Run off to Grand Rapids on a humorous adventure filled with interesting characters, all leading to a place to call home. Pose questions that will initiate great conversation and discussion in any classroom. Discuss the concept of perseverance, and determine why it is an important quality to have. Match characters to their statements. Determine the purpose of the author's intentional use of spelling mistakes in the novel. Match vocabulary words to their definitions before using them in a sentence. Students create their own family tree to compare with Bud's. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: A touching and humorous story about a ten-year-old boy on the run. Foster child Bud Caldwell leaves Flint, Michigan during the height of the Great Depression in 1936. When Bud eventually arrives in Grand Rapids, he meets Herman Calloway and all the members of the band who welcome him into their lives. As the story comes to a close, we learn that Calloway is Bud’s grandfather, and Bud at last has a place to call “home”. A captivating story told in Bud’s point of view, this novel is an excellent read aloud. The historical setting, intriguing cast of characters and themes of racial and societal prejudice, all provide excellent opportunities for teaching, learning and discussion.

The Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning classic about a boy who decides to hit the road to find his father—from Christopher Paul Curtis, author of The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963, a Newbery and Coretta Scott King Honoree. It’s 1936, in Flint Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud’s got a few things going for him: 1. He has his own suitcase full of special things. 2. He’s the author of Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. 3. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: flyers advertising Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression!!!!!! Bud’s got an idea that those flyers will lead him to his father. Once he decides to hit the road to find this mystery man, nothing can stop him—not hunger, not fear, not vampires, not even Herman E. Calloway himself. AN ALA BEST BOOK FOR YOUNG ADULTS AN ALA NOTABLE CHILDREN'S BOOK AN IRA CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD WINNER NAMED TO 14 STATE AWARD LISTS “The book is a gem, of value to all ages, not just the young people to whom it is aimed.” —The Christian Science Monitor “Will keep readers engrossed from first page to last.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred “Curtis writes with a razor-sharp intelligence that grabs the reader by the heart and never lets go. . . . This highly recommended title [is] at the top of the list of books to be read again and again.” —Voice of Youth Advocates, Starred From the Hardcover edition.

"We are a family on a journey to a place called wonderful" is the motto of Deza Malone's family. Deza is the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, singled out by teachers for a special path in life. But it's 1936 and the Great Depression has hit Gary hard, and there are no jobs for black men. When her beloved father leaves to find work, Deza, Mother, and her older brother, Jimmie, go in search of him, and end up in a Hooverville outside Flint, Michigan. Jimmie's beautiful voice inspires him to leave the camp to be a performer, while Deza and Mother find a new home, and cling to the hope that they will find Father. The twists and turns of their story reveal the devastation of the Depression and prove that Deza truly is the Mighty Miss Malone.

Search for buried treasure along with Stanley while solving an age-old mystery that will change lives forever. We combine comprehension and vocabulary, making it useful for both students and educators. Make an assumption as to what crime Stanley committed prior to reading the novel. Record the social order of the boys at Camp Green Lake on a diagram of a ladder. Provide picture clues to help remember the meaning of the vocabulary words. Use clues to infer details about Hector's life. Create a handbook to help Stanley deal with bullying. Create character cards about one person from the novel, answering questions such as how the character acts, feels and likes. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Meet Stanley Yelnats, an unlikely hero who shows us that even the most ordinary individual is capable of extraordinary things. A unique and well-crafted story in which events from the past and present are woven together, ranging from whimsical and entertaining. Wrongly convicted of stealing running shoes, Stanley is given the option of attending Camp Green Lake, a “camp” where boys dig holes all day, every day. Stanley soon figures out that there is more to the hole-digging than building character as the Warden is looking for treasure. Stanley undergoes profound personal growth as he has to face challenges that would have seemed insurmountable.

The Great Depression is the setting for this tale of overcoming hardships. This resource is designed to help struggling readers understand the book. Make predictions about Billie Jo’s future playing the piano. Put events in order as they happen to Billie Jo and her classmates. Students imagine making the same decisions Billie Jo faces regarding her future. Identify the metaphor Billie Jo uses for her father and what it means. Compare and contrast your own holiday traditions with the ones celebrated by Billie Jo’s community. Explore key sequences of events from the story on a plot train graphic organizer. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, our worksheets incorporate a variety of scaffolding strategies along with additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key. About the Novel: Out of the Dust tells the story of Billie Jo as she struggles during the Great Depression while living on a farm in Oklahoma. Billie Jo lives with her parents on a small farm with very little money and insufficient crops. Drought rages across the country. With no water, nothing can grow and soon the ground turns to dust. Dust is everywhere. It’s in their food, their clothes, their beds, their mouths, and even their eyes. There is no break from it. The only good thing is Billie Jo’s love of playing the piano. She inherits this from her mother, who soon allows her to start playing at shows. However, things get worse for the family when tragedy befalls their small farm. An event causes Billie Jo to lose her mother and unborn brother. She also injures her hands so severely that she can no longer play the piano. Billie Jo and her father soon drift apart. It’s only a matter of time before Billie Jo must decide whether to leave the farm for a better life, or stay and watch her farm and father be swallowed in dust. Told from her perspective, Billie Jo’s voice is evident as she retells the hardships her and her family have endured while trying to survive, living among the dust.

Gain a sense of responsibility and knowing what it's like to have someone's fate in their hands. Our resource is great for quizzes, vocabulary and writing prompts. Predict what will happen between Tree-ear and Min, and whether Tree-ear will become a potter. Match characters to their actions in the story. Use words in a sentence to show its meaning. Describe how Tree-ear prepares the clay for Min, and how different the process would be today. Write the step-by-step instructions on Kang's new technique for making pottery. Compare Min and Kang's work in a Venn Diagram. Design a poster advertising Min's pottery. Find the cities from the novel on a setting map of Korea. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Set in 12th Century Korea, Tree-ear—an orphaned little boy—lives under a bridge with a disabled older friend and caretaker named Crane-man. Tree-ear is fascinated with a local potter named Min and dreams of creating his own ceramics. The trade of potter is unfortunately passed down from father to son, therefore Min can’t teach Tree-ear the trade. The Royal Emissary tours the village in search for a new potter for the palace. Min and Kang—another pottery-maker—compete for the honor. The emissary chooses Kang but tells Min that if he can create more work and bring it to Puyo, he will reconsider his choice. Now, Min’s fate rests in the hands of Tree-ear, who must deliver the pottery to the palace.

Experience the hardships of starting over during the Great Depression. The activities act as a great jumping-off point for teaching in a student-guided manner. Students put themselves in Esperanza's shoes and describe her changing viewpoints as she becomes exposed to the lives of those poorer than she once was. Determine whether a strike will cause conflict later in the story based on what is already known. Put events in order as they happen immediately following the death of Esperanza's father. Make predictions on the outcome of Esperanza's attempts to get a job. Compare the mythological story of the phoenix to that of Esperanza. Compare the different settings of the book, from Esperanza's home in Mexico to the work camps in California. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Esperanza Rising tells the story of a young girl who's world gets turned upside-down, and must flee to America to start a new life. Esperanza Ortega grew up in luxury on her father's ranch in Mexico. She had servants, nice clothes and lavish parties. Her sheltered life comes crashing down when her father is killed by renegades while tending to a broken fence on his property. Their home is left to Esperanza and her mother, but the land is left to her father's stepbrothers. After their home is burned down, Esperanza, her mother and a few loyal servants flee to America to start better lives. Unfortunately for them, it's the Great Depression and their new lives won't be so great. Esperanza is immediately flung into poverty and struggles to adjust. When they make it to the States, Esperanza falls into a deep depression. When her mother becomes sick, Esperanza must grow up and learn to appreciate what she has. This riches-to-rags story shows that it's not what you possess that bring you happiness, but the people you share it with.

Discover the loneliness that comes with a solitary and independent life. The quizzes and activity pages make this resource accessible for all students. Students choose their own animal to become their faithful companion, much like Frightful is to Sam. Elaborate on Sam's realization that he is low in vitamin C by researching other vitamins and explaining what they provide to the human body. Test comprehension with multiple choice questions that ask about how Sam spends Christmas on the mountain. Predict how long it will be before Sam sees his father again. Identify the different relationships Sam makes with both animals and other people during his time in the Catskill Mountains. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: My Side of the Mountain follows one boy's journey into the wilderness and the most unlikely realization he finds there. Sam Gribley is an adolescent boy who lives in a small New York City apartment with eight brothers and sisters. He hates feeling trapped and dreams of living in the wide open space that only the wilderness can provide. He decides then to run away to his grandfather's abandoned farm in the Catskill Mountains. On the way, Sam recounts how he survives a snowstorm and befriends a falcon and weasel. He learns many skills from people he meets on his journey that will help him to survive his independent lifestyle. However, Sam finds his solitude more lonesome than he thought, and soon yearns for human interaction. This coming-of-age story follows the mental and physical growth of a young boy as he discovers who he really is.

Luther T. Farrell has got to get out of Flint, Michigan. As his best friend Sparky says, “Flint’s nothing but the Titanic.” And his mother, a.k.a. the Sarge, says, “Take my advice and stay off the sucker path.” The Sarge milked the system to build an empire of slum housing and group homes. Luther’s just one of the many people trapped in the Sarge’s Evil Empire—but he’s about to bust out. If Luther wins the science fair this year, he’ll be on track for college and a future as America’s best-known and best-loved philosopher. All he’s got to do is beat his arch rival Shayla Patrick, the beautiful daughter of Flint’s finest undertaker—and the love of Luther’s life. Sparky’s escape plans involve a pit bull named Poofy and the world’s scariest rat. Oh, and Luther. Add to the mix Chester X., Luther’s mysterious roommate; Dontay Gaddy, a lawyer whose phone number is 1-800-SUE’M ALL; and Darnell Dixon, the Sarge’s go-to guy who knows how to break all the rules. Bucking the Sarge is a story that only Christopher Paul Curtis could tell. Once again the Newbery Award–winning author of Bud, Not Buddy and The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 gives us a whole new angle on life and a world full of unforgettable and hilarious characters. Readers will root for Luther and Sparky every step of the way. Praise for The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963: “An exceptional first novel.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred “Ribald humor . . . and a totally believable child’s view of the world will make this book an instant hit.”—School Library Journal, Starred Praise for Bud, Not Buddy: “Curtis has given a fresh, new look to a traditional orphan-finds-a-home story that would be a crackerjack read-aloud.” —School Library Journal, Starred