Ana’s story begins the day she is born with HIV, transmitted from her mother, who dies just a few years later. From then on, Ana’s childhood becomes a blur of secrets—about her illness, her family, and the abuse she endures. Shuffled from home to home, Ana rarely finds safety or acceptance. But after she falls in love and becomes pregnant at seventeen, she embarks on a journey that leads her to new beginnings, new sorrows, and new hope. Based on her work with UNICEF and inspired by the framework of one girl’s life, Jenna Bush tells the story of many children around the world who are excluded from basic care, support, and education. Resources at the back of this book share how you can help children like Ana and protect yourself and others.

Ernest Morlaisse leads an unadventurous life. He comes home every day and eats the same snack and sits down to his homework. Enter Victoria de Montardent, the new girl in class. When Victoria sees Ernest it’s love at first sight. And she makes her declaration to everyone: ” I love Ernest. . . . We’re getting married in 13 years, eight months, and three days. This is an invitation to our wedding”. And believe it or not, Victoria’s bulldozer approach works! Quickly Ernest begins to discover that beating inside his chest is his heart. And he begins finding ways to use it.

Volume I, Issue 2

WOW Stories: Connections from the Classroom is a regular on-line publication of WOW containing vignettes written by classroom educators about children’s experiences reading and responding to literature in the classroom setting.

Contents

Introduction: Opening the World through Literature, by Kathy G. Short, The University of Arizona

Part 1: Creating a Context for Professional Learning

Creating a Vision of Possibility as Professional Learners, by Lisa Thomas, Instructional Coach

Practice Makes Perfect in Our Community of Practice, by Amy Edwards, fifth grade teacher

Exploring a Curriculum that is International, by Kathy G. Short, Professor, University of Arizona

Part 2: Developing Conceptual Thinking

Conceptualization as a Way of Thinking in Schools, by Lisa Thomas, Instructional Coach

Thinking Conceptually about Journeys through an Author Study, by Jennifer Griffith, first grade teacher

Mapping Our Understandings of Literature, by Jaquetta Alexander, second grade teacher

“Life is a Journey and an Iceberg”: Creating a Context for Conceptual Thinking, by Amy Edwards, fifth grade teacher

Encouraging Symbolic Thinking through Literature, by Kathryn Bolasky, third grade teacher

Writing as a Tool for Synthesizing Our Learning, by Kathryn Bolasky, third grade teacher

Part 3: Considering Multiple Perspectives

Moving Across the Arts to Consider New Perspectives, by Kathryn Tompkins, fourth grade teacher

Making Connections through Text Sets with Young Children, by Jennifer Griffith, first grade teacher

Encouraging Intertextual Thinking in the Classroom, by Kathryn Bolasky, third grade teacher

Re-Visioning the World through Multiple Perspectives, by Amy Edwards, fifth grade teacher

Taking Action with Young Children, by Jaquetta Alexander, second grade teacher

Exploring Action and Responsibility through Literature, by Jennifer Griffith, first grade teacher

Part 4: Exploring Taking Action

Young Children’s Explorations of Multiple Perspectives, by Jaquetta Alexander, second grade teacher

Taking Action through Emotional Connections, by Kathryn Tompkins, fourth grade teacher

Exploring Voice and Responsibility through Literature, by Kathryn Tompkins, fourth grade teacher

An Inquiry on Taking Action: Exploring Human Rights, by Jennifer Griffith, first grade teacher, and Derek R. Griffith, Filmmaker

Editor
Kathy G. Short, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Production Editor
Rebecca K. Ballenger, Worlds of Words

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Two little girls—raised by wolves—have just arrived at the orphanage, and life will never be the same.Based on a true story, this book is about many things at once: family, friendship, and what it means to have a home.

Told in her own words, here is the true story of a girl who posed as a boy during World War II — and dared to speak up for her fellow prisoners of war.With the Japanese army poised to invade their Indonesian island in 1942, Rita la Fontaine’s family knew that they and the other Dutch and Dutch-Indonesian residents would soon become prisoners of war. Fearing that twelve-year-old Rita would be forced to act as a “comfort woman” for the Japanese soldiers, the family launched a desperate plan to turn Rita into “Rick,” cutting her hair short and dressing her in boy’s clothes. Rita’s aptitude for languages earned her a position as translator for the commandant of the prisoner camp, and for the next three years she played a dangerous game of disguise while advocating against poor conditions, injustice, and torture. Sixty-five years later, Rita describes a war experience like no other — a remarkable tale of integrity, fortitude, and honor.

Martin and his family are enjoying a sun-filled vacation on a beautiful Caribbean island–until they are stopped at gunpoint, blindfolded, and bundled into a truck that heads for the dense forest of the island’s interior. Pushed to their physical and emotional limits as they are forced deeper into the wild terrain, the hostages come to understand something of the harsh political backdrop of life on sunny Santa Clara, and the events that have shaped the lives of their captors and fueled their actions.

When Ellie tells Tuffy the family is leaving for the week, Tuffy couldn’t be more thrilled. A whole blissful week of rolling around in the flower bed and lounging on top of the TV? Tuffy can’t wait! But the cat sitter the family procures doesn’t understand Tuffy’s refined feline palate, and Little Miss Soppy next door seems intent on dressing Tuffy in a nightie and calling him Janet. To get out of such a terrible mess, Tuffy is going to have to rely on his comical killer instincts. In this raucous sequel to The Diary of a Killer Cat, brimming with witty illustrations, Anne Fine reunites her readers with an unforgettable narrator who sees the world as only a conniving cat can.

Blue-eyed, freckle-faced Wanda is back, and with her comes spring, puddles, and wriggling black tadpoles. Wanda is enchanted. On the way to school one morning, Wanda scoops some tadpoles into her sand pail. When she presents them to her teacher, the teacher agrees to let the class take care of them until they become frogs. But what will happen to the tadpoles once they grow legs and their tails begin to shrink? Wanda is worried. She wants to keep them. When she secretly moves the frogs into her own bedroom at home, Wanda’s family is in for a hilarious host of surprises.In this charming sequel to Wanda and the Wild Hair, the dynamic author/illustrator team of Barbara Azore and Georgia Graham perform their magic in another joyful adventure of the quirky and mischievous Wanda.

Move over, James Bond— Daisy is going undercover!In this hilarious third book in the quickly growing series, Daisy decides she wants to play her favorite dress-up game: spies! But how can she accomplish her missions if no one understands her secret code language? Daisy is almost ready to call it quits when her mom gets into the action, and Daisy realizes that being a spy just might run in the family. The special friendship shared by a mother and daughter shines through this new Daisy tale, as does the fun. Children’s Book of the Month Club selection

Elizabeth Quan’s father had made a success in the New World, but he longed for his home in China. So in the early 1920’s, he and his family set out on an arduous trip to the far side of the world. By train, ship, ferry, cart, and on foot, Elizabeth, her parents, and her brothers and sisters set off from Toronto to a village in China to visit the grandmother they have never met.From the mountain of luggage to the whales breaching in the Pacific and geishas on wooden sandals on the cobbled streets of Yokohama, Elizabeth Quan describes sights that would captivate any child. But hers is also a journey of personal discovery. Did she fit in in Canada, where her straight dark hair and even the foods she ate set her apart? Would she fit in in China where she was just as different to the people she met? In the course of her family’s travels she learns that home is a state of mind and that the moon can find us, no matter where we are.The rhythms of travel and the longing for connection are conveyed in lyrical text and lovely watercolors in a truly memorable book.