its meaning. Describe how Tree-ear prepares the clay for Min, and how different the process would be today. Write the step-by-step instructions on Kang's new technique for making pottery. Compare Min and Kang's work in a Venn Diagram. Design a poster advertising Min's pottery. Find the cities from the novel on a setting map of Korea. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Set in 12th Century Korea, Tree-ear—an orphaned little boy—lives under a bridge with a disabled older friend and caretaker named Crane-man. Tree-ear is fascinated with a local potter named Min and dreams of creating his own ceramics. The trade of potter is unfortunately passed down from father to son, therefore Min can't teach Tree-ear the trade. The Royal Emissary tours the village in search for a new potter for the palace. Min and Kang—another pottery-maker—compete for the honor. The emissary chooses Kang but tells Min that if he can create more work and bring it to Puyo, he will reconsider his choice. Now, Min's fate rests in the hands of Tree-ear, who must deliver the pottery to the palace.

A Year Down Yonder Literature Kit™, Grades 5-6
$12.95
Students are taken out of their comfort zone to experience a year in the country. Additional writing tasks offer great options for extra work. List things that are different between Mary Alice's world and the present. Translate two different expressions Mary Alice uses to describe her grandmother. Put events from the story in order as they happened with Mary Alice and Grandma on Halloween. Write a letter to Mary Alice's mother in her own words in an attempt to change her opinion of the grandmother. Students identify who the antagonist of the story is and defend their opinion. Create a travel brochure for Chicago, Illinois. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: A Year Down Yonder is a Newbery Medal-winning story about a young girl who must spend a year living with her grandmother in the country. Mary Alice spent her childhood summers staying with her grandmother in a small country-town in Illinois. These summers were packed with enough surprises and drama to fill the double bill of any picture show. Now, Mary Alice is fifteen and must spend a whole year with her grandmother, away from her Chicago home. Over the course of the year, Mary Alice experiences a hurricane, fox-hunting by night, a late-night raid of a pecan tree and pumpkin patch, a huge snake in the attic, and a community rife with hardship and social pretenses. A Year Down Yonder is a hilariously funny and heart-warming novel.

Babe: The Gallant Pig Literature Kit™, Grades 3-4
$12.95
Anyone can overcome their destiny in this story of a pig who saves himself from the table. Great discussion questions engage students to think deeper about the text. Students explore the concept of prejudice and give an example of this from their own experiences. Write sentences using the vocabulary words from the story. Identify statements about Babe herding ducks as true or false. Brainstorm reasons why Farmer Hogget never named his pig. Conduct an interview with Babe for the London Times. Create a trading card for one of the characters in the book. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Everyone is astonished when sheep farmer Hogget brings home a pig from the county fair. Shortly after his arrival, the piglet is adopted by the sheepdog. Destined for the oven, Babe changes that destiny by becoming skilled at the process of sheep-herding. Babe is taken to the Sheepdog Trials, where he astonishes the judges and spectators by excelling at herding the sheep. Babe: The Gallant Pig is a charming story with an unforgettable cast of characters. A number of positive themes run throughout the novel including the dangers of prejudice and stereotyping, leadership styles, and the positive results that can come through hard work, perseverance and courage. Set in rural America, other themes are those of farm life, sheep, sheepdogs, pigs and sheepdog trials.

Because of Winn Dixie Literature Kit™, Grades 3-4
$12.95
Students learn of loss and longing, loneliness and friendship, and finding contentment and a place for oneself. Our resource is a useful tool to write, discuss, assess, and challenge all learners. Students write the meaning of vocabulary words from the book in their own words. Using multiple choice, choose the best answer that describes how certain events in the story took place. Infer the meaning of certain character actions towards Opal. Students put themselves into Opal's shoes to understand her state of mind when Winn-Dixie is missing. Write a chapter for a nonfiction tour book about the town of Naomi, Florida. Use a fishbone organizer to keep track of different aspects of the characters, setting and resolution from the novel. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: This is a story in which a ten-year-old girl must face the abandonment of her mother, and find the answer to the question “Will she ever come back?” The answer, surprisingly, is “No!”, but India Opal Buloni, over the course of the novel, learns to deal with this answer through her experiences and support of a growing circle of friends, all of whom has also suffered some kind of loss themselves. And finally, it is the story of the love between a girl and her dog; a pet that has an uncanny ability to bring kindred spirits together.

Black Beauty Literature Kit™, Grades 5-6
$12.95
Get a sense of the remarkable injustices experienced by both horses and the people of the day. Incorporate well-thought-out questions that encourage students to really think about their answers. Determine the setting of the novel based only on a few details from the story. Prepare for the reading by investigating the purpose of the spur in horseback riding. Finish sentences from the book with their missing vocabulary words. Identify Joe's error in judgment when tending to Black Beauty. Explore ways some of the cruelties experienced by the horses in this novel could have been prevented. Write a short book review of the novel, and post it online. Choose a major event from the book and complete a concept wheel with details on who, what, when, where, and why. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Nothing could defeat the spirit of this gentle and courageous horse, Black Beauty! One of the most endearing stories of all time is set in England during the mid-1800s, and is told from the perspective of its main character. Black Beauty shares his adventures from his days as a young colt in the pastures of Farmer Grey, through different owners and into his twilight years. Tragedy seems to shape the course of Black Beauty's life as he learns much of the world through the friendships with different horses: the tragic life of Ginger, the brave and noble Captain, and the fun-loving Merrylegs.

Bridge to Terabithia Literature Kit™, Grades 5-6
$12.95
Travel to an imaginary land to discover the true power of friendship and the heartache of loss. Provide open-ended application and journal prompts to excite students about the reading. Make a prediction on what the story will be about based solely on the front cover of the novel. Put events in order that led to the creation of Terabithia. Find the meaning of vocabulary words, then use each word in a sentence. Students describe how they would respond to someone bullying them. Then, students create their own imaginary place like Terabithia. Keep track of events as they happen month by month in the novel with an Events Calendar graphic organizer. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: A dramatic and fascinating story of friendship! Jesse Aarons is a fourth grader who loves to run. Once the fastest and best runner at Lark Creek Elementary School in Virginia, until he was challenged by a girl—Leslie Burke. Leslie and her parents were new to this community, and they soon became best friends; their relationship was a strong one. Then, Leslie gets a great idea to create Terabithia, a secret place in the woods only for themselves. One day, while Jesse is not there, Leslie tries to cross the bridge to Terebithia, but falls in and drowns. When Jesse finds out, he is devastated. Soon after, the Burke family moves away, but Jesse believes that she has taught him something.

Bud, Not Buddy Literature Kit™, Grades 5-6
$12.95
Run off to Grand Rapids on a humorous adventure filled with interesting characters, all leading to a place to call home. Pose questions that will initiate great conversation and discussion in any classroom. Discuss the concept of perseverance, and determine why it is an important quality to have. Match characters to their statements. Determine the purpose of the author's intentional use of spelling mistakes in the novel. Match vocabulary words to their definitions before using them in a sentence. Students create their own family tree to compare with Bud's. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: A touching and humorous story about a ten-year-old boy on the run. Foster child Bud Caldwell leaves Flint, Michigan during the height of the Great Depression in 1936. When Bud eventually arrives in Grand Rapids, he meets Herman Calloway and all the members of the band who welcome him into their lives. As the story comes to a close, we learn that Calloway is Bud's grandfather, and Bud at last has a place to call “home”. A captivating story told in Bud's point of view, this novel is an excellent read aloud. The historical setting, intriguing cast of characters and themes of racial and societal prejudice, all provide excellent opportunities for teaching, learning and discussion.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Literature Kit™, Grades 3-4
$12.95
Understand how to overcome one's poor situation with kindness and a positive attitude. Help students gain a better understanding of the book so they can really enjoy reading it. Test critical and creative thinking skills by conducting a character study of Willy Wonka before even reading about him. Gain a sense of Charlie's hardships with tailored true or false questions. Discuss the pros and cons of having a No-Gum policy at school before getting together for a class debate. Invent your own chocolate bar with a list of ingredients, a slogan and commercial. Create an acrostic poem puzzle for a partner to solve using unique words from the book. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Who would believe that Charlie Bucket's life would take such an unusual turn? Charlie and his family are very poor, and food is never in abundance. The world is on a frenzy trying to find one of the five Golden Tickets. By getting one of these tickets, the winner will visit the inside of the mysterious Mr. Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Charlie finds a dollar bill and buys himself a chocolate bar that contains the last Golden Ticket. Along with four other children, they visit the factory and meet up with the Oompa-Loompas who are the hard workers of the factory. At last, Mr. Wonka tells Charlie that he has won the whole factory, and the brave and true Charlie and his family will never starve again.

Charlotte's Web Literature Kit™, Grades 3-4
$12.95
Step out on a farm and learn the true meaning of friendship among the animals. Use a variety of true or false, fill-in-the-blank and multiple choice questions to check comprehension. Sequence events from the story in the order that they happened. Students share their opinions on the lifespan of animals on a farm. Write the vocabulary word from the book next to its meaning. Write the name of the character next to their quote from the novel. Describe how Wilbur tried to make himself look 'radiant'. Predict what Charlotte's 'masterpiece' will be. Describe Templeton's character using examples from the book. Complete a Spider Web Map to list the main ideas of the story. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Charlotte's Web is a magical story about childhood, friendship, and loyalty. An eight-year-old girl named Fern saves the life of a newborn piglet named Wilbur and the adventure begins. Soon, Wilbur and the other animals in the barn cellar are a great part of Fern's life. Wilbur notices that everyone in the barn is busy except him. He becomes lonely and sad. A sweet voice comes out of the darkness of the barn cellar and says, “I'll be a friend to you.” The voice belongs to a small gray spider named Charlotte A. Cavatica. Charlotte turns out to be a wonderful friend. She listens to Wilbur and enjoys his child-like ways. Soon he finds out what might happen to him when the cold weather comes. Charlotte promises to find a way to save his life. Through the wondrous writings in her web, Charlotte does save Wilbur's life. And because he is her true friend, Wilbur saves Charlotte's future.

Chocolate Fever Literature Kit™, Grades 3-4
$12.95
Explain the importance of healthy eating with this strange tale of overindulgence. Use this resource for multiple activities for use with independent reading groups. Design a character chart that details Henry and his relationship with his family. Connect words from the chapter to their meaning. Students explain what they already know about germs and how they spread, prior to reading the chapter. Step into Henry's shoes and imagine what it would be like to be scared and confused at the hospital. Put events from the chapter in the order that they happen when Henry escapes from the hospital and runs into a gang of bullies. Conduct an interview with a classmate to find out how your thoughts of the novel differ. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included.
About the Novel:
Chocolate Fever tells the story of a young boy's strange illness caused by his unusual eating habits. Henry Green loves chocolate. He eats it all the time and on everything. He enjoys chocolate syrup on his mashed potatoes, chocolate sprinkles on his buttered noodles, and cocoa dusted on canned peaches, pears and applesauce. The best part is, he never gains weight, gets a cavity or ruins his skin. Until now. One day at school, Henry notices chocolate-smelling brown spots all over his body. A trip to the hospital finds that Henry's spots are made of 100% pure chocolate, causing the doctor to diagnose him with 'chocolate fever'. Afraid, Henry decides to run away. He runs right into some bullies. Henry gets away by convincing them that his illness is a highly contagious and deadly disease. Henry's adventures continue as he wonders whether he will ever be cured of his 'chocolate fever'.
About the Novel:
Chocolate Fever tells the story of a young boy's strange illness caused by his unusual eating habits. Henry Green loves chocolate. He eats it all the time and on everything. He enjoys chocolate syrup on his mashed potatoes, chocolate sprinkles on his buttered noodles, and cocoa dusted on canned peaches, pears and applesauce. The best part is, he never gains weight, gets a cavity or ruins his skin. Until now. One day at school, Henry notices chocolate-smelling brown spots all over his body. A trip to the hospital finds that Henry's spots are made of 100% pure chocolate, causing the doctor to diagnose him with 'chocolate fever'. Afraid, Henry decides to run away. He runs right into some bullies. Henry gets away by convincing them that his illness is a highly contagious and deadly disease. Henry's adventures continue as he wonders whether he will ever be cured of his 'chocolate fever'.

Dear Mr. Henshaw Literature Kit™, Grades 5-6
$12.95
Explore the ultimate first-person narrative through the eyes of a young boy and his tale of self-discovery. Our resource is developmentally appropriate for students with special needs who read at a lower grade level. Students predict who Mr. Henshaw might be, and why he would be receiving a letter. Find antonyms to the vocabulary words found in the novel. Answer multiple choice questions about Leigh. Students become Leigh and write their own list of questions for Mr. Henshaw. Solve the mystery of the lunch thief. Create a to-do list for writing based on what Mrs. Badger suggests to Leigh. Imagine how Leigh and Mr. Henshaw's relationship would progress through the years and write a new letter from Leigh as an adult. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: This Newbery Medal-winning classic story is about Leigh Botts, a young boy who lives with his divorced mother and misses his father. The book is a collection of letters written from Leigh to Mr. Henshaw, his favorite author. The letters show increasing emotional and literary complexity as Leigh grows. They also reflect his desire to become a writer. Through his journal, Leigh learns a great deal about writing and about himself. The diary reveals Leigh's loneliness at school and details his troubles with an unknown schoolmate. When Leigh is in sixth grade, Mr. Henshaw writes back to answer the ten questions Leigh sent to him for the Author Report assignment. Through his journal, Leigh learns a great deal about writing and about himself.

Esperanza Rising Literature Kit™, Grades 5-6
$12.95
Experience the hardships of starting over during the Great Depression. The activities act as a great jumping-off point for teaching in a student-guided manner. Students put themselves in Esperanza's shoes and describe her changing viewpoints as she becomes exposed to the lives of those poorer than she once was. Determine whether a strike will cause conflict later in the story based on what is already known. Put events in order as they happen immediately following the death of Esperanza's father. Make predictions on the outcome of Esperanza's attempts to get a job. Compare the mythological story of the phoenix to that of Esperanza. Compare the different settings of the book, from Esperanza's home in Mexico to the work camps in California. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included.
About the Novel:
Esperanza Rising tells the story of a young girl who's world gets turned upside-down, and must flee to America to start a new life. Esperanza Ortega grew up in luxury on her father's ranch in Mexico. She had servants, nice clothes and lavish parties. Her sheltered life comes crashing down when her father is killed by renegades while tending to a broken fence on his property. Their home is left to Esperanza and her mother, but the land is left to her father's stepbrothers. After their home is burned down, Esperanza, her mother and a few loyal servants flee to America to start better lives. Unfortunately for them, it's the Great Depression and their new lives won't be so great. Esperanza is immediately flung into poverty and struggles to adjust. When they make it to the States, Esperanza falls into a deep depression. When her mother becomes sick, Esperanza must grow up and learn to appreciate what she has. This riches-to-rags story shows that it's not what you possess that bring you happiness, but the people you share it with.
About the Novel:
Esperanza Rising tells the story of a young girl who's world gets turned upside-down, and must flee to America to start a new life. Esperanza Ortega grew up in luxury on her father's ranch in Mexico. She had servants, nice clothes and lavish parties. Her sheltered life comes crashing down when her father is killed by renegades while tending to a broken fence on his property. Their home is left to Esperanza and her mother, but the land is left to her father's stepbrothers. After their home is burned down, Esperanza, her mother and a few loyal servants flee to America to start better lives. Unfortunately for them, it's the Great Depression and their new lives won't be so great. Esperanza is immediately flung into poverty and struggles to adjust. When they make it to the States, Esperanza falls into a deep depression. When her mother becomes sick, Esperanza must grow up and learn to appreciate what she has. This riches-to-rags story shows that it's not what you possess that bring you happiness, but the people you share it with.