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17th out of 20 books
—
3 voters
The Wednesday Surprise
Anna and Grandma are planning a surprise for Dad's birthday. Dad thinks he has received all his presents, but Grandma stands up and gives him the best one of all: she reads aloud the stories that Anna has taught her.
Hardcover, 32 pages
Published
March 20th 1989
by Clarion Books
(first published January 1989)
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This is a beautiful and inspiring story about a 7 year old girl named Anna and her successful efforts to make her grandmother read. On Wednesdays, Grandma and Anna spend time together where they share in a wonderful surprise. They work together to share with one another the wonderful lessons of life. Grandma teaches Anna how to knit, and Anna teaches her European Immigrant grandmother how to read English. This is the surprise that Grandma gives to her son for his birthday.
This book definitely b...more
This book definitely b...more
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The Wednesday Surprise is intended for students in kindergarten through third grade. It is a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and an ALA Notable Book (1989). This is a heartwarming story about a granddaughter and her successful efforts to teach her grandmother how to read as a birthday surprise for another family member. The importance of literacy, family, and love are all present throughout the book.
The main themes of the book are literacy, love, and family. The main focus of the b...more
The main themes of the book are literacy, love, and family. The main focus of the b...more
Anna and her grandmother have a Wednesday secret. Wednesdays are when Mom stays late at work, her brother goes to basketball practice and Dad is driving his big truck and won't be home til Saturday for his birthday party. That's part of the surprise; Anna and Grandma are planning the surprise for his birthday. Grandma comes to take care of Anna on Wednesdays when everyone else is away. She always brings a big bag with her. When everyone is gone Anna and Grandma sit on the couch and reach into th...more
This was the book that was sent home with my six year old daughter this week for homework and to make sure she does a good job on her AR tests, we have a system. On the first day she reads whatever book she has brought home to me, then on day two I read the same book to her, and finally on day three I re-read and ask questions to make sure she is retaining what she reads. This system quickly lets me know if my daughter and I like a book or not. If we are still enjoying the story on day three, it...more
Reading The Wednesday Surprise was really enjoying and it really made me miss being little, and being away from home without my family. I think this would be a great story that little girls would love to read. It really makes you feel special and be thankful for what you have in your life, and to know that people out there really do care about you and love you. I was never really close to my grandparents since 2 of them lived pretty far away from me, so I only got to really see them on the holid...more
This book is one of my favorites! It is obvious that someone in the story is learning how to read, (for a birthday surprise) but the reader is a surprise. I think that book shows the generation and culture gaps that existed (and still do today). I feel that literacy is often taken for granted today, and this book could be a useful resource to show students what a gift reading can be!
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I thought this was a very good book. The grade levels that would be able to read this by them selves would be 3rd grade and up. This is also a great book for teachers to read outloud to the lower grades as well. Kid loves their grandmothers so whenever stories involve them, i remember kids always wanting to tell stories of their own grandmothers. They seem to always enjoy hearing about family members in books.
I really liked how in the end, the grandmother was actually being taught how to read by...more
I really liked how in the end, the grandmother was actually being taught how to read by...more
The Wednesday Surprise is about a young girl, Anna, and her grandmother planning a surprise for her dad's birthday. The book progresses on as the grandmother comes to visit, and see that she and Anna enjoy reading books together. At the end of the story, Grandma gathers the family, picks up a book, and starts to read aloud. Everyone is astonished, and you find out that the "Wednesday surprise" was that Anna had been teaching her grandma how to read every Wednesday when she came to visit.
I thoug...more
I thoug...more
The Wednesday Surprise is a picture book about learning how to read. The illustrations are full-color paintings in light colored hues. In the story, Anna’s grandma comes to visit every Wednesday to eat dinner with Anna and her brother while dad is on the road trucking. Grandma and Anna also have special time together reading books from a large, lumpy bag full of books that grandma brings each week. They are going to surprise Anna’s dad on his birthday. When initially reading the book, you would...more
The Wednesday Surprise is about a girl, Anna, and her grandmother who read together every Wednesday night. Anna's fathers birthday is coming up, and the girl and her grandmother are planning some sort of a surprise. When her dad finally arrives home, they give him the big present. Anna had taught her grandmother to read!
This is a sweet, touching story of a bond between a girl and her grandmother. Throughout the story I assumed it was of course Anna's grandmother teaching her to read, but I came...more
This is a sweet, touching story of a bond between a girl and her grandmother. Throughout the story I assumed it was of course Anna's grandmother teaching her to read, but I came...more
I found this book to be a cute storyline with a surprise! Reading the book we of course believe that it is the Grandma reading to her granddaughter Anna, who goes over on Wednesday night to have dinner with her and her brother every week. Both Grandma and Anna enjoy reading books together. With her dad being a truck driver, Grandma and Anna planned a special birthday surprise for him. While reading the book you become aware that it is Anna actually teaching her Grandma to read. Her dad is please...more
This book is a heartwarming story about the special birthday surprise that seven-year-old Anna and her Grandma prepare for Anna's father. They have been practicing reading every Wednesday night for weeks! The reader's surprise is who taught who to read! I love this story for the idea that reading is a skill worth learning no matter how old the learner may be! Hearing Anna narrate was very enjoyable, as were the semi-realistic illustrations. The pictures conveyed a warm sense of family filled wit...more
I found The Wednesday Surprise to be delightful, as it brought back memories from my childhood with my own grandmother. I think what makes the book so special is that it is not only the character in the book who gets a surprise, but it is the actual reader themselves. I didn't predict what was coming in the book, which made it interesting for me. The story can teach a valuable lesson to children giving them a sense of how powerful and important their reading education can be, and of course, to l...more
The story is very touching to me and I believe it is something I to share with my grandma. She use to help me learn to read, because it was something that was very difficult for me to learn. Everytime my grandma had extra time, she would sit me down and have me read as many books I had time to read before bed time, just like Anna did with her grandmother. In the end, Anna shows her dad that she had finally learned to read, something that both mad her, her grandmother and her dad very happy to se...more
The story keeps the reader guessing what the surprise is that Anna and grandma are keeping from the family. This makes the reader keep on wanting to read to find out what the gift is. At the end it is not a gift that is bought but a gift that is learned. In this book it was learned every wednesday night when grandma would come babysit Anna. With this I think that the author is saying that being able to read is the best gift to have. That the gift of reading well also never be taken away or lost.
This is a very sweet story about a young girl named Anna who meets with her grandmother every Wednesday night to plan a surprise for her father's birthday. Anna ends up teaching her grandmother how to read by practicing with her. This book can teach importance lessons such as: we can all learn from one another no matter how old you are. We can also have discussions on the importance of reading and how we use it in our daily life.
Anna wants to give her father a birthday present, so her grandmother comes to her house to read with her. What her father doesn't know is that Grandma has been learning to read from Anna and she gives him the best present of all: learning to read a book out loud to her family. I think this book has a great surprise ending that I didn't see coming! It shows that you are never too old to learn to read!
I like to use this book when talking about special relationship with family members. Talk about how it is nice to do something nice for someone that you love. It is a great book to use to talk about the days of the week. I ask my class if they have a special of the week to do something special with a family member and if they do not what would the like to do that would be special and with whom.
This book is a heartwarming story about the special birthday surprise that seven-year-old Anna and her Grandma prepare for Anna's father. They have been practicing reading every Wednesday night for weeks! The reader's surprise is who taught who to read! I love this story for the idea that reading is a skill worth learning no matter how old the learner may be!
"The Wednesday Surprise" is about a girl who goes to her grandparents house every Wednesday night. She gives her father a bunch of presents, but at the end, the grandma gives him the best present of all, she reads the stories the daughter, Anna had made up. This book is inspiring and shows kids that presents aren't everything. Sometimes it's the little things, like stories, and handmade things that make parents the happiest.
A heart-warming story of a little girl and her grandmother reading together. The pair are working together in order to surprise the girl's dad for his birthday. The surprise ending sends a powerful message about the value of literacy and opportunities literacy provide. A great read aloud for anytime, but especially valuable to begin the school year.
May 22, 2013
Halle Aplin
added it
This was a unique and sweet story. The ending was a surprise which can be difficult to do in a book intended for children. The illustrations were beautiful and very detailed for being in water color. The book was very nice, it showed different types of families in real life situations. This story had the traditional child hero role.
This story is truly heartwarming. I like how you think you have the story figured out and then the author truly surprises you! Great story for predictions and/or questioning. A discussion should follow this story if used as a read-aloud. Younger level readers would really be encouraged by this story.
This is a very heartwarming tale of a granddaughter teaching her grandmother how to read. A secret between just the two of them will be revealed tonight to the little girls dad. Great book for struggling readers to affirm with hard work and practice, even the oldest of people can learn how to read.
The Wednesday Surprise is about a family getting ready for the dad's birthday. The grandma and daughter send days reading without anyone knowing. The surprise was unexpected. This would be a good book to do with a graffiti wall and to have the children learn something unexpected about reading.
A loving story about a young girl who plans a wonderful surprise for her father's birthday. While reading the book, you think the surprise is one thing, but it actually turns out to be something completely different. Students will love the catch at the end. One of my favorite Eve Bunting books.
Oct 09, 2011
Callie Risse
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
contemporary-realistic-fiction,
trade-books
This book is about a little girl and her grandmother who are planning a huge surprise for her father's birthday. Children can guess what the surprise it, but they are in for their own surprise at the end when they find out what it really is! This is a great story about the importance of reading.
Even though Anna is the grandaughter she is still able to teach her grandmother a very valued skill and that is to read. I think this book is a great lesson for children that just because they are smaller and younger does not mean that can't teach people who are older than them new things.
I absolutely loved this story. It is about a young girl who teaches her grandmother how to read. As an adult, this story really made an impression on me. It would be a good book to use with inferring as it is now known that the little girl is teaching the grandmother until the end.
Oct 11, 2012
Jenna
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
communication,
determination,
encouragement,
family,
favorites,
goals,
help,
kids,
togetherness,
teachers
What an incredible story! As an adult, this story left a mark on me. The story is about a little girl who teachers her grandmother to read. Throughout the story, the author does not give clues to the ending. The reader must infer what is going to happen based on previous information.
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Eve Bunting is an author with more than 250 books. Her books are diverse in age groups, from picture books to chapter books, and topic, ranging from Thanksgiving to riots in Los Angeles. Eve Bunting has won several awards for her works.
Bunting went to school in Ireland and grew up with storytelling. In Ireland, “There used to be Shanachies… the shanachie was a storyteller who went from house to ho...more
More about Eve Bunting...
Bunting went to school in Ireland and grew up with storytelling. In Ireland, “There used to be Shanachies… the shanachie was a storyteller who went from house to ho...more
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