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Last week I posted a request for short chapters from books that I could read aloud 
to my 3rd and 4th graders in about 10-15 minutes that would whet their appetites 
enough to seek out the book or the series on their own.  Of course this great group 
came to my rescue as usual and gave me quite a few ideas.  Thank you to all of 
you!!  Here is a hit ...

As before, I will start off with my favorite, which is found in the
introduction to Gary Paulsen's "My Life in Dog Years" in the section where 
he describes how he went through the ice one day while unloading his dog 
sled, and was saved by his lead dog, Cookie. By the time I finish reading 
this section there isn't a sound in the room, and the books fly off the self 
afterward.  

Some of my favorites:
 Squeaky Wheel by Robert Kimmel Smith, chapt. 6, "Meet Phil Steinkraus" 
,where he meets the school bully.
  Don't Make Me Smile by Barbara Park, Chapter 1 where he realizes his fly 
was unzipped during a concert
 Anastasia Krupnik, by Lois Lowry, Chapter 1, page 7 to 13,  when Anastasia 
gets an F on a poem she has written. 

The Great Brain at the Academy (John Fitsgerald). Chapter 5
"From Bad to Worse" where Tom has to peel potatoes as a punishment. It gets 
that whole Great Brain series going.   

These have worked great for me:
Holes by Sachar
The Graduation of Jake Moon by Park
Pictures of Hollis Woods by Giff
Among the Hidden by Haddix
Wayside School is Falling Down by Sachar
Because of Winn-Dixie by DiCamillo
Maniac Magee by Spinelli
The Power of Un by Etchemendy


Watsons Go to Birmingham - first chapter where the brother's tongue sticks 
to the frozen rear view mirror of the family car.
Fair Weather - just about any chapter after the kids get to Chicago.
Dancing in Cadillac Light - chapter 1 is a good hook but also an example of 
excellent narrative writing: lots of specific details about characters and 
setting and good hints about plot.  

Even though Roald Dahl books usually do not require a lot of "selling", I 
talk briefly about Roald's life from his book "Boy". My favorite passage is 
when Roald and friends sneak a dead mouse into the candy jar at the candy 
store owned by a mean old lady. The kids love it!

First 3 pages of What Jamie Saw. The part in chapter 1 where the father has 
a heart attack while driving with his daughter in Italy.  

I always book talk Gordon Korman's book titled "I Want To Go Home" to the 
grade four class each fall. I read them the letter the main character writes 
home to his parents, trying to convince them to come and get him from summer 
camp. I typed the letter onto a piece of paper so it looks like a real 
letter.  The letter that I read is on page 23.

To hook those reluctant 4th grade readers who are below grade level, I read 
the first chapter of Cam Janson and the Stolen Diamonds to them. Now I can't 
seem to keep any of
the Cam Janson books in. For the ones that are on grade level, they seem to 
be gravitating towards Encyclopedia Brown.

I have often read the first two paragraphs of Phillip Pullman's _Ruby in the 
Smoke_ as an example of a great "hook" when teaching writing. In this 
section, the young woman is described, her arrival at the offices of the 
shipping agent
are noted, and she enters the building where, "in the next fifteen
minutes, she was going to kill a man."

The first 2 chapters of BudNot Buddy. First chapter explains his situation, 
the second chapter ends with Bud being locked for the night in a dark shed. 
A real cliff hanger!

My kids love anything scary or gross, so try the first chapter of Skeleton 
Man by Bruchac.

Also from Gary Paulsen, in GUTS (his biography), the chapter called Moose
Attack.

Betsy Byars, PINBALLS, the chapter that tells how Henry's Dad drove over his
legs and broke both of them (reason Henry is in foster care).

Bud Not Buddy, the chapter in the beginning that tells of his early foster
care experience when the family's bully son tries to push a pencil up
Buddy's nose.

Watson Go to Birmingham, the early chapter that describes their family life
(very funny). 

I like the chapter from "The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963" about Byron
and the Nazi Parachutes of Death (not exact title but easy enough to find
the correct chapter.) 13-year-old Byron has been prohibited from playing
with matches and does so anyway in the bathroom lighting toilet paper
"parachutes" until his mother catches him and threatens him within an inch
of his life: all seen through the eyes of the narrator--his 10 year-old
brother. It is one of the incidents that precipitates the family trip to
Birmingham so Grandma can finally straighten Byron out. A very funny
chapter and the humor of that and several other chapters hooks the kids
enough so that they empathize with the black family and the chapter of
terror they go through when they are involved in the infamous Birmingham
church bombing that killed 3 girls in 1963.

To introduce kids that don't know Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and her marvelous
cures for the maladies that strike children such as
"never-want-to-go-to-bedders", or "small-eater-tiny-bite-takers", one of the
shorter to read chapters is "The Radish Cure" from the first Mrs.
Piggle-Wiggle book about a girl who doesn't want to take a bath.
ANY of the chapters in "A Long Way From Chicago" are great, but the one
about Grandma Dowdel entering her gooseberry pie in the pie contest at the
county fair and "winning" the airplane ride (the scene from the cover of the
book) is wonderful: a young boy finding out his feisty grandmother is not
above cheating--but for a good cause--her grandson (and her!) winning the
ride of a lifetime in a bi-plane.

Or one of the first chapters from Jack Gantos' "Jack on the Tracks" where
5th grader Jack and his Dad stop at a truck stop and Dad proceeds to eat the
giant steak to win a free meal.  

One of my favorite things I do each year with 5th grade is to introduce them
to Avi as an author. I
do a booktalk on at least 8 of his books, but my favorite has to be The True
Confessions of
Charlotte Doyle. If you can get the library or classroom dark enough, the
following has a great
effect on the kids: Set a candle in a holder that has a handle, light the
candle and set it on a stool
with the students sitting on the floor in front of it. Explain first what
the ship Charlotte was on
would have been like, especially the hold of the ship down below. Read the
following from pages
58-59 in Charlotte Doyle:
"After a moment the man said, "All right, miss. I'll leave you with the
candle. You won't go into
the hold now, will you?" "I shall be fine, Mr. Barlow," I declared. "please
leave me."
So engrossed was I in my exploration of my trunk that I ceased paying him
any attention. Only
vaguely did I hear him retreat and ascend the ladder. But when I was sure he
was gone I did turn
about. He had set the candle on the floor near where the ladder led further
into the hold. Though
the flame flickered in a draft, I was satisfied it would burn awhile. I
turned back to my trunk.
As I knelt there, making the difficult but delicious choice between this
petticoat and that- searching
for a book suitable for reading to the crew as the captain had suggested-
the sensation crept upon
me that there was something else hovering about, a presence, if you will,
something I could not
define.
At first I tried to ignore the feeling, But no matter how much I tried it
could not be denied. Of
course it was not exactly quiet down below. No place on a ship is. There
were the everlasting
creaks and groans. I could hear the sloshing of the bilge water in the hold,
and the rustling of all I
preferred not to put a name to- such as the rats Barlow had mentioned. But
within moments I was
absolutely certain- though how I knew I cannot tell- that it was a person
who was watching me.
As this realization took hold, I froze in terror (act this part out). Then
slowly I lifted my head and
stared before me over the lid of the trunk. As far as I could see, no one
was there.
My eyes swept to the right. No one. To the left. Again, nothing. There was
but one other place to
look, behind. Just the thought brought a prickle to the back of my neck
until, with sudden panic, I
whirled impulsively about.
There, jutting up from the hole through which the hold might be reached, was
a grinning head, its
eyes fixed right on me.
I shrieked. The next moment the candle went out and I was plunged into utter
darkness (blow the
candle out)."
This passage has never failed to get kids so excited about this book that
the 3 copies I have are on
hold for the rest of the year. I also go further in explaining a bit more
about the book and the
situation Charlotte finds herself in, without giving away any pertinent
information.


How about the second chapter of Soup by Peck...the one with the apple
throwing and breaking the
church window! My kids really enjoy this.  

Frindle by Andrew Clements "Mrs. Granger knew it too.
She had edged around from the back of the room to the
side near the windows. Nick glanced at her now and
then as he read and each time Mrs. Granger's eyes
clicked up to an new power level. There were only 10
minutes left in seventh period."

My contribution would be the first chaper
of Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. I read it to a class of
fourth graders, and we went on to read the entire book in library-one
chapter a week.

Wind in the Willows
"[Mole] thought his happiness was complete when, as he meandered aimlessly
along, suddenly he
stood by the edge of a full-fed river. Never in his life had he seen a river
before--this sleek,
sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a
gurgle and leaving them
with a laugh, to fling itself on fresh playmates that shook themselves free,
and were caught and
held again." Such is the cautious, agreeable Mole's first introduction to
the river and the Life
Adventurous. Emerging from his home at Mole End one spring, his whole world
changes when he
hooks up with the good-natured, boat-loving Water Rat, the boastful Toad of
Toad Hall, the
society- hating Badger who lives in the frightening Wild Wood, and countless
other mostly well-
meaning creatures. Michael Hague's exquisitely detailed, breathtaking color
illustrations on almost
every generous spread--along with Kenneth Grahame's elegant, delightfully
old-fashioned
characterizations of the animals--make this book a wonderful read-aloud.
Grahame's The Wind in
the Willows has enchanted readers for four generations.

I always read the first couple of chapters of Micke Harte was Here(with 5th
graders)...up to the
part where she says he not here any more, he died...I think it is the end of
chapter
2....EVERYONE goes to check it out......I also read the first chapter of
Wayside School ...the one
called Miss Gorf..where she turns the kids into apples....I do that with 4th
graders...

I like to book talk the Hoboken Chicken Emergency by D. Manus
Pinkwater. I do this one before Thanksgiving. It's Thanksgiving and the boy
in the story has been sent to pick up the turkey. He arrives home with a
123 kilogram chicken. I read the passage on page 8 starting with "Everbody
noticed the chicken as Arthur led it home." and continue to the end of page
9. I have a rubber chicken that I use when I'm book talking this story.



I like to read Chapter 10 of "Bud Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis,
where Bud is given a
ride by a doctor who has bottles of blood in his car and he is terrified
because he thinks he is a
vampire .... the kids love it and always want to check out the book. 

I'm doing this from home without the book handy, but in the book Bud Not
Buddy, the section
that tells about Bud hitch hiking with a man he becomes convinced is a
vampire is sure to hook
them with laughs. I believe it is chapter 3. I've used it a number of times
and the book never stays
on the shelf afterward.

I am in the process of creating a website with books arranged by
grade level. Maybe you will find something there.
http://www.bookwink.com


Encyclodepia Brown has a book called "Solves it all" which has several
cases in it, so you could read one of the cases and suggestion more E.
Brown titles.

Also, Space Brat by Bruce Coville
DragonSLayers Academy by Kate McMullan

Two series from Michigan with enough suspense and intrigue for this age level are 
Johnathan Rand's Michigan Chillers or American Chillers books. Also David Anthony 
and Charles David write a series of medieval books call Knightscares. Both can be 
obtained online from their websites. Chapters usually end in cliffhangers. 

I have also read bits of The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Cleary, Molly Moon by 
Georgia Byng, Jake Drake by Clements, and Animal Ark by Baglio. 

Please post a hit of your responses.  I had asked for this a few years ago and 
didn't get too much response.  Now, as I go back and search the archives, I see 
many new possibilities.  We use the terms Book Hooks/Cliff Hangers/Book Bites/Page 
Turners.  One of my favorites is from The Beaded Moccasins (was on our state list 
several years ago).  Close to the beginning (maybe the second chapter) there is a 
fairly graphic scene that definitely catches the audiences attention when the 
girl's brother is taken into the woods and scalped - you have to read the whole 
thing to appreciate the book

Hi. Sideways stories from Wayside School by Sachar has 1-page chapters! Its sequels 
have ones that are a little bit longer.

I love to read the chapter, I think "Joe", from Louis Sachar's Sideways School.  It 
is about counting and is just the best.

Have you tried The SOS Files, or Best Christmas Pageant Ever?

Any of the books by Kate Di Camillo will work for read alouds. They are
written perfectly for a chapter by chapter read. They are all excellent. I
can't think of a better one for third grade than _Edward Tulane_. After you
get them through the first three chapters (all set up and character
introduction)you students will be enthralled.

I am studying to be a librarian so I subscribed as part of a class requirement.  I 
have taught fourth grade forever.  Here are some books my classes have loved:
 
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
 
The Hank Zipzer series by Henry Winkler ( the Fonz!)
 
Because of Winn Dixie
 
The Magic Tree House series
 
Sarah, Plain and Tall ( one of my favorites)
 
anything by Beverly Cleary
 
anything by Barbara Robinson
 
Frindle...Andrew Clements
 
The Landry News...same author


Kathy Marceski
Teacher Librarian
Van Holten School
Bridgewater, NJ


Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to 
read.  -  Groucho Marx

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