The Brainstorm Vol 2 (revamped): Books that can be used in multiple classrooms

This Biweekly Brainstorm was originally posted internally for ICS Oct 16, 2012.

Picture Book Resources

Just Another Ordinary Day by Rod Clement

This is the story of a little girl’s ordinary day. It includes things like being woken up by her alarm (a man with a gong), going down to breakfast (done by gliding), normal school activities, a normal ride home from school on the family off road vehicle (an elephant), and a snuggle with her kitty (lion) before heading back to bed. This was one of my favorite books to read to elementary kids when I worked in the elementary library. The students loved it and would get so into the story. They would gasp, laugh, and without prompting would start talking about how that's not a normal way to do ___ as the book was read.
This book has several ways it can be used in K-12 classrooms:

• The actual text in this book gives absolutely no clue as to the craziness of the ordinary day Clement creates. It sounds normal, but the pictures are wonderfully imaginative and humorous. Obviously, that lends well to talking about how words and pictures work together. 
• If you want to have fun with students, you could read the text without showing any pictures, have them make their own illustrations to go with each phrase, then read them the story showing them Clement's illustrations, and then of course compare and contrast their ordinary days both with the book and with each other.
• Of course, even without doing the reading minus illustrations, classes could read this and discuss how their ordinary may be extraordinary for someone else.
• You can use this to segue into talking about the ordinary days/customs of different cultures that may seem strange to others.
• At our multicultural international school, this is a great book to kickstart a conversation about how each student may have different customs, traditions, and even daily habits in their homes. 
• Also, this can help third culture kids talk about how they're daily routine is different in this country from what it may be in their passport culture, or how their family has mixed traditions making their customs somewhat different from both the country where they live and the country of their passport. If they need to, discuss with them how this makes them feel like they don't quite fit in in either culture 100%.
• If you're looking for a nice Thanksgiving activity, this book can also be used to talk about how we sometimes take for granted for everyday blessings. 
• And as a funny note, I also almost had a fight one year when the 2nd graders started arguing over whether the elephant was Asian or African, and the debate got a little heated. It was one of those "only in Asia" moments and so very hard to keep a straight face while settling the kids down. But based on the argument, you could evidently use this to talk about the physical differences between Asian and African elephants too.

The Empty Pot by Demi

It seems fitting to be re-sharing this one right now. I wish I could say I planned to share this in coordination with the re-release of this book as a storytime set tomorrow, but I didn't. It just worked out nicely. Demi retells a folktale about an Asian emperor looking for a successor. The emperor holds a contest. He gives all the children a seed and asks them to bring the plant that grows. Ping cannot get anything to grow in his pot so he wrestles with putting in a different plant or just bringing the empty pot to the emperor. It turns out the emperor gave everyone boiled seeds, and an empty pot was exactly what he was looking for. And Ping is the only one honest enough to bring a pot without a growing plant.
Ideas for K-12 classroom use:

• Regardless of what age you teach, you probably have students who struggle with honesty and being willing to stand out from the crowd to do the right thing. Talk with students about Ping's struggle and how they identify. Asian students especially seem to struggle with saving face or risking bringing shame to family. You can discuss whether or not they would have done the same thing, and the benefits of doing the right thing even if it is hard.
• If you're looking for a multicultural folktale, this is a great Asian pick.
• It is pretty easy to pick out the moral of this story, so if you are discussing theme in literature, this would be a good one to practice with.
• Have the students brainstorm what kind of character qualities they would want in a successor if they were emperor and what types of tests they would design to find out who has those qualities. They could even write this up as their own folktale.

Chapter Book Resource

The Wolf of Tebron by C.S. Lakin

Working at a Christian school, so I'm always on the lookout for good, quality Christian literature I can offer to students, teachers, and parents. It's not an easy task. Anyone who talks books with me knows that a common lament of mine is the woeful lack of good, quality Christian literature available, especially for young adults. Most of it makes me want to get out a red pen and start marking it up (for example, Ted Dekker’s adapted Lost Books series for teens...painful). So it was like a breath of fresh air to come across this book. Is it perfect? No. Will all of you love it? No. But it is the best example of Christian allegory I’ve seen from a modern writer, reminiscent of George MacDonald and C.S. Lewis. The story is loosely based on both "The Enchanted Pig" fairytale  according to Lakin (which has strong resemblances to "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" too). A young man embarks on a journey to find his missing wife and discovers himself accompanied by a wolf. There are many things which make the journey difficult, not the least of which the man finds are actually within his own heart, such as bitterness. (Click on the title to read my full review. If kids like this book, it is part of a series that can be read in any order.) I would recommend this as a read-aloud for 4th-6th grades. 6th on up could probably read it aloud no problem.
Here's some ideas of talking points/ways to use this for 4th-12th:

• What do you think of the writing style Lakin chose for the book? 
• Discuss what an allegory is and why people might choose to write in this way.
• What are the challenges involved in writing a book filled with dream sequences?
• Lakin uses exceptional vocabulary throughout the book. Did you see/hear some words you were unfamiliar with? What were they? Were you able to figure out what they meant? How?
• The wolf's wise sayings are primarily quotes of C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton. Discuss some of the things both of those men are well known for OR discuss how to use quotes properly in writing and give proper acknowledgement.
• Joran struggles with several things, but primarily bitterness. What are some of the dangers of harboring bitterness?
• Joran also struggles with jumping to conclusions. What are some of the dangers of jumping to conclusions, and how can we avoid doing so?
• Joran's love for his wife is quite amazing. He goes on a horribly long journey and makes so many sacrifices for her. What are some of the different ways we use the word love, and how do you know what true love is?
• Read the original fairy tales "The Enchanted Pig" and "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" and compare/contrast them with each other and this story.
• There are other books which rewrite "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" such as Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, East (published overseas as North Child) by Edith Pattou, and West of the Moon by Margi Preus, students could read one or several of these and compare and contrast them.
• Have students talk about which wise wolf quote they liked the best and why. (You could have them keep a journal of their favorite wolf quotes and best big words they come across to help facilitate this.)
• Have students discuss what they think the most important lesson Joran learned was.