Freddy’s Favorites compile TextProject’s recommendations for read-aloud books for struggling and beginning readers. The Common Core State Standards bring increased focus to what it is that students are learning in schools and what they need to know. Through read-alouds, students can be introduced to topics and genres that they might otherwise not be able to read independently. Our list of Read-Aloud Favorites can be searched by grade level, genre, format and subject.
To read more about the importance of reading aloud in a classroom, please read this blog entry in Frankly Freddy.
Restless Spirit
Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange is one part history book and one part biography. Written by Elizabeth Partridge, daughter of Lange’s first assistant, this book is full of Lange’s own personal pictures as well as those pictures she is most famous for. Just as Lange used her photographs to tell the history of people she sees, Partridge uses Lange’s photographs to tell the history of Lange’s personal and professional life. However, to give context to Lange and her work, Partridge uses historical events to help tell the story.
This book gives the readers a fascinating look into the Lange and her photographs. Just as some of her photographs stirred controversy, so did Lange with her life. Most women of her time did not marry a man 20 years their senior, and Lange constantly battled with the constraints of her duties as a mother and a wife. Oftentimes she left her children in the care of other families or at a boarding school so that she might have the time and freedom to travel and take photographs. Lange never shied away from making difficult decision to help further her work.
Four Pictures By Emily Carr
Emily Carr was a Canadian artist and writer. Everything she did or wanted to do was in conflict with the world she lived in. Carr was an artist when there were very few female artists in the world. She enjoyed painting the native people of Vancouver Island when there was still great prejudice against them. Later in life Carr stopped painting because she wasn’t accepted and was heavily criticized for her artwork. It was many years later, when she met the Group of Seven, that she resumed painting.
This book is in a graphic novel format, and beautifully complements Carr’s artwork and life. The purpose of this book is not to tell Carr’s entire life story, but rather to give the background story to four of her works of art. The book begins with Ada and Louisa Outside Cedar Canim’s House, Ucluelet and ends with Scorched as Timber, Beloved of the Sky.
Family Pictures, 15th Anniversary Edition / Cuadros de Familia, Edición Quinceañera
Family Pictures Cuadros De Familia is the first book of three that tells the life story of the author and illustrator Carmen Lomas Garza. Written in both English and Spanish, this book will feel like looking at Garza’s family photo album. Each picture is an intimate look at her life when she lived in her hometown of Kingsville, Texas. From ordinary everyday events such as stargazing on the roof with her sister or a day at a fair, the book takes the reader along with Garza and her family.
Books like Family Pictures Cuadros De Familia serve two purposes. One is to capture an important and influential artist’s life story. The other is to serve as a historical record of what life was/is like in the border towns. Every picture in this book is a picture of family, community, and culture. This is a book that shows the author’s roots and also how far she’s come. This books says ‘This is where I came from and with this book as proof, look at where I am now.’ Family Pictures Cuadros De Familia is truly an inspirational book.
The Remarkable Rough-Riding Life of Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Empire America
Theodore Roosevelt was man of big ideas and big actions. During his time as a president, he fought the powerful Captains of Industry when they wanted to form larger monopolies. Teddy was also the first president to invite an African-American, Booker T. Washington, to dine at the White House when the nation was still divided by racism.
In Harness’s book, the book begins with with the birth of Teddy Roosevelt, and ends with his death. It’s a bit of a rough start as Harness awkwardly tries to include every detail of Teddy’s life in a casual tone of voice. But the book picks up towards the middle and becomes an engrossing read. This book would be a good alternative to a textbook detailing the life and times of Teddy Roosevelt, as it is chock full of national and world events as well as quotes from Teddy Roosevelt’s letters, books, and diaries. The illustrations and sidebars and the timeline at the bottom of the page are also interesting and add even more background to the story.
George Washington Spymaster
Did you know that founding father and first President of the United States, George Washington, was also a champion of espionage? Thomas B. Allen, in his in his award-winning book, entitled George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the War, reveals how one of our greatest presidents managed a large spy network that undermined the British during the Revolutionary War. Allen takes the reader from Washington’s humble beginnings as a young Major in the Virginia militia, who fraternized with the enemy to acquire the vital information to help the British defeat the French during the French and Indian War, to his duplicitous dealings with the British during the Revolutionary period. In one episode, George Washington used a double agent by the name of Elijah Hunter to pass misinformation to British Generals. This paved the way for Washington and his Continental Army to make the infamous crossing of the Delaware to defeat British mercenaries and ultimately win the Revolutionary War.
This book is an interesting read full of intrigue and suspense as the story unfolds. Accompanying the story is a set of illustrations that includes old sketches and old maps. Along the same theme of codes and spies are secret codes embedded in the book that the reader can decipher using a code that Washington and his ring of spies developed.