By far, the best children’s novel content that I can find for a classroom are the books by Kate DiCamillo. Her books are brilliantly written. The plot, characters, setting, and theme are exceptional. They are my “go to” for fourth grade read alouds. Her books are funny, deep, thought provoking, and don’t really push a social agenda. Characters are properly complex, but relatable. Plots have some necessary predictability. However, all of her books have plentiful twists and turns without getting unnecessarily complicated. DiCamillo’s content ranges from trailer parks to ancient villages to talking squirrels to mice looking for meaning. Her stories are masterfully told, and keep the reader coming back for more. I believe that I had students who kept coming back to school the next day just to hear the next chapter.
I think our main job as literacy teachers is to teach students that literacy competency can be attained through exploration, imagination, and creativity. It should not be a rigid process, a mistake that most school systems are making today. Most importantly, students must learn that reading and writing can be enjoyable even for the the toughest sells. If our instructional delivery makes literacy boring, we must do better. Why? Because reading is not boring, and writing well is powerful.
I am not going to hold your hand in talking about how to deliver great lessons. I trust you can Google. The only thing I would urge is to teach your students to have good conversations. Please don’t suck the life out of a book with over analysis. I have stated this prior to this post, but I don’t think many adults would like to answer questions after reading a chapter in a book. They would, instead, like to take time to think about it, savor it, and maybe talk about what they got out of the book. All students need to know that their input is valued in any literacy conversation.
With that said, here are some of the books that have been the bedrock of my read aloud bank:
The Miraculous Adventure of Edward Tulane
One interesting thing that DiCamillo often utilizes is a static character which is a bit dark. They aren’t always the antagonist, but they often influence the main character. Students can relate to this. They deal with bullies or tough home lives…they get it. Students deal with darkness in their own lives each day.
Many of her books have movies which are adapted to the book. It is a blast to compare and contrast(bet you have heard that writing genre before!) the book and the movie. That is rich learning right there.
If you want to hear what a great teacher can do, read this by Kate DiCamillo and what changed her life as a writer. As teachers our words are powerful. They can build or they can destroy. Choose wisely.
Pro Tip: I have said this before. Instead of asking “close questions,” just ask students what they think about the selection for that day. Simply say, “What do you think about that?” I also am a big fan of comic books strips. Have students draw a picture which represents what they read for the day. Then have them write a summary or talk about what interests them on the lines below each comic book picture. If you have the resources, I bet they could create an AI image of their thoughts.
We have this thing as human beings: we have a profound need for story. That’s what kids need. ~ Kate DiCamillo
