Boston Inspired Reads

My husband and I are planning a week long trip to Boston at the end of the summer.  During my research for the trip, I discovered several children's books that are set in the great city of Boston.






First, we have the classic Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.  The image shown here is the audio version.  Winner of the 1942 Caldecott Medal, this is the story of a mallard family trying to find the perfect home in the Boston Public Garden.  We are planning on visiting the duck statues there (shown below). Homeschool Share has a great BINGO game available along with several other fun and educational activities. There is a fun art project available from Scholastic. There are lots of activity ideas available from Live Oak Media. Wondersome StoryTime provides a great plan for a wonderful storytime or circle time lesson plan.  And for all you preschool teachers, Hubbard's Cupboard has a great duck/egg unit that incorporates this great book.

Another book I discovered, was The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White, which has also been made into a movie. This is the story of a swan who was born without a voice and learns to play a trumpet to create a voice.  After reading this story we will be sure to check out the Swan Boat Rides when we are in the Boston area. The Internet is full of great teaching or storytime activities that go along with this book. ABC Teach has lots of printables that go along with this book. Multinomah Library provides a discussion guide to use with elementary students. Ethemes provides a list of links for additional activity suggestions.

The third Boston related children's book is Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes, which was also made into a movie.  This book is the 1944 Newbery Medal winner and is about the events in Boston leading up to the Revolution. On this Teacher Cyberguide, they provide all sorts of activity suggestions that go along with this award winning title. EdHelper also has a great literature unit available. Teacher Vision has a reader's theater script that would be a great addition to any program or unit on this book.

Book Review

eGrace, Cathy, and Elizabeth F. Shores. After the Crisis: Using Storybooks to Help Children Cope. Silver Spring, MD: Gryphon House, 2010.

This is a great resource book for anyone working with young children. I discovered this book while doing a bibliotherapy collection development assignment. This current title, gives adults book suggestions to use with children after such events as: earthquakes, epidemics/mass casualty events, fires/explosions, floods, hurricanes, shelter experiences, tornadoes/major storms, and volcanic eruptions. There is also a list of books suggested for promoting emotional resilience. Each book included has the following information: age ranges suggested and the experience appropriate for (tornado, flood, etc.). There is also a short description about the book's plot. There are discussion starters for the different age ranges, talking prompts and activity suggestions. The activities range from art projects to writing activities. This is a great resource for building a bibliotherapy collection, for choosing books to share with young children who have experienced a crisis situation, and for teachers to include in their curriculum.