How Angel Peterson Got His Name; and Other Outrageous Tales About Extreme Sports

Paulsen, Gary. How Angel Peterson Got His Name; and Other Outrageous Tales About Extreme Sports. 2003. 111pp. Lexile 1180.

If you're looking for a nonfiction book with a high lexile level that is highly entertaining, try this memoir.  Gary Paulsen’s fiction and nonfiction are  surprisingly complex as measured by reading formulas yet the subject matter is almost always appealing to teens.  The episodic chapters, which are short with relatively large print, will have readers laughing and shaking their heads right from the start.  In a conversational tone, Paulsen recounts the “extreme sports” he and his friends tried back when, as he puts it, “We were quite a bit dumber.”  A typical crazy stunt was skiing behind a car—like water skiing but on a road in winter.  He describes homemade skateboards and homemade bungee jumping, both dangerous.  As he says early on, “None of what we did should be done by anybody except heavily insured, highly trained professionals under adult supervision on closed courses with ambulances, doctors, and MedEvac choppers standing by.”  Good for reading aloud and independent reading.

Fiction Tie-In/Reading Std #9 for grades 6-8: Compare/contrast texts on similar themes or topics.   Paulsen tackles similar topics with similar slapstick humor in his novel, Harris and Me: A Summer Remembered.  Readers who like one book will probably like the other and enjoy comparing and contrasting them. 

Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley

Walker, Sally M. Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley. 2005. 112pp. Lexile 1060.

The Civil War submarine, The Hunley, was sunk in Charleston, SC, harbor in 1863.  Despite many attempts (including a $100,000 reward offered by P.T. Barnum), it wasn’t found again until 1994. In this exemplary nonfiction book, Walker combines the two fascinating stories: the historical information about the civil war submarine and the its excavation and reconstruction.  The history discusses how the sub was built and its role in the war.  The excavation, presented in ample detail, included forensic reconstruction of eight of the crew members and historical research into who they were, based in part on artifacts found.  This combination of history, engineering, archaeology, and forensics makes for excellent reading.  Walker presents questions for the reader to consider, some of which are answered and others still remaining.  The writing is excellent, the visuals add a lot, and the topic will appeal to many readers, even those not usually interested in history or engineering. Winner of the Sibert Award.

Reading Std #5: Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and/or larger portions of the text relate to each other and the whole.  Walker alternates discussion of the modern day excavation of the Hunley with how it was built and used during the Civil War.  Analyze how alternating the information contributes to the whole and the development of ideas.

Navajo Code Talkers: America's Secret Weapon in World War II

Aaseng, Nathan. Navajo Code Talkers: America's Secret Weapon in World War II. 2005. Available in paperback. 114pp. Lexile: 1170.

This is a terrific story that deserves a wide audience, yet was kept secret by government order for decades.  During World War II, the Marines recruited Navajos to develop and transmit an unbreakable code based on their native language. The irony is that boarding schools for Indians run by the government had vigorously tried to suppress Navajo and other Indian languages, washing out children’s mouths with soap when they spoke their native language.  The Navajo marines faced danger and death in the Pacific as they received and transmitted messages on the forefront of the fighting, messages instrumental in many key battles. As one major is quoted as saying, “Were it not for the Navajo code, we would never have taken Iwo Jima.”  This is not only a great war story but also a story of great generosity as Navajos whose tribe had been severely mistreated by the U.S. government nevertheless fought and died for their country.  Includes a useful map of the Pacific battle sites.

Fiction tie-in  Pair this with Joseph Bruchac’s 2005 novel, Code Talker, about a fictional Navajo Marine, schooled at a harsh boarding school, where speaking Navajo is punished.  As a teenager, he joins the Marines to be a code talker during the war, seeing brutal action in Guadalcanal, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. 

Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust

Thomson, Ruth. Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust. 2011. 64pp. Lexile: 980.

In this powerful, heartbreaking book, Thomson brings together short quotes from children, teens, and adults who were prisoners at Terezin (also called Theresienstadt), a Nazi concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.  Of the 15,000 children held there over the years, fewer than 100 survived.  The author draws on memoirs and oral histories of survivors, and journals from the time that were hidden.  An extensive cache of artwork was smuggled out, some of which is reproduced here to great effect.  Many scholars, artists, musicians, and writers were at Terezin, where they managed to teach children and organize performances.  One of the horrors is that the Nazis used Terezin as an example of how humanely they treated prisoners, “beautifying” it for Red Cross visitors and making a propaganda film about it.  The excellent book design offers short chapters, many quotes, and remarkable art.  Back matter includes a timeline, glossary, sources, and recommended websites.

Speech/drama tie-in   This presents many short first-person excerpts of children, teens, and children, which would lend themselves to oral presentation with students taking on the different voices.

Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance

Hill, Laban.  Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance.  2004. 160 pp. Lexile: 1270.  Available in paperback.

A National Book Award finalist, this beautifully designed book conveys a sense of time and place through its visual elements as well as its text.  Jazzy reproductions of artwork, photographs, and artifacts, including posters and book jackets, fill the pages.  The narrative provides an overview of Harlem’s history from about 1900 through the early 1930s, explaining why so many blacks headed to New York City from the South and exploring the resentment and violence they encountered in the North. Readers learn that Harlem’s clubs and music became popular with whites, a financial boon to the community, but at the same time, black culture was distorted in minstrel shows and other theatrical productions, a source of disappointment to Harlem’s intellectuals.  A host of visual artists, performers, and writers important to the Harlem Renaissance are introduced including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, William H. Johnson and more.  Quotes from articles, poems, and speeches give an immediacy to the narrative.

Reading Std #3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.  Have students analyze Hill’s choices in how he organized this history.  It begins with a chronological structure but then switches to chapters 6-9 that cover the same time period.  Why start with the chapter on the Dark Tower?  What connections are drawn among these four chapters?  This book has a high Lexile (1270) but a limited amount of text, with many visual images that reinforce the text, making it a possible choice for less advanced readers.

Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science

Fleischman, John.  Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science.  2002. 85pp. Lexile: 1030.  Available in paper.

In 1848, Phineas Gage, a 26-year-old explosives expert, had an accident that should have killed him.  A 3-foot-long metal rod was blasted by dynamite and went straight through his brain and out again.  Yet he was walking and talking almost immediately and lived twelve more years with fairly good health.  The strange thing is that his personality was said to have completely changed.  He went from being good with people and a popular supervisor, to being crude and hard to get along with. At the time, doctors had so little information about the human brain that they couldn’t explain what happened to him. As medicine became more sophisticated, doctors kept looking back over the years and studying the accounts of Gage and examining his skull, which was dug up some time after he was buried and preserved for study.  The narrative effectively uses Gage’s bizarre story to also convey a lot of information about the history of brain science.  

Reading Std #9 for grades 6-8: Compare/contrast texts on similar themes or topics.  Have students read the article, “Phineas Gage: Neuroscience's Most Famous Patient” by Steve Twomey in Smithsonian, January 2010 - 40 (10): 8–10. Available here. Compare its view of Phineas Gage, based on recent discoveries, with that offered in the Fleischman book to find areas of disagreement or interpretation.

Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans

Nelson, Kadir. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. 2011. 108pp. Lexile 1050

Magnificent paintings on full pages and double-page spreads fill this overview of African-American history.  Nelson narrates his story, from the role of blacks in Colonial America to the election of President Obama, using the voice of an old woman who recalls her grandfather’s life, that of her parents, and her own.  Slavery, the Civil War, Westward expansion, the Great Migration, the world wars, and the civil rights movements are covered, along with important figures such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Martin Luther King, Jr.  Nelson’s talents as artist and writer serve his audience beautifully here.  Back matter includes a timeline, bibliography, and index.

Reading Std #4: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including technical, connotative, and figurative meanings; analyze role of specific word choices.  Consider the conversational fictional narrator of this otherwise informational text.  Analyze phrases like “touched in the head” and “painted the town red,” and how the informal tone affects the impact of the text.  Specifically note references to Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction

Macaulay, David. Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction. 1973. 80pp. Lexile 1120. Available in paperback.

 

This remarkable book broke ground in the field of young people's nonfiction with its elegant design and attention to detail.  With large black-and-white pen drawings filling each page, it tells the story of how a fictional medieval cathedral was built, from quarrying stone to hanging the final banners and lighting the candles.  The many diagrams and the well-written text explain the complicated process clearly.  A must for readers interested in construction.  This heavily illustrated book is a Common Core exemplar, one of the few with a lot of technical information in it.

Reading Std #3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.  Students have a rare chance first to consider the author’s choices in unfolding his topic and then to read the author’s own reflection about those choices in his 1999 book Building the Book Cathedral.  He discusses the writing, illustrating, and editing process, and considers what he would do differently if he had the chance to re-write the book.

Macaulay, David. Building the Book Cathedral. 1999. 112pp. Lexile 1070. 

Three Titanic Books

• McPherson, Stephanie Sammartino. Iceberg Right Ahead! The Sinking of the Titanic.  2011. 112pp.  Lexile: 1070.
• Hopkinson, Deborah. Titanic: Voices from the Disaster. 2012. 275pp.  Lexile: 1040.
• Denenberg, Barry. Titanic Sinks!  2011. 72pp. 

Students can learn about different approaches to a factual subject by comparing different nonfiction books on the same topic.  The 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic offers an excellent opportunity to do so, comparing three books with different approaches and overlapping but not identical information and photographs.  The McPherson book is the most traditional, a solid narrative about the causes and aftermath as well as the tragedy itself, drawing on primary sources; it has plentiful photographs and useful back matter. The Hopkinson book emphasizes primary sources, weaving in multiple quotes from different people who survived and left records of their experiences.  This gives the book a personal feel without fictionalizing.  Denenberg takes more liberties, creating a narrator, S.F. Vannie, who serves as a correspondent for the fictional Modern Times.  The content is otherwise factual.  The book design echoes magazine format with excellent visual elements including photographs, posters, memorabilia, and ads.

Reading Std #9 for grades 6-8: Compare/contrast texts on similar themes or topics.  Compare McPherson’s straightforward approach with the greater inclusion of primary sources by Hopkinson and the magazine format with slight fictionalization by Denenberg.