Book Clubs &
Character Study
Book Clubs
During our Book Club time, students met daily for 20-30 minutes to discuss the novel they were reading. They set their own reading calendars and generally directed their own group discussions, although we provided some guiding questions to help them move forward when needed.
Character Study
As we read our book club novels, students kept track of information about the main character(s) of their story as they learned about them. They started with character traits, which were generally easier to notice early in these stories without making generalized assumptions, and then moved on to identity markers as the novel progressed.
Students also be examined the character traits and identity markers of supporting characters who influenced the main character. This started our conversations about how the identities, beliefs, and priorities of others can impact our own identity.
Using the information they compiled about their main characters, students completed one of two activities (left) based on their preference. Students who prefer to express their learning visually chose the top option, and those who felt more comfortable writing chose the bottom option. In either option, students were expected to support their analysis of the main character with specific evidence from the novel.
Character Identity Illustrations
After reading about a third of their novels, students created an Identity Illustration (very similar to the one they created about themselves early in the unit). In these Identity Illustrations, students were asked to include character traits, identity markers, and any people, places, or things that were important to their main character at that point in the novel.
Book Club Titles Our Students Selected:
At school, Zoey tries to stay under the radar. Her only friend Fuchsia has her own issues, and since they're in an entirely different world than the rich kids, it's best if no one notices them.
Zoey thinks how much easier everything would be if she were an octopus: eight arms to do eight things at once. Incredible camouflage ability and steady, unblinking vision. Powerful protective defenses.
Unfortunately, she's not totally invisible, and one of her teachers forces her to join the debate club. Even though Zoey resists participating, debate ultimately leads her to see things in a new way: her mom’s relationship with Lenny, Fuchsia's situation, and her own place in this town of people who think they're better than her. Can Zoey find the courage to speak up, even if it means risking the most stable home she's ever had?
This moving debut novel explores the cultural divides around class and the gun debate through the eyes of one girl, living on the edges of society, trying to find her way forward.
On the advice of a therapist, Riley starts an anonymous blog to vent those pent-up feelings and tell the truth of what it's really like to be a gender fluid teenager. But just as Riley's starting to settle in at school—even developing feelings for a mysterious outcast—the blog goes viral, and an unnamed commenter discovers Riley's real identity, threatening exposure. And Riley must make a choice: walk away from what the blog has created—a lifeline, new friends, a cause to believe in—or stand up, come out, and risk everything.
From debut author Jeff Garvin comes a powerful and uplifting portrait of a modern teen struggling with high school, relationships, and what it means to be human.
This simple yet timeless story explores many themes, including bullying -- an important topic in today's schools. Freak the Mighty is sure to remain fresh, dramatic, and memorable for the next twenty years and beyond!
Other Book Titles We Offered:
Mysteriously, Ivy's drawings begin to reappear in her locker with notes from someone telling her to open up about her identity. Ivy thinks--and hopes--that this someone might be her classmate, another girl for whom Ivy has begun to develop a crush. Will Ivy find the strength and courage to follow her true feelings?
Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World exquisitely enriches the rare category of female middle-grade characters who like girls--and children's literature at large.
What’s not so regular is that this time they all don’t have a place to crash, so Genesis and her mom have to stay with her grandma. It’s not that Genesis doesn’t like her grandma, but she and Mom always fight—Grandma haranguing Mom to leave Dad, that she should have gone back to school, that if she’d married a lighter skinned man none of this would be happening, and on and on and on. But things aren’t all bad. Genesis actually likes her new school; she’s made a couple friends, her choir teacher says she has real talent, and she even encourages Genesis to join the talent show.
But how can Genesis believe anything her teacher says when her dad tells her the exact opposite? How can she stand up in front of all those people with her dark, dark skin knowing even her own family thinks lesser of her because of it? Why, why, why won’t the lemon or yogurt or fancy creams lighten her skin like they’re supposed to? And when Genesis reaches #100 on the list of things she hates about herself, will she continue on, or can she find the strength to begin again?
Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly shunned for everything that makes her different, and Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal. In this celebration of nonconformity, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the perils of popularity and the thrill and inspiration of first love.