School?

[Katie]

I was thinking of using this book as one of my novels next year in class as an add in to our reading curriculum. The main focus in social studies is on the American Revolution and I thought this book would make an excellent bridge from both subjects. Thoughts?

[MizziQ]

I don't really have deep thoughts on it but I thought it was really good. Sounds good for a class book...
Not an expert by any means...:)

[Katie]

Well if you were in fifth grade do you think you would enjoy reading it?

[MizziQ]

Yes.

[MizziQ]

I read it in 6th and liked it. I think it would be neat to do it with a group...

[Savanah]

If the kids have active imaginations, some of the descriptions are a bit brutal. I got nightmares from reading the hatchet books at around that age.

[Derek]

I think it would be a great book for kids and I liked it.

[Pandora]

Please don't. If you have any kids that are German or Native American/Indian they are not going to be happy. I sure wasn't when I read it as adult - it is the Hessians and the Iraquios that do most of the violent acts in the novel. At least that is what I wrote in my review. I also don't think it does a good job explaining how complex the Revolution was. As a German American I have enough guilt over WWII I don't need the addition of the Revolution.

I found Avi's The Fighting Ground to be a better book especially in showing that war is a horrible thing that can make both sides evil.

I am sure that there must be other books that do a better job with the Revolution. I just can't of any others right now. It is midnight.

Though as a teaching tool the best thing I can think of for The American Revolution is the movie 1776 written by a teacher. It shows how complex, difficult, and new was the idea of having a Revoltion.

I know a lot of people love this book. There are those who do find the inserts between chapters annoying and some felt they weren't getting a forced history lesson. I expect some student would feel that way too.

[Paula]

I used the book this year with my 8th graders. We read it as a study of historical fiction while they were learning about the complexity of the American Revolution in Social Studies class.

I chose to use this book instead of My Brother Sam Is Dead as I have in the past because of the informational text inserts. My students are then required to write a fictionalized historical journal entry set during the AR. This year I required them to include informational text by using the comment function in Word. They had to highlight at least 5 people, places, items, etc. then research those. Once they research they wrote their own comments. For example if they used the Boston Tea Party they might have highlight the word "wharf" and then included information about Griffin's Wharf such as how it is where most people say the tea party took place, how it is no longer a wharf, etc.

Hope this helps.

[Nick]

Katie wrote: "Well if you were in fifth grade do you think you would enjoy reading it?"
yes i'm in 5th grade

[Ashley]

I read it for school in 7th grade. I thought it was ok but it could have been better