LESTER'S DREADFUL SWEATERS by K.G. Campbell

Lester's Dreadful Sweaters, written and illustrated by K.G.Campbell is a Bluebonnet books for 2014-2015.  

Cousin Clara's cottage has been consumed by a crocodile!  And while no one is sure whose cousin she actually is, Cousin Clara comes to live with Lester's family.  Cousin Clara is a whiz with knitting, so she knits Lester dreadful sweaters.  Lester creatively gets rid of each sweater, but Cousin Clara knits faster than he can get rid of them.  Each sweater is more ghastly than the one before.  Will Lester be doomed forever to be made fun of at school and wear these dreadful creations? 

Campbell, K.G. Lester's Dreadful Sweaters. New York:
Kids Can Press Ltd., 2012.  ISBN 9781554537709

Author and illustrator, K.G. Campbell, has created a wonderful book that will appeal to anyone that has received an unwanted gift.   His character, Lester, expresses good manners and gracefully accepts each present, but creatively finds ways to dispose of his unwanted gift.  This character will appeal to many children, who have received a ghastly gift from an elder family member.  He takes an annoyance of childhood and turns it into a ridiculous situation.  Children and adults will love the humor in the book.

The illustrations, done in pencil crayon, add humor to this wonderfully written picture book.  Campbell illustrates the ridiculously, ghastly sweaters while poor Lester wears them.  Campbell does an amazing job of adding detail in his illustrations that add to the detail of the written story.  

Awards for Lester's Dreadful Sweaters

Picture Book Illustration Winner, 2013 Golden Kite Awards

Book Reviews for Lester's Dreadful Sweaters

"Lively writing is peppered with clever alliteration and wordplay." ~ Kirkus Reviews

"...readers will thoroughly enjoy Campbell's canny blend of irony and sweet-heartedness." ~ Publisher's Weekly

Lester's Dreadful Sweaters in the Classroom

• Click here for a reader's theatre script for Lester's Dreadful Sweaters. 
• Use this book to begin a unit of alligators and crocodiles.  This lesson will be a good start on comparing the alligator with the crocodile. 
• In the book Lester likes to make lists and collect things.  Use this as an introduction to making lists.  Or invite students to bring in a collection they have for show-and-tell.

REBEL MCKENZIE by Candice Ransom

Ransom, Candice. Rebel McKenzie. New York:
Disney-Hyperion Books, 2012.  ISBN 9781423145394

Rebel McKenzie is 12 years old and practically a paleontologist.  The Ice Age type, not the dinosaur type.  Rebel wants nothing more than to go to a Scientific Dig Camp, but can't because her parents had to spend the extra money after the refrigerator broke down.  No problem, Rebel decides to run away from home instead.  Unfortunately, she makes a bad choice in shoes, and ends up having to be taken to the doctor for the numerous blisters on her feet.  Rebel's older sister, who is married with a child, needs Rebel to come babysit her son, Rudy, for no-pay during the summer.  Rebel is determined to somehow earn enough money to attend the Scientific Dig Camp.  During her babysitting adventures with her nephew, Rebel meets a bully who becomes her best friend, Lacy Jane.  Together they decide to enter a beauty pageant and win the money to go to the camp.  By the end of the summer, Rebel has made many new friends and learned a valuable lesson.

Rebel McKenzie is one of the most real twelve year old characters I have met in a book in a long time.  She has real relationships with her family, not fantasy ones.  Rebel acts just like a pre-teen girl: selfish and doesn't understand her choices effect other people.  She loves nonfiction, is funny and flawed, and dreams big.  The other characters in this book are also amazing and very real.  Over the summer babysitting her seven year old nephew, Rebel meets many strong characters in the trailer park, each very unique.  Rebel's sister is a hot-mess, as her husband is off on the job and she if left to take care of herself and her son, while she goes through beauty school.  Lacy Jane has a secret that she hasn't shared yet, and Bambi is a prissy girl full of herself.

The book does feel more like a middle school age book, though it is on the Bluebonnet list for 3rd through 6th graders.

More books by Candice Ransom

Ivy Honeysuckle Meets Her Match

Ivy Honeysuckle Discovers the World

Seeing Sky-Blue Pink

Finding Day's Bottom

FLORA & ULYSSES: The Illuminated Adventures

DiCamillo, Kate. Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated
 Adventures. Candlewick Press: 2013.  ISBN 9780763660406

Flora, a cynic, meets an unlikely squirrel turned superhero after a tragic vacuum cleaner accident.  The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, as he was only thinking of how hungry he is. However, Flora, our cynic who is absorbed in comic books, is sure that she can save him!

No one can predict what the squirrel can do next!  He has powers of strength and word, as he is able to write poetry onto typewriters and computers.  Then we meet our arch-nemesis, Flora's mother, the author, who is out to smack the squirrel on top of the head with a shovel.  We also meet the temporary blind boy that lives next door.

Go on an adventure with Flora and Ulysses, the poetry writing superhero squirrel and see our cynic open up her heart.

Kate DiCamillo has created wonderful characters and magic in this Newberry Award Winning book. Each character is unique and DiCamillo has portrayed each character magically throughout the book.  Children and adults will love meeting the characters. Flora's love for comic books is seen throughout the book, as the descriptions of Flora seeing words above people's heads are described beautifully.  Illustrations throughout the book at times are in panel form, just like the comic books that Flora loves so much.  The book is filled with humor, that children and adults will both love.

Awards for Flora & Ulysses

2013 National Book Awards Longlist

2013 Newberry Award

2014 Bluebonnet Nominee

Flora & Ulysses in the Classroom

This book is filled with beautiful vocabulary words, that even I had to look up -- malfeasance, capacious, obfuscation.  This is just a start of the high level vocabulary words that can be taught from this book.

Throughout the story, the strong characters each experience change.  This is a great book to focus on character traits and change in character.

Candlewick Press Teacher Guide

Hear Kate DiCamillo introduce the book and share her backstory for creating the book.  Click here.

THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. Knopf
Books: 2007. 

Set in Nazi Germany in 1939 - 1943, and Death has never been busier.  Death tells the story of a nine year old girl, Liesel Meminger, as she tries to make meaning of her life.  Liesel finds that she cannot resists books, even though she cannot yet read.  Liesel is fostered by an accordion playing father and foul mouth mother.  With the help of her foster father, Liesel learns to read, and finds herself stealing books after bomb raids in her city.  She helps her neighbors by sharing the books with them while in bomb shelters during raids, and helps the Jewish man hidden in her basement write his own stories.  She makes close friends through her adventures, including Rudy and the mayor's wife.

The book, a historical fiction, is superbly written and, interestingly, narrated by Death.  The author does a wonderful job of creating the setting of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.  While the book will make you cry (I cried often through the book), it is full of true history and allows the reader to see the Holocaust, with all of its cruelty, through a German young girl. The characters are all very strong characters, and we see many emotions throughout the book, including love and grief.  The foster mother is not a likable character to begin with, however, throughout the book, the reader begins to see more emotion from her and begins to fall in love with her.

While this book is definitely not a fast read, I highly recommend it for ages 12 and up.  Have your tissues handy!

Awards for The Book Thief

2007 - Michael L. Printz Honor Book

2007 - ALA Best Book for Young Adults

2006 - Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book

2006 - School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

Classroom Connections:

It would be a good idea to review WWII with your students and see what their prior knowledge of the Nazi party is before beginning this book.  

Due to the length of this book, teachers will want students to create a plot diagram to keep up with their comprehension. 

Compare and contrast the message and tone of the book to John Donne's poem, "Death Be Not Proud".  Donne's poem is found here.

After reading the first chapter, discuss the personification of Death.  Discuss questions: How does the author personify Death?  Does Death like his job? 

Throughout the story, Death describes the color of the sky as it changes.  Have a class discussion over what the different colors signify.