Book Break
Inspiration Book:
The night diary by Hiranandani, Veera — Dial Books for Young Readers, 2018 : -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 4.5. Shy twelve-year-old Nisha, forced to flee her home with her Hindu family during the 1947 partition of India, tries to find her voice and make sense of the world falling apart around her by writing to her deceased Muslim mother in the pages of her diary. It's 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries- Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders.
Background: This 2019 Newbery Honor title meets my criteria for taking a “BOOK BREAK.”
I copied the BOOK BREAK idea from Caroline Feller Bauer (1935--2013), a children’s literature specialist, motivational speaker and advocate for using literature in creative, popularized the idea of the Poetry Break. When she found a poem she liked, she’d pop into a classroom with a sign announcing “Poetry Break” and share the new or old poem she wanted found. The result, teachers and students were soon popping into the library or her office with a “Poetry Break.” In fact, Bauer wrote an entire book titled Poetry Break in which she explained the process and included over 240 poems to use for “Poetry Break” starters.
Procedure: Using the idea of popping into a classroom to share a poem, I used the idea to pop into a classroom to to share a book. The idea is really a take on booktalking, but using only one book and the surprise factor. This is how I make it work.
Read, read, read. I use the BOOK BREAK concept to motivate me to read many of the new books for upper elementary and middle school as they arrive. I don’t need to read all of them in one day, but one or two per week.
Once I have read a book(s), I determine whether it will be suitable for a BOOK BREAK. I try to have two or more titles ready, especially if I’m using the potluck approach (See 6-d below.)
The book needs to be readable by the average reader.
I often limit my choice to a topic not covered in the curriculum.
Often my choice is an award winner such as the Inspiration Book above.
The books are primarily fiction, but I don’t limit to fiction. If a nonfiction book has a strong narrative, I include it.
A new author.
Non-series
Diversity
Unique approach
Always discuss the ideas and plans with the teachers and get their OK of the concept. Ask for times within their schedule when a BOOK BREAK would not be OK. Often right before or after a recess or lunch is a good time.
Find a quirky hat or make a jazzy sign (Bauer used the sign). Students and teachers will immediately know what is happening when you pop in.
Practice what you want to say and emphasize about a particular book. Limit the time to five minutes.
Always tell the title and author
Ideas for sharing
Summary
Publisher promo
Read the beginning if it catches the attention.
Read an exciting section
Planned ahead interview between teacher (give teacher questions) and you.
Online Book Trailer
Author biography
Other options
Similar titles--bring them along.
Book draw to be the first person to read the title; students interested, write name on card for a drawing at the end of the week.
Silent Book auction; students interested make a pretend dollar offer on a card; highest offer wins right to check the book out first.
Scheduling. Set aside a slot(s) in your schedule. I like just before recess and lunch. I find that after lunch or recess is too chaotic and the students are still settling down and wandering around.
I do this booktalking version only with grades 4-8, and have a slightly different approach for grades K-3.
If there is only one section of each 4th through 8th grade, you can do a BOOK BREAK, one per day in a different classroom each day. I use the same book for the week. Mix up the day of the week you pop-in to each classroom.
If there are two sections of each grade, you can do a recess BOOK BREAK and a lunch BOOK BREAK for each classroom each week OR once every other week, varying lunch and recess times.
If there are three or four sections of each grade, I do a potluck approach. I have the name of each classroom on a card in a containers. Then, I ask a representative from the first class in the morning to draw the BOOK BREAK class of the day. If you have prepared more than one BOOK BREAK talk, don’t be afraid to pop into the same classroom two days in a row. That’s part of the fun.
Expect surprises.
I’ve had teachers ask if they could do a BOOK BREAK one week. I supervise that classroom while the teacher pops-in elsewhere. Students love to see the teachers.
I’ve had students ask to do a BOOK BREAK. Be sure to have them practice with you before they make their debut.
I’ve had administrators and parents do a BOOK BREAK. Don’t be afraid to ask them.
There may be a reading waiting list for some books.
Students may ask for other titles by the same author or about similar titles.
BOOK BREAK for The Night Diary: I don’t do word for word preparation for each BOOK BREAK because they vary from classroom to classroom depending on the students’ reaction and interest. Because I have read the book, I can always expand or contract. This is the outline for the Inspiration Book The Night Diary.
Author & Title: The Night Diary, a Newbery Honor book for 2019, by Veera Hiranandani.
Setting: Map of India and Pakistan
Publisher Promo: It's 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries- Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders. Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn't know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. When Papa decides it's too dangerous to stay in what is now Pakistan, Nisha and her family become refugees and embark first by train but later on foot to reach her new home. The journey is long, difficult, and dangerous, and after losing her mother as a baby, Nisha can't imagine losing her homeland, too. Publisher
To help remember and honor the memory of her mother, Nisha writes in a diary. Nisha, her twin broth Amil, her father and her grandmother Dadi have walked many miles. Their goal is to reach the home of their deceased mother’s brother that is about halfway. I’m going to read Nisha’s diary entry for the day they arrive at Uncle Rashid’s house.
Read aloud the entry for August 30, 1947, pp. 166-172.
Titles from the Notable Social Studies Trade Book List and Outstanding Science Trade Book List, Copyright 2018, that Would Make Good BOOK BREAK titles.
Note: A number of the titles listed below have their own entry in My Books Alive. A link to that entry is listed at the end of the summary for that book.
Ghost boys by Rhodes, Jewell Parker — Little, Brown and Company, 2018. -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 3.0. After seventh-grader Jerome is shot by a white police officer, he observes the aftermath of his death and meets the ghosts of other fallen black boys including historical figure Emmett Till.
Finding Langston by Cline-Ransome, Lesa — Holiday House, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 3.2. Discovering a book of Langston Hughes' poetry in the library helps Langston cope with the loss of his mother, relocating from Alabama to Chicago as part of the Great Migration, and being bullied. FREE Teaching Resources available for download. My Books Alive blog entry https://www.mybooksalive.com/search?q=finding+langston
Blended by Draper, Sharon M — Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.0. Piano-prodigy Isabella, eleven, whose black father and white mother struggle to share custody, never feels whole, especially as racial tensions affect her school, her parents both become engaged, and she and her stepbrother are stopped by police. My Books Alive blog entry https://www.mybooksalive.com/search?q=blended
Lifeboat 12 by Hood, Susan — Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2018. -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 4.0. In 1940, a group of British children, their escorts, and some sailors struggle to survive in a lifeboat when the ship taking them to safety in Canada is torpedoed. Includes historical notes.
Amal unbound by Saeed, Aisha — Nancy Paulsen Books, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 4.2. In Pakistan, Amal holds onto her dream of being a teacher even after becoming an indentured servant to pay off her family's debt to the wealthy and corrupt Khan family.
The house that Lou built by Respicio, Mae — Wendy Lamb Books, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.2. Longing for an escape from her extended Filipino family, Lou plans to build a tiny house on land she inherited from her father, but difficulties quickly arise.
The island at the end of everything by Hargrave, Kiran Millwood — Alfred A. Knopf, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.3. When the Phillipine government takes over Culion, an island for people with leprosy, Ami is put in an orphanage on another island, where she finds a friend willing to help her return before her mother dies.
Skyward : the story of female pilots in WWII by Deng, Sally — Flying Eye Books, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.3. Tells of the experiences of women who flew airplanes for their countries during World War II.
A story like the wind by Lewis, Gill — Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.4. As a group of refugees huddles together in a rubber dinghy, one of them uses his violin to weave their stories together and give them hope for freedom in the future.
Front desk [large print] by Yang, Kelly — Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage Company, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.5. Recent immigrants from China, desperate for money, ten-year-old Mia Tang's parents take a job managing a rundown Southern California motel for skinflint Mr. Yao, whose son is the only other Chinese American in Mia's class. My Books Alive blog entry https://www.mybooksalive.com/search?q=front+desk
My life as a diamond by Manzer, Jenny — Orca Book Publishers, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 4.5. In this novel for middle-graders, talented baseball player Caspar Cadman has a great arm and a big secret. He used to live life as a girl called Cassandra
Chasing the Nightbird by Russell, Krista — Peachtree, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 4.6. In 1851 New Bedford, Massachusetts, fourteen-year-old Cape Verdean sailor Lucky Valera is kidnapped by his estranged half-brother and forced to work in a mill, but while Lucky is plotting his escape he meets a former slave and a young Quaker girl who influence his plans. FREE Teaching Resources available for download.
Betty before X by Shabazz, Ilyasah — Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.9. Raised by her aunt until she is six, Betty, who will later marry Malcolm X, joins her mother and stepfamily in 1940s Detroit, where she learns about the civil rights movement FREE Teaching Resources available for download.
Escape from Aleppo by Senzai, N. H — Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2018 : -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.9. After Nadia is separated from her family while fleeing the civil war, she spends the next four days with a mysterious old man who helps her navigate the checkpoints and snipers of the rebel, ISIS, and Syrian armies that are littering Aleppo on her way to meeting her father at the Turkish border.
Two roads by Bruchac, Joseph — Dial Books for Young Readers, 2018. -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 4.9. In 1932, twelve-year-old Cal must stop being a hobo with his father and go to a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school, where he begins learning about his history and heritage as a Creek Indian.
Until tomorrow, Mr. Marsworth by O'Connor, Sheila — G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2018. -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 5.1. Desperate to keep her older brother from being drafted in the Vietnam War, eleven-year-old Reenie strikes up an unlikely friendship with Mr. Marsworth, an elderly shut-in, who helps her in her mission.
Breakout by Messner, Kate — Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 5.4. From multiple perspectives, tells of a time capsule project and the middle schoolers who contribute, including future journalist Nora Tucker and newcomer Elidee Jones, whose brother is in the local prison.
The crossroads by Diaz, Alexandra — Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 5.5. Sequel to: The only road. Jaime, twelve, and Angela, fifteen, discover what it means to be living as undocumented immigrants in the United States, while news from home gets increasingly worse.
Siege : how General Washington kicked the British out of Boston and launched a revolution by Orgill, Roxane — Candlewick Press, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 5.6. "It is the summer of 1775. The British occupy Boston and its busy harbor, holding residents captive and keeping a strong military foothold. The threat of smallpox looms, and the town is cut off, even from food supplies. Following the battles of Lexington and Concord, Congress unanimously elects George Washington commander in chief of the American armed forces, and he is sent to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to transform the ragtag collection of volunteer militiamen into America's first army. The war has so far been little more than a series of intermittent skirmishes, but Washington is in constant fear of attack--until he takes the offensive with results that surprise everyone, the British most of all. FREE Teaching Resources available for download.
Inga's amazing ideas by Rubino, Ann — Catree.com, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 5.7. Inga is no ordinary 11-yearold girl and it isn't just her crown of white blond hair that makes her different. Standing with the orphan children she stares ahead with a grim expression, waiting to be chosen for a mother's helper. In 1888, girls are expected to cook, sew, clean and scrub the laundry but Inga has other ideas. She'd rather solve problems than clean; improve machines than cook. But then she's adopted by Mr. Duffy to help his wife, the town pie maker. Lugging her carpet bag she trudges behind her new parents who, to her surprise, live in a blacksmith shop ... filled with tools! Oh the things she could make! If only she didn't have to spend so much time peeling apples ... or does she? Inga engineers her way through Floyd County Iowa as the Swedish girl who can fix things. But does she go too far?
The Parker inheritance by Johnson, Varian — Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 5.9. Twelve-year-old Candice Miller is spending the summer in Lambert, South Carolina, in the old house that belonged to her grandmother, who died after being dismissed as city manager for having the city tennis courts dug up looking for buried treasure--but when she finds the letter that sent her grandmother on the treasure hunt, she finds herself caught up in the mystery and, with the help of her new friend and fellow book-worm, Brandon, she sets out to find the inheritance, exonerate her grandmother, and expose an injustice once committed against an African American family in Lambert. My Books Alive blog entry https://www.mybooksalive.com/search?q=parker+Inheritance
Merci Suarez changes gears by Medina, Meg — Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage company, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 6.3. "Merci Suarez relies on her close, extended family as she goes through many changes during her sixth-grade year at Florida's Seaward Pines Academy. FREE Teaching Resources available for download. My Books Alive blog entry https://www.mybooksalive.com/search?q=merci+suarez+changes+gears
The orphan band of Springdale by Nesbet, Anne — Candlewick Press, 2018 -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 7.3. On the verge of World War II, eleven-year-old Gusta is sent from New York City to Maine, where she discovers small-town prejudices--and a huge family secret. It's 1941, and . . . as the Second World War rages in Europe, eleven-year-old Gusta's life, like the world around her, is about to change. Her father, a foreign-born labor organizer, has had to flee the country, and Gusta has been sent to live in an orphanage run by her grandmother. . . lugging her one precious possession: a beloved old French horn, her sole memento of her father. But . . . how can a girl hang on to something so valuable and yet so useless when Gusta's mill-worker uncle needs surgery to fix his mangled hand, with no union to help him pay? Inspired by her mother's fanciful stories, Gusta secretly hopes to find the coin-like 'Wish' that her sea-captain grandfather supposedly left hidden somewhere. Meanwhile, even as Gusta gets to know the rambunctious orphans at the home, she feels like an outsider at her new school--and finds herself facing patriotism turned to prejudice . . . and a family secret likely to turn the small town upside" FREE Teaching Resources available for download.
