|
|
Nancy's picks for the best junior novel and
the Internet of Summer
1999 and ideas for using them in the classroom. Compiled
by Nancy Polette © 1999.
| Last updated:
Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
- DeFelice, Cynthia. NOWHERE
TO CALL HOME Farrar, 1999
- When Frances Elizabeth
Barrow hops a freight train west, she
looks nothing like herself. And she's
sure the bedraggled young man she finds
in her boxcar believes she is exactly
what she appears to be - a poor homeless
boy, another hobo.Her companion, Stewpot,
renames her Frankie Blue. Soon she is
skillfully sneaking on and off trains,
finding food and struggling to protect
herself. Then life becomes harder.
Frankie begins to remember who she is, an
educated girl from a once wealthy family.
She comes to understand that a hobo's
life is only for those with no
alternative. Frankie has a way out but
now Stewpot needs her......
- 1. Read the letter from
the noted author, James Michener, who
claimed to be a "bum" at heart.
Create a Venn diagram comparing Frankie's
life with Micheners.
- MICHENER LETTER: http://glpbooks.com/oyb/hobomichener.html
-
- 2. Read the words to Bob
Dylan's song "I Am A Lonesome
Hobo." What parts of this song might
have been written by Frankie? By Stewpot?
-
- I AM A LONESOME HOBO:
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/hobo.html
-
- Spires, Elizabeth. THE
MOUSE OF AMHERST. Farrar, 1999
- When Emmaline, a white
mouse, moves into the wainscoting of
Emily Dickinson's bedroom, she discovers
her literary kinship with the great poet
of Amherst.. "I'm nobody. Who are
you?" Emily asks, and with
Emmaline's reply begins a lively
correspondence where mouse and 'Myth'
become fast friends and, in the process,
inspire each other to new poetic heights.
Here is a mouse eye's view of the
pleasures and perils of life in Emily
Dickinson's world.
-
- Visit the web site for
Emily Dickinson and choose a favorite
poem as a model for you to use in writing
about something that interests you. EMILY
DICKINSON: http://www.poets.org/LIT/poet/edickins.htm
- Example:
- Frequently the woods are
pink
- Frequently are brown
- Frequently the hills
undress
- Behind my native town
- Emily Dickenson
-
- Frequently the stars come
out
- Frequently shine bright
- Frequently the stars
parade
- Across the sky at night
- Student: Grade 4
-
|
| |
|
