Sharon+Creech

Talk about Sharon Creech's books here!


 * __**Heartbeat**__- I love Heartbeat! I vote yes for this for sure. It has a boy and girl main character, so it will appeal to both boys and girls.-Amy
 * Finished "Heartbeat." Love it!!! This one should be a definite yes!!! -kristy
 * I just read Heartbeat! I also loved it and think it would be a great addition to our list. -Nancy

>> -Jen Vint
 * __**Love That Dog**__- Loved that book!!! This book is great fun. It is written in journal form where a boy is writing entries, which are poems, to his teacher. My family and I took a road trip last week and while in the car, my 9 year old and I took turns reading the pages in this book. It took about an hour to finish the book and my daughter learned a great deal about different forms of poetry, famous poets, and a few new vocabulary words as well. I especially enjoyed the "Literature Circle" questions listed in the back of the book. From a student's point of view, my daughter LOVED this book and was excited about answering the questions the author posed in the back. ~Marria
 * I just re-read this one and I really love it. (I cry every time I read it) I'm a big poetry fan and I think this novel is a great way to delve into some adult poetry that children can relate to. I also love introducing novels in verse to the kids. It is definitely a short read, but I'm assuming you'd be adding a lot of background information and poetry activities if doing this with a class. This is one that the 4th grade group has on their list, so there may be issues with doing it again in 5th grade.
 * **__Hate That Cat__** - This book is the clever companion to **__Love That Dog__**. It's a continuation of the boy's next year in school. He is fortunate to have the same teacher and she continues to require her students to write poetry in their jounals. Within the context of the boy's writing, Sharon Creech presents additional forms of poetry and literary devices such as onomatopoeia, alliteration, metaphors, similies, and more. The boy also discusses descriptive writing and the idea that certain forms of writing can make you "feel" the words. I will definitely use both of these books with my students. ~Marria


 * **__Granny Torrelli Makes Soup__**- Guided reading level of R. Not a lot of action, but Sharon Creech built suspense in the situation that made me want to keep reading. Themes of family, friendship, death and relationships. Realistic fiction. Possible teaching topics of character development through the use of dialogue, parallel plot structure, changes in character. Stories are woven nicely around the preparation and eating of food. I liked this story.(Mari Kay)
 * In addition to Mari Kay's comments, I would like to add that one of the main characters is a 12 year old blind boy named Bailey. Throughout the book, there are references made to the use of Braille. Other themes in the book include stereotyping and the ableness of the blind. I truly enjoyed much of the book, but some parts of the book were very monotonous. ~Marria


 * **__Pleasing the Ghost__**- Very easy book about the early 4th grade level. This humorous story is about a 9 year old boy named Dennis who has been seeing ghosts ever since his father died. Unfortunately, he never sees the ghost of his father. But one day, the ghost of his late Uncle Arvie arrives. Uncle Arvie speaks strangely due to a stroke he had while living, and wants Dennis to help him with three things that were “unfinished business” at the time that he died. Dennis helps Uncle Arvie finish a painting, retrieve some love letters, and dig up some money he had been saving. All of these items were presented to Uncle Arvie’s wife who is Dennis’s Aunt Julia. This is a fun story that children are sure to enjoy. It lends itself to discussions about the effects of stroke, the loneliness and voids caused by death, and maybe even a classroom debate about whether or not the ghosts were real. ~Marria
 * Agreed, a good addition to our list. Though at a lower reading level (3.0 in AR), I still think the story will engage an older reader. I do think we need to look into whether or not it's been re-released with an updated cover, because the copy I had was unattractive. -Kristy


 * __Absolutely Normal Chaos__ - I am going to vote "no" on this one. Some of the content was a bit mature for our audience of 5th grade (repeated use of the word sex and discussions about physical relationships between boyfriend/girlfriend characters). For a required classroom read, I feel Creech offers us some better, more age-appropriate choices.
 * Right from the beginning of this book you could tell it was not appropriate for 5th grade. I agree with the previous poster. The content is far too advanced for our students. ~Marria
 * __**Walk Two Moons**__ - First of all, I want to say that Walk Two Moons is a sequel-ish/companion novel to Absolutely Normal Chaos! Didn't know that until I read them one after another! The main character of ANC makes an appearance as a classmate of Sal's in Ohio. Anyways, I'd love to hear other responses on this book. The story is wonderful, everything is wonderful... except in one place they make use of the word sex about 3 times. Something about wondering what the symbolism in poetry studied in class really meant (was it murder, loss, sex?). Ugh, should have flagged the page and given you guys the exact paragraph. Innocent, or too much for a 5th grade classroom novel? What do you think? As conservative as I am, I might have to say I would fight to keep it on the list because of the rich storyline. -Kristy
 * __**Ruby Holler**__ - This one is a definite keeper. Loved the story - two orphans are essentially abused in a foster care-type situation but end up getting taken in by an older couple looking for companionship as they take their first trip apart from each other. Naturally, the two pairs warm up to each other and become a family, but not without ups and downs along the way. -Kristy