Rules by Cynthia Lord

Rules is a coming-of-age story of twelve-year-old Catherine, who both loves and is embarrassed by her autistic brother, David who loves to quote from Toad and Frog. Catherine dreams that one day David will wake up in the morning and be normal kid. But realizing that this prospect is very slim, she creates a list of rules to help David understand both overt and implied rules of the world, such as “if someone says “hi,” you say “hi” back, or “a boy can take off his shirt to swim, but not his shorts.” With a father who is a pharmacist and a mom with her own home tax preparation business, Catherine is often “left in charge” of David and feels her parents have little time left over for her after keeping up with all of David’s needs. And as Catherine comes up with rules for her brother to learn, she is also creating rules for her own life along the way, such as “if you don’t want to do something, say, “Hmm. I’ll think about it” and maybe the asker will forget the whole bad idea” or “sometimes you gotta work with what you got.”
Ever since she was little, Catherine has often gone with David to see his occupational therapist. One day, while waiting for David, Catherine meets a boy named Jason who is wheelchair bound and “talks” by using a communication book filled with word cards and corresponding drawings. She befriends Jason and begins making more cards for him filled with words she feels are more “useful” to him such as gross!, awesome!, and stinks a big one!. In contrast to his original black and white words-only cards, Catherine’s new cards are illustrated and in color, and a deep friendship begins to blossom. Yet, Catherine also befriends Kristi, the new girl next door that she so wishes to be her best friend. Yet, this friendship is more like work, especially after watching Kristi fall for the neighborhood bully, Ryan. Consequently, Catherine can’t bring herself to tell Kristi about Jason. She is also not too sure she wants the other kids at school to know that she is friends a boy who is “different,” and so she is torn between inviting Jason to the school dance and having her friends find out about Jason. Catherine eventually decides to invite Jason to the dance but it may be too late. Jason feels Catherine is embarrassed by him, but eventually comes to the dance once Catherine calls and apologizes. At the dance, Catherine uses more word cards that she has created for Jason to both tell and show him that she appreciates him even more so because of his differences. Catherine learns a lot through her experiences and relationships. She learns lessons about tolerance, acceptance, appreciation, and love.
In an age where so many more cases of autism are showing up each year, this book would be a great read aloud to introduce the topic of autism and other mental or communication disabilities which students could research afterward. It really shows what the family members of a person with any type of disability goes through in lessons on empathy and acceptance of others.

The Janitor's Boy by Andrew Clements

"And what do you want to be when you grow up, Jack?"
There was no hesitation. Jack smiled with perfect second-grade certainty and he said, "I want to be a janitor, like my dad."
Before Miss Patton could say something like, "That's great, Jack," some kids in the class began to giggle. Raymond Hollis blurted out, "A janitor? That's a job for dum-dums! Hey, Jack wants to grow up to be a dum-dum like his dum-dum daddy!"
That got the whole class laughing. Miss Patton shushed them and said, "Raymond, that was not nice, and you owe Jack an apology. Being a janitor is a perfectly good job, and I'm sure Jack is very proud of his dad."
Jack was proud of his dad, and he loved him very much. But laughter from kids is more powerful than words from teachers. Raymond had to stand up and say, "I'm sorry, Jack," but Jack could tell he didn't mean it.
Ever since that day in second grade, whenever the conversation turned toward parents and jobs, Jack clammed up.

The Janitor’s Boy is the story of Jack, whose father is the janitor at the old high school, where all middle school students will be transferred until their new building's construction is completed. Jack’s father calls out “Hi Son!” one day in the middle of a class and he is mortified and angry as the other students tease Jack about his father’s job. To get back at his father, Jack chews up multiple pieces of the stickiest, smelliest gum he can find (13 pieces of Bubblicious watermelon flavor) to stretch and smear under a desk and seat so that his father will have to scrape it off.
When the principal catches Jack, his consequence is to help the janitor scrape gum off of desks and tables after school for three weeks. While working out his punishment, Jack finds a cabinet that holds keys to different locations in the school. Jack takes a copy of the keys to the bell tower and the storm tunnel, which runs under the school and under nearly the whole town of Huntington. Jack explores different places in the school until he finds the storm tunnel. When entering the storm tunnel, Jack accidentally locks himself in, and gets lost in its vast twists and turns. Jack has to explore the dark tunnel to find a way to escape and eventually sees a light coming from a nook in the tunnel. In the nook, he meets a young man who is living in the tunnel and Jack comes to learn many things about his father, the janitor because of this encounter. Jack finds out that after his father had returned from Vietnam, he had problems re-entering society. To help John out, the janitor at this school helps him get a job, and later, John finds out that his new friend and co-worker has given up overtime and some of his own work hours so that John could have the job. This act of kindness is never forgotten and John is determined to “pay it forward” for the rest of his life. Consequently, Jack learns that his father had set up this place in the storm tunnel as a safe location for people in need of a place to stay beginning with his army buddy Lou, who is now his co-worker. Jack even finds out that his father has tapped into the city’s electrical lines in order to give the nook’s residents needed electricity. Yet, his father also installed a meter and makes donations each month to the city for the amount of electricity that is used. On the refrigerator in the nook, Jack sees a whole list of people (beginning with Lou) who have been helped in such ways by his father and others. The young man living in the nook eventually helps Jack get out of the tunnel.
Jack's emergence from the dark storm tunnel into the light could be considered a metaphor for Jack's enlightenment after years of being unaware of his father's benevolence. Now, the laughter of the other students doesn’t seem to hold the same power over him. For now Jack knows the real work of his father’s hands, and he holds a new respect for the hard work which his father carries out for others, both publicly and privately.
Andrew Clements, once again tells a “coming of age” story with humor and poignancy, for parental embarrassment is an almost universal phenomenon of adolescence.
This story is a natural fit for teaching character education, teaching theme, or for teaching dynamic characterization, or internal conflict.

The Sisters Grimm, Book One: The Fairytale Detectives by Michael Buckley

The Sisters Grimm, Book One: The Fairy-Tale Detectives is the first in a series of six fantastical adventures which follow the life experiences of Sabrina and Daphne Grimm. The story begins with a very pinched-face caseworker delivering them from an orphanage into the hands of their grandmother, Rhelda Grimm and her friend, Mr. Canis, after the girls’ parents disappear without a trace. One would think the girls would be happy to make a home with their grandmother in Ferryport Landing, but Sabrina doubted the older woman was her grandmother, as her father had told them that she was dead. Sabrina’s wariness of Rhelda only intensifies when the old woman cooks strange things, talks to her house, and tells the girls that not only are they the last descendants of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, but also tells the girls Ferryport Landing is filled with fairy-tale beings. It is only after a failed escape resulting in the girls being blood-let by pixies, and subsequently seeing a picture of her father as a boy with a young Rhelda that Sabrina begins to tentatively accept that the old woman just might be her grandmother after all. Later that day, with only the clue of a beanstalk leaf, Rhelda and Mr. Canis are captured by a giant during their investigation of a crushed farmer’s home. Sabrina and Daphne manage to escape only to find themselves lost in the forest where they meet Puck, who happens to be a friend of their grandmother. Puck takes them back to Rhelda’s home where they use books to find information and then find a note from Rhelda telling them to go to the locked upstairs room for their answers. This is when they meet “Mirror-Mirror” from Snow White who shows them an image of Jack, the famous giant-killer. He is in a jail cell, and the Rhelda and Mr. Canis are captured by the giant tells them that they will need to break Jack out of jail to help rescue Grandma Rhelda and Mr. Canis. Mirror-Mirror also gives them a magic carpet upon which to travel and escape the police who are in pursuit of them. Jack helps them form a plan to get into Mayor Prince Charming’s mansion during a fund-raising party in order to get information about the giant but the giant finds them first and crushes the Mayor’s mansion. But Jack was not a help to the girls. We find out that it was actually Jack who had unleashed the giant upon the community in hopes of slaying him and regaining notoriety. Jack unleashes his anger upon everyone including the girls who use the sword, Excalibur, to fend off Jack’s arrows as he admits he is working for the underhanded organization known as the Scarlet Hand, who he says kidnapped the girls parents. In the end, we find out that Mr. Canis is really the “big bad wolf” as he and Jack fight savagely. Yet, it is Puck who saves the day by bringing the Pixies to attack Jack with a bloodletting force that he could not hinder or stop until he was no more. When all of the Grimms, Mr. Canis, and Puck (who has decided to move into the house with everyone) return to Rhelda’s home, they see Sabrina and Daphne’s parents lying in a deep and magical sleep and Grandmother promises they will do everything to find them and bring them home.
This book has me looking forward to reading the next in the series and considering how I could use it in my literature class next school year. I think it would make a great read-aloud during a unit on folktales, fairy tales, and fables. I am so surprised how many of these stories have ever been heard by my students and a unit whereby students read these stories and then scripted them for a reader’s theater would incorporate both reading and writing, as well as back-fill knowledge on stories that are often alluded to in other pieces of text.

NPR: Something for Everyone

www.npr.org
I regularly listen to National Public Radio (NPR) and hear stories that I want to pull up and share with students in class. I have also shared several stories with other content teachers from the “This I Believe” project, the “Story Corps” collection, and radio expeditions. Next to a great book, I just love what radio has to offer!

http://booklust.wetpaint.com/
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to Nancy Pearl’s book recommendations on NPR, you might be interested in joining her “booklust” community "for people who love to read." Also, make sure to check out one of her newer titles, Book Crush: For Kids and Teens—Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason!

Grandpa always said to keep the right tools handy!

www.classtools.net
This is a free! user-friendly resource for setting up games and quizzes with ones own content information. One can enter class lists into the cherry-picker to randomly select students for activities throughout the year, and create interactive games, as well as graphic organizers which can later be printed as class notes.

Great Resource

www.readwritethink.org
This website sponsored by N.C.T.E. and I.R.A. is one of the best resources on the web for reading and writing resources (that can often be used across the curriculum). It features information for teachers, lessons plans and resources, as well as interactive skill-building activities under a “student materials index.” It also features a gallery of suggested web-based resources for teachers.

What's Up?

www.cnn.com/studentnews/
Check out the CNN Student News site for daily student news segments on big national and international news stories. There is also a quiz segment where students are asked to shout out answers. The site also has a segment on “Young People Who Rock” featuring people under 30 who are doing extraordinary things as well as regular features such as “one sheet” informational articles which can be used in the classroom.