This year Edinger House concluded their study of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland with a radio play project. Below is a copy of the class blog post that will give you a sense of the process they took to create the play. And here is the radio play itself. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it!
As you may or may not know, before television there was radio. People listened to all sorts of radio programs that were very similar to the weekly television shows of today. The making of them was fun — actors had to be VERY expressive, there was live music, and people doing sound effects.
https://youtu.be/j0E15l_lKAQ
Prairie Home Companion Sound Effects Guy
You have been put into groups of two or three (based on the choices you gave me) to work on the scenes of our play. During the periods provided you will need to work with your team mates to decided on roles and — most of all — sound effects. A few have been indicated in the script, but I’m counting on you to come up with more (using materials available in the classroom).
You should rehearse the play with your group several times. Then, we will do one or two run-throughs with the whole class.
The play (with all your sounds and such) will be recorded and then put on the blog for you to share with others.
You will do one performance of the play for your parents on Tuesday, June 14th. It will be followed by — what else? — a celebratory Alice Tea Party!
“When you grow up your differences actually become your super powers.”
Cece Bell, El Deafo
For the past few years Edinger House has read a new book in literature circles in the spring. Last year it was Africa is My Home and the year before it was the Newbery winner, The One and Only Ivan. This year, after falling in love with Cece Bell’s graphic novel memoir, El Deafo, Ms. Edinger chose it. Rereading in preparation a few weeks before the Newbery awards were announced had her realized that it had a shot for that and so she wrote a blog post advocating for it to win. Of course, she was over-the-top thrilled when it got an honor and very pleased she had already decided (and gotten the books) for the class to read. Happily, they all loved it as much as she did!
After reading and then discussing the book in small groups and as a class, the students all wrote responses on their blogs. Here are quotes from these.
This book is very inspiring because it shows how being deaf, didn’t stop her. Stevie Wonder was blind, but he still is a great musician. It shows that if you have disability, use it to your advantage.
I have recently read a wonderful graphic novel called El Deafo…. El Deafo won the 2015 Newbery Honor for its amazing writing.
Personally I loved the book and wish there was a sequel. It is great and even just looking at the cover you can tell that it is gong to be great. I extremely enjoyed the humor….I was curious why she made all the characters have bunny ears. I thought maybe it was because Cece Bell was showing what a big thing hearing is in the book but I still didn’t understand why she thought of bunny ears not dog ears or something. Whatever the reason it definitely made the book funnier. A big theme of the book is friendship. Most books have a big theme of friendship but this is different. An example is Charlotte’s Web. A big theme of that book is friendship but it’s about having an amazing friendship and not wanting to let it go. But in El Deafo it is about Cece trying to find a good friendship. And I think the uniqueness makes El Deafo an even better book. Overall El Deafo is an amazing book.
I think this was a great book, because it has many important themes, such as friendship, optimism, and turning differences into superpowers. In my opinion, it was very cool to turn a story like this into a funny graphic novel. I think this book can be very inspiring for someone who has a disability, or is just different in some way; they may somehow be able to turn it into a good thing like Cece. I really like many parts of the book that, are funny, like when Cece can hear her teacher using the bathroom. My favorite part of the book is the ending, where she gives the fuzzy things to her friends. It’s a great ending because she becomes friends with Martha and Ginny again, and everyone is happy. After reading it, this has become one of my favorite books. This truly is a great story, and almost everyone can get something out of this book.
El Deafo is a really funny book.… It’s also written well. Even if you aren’t looking at the pictures, you can picture what’s going on. El Deafo has a lot of themes in it, including overcoming obstacles. Cece has to overcome obstacles all the time, from not being able to understand her friends to not knowing what to do in P.E., both of which happen because it is so hard to lip read. But she always manages to get past it, and eventually toward the end of the book things start to go her way.
El Deafo is an absolutely AMAZING book…. I really like how Cece makes all these different friends, like first it’s Laura then it’s Ginny, then it’s Martha….I think El Deafo is a very strong character, in all she goes through. I think everybody should read El Deafo.
I really liked El Deafo because of how much Cece has to go through.
I think El Deafo shows how important hearing is, and how sometimes your differences can be your superpowers. I really enjoyed El Deafo.
I love El Deafo. One thing I like about El Deafo is that she is always moving forward. When something bad happens to her she keeps on going…. You usually hear stories about how much people were teased because of their differences. I like how in this book, you hear the bright side of her differences….El Deafo is an inspiring story that proved that your differences is what makes you, yourself.
CeCe Bell’s El Deafo was a funny, and cartoony very humorous graphic novel. It is very similar to her actual life.
I think that El Deafo is a good and interesting book, and it is so cool that it is a true story.
I loved all of the humor and emotion in El Deafo. I think that the bunny ears were a brilliant idea, because it really shows how important hearing is, and you can see the cords going up to Cece’s ears….It is definitely Newbery worthy, and definitely worth reading.
Overall I really liked El Deafo and I hope that Cece Bell releases a sequel.
The graphic novel El Deafo, a Newbery and Kirkus honor award winner, is based on how the author, Cece Bell, grew up deaf. Growing up deaf is not particularly so easy even today, but even more so at the time Cece grew up.
I really liked how over time she got comfortable with being deaf and she just accepted who she was.
I think that El Deafo is an inspiring story, for some people who are embarrassed about being deaf.
I think learning about someone else’s story in comic is a fun project. At first I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it, but the book has the best cliffhangers, making you want to read more….So all in all, El Deafo was a magnificent book and the writing was amazing. I’m not saying that it should change, but if it were to become a novel, I would see it the same. Reading is a fun thing to do, especially if the book appeals to you, and El Deafo has my seal of approval.
I liked that in the book El Deafo dreams that she is a super hero that stops all of the bad things that happen in her real life.
A majority of the book is about Cece’s hunt for a friend, and the lesson of the book is to always stay strong no matter what the situation is.
El Deafo is a great book that everyone can enjoy.
Edinger House students have been deep into a study of Cinderella. After considering how they had first encountered the story (many had it read to them or saw the Disney movie), exploring the different folkloric tale types, they read from a huge classroom and online variant collection. Additionally, they watched movies, considered the theme as it shows up in popular culture, and explored the idea of motifs.
Once the students had encountered approximately 20 different versions (some read independently and some read to them) they were asked to select 10 that they consider the best along with reasons why. To do this the class made the following list of criteria.
After identifying their own top ten Cindies the children met in table groups to come up with three lists. In order to do this they had to follow a very careful process, one that was designed for each person to have a voice.
All of the winning Cinderellas are now on display in our classroom. Congratulations to all of them!
All three groups selected:
Two of three groups selected:
The following were each selected by one group:
As the culminating activity four our study of E.B. White we made boxes featuring the themes of Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little and Trumpet of the Swan. Inspirations for these included works by Joseph Cornell, Carin Berger, and Melissa Sweet. The materials were mostly old F&Gs, picture book galleys Ms. Edinger had saved. We hope you enjoy our boxes!
Introducing Charlotte Little!
“Lilacs bloom and make the air sweet, than fade. Apples blossoms come with the lilacs and the bees visit around among the apple trees.” Charlotte’s Web, page 42
“Stuart closed his eyes and lay there in the dark, but he couldn’t seem to go sleep. He tossed and turned and the bedclothes got all rumpled up. He kept thinking about Margalo downstairs in the Boston fern and the way Snowbell’s eyes gleamed.” Stuart Little, page 53-54
My box’s theme is about nature and friendship. My books were Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web. I included Stuart from Stuart Little, and Wilbur and Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web. Even though the other theme is nature, I am more focused on friendship. An example of this is Stuart riding Wilbur. I think that is an example of friendship because a person (or in this case, mouse) riding anything is an example of good friendship. Also, I think that Stuart and Wilbur would become instant friends because they were both born small. So, in conclusion, Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little were awesome books, and I think I choose great themes to get of of it.
Friendship in E.B. White
“Wilbur liked Charlotte better and better each day.” Charlotte’s Web page 48.
“Stuart felt his heart leap for gladness. It seemed to him that he had never seen any creature more beautiful as this tiny bird, and he already loved her.” Stuart Little page 52.
I like the friendship in all of E.B White’s books because he makes it sound like it is really happening right in front of me and that’s why I made my E.B. White Box about friendship. Friendship and love are important in both Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. For example, Wilbur and Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web are friends as are Fern and Henry Fussy. So are Margalo and Stuart from Stuart Little! I hope that you enjoy my box!
Theme of Nature in E.B. White books
“Lilacs bloom and make the air sweet, and then fade. Apple blossoms come with the lilacs, and the bees visit around the apple trees. Charlotte’sWeb page 42.
“‘Swamps where cedars grow and turtles wait on logs but not for anything in particular; fields bordered by crooked fences broken by years of standing still; orchards so old the have forgotten where the farmhouse is.” StuartLittle page 129.
My box’s theme is nature. It has trees, animals, flowers, and clouds with raindrops forming a rainbow. The pig and the spider in my box represent Charlotte, and Wilbur, and the mouse and bird represent Stuart and Margalo. The sun on the top right side of the box lights up the scene, the other side with Charlotte’s web gets darker, and darker because of the shadow. On the darker side of the box, the clouds are actually raining water. All of these features of my box show and represent the theme of nature, which is a major theme in the books Stuart Little and Charlotte’sWeb by E.B. White.
My Friendship Box
“Underneath her rather bold and cruel exterior, she had a kind heart and was to prove loyal and true to the very end.” Charlotte’s Web, page 41
“It seemed to him that he had never seen any creature so beautiful as this tiny bird, and he already loved her.” Stuart Little, page 52
I find that why I love E. B. White’s books so much, are because of the friendship and the love and that is why I chose friendship as my theme for this assignment. Charlotte, from Charlotte’s Web is a loyal, clever and sweet spider and Wilbur is a sweet and sensitive pig who is destined to be killed at Christmas time. E. B. White is foreshadowing in that line and is speaking about their friendship. In the second quote from E. B. White is in another one of his books, Stuart Little and he is explaining Stuart’s (a human born mouse) feelings for a small bird named Margalo who he is obsessed with and loves with all of his heart. As you can see, my evidence shows a lot of friendship that happens in these two books. And as I said before, I love E. B. White’s writing because of the friendship and love.
Friendships in Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little
“Fern loved Wilbur more than anything.” Charlotte’s Web Pg.8
“I’ve never been so glad to see anybody in all my life,” Stuart Little Pg.62
The right side of the box is Charlotte’s Web and the left is Stuart Little. On the Charlotte’s Web side, Wilbur is just meeting Charlotte for the first time and Charlotte is says “salutations!” Wilbur is happy because he has found a new friend and he is bouncing on his tail. On the Stuart Little side Margalo is saving Stuart. Stuart is grateful that Margalo was flying to safety and is tipping his hat to her. These are some true friendships of the E.B.White books.
Life and Death Collage
“One evening, just before Christmas, snow began falling…Wilbur had never seen snow before.” Charlotte’s Web Page 173.
“Beware of a strange cat who will come by night.” Stuart Little Page 71
My box is about how much E.B White uses life and death. In the front, you see a small collage of words that that have to do with life and death. In the back you see Wilbur with snow falling. That is to represent the fact that Wilbur isn’t killed and he gets to see the snow. I also have Margalo in the top. That is because Snowbell’s friend wants to eat Margalo. I chose life and death because E.B White uses it to make books really intriguing.
Amazing E.B. White Nature Box
“When the first light comes into the sky and the sparrows stir and the cows rattle their chains, when the rooster crows and the stars fade, when when early crs whisper along the highway” Charlotte’s Web, page 143
“…the elm trees were green and higher than the houses…where the streets sloped down to the stream and the stream flowed quietly under the bridge….” Stuart Little, page 100
I read Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little and I thought a big theme of both books is nature. That is why I made my box’s theme nature. In my box for Charlotte’s Web I put Wilbur, a barn, a spider’s web, and the words that were in the web. For Stuart Little I put a bird in the sky that was supposed to represent Margalo. Even though nature was a theme in both books from my perspective nature was more in Charlotte’s Web than in Stuart Little because a lot of Stuart Little was in New York. That is why I focused on Charlotte’s Web more than Stuart Little. Personally I think E.B. White did a great job of describing nature in both of his books.
How E.B. White Focuses on Friendship
“He would have felt lonely and homesick, had Charlotte not been with him.” page 141 of Charlotte’s Web
“And he threw a kiss to Margalo.” page 56 in Stuart Little
The characters that I focus on in my box are Charlotte and Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web and Stuart and Margalo from Stuart Little. My box shows how much Charlotte cares about Wilbur by using a lot of her time just to make a web to save her friend’s life and I think that is friendship. And in Stuart Little when Margalo swoops in and saves Stuart’s life I think that is also friendship. I think E.B. White is a great author and I love all of his books and if you haven’t read his books I highly recommend you read E.B. White’s books.
Victory and Love of the Northern Cross
“‘Lurvy!” he called. ‘There is to be no more cow manure thrown down into that pigpen. I have a terrific pig.’” Charlotte’s Web, page 96
“Looking at Serena, Louis thought to himself, ‘ I think love is like the rapture of the deep. I feel so good I want to stay right where I am. I’m experiencing rapture of the deep even though I’m right on top of the water. I have never felt so good, so peaceful, so excited, so happy, so ambitious, so desirous”. Trumpet of the Swan, page 197
During the first quarter of the school year I read two E.B. White books. both of the White books I read had similar themes, one of which I displayed in an “E.B. White box”. Right now I am describing to you my box of which I worked extremely hard on. There are a lot of “bonds” that connect Louis and Serena and also Charlotte and Wilbur that are expressed in this masterpiece thus the theme of it is love. The materials are quite basic and are probably easy to find in a household. belief was a big path to victory while making my E.B. White box. I think Charlotte’s web of words was a creative idea . The reason I chose this specific title for my box was that the constellation the Northern Cross otherwise known as Cygnus represents a swan or cob and its victory. And I hope you like my box to describe it!
Some Friends
“It is not often that someone who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.” Charlotte’s Web page 184
“Whenever Louis was in trouble, his thoughts turned to Sam Beaver. Sam had helped him before; perhaps he could help him again.” The Trumpet Of The Swan page 86
I have read two books by E.B White. Charlotte’s Web and The Trumpet Of The Swan. While I was reading them I realized that friendship was such a big part of both books, so I decided to do it as my theme. The friendship in Charlotte’s Web is between Fern and Wilbur, or Wilbur and Charlotte. The friendship in The Trumpet Of The Swan is between Louis and Sam. In my box I have all of the main characters in the book displayed. Charlotte is hanging from a web labeled “Some Pig”. She is dangling from a string by a window where Fern’s head is sticking out. She is surprised and happy to have Sam and Louis over at the barn and petting Wilbur. I tried to display all of the main characters in both books, all making friends with each other. My favorite part of my E.B White box is Charlotte’s web hanging over the doorway of the barn.
Changes in the Stories of E.B. White Children’s Books
“The autumn days grew shorter, Lurvy brought the squashes and pumpkins and piled them on the barn floor where they wouldn’t get nipped on frosty nights.” Charlotte’s Web, page 173
“The sun shone down, strong and steady. Ice was melting; patches of open water appeared on the pond.” Trumpet of the Swan, page 244
“Before daybreak next morning he got out his biggest handkerchief and in it he placed his toothbrush, his money, his soap, his comb and brush, a clean suit of underwear, and his pocket compass.” Stuart Little, page 73
My E.B White box is about changes. Stuart goes from the city to the countryside, Louis goes from the pond to roaming looking for work, and finally Wilbur goes from being a runty pig to an award winning one. I have four sections in my box that represent Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall. Books need to have changes in their plots to make them interesting. I wouldn’t want to read Trumpet of the Swan if Louis didn’t have a voice the whole story and never left the pond. That would be boring. I think everybody should read E.B. White’s books because they have great changes in them to keep them interesting and they are really funny.
A World of Pure Nature
“Lilacs bloom and make the air sweet, then fade. Apple blossoms come with lilacs, and the bees visits around the apple trees.” Charlotte’s Web, page 113
“The day would break clear. Already the birds were beginning to stir and making sounds overhead.”Stuart Little, page 125
I read two books by E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. I think that both of these books both have a lot of nature in them so I chose to do that theme in my box. My box shows pictures of lots of plants, flowers, blue skies and lakes. The two characters I used from the book are Wilbur and Margelo. I think that nature is a very important thing in the world and I think that E.B. White thought that too.
Friendship in E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little.
“Who’s going to save me?” “I am,” said Charlotte. Charlotte’s Web, page 51.
Snowbell crept softly toward the bookshelf and climbed noiselessly up into the chair within easy reach of the Boston fern where Margalo was asleep. Stuart stepped out from behind the candlestick, knelt down, bent his bow, and took careful aim at Snowbell’s left ear-which was the nearest to him. Stuart Little, page 55.
The characters I focus on are Wilbur and Charlotte for Charlotte’s Web and Stuart and Margalo for Stuart Little. I chose Charlotte and Wilbur because Charlotte helps Wilbur when there is no real benefit for her so it is a completely selfless act. I chose Stuart and Margalo because Margalo saves Stuart from being killed and when Margolo leaves Stuart runs away from his home just to find Margalo! In my box there are two scenes that don’t happen in the book but make sense. The scene to the left is my Stuart Little scene where Stuart and Margalo are travelling through the city and the scene to the right is my Charlotte’s Web scene where Wilbur is underneath the web that says terrific. In my my opinion Wilbur and Charlotte and Stuart and Margalo are the two most significant friendships in the two books.
Changes In Both The Trumpet Of The Swan and Charlotte’s Web
“It is my egg sac, my magnum opus.” Charlotte’s Web, page 144.
“Eggs, of course can’t wiggle, so the swan decided she must have something under her that wasn’t an egg” The Trumpet OfThe Swan, page 29.
The theme of my box is change. The way I show change in my box is I made a web and put an egg sac in it with Charlotte on it. For The Trumpet of the Swan I drew a swan on a nest with eggs inside. This is how I showed change in both books. The characters I focus on are Charlotte and her eggs from the egg sac, from Charlotte’s Web and the swan mother and cygnets from the eggs, from The Trumpet Of The Swan. The Trumpet Of The Swan and Charlotte’s Web are AMAZING books!
Friendship
‘’Wilburt liked Charlotte better and better each day.’’Charlotte’s Webpage 48.
‘’She and Stuart became fast friends, and as the days passed it seemed to Stuart that she grew more and more beautiful.” Stuart Little page 48.
I read Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little and I thought that they both had a lot of friendship and love, I thought that it was a big theme of Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. For example, in Charlotte’s Web at first Wilbur was a little freaked out because Charlotte (a spider) sucked bug’s blood, but as he got to know her more they became best friends. Charlotte was like Wilburt mother because she cared so much about him she cared more about Wilbur then she did about herself. For a final example, in Stuart Little when Stuart first met Margalo he cared so much about her and he was so worried about Margalo he risk his life when he was still sick to make sure Snowbell did not do anything to her. I thought that Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little have a lot of friendship and love and I think that E.B White did a really good job showing that.
Nature & E.B .White
“Lilacs bloom and make the air sweet, and then fade.Apple blossoms comes with lilacs,and the bees visit around among the the apple trees.” Charlotte’s Web, page 42
“Warm air, soft and kind, blew through the trees. All the creatures that lived in the pond and the woods were glad to feel the warmth. They heard and felt the the breath of spring new life stirred with hope.” Trumpet of the Swan, page 9
In Charlotte’s Web and Trumpet of the Swan E.B. White uses a lot of nature which is shown in my box. I focused on Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web and the swans from Trumpet of the Swan. Nature has habitats and animals. In my box I showed plants, flowers, trees, and a pond. I also have animals like a bird and spiders which could be Charlotte and her children. E.B. White really liked the outdoors and animals so he wrote many books about them for children since children love to play outdoors and they love animals too.
My E.B White Box
“The early summer days on a farm are the happiest and fairest days of the year. Lilacs bloom and make the air sweet then fade. Apple blossoms come with the lilacs and the bees visit around among the apple trees.” Charlotte’s Web page 42
“My business has taken me into spruce woods on winter nights where the snow lay deep and soft, a perfect place for a carnival of rabbits. I know fresh lakes in the north undisturbed by fish and hawk…”Stuart Little, page 131
I annotated Charlotte’s Web and read Stuart Little and then came up with a theme that they both have in common. Both Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little have nature. In my box on the left side there is winter and on the the right side there is spring. I tried to make the winter side look cold and snowy. On the spring side I tried to make it look sunny. Even though Stuartlives in the city he goes to Central Park rides a boat on the pond. In the box I focused on Charlotte’s Web more than Stuart Little because Stuart Little is based more in the city and Charlotte’s Web is based mostly on a farm. For Charlotte’s Web I put a pond with fish on the spring side because during the summer it said that Avery likes to fish in the pond. I think that E.B White did a great job describing nature in both Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web.
E.B. White Friendship Theme
“The early summer days on a farm are the happiest and fairest days of the year.” Page 42 in Charlotte’s Web.
“With a flutter of her wings, Margalo rose into the sky, carrying Stuart along, and together they flew out over the ocean and headed toward home.” Page 63 of Stuart Little.
The the theme of my box is friendship because Stuart is flying with Margalo together and they are friends. And for Wilbur he is happy in the barn. E.B. White writes good books and more people should read them. Also making the boxes was fun.
Friendship & Life/Death From E.B. White
“Fern loved Wilbur more than anything.” Charlotte’s Web, page 8
“With a flutter of wings Marglo rose high in to the sky, carrying Stuart along, and together they flew out over the ocean and headed toward home.” Stuart Little, page 63
Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web are shown in my box. The main characters in these books are Wilbur and Charlotte and Stuart Little and Marglo. My box is showing friendship. I have Stuart getting saved by Marglo which shows friendship because if Margol did not save Stuart he would have died in the ocean. I have Wilbur talking to Charlotte because they are good friends since Charlotte saved Wilbur’s life by writing the words in her web throughout the story. Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web are good books written by E.B. White because he includes a lot of themes in them that make them more exciting to read!
Edinger House members are great readers who, when I asked for some summer reading suggestions for their peers, had a great time. The rules were they had to come from their independent reading choices; that meant they couldn’t list books I’d read to them or others they’d read for class projects. Being avid readers, this wasn’t a problem. In fact, what was a problem for some was limiting their list to ten! What I love is how the lists show what wide-ranging readers they are. You will see that one moment they are reading very sophisticated books and at the next something young and light. The following are only a few from each child’s list (which, by the way, they annotated beautifully) to give you a taste of their wide reading range and to use when looking for books for children in your own environment.
I recommends Jeanne Birdsall’s Penderwick series, Wendy Wan-Long Shang’s The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, Linda Sue Park’s A Single Shard, Sarah Week’s So B. It, and Christopher Paul Curtis’s The Mighty Miss. Malone.
J1 recommends Michael Buckley’s Nerds series and Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game.
J2 recommends Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart series, Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl, Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games, Chris Grabenstein’s Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, and Ruth Stiles Gannett’s My Father’s Dragon.
N recommends Gordon Korman’s Ungifted, Lemony Snicket’s File Under 13 Suspicious Incidents, Louis Sachar’s Holes, Kate DiCamillo’s Flora & Ulysses, and Nancy Farmer’s House of the Scorpion.
H recommends Philip Pullman’s I Was a Rat!, Adam Gidwitz’s A Tale Dark and Grimm, and Roald Dahl’s Danny, the Champion of the World.
M recommends J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Pittacus Lore’s I Am Number Four, and Rick Riordon’s Percy Jackson series.
W recommends Anthony Horowitz’s Scorpia, Kevin Henke’s The Year of Billy Miller, Jeffrey Brown’s Jedi Academy, and Joseph Bruchac’s Code Talker.
J3 recommends Jane Smiley’s A Good Horse, Brian Farrey’s The Vengekeep Prophecies, Shannon Hale’s Princess Academy, and Lauren Myracle’s Twelve.
C recommends Jeff Kinney’s Dog Days, Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise’s Regarding the Fountain, and Raina Telgemeier’s Smile.
A1 recommends Joan Aiken’s The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Cynthia Lord’s Rules, Holly Goldberg Sloan’s Counting By Sevens, Carl Hiaasen’s Hoot, and Clare Vanderpool’s Navigating Early,
J4 recommends Tommy Greenwald’s Charlie Joe Jackson series, Lincoln Peirce’s Big Nat series, and W.C. Mack’s Athlete vs Mathlete: Double Dribble.
A 2 recommends Stephan Pastis’s second Timothy Failure book, James Patterson’s I Funny, and Tone Almhjell’s The Twistrose Key.
B recommends Andy Griffiths’ 13 Story Tree House, Ellen Potter’s Otis Dooda, and Louis Sachar’s Wayside School.
G recommends a whole bunch of Lauren Myracle’s books including Violets in Bloom, R.J Palacio’ Wonder, and Ceelo Green’s Everybody’s Brother.
L recommends Adam Rex’s The True Meaning of Smekday, Tui T Sutherland’s Wings of Fire, and Carl Hiaasan Flush and Chomp.
R1 recommends Eleanor Estes’s The Hundred Dresses, Whoopi Goldberg’s Sugar Plum Ballerinas, Andrew Clement’s Lunch Money, and Joan Bauer’s Hope Was Here
A3 recommends Christopher Paolini’s Eragon series, Chris Rhylander’s The Fourth Stall, Cressida Cowell ‘s How to Train Your Dragon, and Kate O’Hearn’s Pegasus.
R2 recommends Wendy Mass’s A Mango-Shaped Space, Melissa J. Morgan’s Camp Confidential series, and Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s Alice series.
Edinger House was fortunate in that their teacher Ms. Edinger received a very early ARC of Jennifer Holm’s The Fourteenth Goldfish to read aloud. Here are some of their comments and thoughts after it was finished.
The following are spoiler free.
RS wrote:
Dear Jennifer Holm,
The Fourteenth Goldfish is a very good book. I like how in the beginning Ellie doesn’t exactly like her grandfather, but in the end they are really close. If you made a sequel I think it should be about the grandfather coming back and telling Ellie and her mom about his road trip, and how Ellie is taking care (or not) of the jellyfish. It should be called The Fourteenth Jellyfish!
AP wrote:
The 14th Goldfish is an amazing book by Jennifer L. Holm. She should make a sequel The new jellyfish should be able to teleport and get teleported into the T. Melvinus and somehow get stuck inside. This is a suggestion for another book. The 14th Goldfish was an amazing book and I liked it a lot.
LR wrote:
Note to the author: Like I said in one of my earlier blogposts I’ve really enjoyed The Fourteenth Goldfish. I think the humor in the book is my favorite aspect. My favorite part of the book is when they try to get the T. Melvinus from the lab. I also enjoy the parts when Melvin acts like he’s older than he actually is. In the end, it’s a hilarious book, with an interesting plot, thatI enjoyed listening to.
From MH:
I love/hate the ending of The Fourteenth Goldfish. It’s so interesting when authors make cliffhangers like that without making a sequal. If there was a sequal, I’m not sure how it would work. Probably it would be about Melvin’s future in science, maybe somehow Ellie got involved. I’m not sure.
From AL:
Dear Mrs. Holm,
I loved your book, The Fourteenth Goldfish. It was an awesome book. I love all the characters, Ellie, Raj, Melissa (Mom), and even Brianna. My favorite though, is Mevin. Melvin was funny and stubborn. I loved how devoted he was to his science and discovery of the T. Mevinus. What he did at the end was fantastic. Ellie changed him in a way. I sort of felt like the ending was like the ending of a play. Maybe you should make a sequel. Maybe the jellyfish at the end that was discovered makes you grow several years older. I really liked the ending of your book and am wondering: Are you writing another book? Are you writing a sequel to the one you just wrote? I hope that if you write a sequel that it will be as good as the first one.
A loyal reader,
A.L.
From RW:
Dear Jennifer L. Holm,
This is a great book! It has a little mix of everything and together it makes a perfect story. A little bit of science, a little bit of friendship troubles and teenage life as well. When the story starts you have Elle as a preschooler getting a goldfish then the story skips to her as a 5th grader when she comes home from school and fins out the fish is dead. I love how you start the story with the whole goldfish thing and then end with the goldfish. All together I loved this book and think I might read it again.
R.W
From JM:
So as a class, we read a super awesome book called The Fourteenth Goldfish that Jennifer L. Holm wrote. The main character is a girl named Ellie. She is a normal 14 year old. Her grandfather discovers a odd jellyfish and he calls it a T. Melvinus. The book is funny, suspenseful, and overall just awesome.
The following have possible spoilers.
IA wrote:
Dear Jennifer Holm,
I enjoyed The Fourteenth Goldfish very much. I liked how you had funny parts in it but it was still a serious story. Ellie’s grandfather was my favorite character. I loved how he acts like a grandfather but he looks like a kid. Especially when Ellie and her mother first meet him and we don’t know that he’s her grandfather yet. I liked the ending a lot but it surprised me. It was an awesome story.
JI wrote:
In the last part of lab, Ms. Edinger reads us a book. Yesterday, we finished one of our read aloud books. This book wasThe Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm. I am going to be telling you about the ending. Basically, there is a girl named Ellie and her grandfather is a scientist. One day, one of his experiments called the T. Melvinus (because his name is Melvin) turns on him. He was turned into a fourteen year old boy! He comes to live with Ellie and her mother, but there is a problem. He is CRAZY! He definitely does not act like a fourteen year old boy. I don’t want to give away the whole book, but in the end, Ellie becomes very close with her grandfather and discovers that she enjoys science just like Melvin. I loved The Fourteenth Goldfish and I definitely think the author should make a sequel. I think in the sequel Melvin should invent something else crazy and him and Ellie can go on all different adventures together.
AS wrote:
Dear Jennifer L Holm, The Fourteenth Goldfish is a great book. It has many positive messages and is very funny. I am really hoping you will make a sequel. I love how Melvin turns into a teenager and finds a cure for old age (aka the T. Melvinus). I also like how Melvin tries to fit in and keeps acting strangely in school. I really hope that you make a sequel!
Sincerely,
A loyal Reader
From HF:
Dear: Jennifer L. Holm
I think that your book, the 14th Goldfishis very fun and I like that it is about a cool new discovery that makes you young again AKA the T. Melvinus. I think that you should make another because it ends on a giant cliff hanger.
From JB:
Dear Jennifer L. Holm,
The 14th Goldfish is not bad at all. It is a laugh for children of all ages and adults as well. When Ellie, an average girl, discovers a random 13-year-old that turns out to be her grandfather (Who’s a mad scientist), Ellie dives into an unexpected adventure full of many T. Melvinus (Jellyfish that turn your growth around) and unexpected allies. The 14th Goldfish is a wonderful laugh for all ages.
From CK:
Dear Jennifer,
I really enjoyed The Fourteenth Goldfish. I like how Melvin turned into a 13 year old by finding a cure for old people. I like when Ellie started to like science. I have few questions for you… I there going to be a sequel? Did Brianna want to be friends with Ella?
BR wrote:
The Fourteenth Goldfish has a really good plot. Ellie’s grand father is a thirteen year old boy but he still acts like he is a grand father. What made him young is the T. Melvinus. I love how Melvin is the fourteenth goldfish.I hope Jennifer L. Holm makes a second. I loved the book.
NC wrote:
The Fourteenth Goldfish is about a girl named Ellie, who’s grandfather, that is a scientist, Melvin uses a formula made from Jellyfish, that he names T Melvinus that decreases his age to 14! Ellie’s mom who is a drama teacher. Melvin is forced to go to school with Ellie and complains about everything. Melvin tries to get his formula back from his lab, but is caught by a guard. So he tells a kid named Raj to help him. Will Melvin keep failing or will he get his formula back?
From WI:
We just finished the book in class and I really liked it. My teacher says this paragraph has to be of the end of the book, so here we go! I really liked it! It’s about a girl named Ellie, Her mother (an actress), and her grandfather Melvin (a scientist). He invented something called the T Melvinus and that can make people younger. Ellie thinks that if he wins the Nobel that everyone would become young and then there would be nobody in charge. Melvin thinks that won’t happen, but they get in a fight and don’t talk to each other for a while. After Ellie’s mother does a play, Melvin tells Ellie that he flushed the T Melvinus down the toilet. If the author, Jennifer L. Holm, was to write a sequel, I think it would be great.
Earlier this fall Ms. Edinger read aloud Kathi Appelt’s The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp. We were then fortunate to have a visit from the author herself who talked about writing, answered questions, read a bit, and gave every child his or her own Official Sugar Man Swamp Scout Information Officer card. And now, these big fans of the book, have made a mural of it! Blinkle is there on the top of the tower on the left, some of the Farrow Gang are flying on the right, those raccoon bros are up and down the tree, there is a bird’s eye view of the DeSoto, and even a rather big mythical creature!
Here are Ms. Edinger and Kathi (holding each other’s books).
The first 4th grade literature unit of the year is an author study of E. B. White. After a close scholarly study of Charlotte’s Web (celebrating its 60th birthday this year), each student reads one or both of White’s two other children’s books, Stuart Little and Trumpet of the Swan. The culminating project is an E. B. White box. Here is the assignment the students received followed by the boxes themselves.
After doing a great job examining the similarities between E.B. White’s children’s books, you are now going to consider a theme for an E. B. White box. What is an E. B. White box, you might ask? It is a box inspired by the works of artist Joseph Cornell, an artist who created remarkable boxes and collages using all sorts of stuff. To learn more I will read aloud Joseph Cornell: Secrets in a Box and then show you a very special object — The Joseph Cornell Box: Found Objects, Magical Worlds. After that you will begin to create your own E. B. White Box! First of all, you will have to decide on a theme and create a quick plan for your box. And then you will begin to actually create it! When you are done you will have to write a brief essay describing your theme and how you represented it in your box. We will then put your box and your paragraph in two places — on the bulletin board outside our classroom and on this blog for everyone to see. Have fun!
I read two books by E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. Both of these books have a lot of change in them and that inspired me to do my box on change. In my box I have Wilbur in his box by the stove when he is a few days old then I have him in a larger pen in the yard when he is 2 weeks old. On the other side of my box I have Stuart when he is 5 years old next to a ruler and Stuart when he is 6 on the other side of the ruler. In the book Charlotte’s Web, Wilbur moves from the box next to the stove to the larger box under the apple tree because he is too big for the box by the stove. In Stuart Little, the book talks about Stuart getting older in almost every chapter. My favorite part of making my E.B. White box was thinking about how I was going to make my box and how it would represent my theme change.
I read Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little by E.B. White. Some of the characters I focused on were Wilbur, Charlotte, Stuart, and Margalo. I chose loyalty because Charlotte is very loyal to Wilbur because she is trying to save his life, and Wilbur also takes Charlotte’s egg sac and takes care of her babies. In Stuart Little, Stuart and Margalo are loyal to each other because Stuart saved Margalo’s life when Snowbell the cat tried to eat Margalo. Also went to find her, while Margalo rescued Stuart from the trash dump. I think that they are all in a way, loyal to each other. E.B. White has focused on many great qualities in his characters, that’s why he is an amazing author.
I read all three E. B. White books and realized that one of the main themes running through the books was that death is a part of life, and that life is good. In Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White shows how valuable life is. For example, when Wilbur is born Mr. Arable and then Mr. Zuckerman want to kill him, since he is the runt of the litter, but Fern stops them both times. She changed the way the men thought about killing the runt of any litter, not just Wilbur. In my box, I showed Wilbur’s non-runt brothers and sisters getting sold away, not killed.
In The Trumpet of the Swan, E. B. White shows the life cycle, including birth and death. First, Louis and his four brothers and sisters are born. They grow up, and Louis finds Serena. When their cygnets hatch, two generations of this book have been shown. At the end of the book, Louis’s father is referred to as “the old cob,” whereas at the beginning, he is known as just “the cob.” Also, Sam Beaver and his father are getting older throughout the book. In my box, I showed Louis, his brothers and his sisters hatching and learning how to fly at the beginning of their lives.
Last we come to Stuart Little. In Stuart’s tale, E. B. White shows how a little mouse can endure many treacherous situations that are deadly for a mouse Stuart’s size. When Stuart is chased by Snowbell, the cat, up into the window-shade, he veers near death hanging alone for so long. Margalo also flees from Snowbell because the cat is trying to hunt her too. In my box, I showed Stuart’s hat and cane in front of the old mouse hole, showing the deadly trick that Snowbell played on his family causing Stuart to be up on the window-shade for so long.
All three of these E. B. White masterpieces of children’s literature are phenomenal. They all show the theme of life and death running through them at some point. They are by one of my favorite authors, and they took a lot of effort, I am sure, to perfect the way they are perfected now.
In my E. B. White box the themes are seasons and changes. In my box I split it into four sections. In the Spring section I focus on Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web because Wilbur is a spring pig. In the Summer section I focused on Louis playing his trumpet from Trumpet of the Swan because Trumpet of the Swan takes place in the summer. In the Fall section I focused on Stuart Little next to his automobile from Stuart Little and in the Winter section I focused on Wilbur and the other farm animals in the snow at the farm from Charlotte’s Web. In Charlotte’s Web changes happen in two different ways. One way is the seasons change throughout the book. The second way is how the characters change throughout the book. Fern in the beginning was “only eight” and acted so little but by the end of the book she was more grown up and didn’t care as much for Wilbur as she used to and didn’t have as much time to take care of Wilbur as she used to. In Stuart Little the seasons change to but also Stuart gets braver. In the beginning of the book he was just a little old mouse minding his own business, but at the end of the book he is a braver mouse who is going on an adventure by himself to go look for Margalo his very good friend. In all of E. B. White’s books a big theme is changes. Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little and Trumpet of the Swan are very alike. All these books are based on animals and their friendship with humans. Fern from Charlotte’s Web, George from Stuart Little and Sam from Trumpet of the Swan are very alike. They all care for the animals, but throughout the book they grow up and change. E. B. White’s books are based on animals because E.B. White is an animal lover. E.B. White truly is a fantastic writer!
The theme of my box is love and it is found in E.B. White’s books Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. If you look carefully you can see a little girl and on the other side you can see a pig. They’re looking at each other with love. Just like George loves Stuart, Fern loves Wilber and Louis loves Serena. There is also a path with cobblestones that says E.B White. My box has a barn because Wilbur lives in a barn. If you look carefully you can see a spider web above Wilbur’s head that Charlotte lives in. There is also a fence around Wilbur’s yard so he can’t get out during the night. This shows love because if Wilbur escapes then everybody will be sad. There’s a mud pile for Wilbur so he can roll around. There’s some leaves on the ground too. There is also Charlotte’s spider web around the whole box because Charlotte saved Wilber’s life. E.B White is famous for writing so many great books!
In my E.B White box I created a theme of vocabulary because the characters in Charlotte’s Web and The Trumpet of the Swan (mostly Charlotte and the cob), use complicated words. The writing on Charlotte’s web (some pig, terrific, radiant, and humble) and the cob in The Trumpet of the Swan all say words that the other characters don’t know . They also create speeches that are long and perfect. Sometimes they seem unnecessary, like this quote from The Trumpet of the Swan, “A cygnet! A cygnet at last! I am a father with all the pleasant duties and awesome responsibilities of fatherhood. O blessed little son of mine, how good it is to see your face peering through the protecting feathers of your mothers breast, under these fair skies, with the pond so quiet and peaceful in the long light of the afternoon!” This quote was much longer than it could have been but, I think it’s good to be happy when you’re becoming a father. This is the way I created my E.B White box: When I made my box I started by finding a topic which was vocabulary for me. I made a swan, a spider, and a web, glued them in and I had a box. When I made my box I chose vocabulary as a theme because my favorite characters are the ones that talk a lot with words that are very different from what most people are normally hearing
This box is about modern things in 2012. I thought of this because it is now 2012 so I thought I should use Fern and Henry Fussy now because that would be nice to do. I decided to show Fern and Henry Fussy because they went on the Ferris wheel together and Fern ignored Wilbur at the time because they would only want to be together. I decided to make that but in the future when they will have jobs. And so on the floppy side, Henry Fussy is a security guard and Fern is just being herself holding an anticancer card. Henry’s assistant is looking very scared and putting her hand out as if she is saying halt! And on the rest of the box it is showing what they like. They like phones, rings, lions, Ben&Jerry’s ice cream, and they like the Sunday Business article. They also have a cat and a dog. I put a heart between Fern and Henry Fussy because they are in love. I mostly used newspaper clippings and I used a pipe cleaner and some tissue paper. I really liked making the box because I was just finding random pieces of newspaper images and if I really wanted it if it was going to make sense with the box.
My theme is changes. The two books that I read were Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. The characters that I focused on are Charlotte and Stuart and how they change a lot in the book. The characters change a lot in Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little because they are getting older and become different. “When are you going to spin a web? This afternoon, late, if I’m not too tired, The least thing tires me these days. I don’t seem to have enough I once had. My age, I guess.” This is a quote from Charlotte’s Web that shows changes in Charlotte. Stuart changes when he meets Margolo. A similarity between Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little are that both of the main characters are animals. Another similarity between Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little is that both of the characters change as the story goes on. You should definitely read Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web because they are different from other books. E.B. White uses details that you wouldn’t expect in his writing.
Part of my theme is a journal. It also has a “newspaper clipping” and little strips of paper which represent what E.B wrote.On one piece it says, “1952, Tomorrow Charlotte’s Web will be published.”Another says, “1945 Today Stuart Little my first children’s book was published.”The sides of the box have both quotes and ideas. My two favorites are, “1952 Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. Although he loved her children and grandchildren dearly, none of the new spiders ever quite took her place in his heart. She was in a class by herself.” and “1952 It is not often someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.” I chose these quotes to express what E.B White might have been feeling when he wrote his books.
My E.B White box is about life and death. The scene on the Charlotte’s Web side of my box shows Mr. Zuckerman with an axe, going to kill Wilbur like he does to every pig on his farm. This represents what could have happened, but it didn’t because Charlotte saved Wilbur’s life. On the Stuart Little side of my box there are two ways life and death are represented. Snowbell tries to eat Margalo, but Stuart being Margalo’s friend gets his bow and arrow out and shoots Snowbell in the ear so he can’t eat her. It was very fun making my E.B White box especially creating the bow and arrow. I recommend reading the books Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web both by E.B White.
My box is about writing. I did this theme because both books make references to writing, like the words on Charlotte’s web or Louis learning to write on a slate so he can talk to humans. My two scenes are Charlotte’s web with “some pig” written on it from Charlotte’s Web, and Louis next to a chalkboard writing an A from The Trumpet of the Swan. Writing is one of the themes of Charlotte’s Web. The last sentences of Charlotte’s Web talk about writing, “It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.” All in all, I think EB White was an excellent writer.
My E.B. White box is about fame. It shows different scenes from the two books I read, Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web. From Charlotte’s Web I made the scene where Wilbur becomes famous because Charlotte writes on her web that Wilbur is some pig. I made Wilbur in his pen, and above him is Charlotte in her web and the words some pig. Next to them are Fern, Avery, a dog, and a few other people from their town. In the background there are cars, a bike, a bus, a tractor, and a barn, representing the people who came to see Charlotte’s web. For Stuart Little, I made the scene where he becomes kind of famous by sailing a ship called The Wasp. I made Stuart in a sailor suit holding a telescope. In the background you can see two other sailboats competing in the race. E.B. White is a very good author.
Friendship is a very big and important theme in both books. I focused on Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. In my box I have Wilbur looking up at Charlotte in her web and and on the other side Margalo and Stuart are in the bookshelf of the Little’s house. Stuart and Margalo are very good friends and so are Charlotte and Wilbur. In Stuart Little, Margalo sleeps in a bookshelf, and in Charlotte’s Web, Charlotte lives in the doorway of Wilbur’s pen. The box was so fun to make and my favorite part was making the bookshelf. One of the many great quotes in Charlotte’s Web is, “It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.”
I read Trumpet of the Swan, & Charlotte’s Web both by E.B.White. I chose to make the theme of my box changes and similarities between the two books. I think that in the two books they both have a charecter that really wants to accomplish something and then they do but then as they start to accomplish it, they change along the way. In Charlotte’s Web Charlotte wants to save Wilbur from turning into pork or sausage but in the end she gets nimble and older then gradually starts to pass away. In Trumpet of the Swan, Louis can’t talk so his dad goes to get him a trumpet but then he gets hurt. I think that often in the E.B. White books the hero gets hurt. In Charlotte’s Web, Fern wants to hang out on the ferris wheel with Henry, however if she was younger, she would have wanted to hang out with the animals. In Trumpet of the Swan, all Louis wants to accomplish is to be able to talk, but as he gets older, he still wants to learn to talk but he will use it to talk to Serena, the swan of his dreams. That’s what I think are some changes and similarities.
Travel is a big part of The Trumpet of The Swan. The book The Trumpet of the Swan was written by E.B. White. When Louis the swan leaves his hatching place with his family to their new home, he can’t speak. The young Louis leaves his new home in search of work when meets his friend Sam Beaver who takes him to Ontario to be the camp bugler. He leaves with one hundred dollars in his money bag. Then Louis travels to Boston to be a swan boat trumpeter for one hundred dollars a week. Then he travels to Philadelphia for a job that will pay five-thousand dollars for ten weeks. Ten weeks later, our friend Louis, with his wife to be Serena, came to Philadelphia halfway between his ten weeks of work. Then a few months later, Louis and Serena head up north where Louis was hatched. I chose travel because it was a big part of The Trumpet of The Swan.
E.B. White’s stories Trumpet of the Swan and Charlotte’s Web include many similarities to each other, but the one theme in particular that really caught my eye was that both main characters started small, but ended up on top anyway.
In Louis’s case, he starts out a voiceless trumpeter swan, chasing after the beautiful swan Serena, who pays him no mind, not because she doesn’t care, but because he has no way to grab her attention due to the fact that he’s voiceless (lower middle to left). However, by the end of the book, Serena has fallen under the spell of Louis’s kind nature and countless unusual talents, and people had come from all around the world to hear his trumpet horn (lower far left).
In Wilbur’s case, he begins as the runt of the litter, just minutes from a horrible death by ax (miraculously, he survives). Later on in the book, he faces death yet again, this time by the people who had taken care of him for most of his life (lower far right)! Amazingly, by the end of Charlotte’s Web, Wilbur is Radiant, Humble, and most of all, Some Pig! Winning a special medal at the country fair, attracting countless visitors to Mr. Zuckerman’s small farm, and probably being the worlds first pig to become friends with a grey spider are only some of Wilbur’s many achievements (lower middle to left). It’s amazing that, although both of them were famous enough to wear red diamonds on their tails, neither of them ever get over their heads and continues to be their original, compassionate selves, meaning that they didn’t ask for red diamonds. Louis proved himself truly worthy and honest when he almost worked his tail feathers off to pay back the money that his trumpet (his most prized possession) had cost. Wilbur proved himself a true friend because when he found out that Charlotte was dying, he gave up most of all his meals to Templeton the rat, and in exchange, Templeton got Charlotte’s egg sac so Wilbur could keep Charlotte’s children safe. Food means a lot to a pig! Some say that when you do good things, good things happen to you, and these books prove it’s true!
I chose friendship for a theme because I think E.B. White made the characters in his books relate to each other really well. I chose these two scenes about friendship from the book because I think they were parts of the main idea of the books. The scene on the left is from Stuart Little and shows Stuart and his ‘’girlfriend’’ Harriot riding in a canoe near the water before it starts to rain. The scene on the right is from Charlotte’s Web and it shows Fern watching and loving the barn animals talk to each other in the barn cellar. E.B. White really loved animals so I think that’s why he included a lot about animals in his books.
After a study of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in which we considered the many different illustrators of the book, learned something of Carroll himself and Alice Liddell to whom the story was first told, and just had fun as we read the book — exploring puns, croquet (yes, we actually played an indoor version of it!), quadrilles (well we tried anyway), and some stand-ins for comfits (skittles if you must know), Edinger House students were invited to create book trailers for this iconic story. Thinking that others might want to learn more about the thinking behind and process of the project I wrote the following posts at my educating alice blog:
1. I think that the trailer is an interesting project because we usually don’t make movies in school.
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2. This year we read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland then we decided… that we were going to make a lovely, funny, amusing, interesting, and awesome Alice in Wonderland book trailer.
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3. It was fun because I loved Alice in Wonderland! If you have not read it, I highly recommend it.
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4.In the beginning, I had to start from SCRATCH! It was hard work but as things came together, it got easier and easier.
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5. In the beginning of making our trailers, I thought that it would be easy, but I was wrong!
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6. I thought it was a really cool project, and I really enjoyed it.
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7. I loved doing the project and I love the way my trailer came out. I hope you like it too!
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8. From reading the book to writing this post, I have been thinking to myself, “This is the best project yet this year.”
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9.
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10. The point of the trailer was to tell people that Alice in Wonderland isn’t a scary book written for older kids. It’s a clever and funny story written for a nine year old girl. A great book for all ages.
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11. I picked a song that was mysterious but at the same time bright and bouncy!
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12. I thought Alice in Wonderland was really fun and interesting. I liked all the adventure. I thought he made it really funny by making Alice really calm when really weird things happened. Like when she grew smaller, all she said was, “What a curious feeling.” I also liked how Lewis Carroll made fun of what kids learn in school. I thought it was mysterious but also really hilarious.
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13. The Alice in Wonderland trailer was actually my favorite project because we got to work in Imovie and it was so fun.
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14. Before I got to make the trailer the whole class read Alice in Wonderland together and we talked about it. Part of the point of my trailer was to show that it was a book for all ages and a really great one too.
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15. I wanted the audience to want to buy the book, and iMovie helped with that! In the end, the trailer looked great! I had a lot of fun doing it, and I hope you’ll enjoy it!
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16. Week by week, we read our way through Alice in Wonderland. In two weeks, we had finished! The next step was to look at a bunch of book trailers so we could write one ourselves.
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17. First, we looked at other book trailers. For example, we looked at a book trailer for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which is very mysterious, because of the fast moving pictures and the music.
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