Each book in this series is a guide for using a well-known piece of literature in the classroom. Included are sample plans, author information, vocabulary-building ideas, and cross-curricular activities. At the Intermediate and Challenging levels, sectional activities and quizzes, unit tests, and ideas for culminating and extending the novel are also included.

In her own singularly beautiful style, Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion. Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle, proud of her country roots and the "Indian-ness in her blood," travels from Ohio to Idaho with her eccentric grandparents. Along the way, she tells them of the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a "potential lunatic," and whose mother disappeared. As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold—the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.

A small canoe carved by an Indian boy makes a journey from Lake Superior all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.

The story of a two children displaced from the city and forced to adapt to a new home and all the challenges that this brings (including a menagerie of animals), from a multi-award-winning author.

This is an utterly original and completely beguiling prose novel about a boy who has to write a poem, and then another, and then even more. Soon the little boy is writing about all sorts of things he has not really come to terms with, and astounding things start to happen.

"By turns sarcastic, tender, and irreverent, this will quickly make its way into the hands of readers who loved Walk Two Moons." —Kirkus This beloved prequel to bestselling author Sharon Creech's Newbery Medal winner Walk Two Moons chronicles the life of a thirteen-year-old during her most chaotic and romantic summer ever via journal entries, filled with hilarious observations on love, death, and the confusing mechanics of holding hands. Mary Lou is less than excited about her assignment to keep a journal over the summer. Boring! Then cousin Carl Ray comes to stay with her family, and what starts out as the dull dog days of summer quickly turns into the wildest roller-coaster ride of all time. Named one of the New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing!

Return to Miss Stretchberry's class with Jack, the reluctant poet, who over the course of a year encounters new and challenging things like metaphors, alliterations, onomatopoeia, and one mean fat black cat! The Newbery Medal-winning author of Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech, introduced Jack in Love That Dog, a New York Times bestseller. Both Love That Dog and Hate That Cat are approachable, funny, warm-hearted introductions to poetry told from the point of view of a very real kid wrestling with school assignments. These books are fast reads that will be welcomed by middle graders as they too wonder how poetry and schoolwork connect with their interests and how to uncover their true voices. In Hate That Cat, Jack is only trying to save that fat black cat stuck in the tree by his bus stop—but the cat scratches him instead! At school Miss Stretchberry begins teaching new poems, everything from William Carlos Williams to Valerie Worth to T.S. Eliot. As the year progresses, Jack gradually learns to love that cat and finds new ways to express himself.

Teaching literature unit based on the popular children's story, The indian in the cupboard.

In today's western cultures, the typical pregnancy focuses on the baby to the exclusion of the woman herself, so that the entire experience has become more about preparing for the baby's arrival than looking closely at oneself to prepare emotionally for all of the changes that creating a new life brings. Sacred Pregnancy was written to help the pregnant woman journey within herself to prepare for the birth of her baby. Sacred Pregnancy is a gorgeous four-color book especially created for mothers-to-be to reflect on the many personal milestones of the full gestation period of a pregnancy. With beautiful professional photos that correspond to each topic, Sacred Pregnancy also features a journal space for the pregnant woman to record her thoughts and feelings. Each week the mother-to-be is given information on her baby, her body, and her spirit and is asked to reflect on these via the topic of the week, which touches on a variety of issues such as sexuality, fears about labor, becoming a mother, courage, rite of passage, adornment, body image, meditation, and sisterhood to name a few. Mothers-to-be are invited to look deeply at the issues unique to their journey and find a centered, peaceful place to live their pregnancy fully. Lastly, Sacred Pregnancy includes place for the new mother to record her birth story and a large resource section on various birthing options and supports for pregnant women. “From the spiritual (how to visualize your perfect birth) to the practical (a large section on birthing options), this pregnancy journal is a spiritual adviser and supportive doula all in one.” —Fit Pregnancy magazine For more information, visit the Sacred Pregnancy website.

Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech's inspired novel tells the story of a boy who fantasizes about who he is in order to discover who he will become. Now with fresh and gorgeous new cover art, this touching tale has received many starred reviews, and was called a "warm, funny, philosophical novel" by Kirkus. With the backdrop of a large family and a theater as its frame, this is a story about twelve-year-old Leo, who has a talent for transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. That's why he's called "fog boy." He's always dreaming, always replaying things in his brain. As an actor in the school play, he is poised and ready for the curtain to open. But in the play that is his life, he is eager to discover what part will be his. With the universal theme of finding one's true identity, and set amid a loud, noisy, memorable family, Leo's story is one that all kids will relate to. And there's a full play at the end of the book that kids and teachers can perform!