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The Lotus Seed is the story of how a young girl kept a tiny lotus seed her entire life to remember her childhood and homeland.  When her grandson plants the seed she is devastated.  But, as the seed blossoms, she's reminded of her early years.

The Old Woman Who Named Things is about an old lady who had outlived everyone she loved.  So, to keep from being lonely, she named her things.  Her chair had a name.  Her car had a name.  One day she finds a dog and is scared to name it because she doesn't want to outlive him too.  The story of friendship is wonderful.

The Best Beekeeper of Lalibela: A Tale from Africa proves that a little girl can be just as good at caring from beehives as the big strong men in the village.  The story is a tale from Africa with great cultural lessons and many themes to analyze.

For a variety of graphic organizers to help reinforce teaching students to analyze and that can be used with any mentor text or independent text, check out this resource!

To see the bundle this resource comes in and get two sets free click the image below:

Out of This World Literacy is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com

The Most Magnificent Thing is such an awesome book!  It's about a little girl who seeks to create the most magnificent thing, but she struggles to find all the pieces she needs.  She uses her imagination and perseveres to make it all happen!

Crow Call is a memoir from the author's childhood.  It's a beautiful story of a young girl and her father who go on a crow hunt and reconnect after he'd been away in the war for so long.

That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown is a story of fantasy, where a little girl goes on a wild imagination journey, requesting her bunny rabbit be returned to her.

Fireflies is a great story about a little boy who rushes out to catch fireflies, only to discover they really should be free.

Max's Words is a great story about a boy who collects words.  Eventually, all his words turn into a story that everyone loves!

I Lost My Tooth in Africa is a story about a girl who goes to visit her family in Africa.  While she is there she plays with her cousins and is reminded of how different the culture is on the other side of the world.

Here is a chart with three mini-lesson statements and examples of how to frame your whole class discussion.  Fill out your charts with these organizers as you discuss each book with the class!

What Do You Do With an Idea? Is a beautifully illustrated story about how one small idea can turn into something that could change the world!

Mama Panya's Pancakes is one of my FAVORITE stories about a little boy who lives in Kenya and invites all his friends and neighbors over for food, even though his mom only has two coins to buy flour for just them.  It teaches kids about the power of community and sharing.

What Do You Do With a Problem? is yet another beautifully illustrated book that teaches kids how to face their problems so that they go away.

For a variety of graphic organizers to help reinforce teaching students to think about their thinking (metacognition) and that can be used with any mentor text or independent text, check out this resource!

To see the bundle this resource comes in and get two sets free click the image below:

Out of This World Literacy is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com

Here is a chart with three mini-lesson statements and examples of how to frame your whole class discussion.  Fill out your charts with these organizers as you discuss each book with the class!

Tight Times  is a great story about struggling financially and having to sacrifice.  The boy wants a dog but his family cannot afford it.  It's a great book to compare and contrast the beginning of the story to the end, as the boy comes up with an alternative to getting a pet dog.

Always In Trouble is a hilarious story about a dog who always seems to get in trouble.  Kids can totally relate, comparing their pets to this dog, or also comparing how the dog finally starts to behave!

Let Me Finish! is a fun story of a boy who tries to read a book but is constantly being told the ending by others.  It's a great story to help students compare and contrast their experiences with reading that of the boy in the story.

Here is a chart with three mini-lesson statements and examples of how to frame your whole class discussion.  Fill out your charts with these organizers as you discuss each book with the class!

Trombone Shorty is an award-winning true story about a talented young trombone player in New Orleans.  The setting is described beautifully, invoking all five senses as the reader discovers what life  and music is like in New Orleans.

Four Feet, Two Sandals is a remarkable story of friendship and determination based in a refugee camp.  The two young girls become friends as they share one pair of sandals between them.  The setting is powerful and ends with only one girl leaving the camp with her family, leaving them wondering who will keep the one pair of sandals.

A classic Robert Munsch book, Pigs has hilarious settings.  The little girl thinks pigs aren't smart enough to escape their pen so she fails to lock it.  Little does she know she has completely underestimated the pigs and they invade every space in her life, including school!  It's a fun read and leads to lots of different settings.

Here is a chart with three mini-lesson statements and examples of how to frame your whole class discussion.  Fill out your charts with these organizers as you discuss each book with the class!

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend is such a fun book!  It's told from the perspective a Beekle, an imaginary friend who gets tired of waiting for someone to be his friend.  He goes on a journey to find his friend and learns a lot along the way.  It has a strong problem and solution!

One of my personal all-time favorites as a child, The Monster at the End of This Book is a classic Sesame Street book with tons of problems and very little solutions.  The entire book is interactive with the reader as Grover tries to convince the reader not to turn the pages because there is a monster at the end of the book.  He goes to extreme measures to try and stop the reader!  This book is great for older kids too!

Fire on the Mountain is a wonderful story full of culture and problems and solutions.  The story is based in Ethiopia.  The characters are servants in a rich man's house.  They are challenged by their master that they can't survive a night alone outside.  If they survive their master promises a handsome reward; however, after the night is a success the master refuses any reward.

Here is a chart with three mini-lesson statements and examples of how to frame your whole class discussion.  Fill out your charts with these organizers as you discuss each book with the class!

The Invisible Boy is such a relatable story with lots of great points to stop and ask questions.  The main character feels invisible because he never quite fits in with all the other kids in his class.  He struggles to be social and feel a sense of belonging.  But, a new kid comes to school and helps him feel not so alone.  It's a great story!

Based on the time of segregation of blacks and whites, White Socks Only is a story of a little girl going about her day.  When she realizes how thirsty she is from the heat she stops to grab a drink at a water fountain.  The sign said, “whites only” so, innocently, the sweet little black girl takes off her shoes so her white socks are all she has on her feet to take a drink.  The little girl has no idea what her actions are about to cause.  It's a great book to talk about the reality of segregation and how unjust it really was.

The Three Questions is an obvious book to teach asking and answering questions.  The boy goes through experiences that lead him to finally answer the three big questions he has about life.

For a variety of graphic organizers to help reinforce teaching students to ask and answer questions and that can be used with any mentor text or independent text, check out this resource!

The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth, and Harlem's Greatest Bookstore is a wonderful book based on a true story of a man who owned a bookstore for black people during the time America was heavily segregated.  It's a great book to integrate social studies content into reading and teach theme!

Fly Away Home is a powerful story about a boy and his dad who are homeless and living in an airport.  The theme of the book is very compelling and leaves the reader with many things to think about being homeless and how fortunate most are to have a home.

Mr. Peabody's Apples is a great story about the consequences of spreading rumors and how those rumors can impact an entire community.  It's a great story with a strong theme!

For 30 different comprehension questions in 3 formats based on theme that you can use with any text, click on the image below.

Roxaboxen is an excellent story that leads us to students thinking deeply about what it means to create an imaginary town.  In the story the kids in the neighborhood turn an area of land into a small town, complete with roads and houses!

The Little House is a powerful story about how a well-built house went from living in the country so becoming surrounded by a large city.  The images capture the transition slowly on each page as the reader feels the emotions of the house as it struggles to accept its new surroundings.  It's a great books to teach kids to think deeply about the world around them!

The Book of Bad Ideas is a hilarious book of really bad ideas.  It's a great mentor text to help kids determine which detail is the most important, or in this case, which bad idea is the worst!

For a variety of graphic organizers to help reinforce teaching students to synthesize and that can be used with any mentor text or independent text, check out this resource!

Here is a chart with three mini-lesson statements and examples of how to frame your whole class discussion.  Fill out your charts with these organizers as you discuss each book with the class!

The Great Fire is an amazing true story recount of the famous Chicago fire that burned nearly the entire city.  The first few chapters are truly captivating and written in such a way that leads to incredible discussions on finding evidence that supports the text.

The light-hearted book, Harriet, You'll Drive Me Wild! is a great story about a little girl named Harriet that does all sorts of things to finally make her mom snap.  It's a great book to hunt for evidence that proves her mom is about to lose it!

In the memoir from Patricia Polacco, My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, Trisha's brother is mean and always teasing her.  But, in the end she realizes how great having a big brother can be.  This is a great book to teach students to use evidence to support the main events in a text.

Out of This World Literacy is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com

Here is a chart with three mini-lesson statements and examples of how to frame your whole class discussion.  Fill out your charts with these organizers as you discuss each book with the class!

The Giving Tree is a wonderful story that leads into some amazing lessons on cause and effect.  As the boy comes back to take more from the tree, there are consequences he doesn't realize until much later in life.

Teach students about another culture, while thinking about how our thrown-out plastic bags impact the environment in this true story, One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia .  The women in this story turn thrown-away plastic bags into beautiful purses to sell.  A great cause and effect example!

Those Shoes is a great story about a young boy who feels the pressure to have the ‘cool' shoes that all his friends are wearing.  The only problem is his family cannot afford them.  There are many cause and effect examples throughout this fabulous story about being yourself and trying to fit in at the same time.

Check out the resource below that features 20 different graphic organizers to use with any text and reinforce these cause and effect comprehension skills:

1. Cause and Effect Matching Set One
2. Cause and Effect Matching Set Two
3. Cause and Effect Matching Set Three
4. If…Then…
5. Identifying Causes in Texts
6. Identifying Effects in Texts
7. Inferring Causes in Texts
8. Inferring Effects in Texts
9. What Happened/Why It Happened
10. Creating Causes Set One
11. Creating Causes Set Two
12. Creating Causes Set Three
13. Creating Effects Set One 
14. Creating Effects Set Two
15. Creating Effects Set Three
16. Cause and Effect Signal Words
17. Illustrating Cause and Effect 
18. One Cause, Multiple Effects Set One
19. One Cause, Multiple Effects Set Two
20. One Cause, Multiple Effects in Text

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers is such a great book to teach tension.  It also is a true story about a man that snuck into the World Trade Center Towers as they were being constructed, slung a tight rope across the towers, and walked in the sky!!

Going along with the World Trade Center theme, Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey is an incredible true story about how an old fireboat helped during the terrorist attacks on 9/11.  It's a great book for teaching tension!

Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China is an awesome twist on the Little Red Riding Hood story, and a great book to teach tension!

For a variety of questions about tension in three formats that reinforce your teaching and can be used with any mentor text at any level, check out this resource!

My New Friend is So Fun! is an awesome book to read with kids of all ages and offers amazing opportunities to talk about character traits.

The Story of Ferdinand is a GREAT book to read with kids of all ages.  We love to talk about Ferdinand and describe his character traits and how unusual they are for a bull.

The Other Side is such a great book to use with so many comprehension skills, but especially character traits because you can talk about how characters change in a story and the reasons they make those changes.