The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm

When Ellie's mom brings her grandfather home from the police station, Ellie does not really question his appearance, but she should have!  The brilliant scientist is no longer an old man, somehow he has discovered the secret to eternal youth and is now a teenage boy.  Because of his brush with the law, the teenage "long lost cousin" is now required to attend school with Ellie.  While her grandfather tries to enlist Ellie's help in breaking into his lab, to recover his ground breaking research, Ellie questions everything she thought she knew about science and life.  Will Ellie be able to deal with her embarrassing grandfather at middle school?  Will her grandfather finally get the fame and recognition he has worked so hard to accomplish?  What would life be like if everyone could be young again?  

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

So, this book is an autobiography in prose.  Both things usually do not make me happy.  But this was a beautiful autobiography about Jacqueline Woodson's remarkable childhood.  The book talks about her very early years in Ohio, where her father's successful black family was accepted.  After her parent's split, her mother decided to move the children back to Greenville, South Carolina, where her grandmother still felt safer on the back of the bus and did not go into certain stores because she didn't want to be followed around because she was black.  Woodson loved her grandparents and her summer days spent outside.  When her mother leaves to explore life in New York, Woodson is torn between missing her mother and enjoying her life with her grandparents.  Eventually the children move to New York, which is an adjustment (all that concrete) to her life in South Carolina.  Gradually Woodson finds her place and a new best friend.  A stunning walk through a period of history, with Woodson's powerful narration.

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

After seeing the Ku Klux Klan burning a cross in the middle of the night, Stella's life begins to change.  In the 1930's South, Stella has become accustomed to being treated like a second class citizen.  She attends an all black school, she lives in an all black neighborhood, and she accepts the fact the whites in town look down upon her. Gradually, Stella starts to notice the people in her neighborhood are getting tired of waiting for things to get better.  Stella becomes an example of strength and perserverance while those around her struggle to fight against racism.  This struggle results in the burning down of houses by the Ku Klux Klan, someone almost dying because the "white" doctor refuses to treat them because they are black, and the constant fear of retribution.  This book shows the perils of standing up for one's rights through the eyes of a young girl.

Nightbird by Alice Hoffman

This was one of the best middle grade books I have read.  I loved that it was mystical, intriguing, and thought provoking. Twig is a mysterious young girl who lives in the equally peculiar town of Sidwell.  Twig and Sidwell have their share of secrets.  There are rumors of a winged monster which lives in the unearthly woods on the outskirts of town.  Twig is a lonely girl who lives a life of hiding with her mother near their family's orchards.  When a new family moves into an abandoned cottage, old legends begin to seem true.  Twig has to find out how to keep her secrets safe but still live the life she has always wanted.  This is a page turner, full of surprises.

Thomas Jefferson Research Simulation Task Grade 5

Writing prompt:  Compare and contrast the life of Thomas Jefferson as described in the following articles and video.

1. http://classroom.monticello.org/kids/resources/profile/81/Brief-Biography-of-Thomas-Jefferson/
2. http://www.biography.com/people/thomas-jefferson-9353715
3. Excerpt from History.com

(The following is the excerpt from History.com)

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), author of the Declaration of Independence and the third U.S. president, was a leading figure in America’s early development. During the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), Jefferson served in the Virginia legislature and the Continental Congress and was governor of Virginia. He later served as U.S. minister to France and U.S. secretary of state, and was vice president under John Adams (1735-1826). Jefferson, who thought the national government should have a limited role in citizens’ lives, was elected president in 1800. During his two terms in office (1801-1809), the U.S. purchased the Louisiana Territory and Lewis and Clark explored the vast new acquisition. Although Jefferson promoted individual liberty, he was also a slaveowner. After leaving office, he retired to his Virginia plantation, Monticello, and helped found the University of Virginia.

THOMAS JEFFERSON’S EARLY YEARS

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, a plantation on a large tract of land near present-day Charlottesville, Virginia. His father, Peter Jefferson (1707/08-57), was a successful planter and surveyor and his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson (1720-76), came from a prominent Virginia family. Thomas was their third child and eldest son; he had six sisters and one surviving brother.

In 1762, Jefferson graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he reportedly enjoyed studying for 15 hours then practicing violin for several more hours on a daily basis. He went on to study law under the tutelage of a respected Virginia attorney (there were no official law schools in America at the time), and began working as a lawyer in 1767. As a member of colonial Virginia’s House of Burgesses from 1769 to 1775, Jefferson, who was known for his reserved manner, gained recognition for penning a pamphlet, “A Summary View of the Rights of British America” (1774), which declared that the British Parliament had no right to exercise authority over the American colonies.

MARRIAGE AND MONTICELLO

After his father died when Jefferson was a teen, the future president inherited the Shadwell property. In 1768, Jefferson began clearing a mountaintop on the land, in preparation for the elegant brick mansion he would construct there called Monticello (“little mountain” in Italian). Jefferson, who had a keen interest in architecture and gardening, designed the home and its elaborate gardens himself. Over the course of his life, he remodeled and expanded Monticello and filled it with art, fine furnishings and interesting gadgets and architectural details. He kept records of everything that happened at the 5,000-acre plantation, including daily weather reports, a gardening journal and notes about his slaves and animals.

On January 1, 1772, Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton (1748-82), a young widow. The couple moved to Monticello and eventually had six children; only two daughters–Martha (1772-1836) and Mary (1778-1804)–survived into adulthood. In 1782, Jefferson’s wife Martha died at age 33 following complications from child-birth. Jefferson was distraught and never remarried. However, it is believed he fathered more children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemmings (1773-1835).

Slavery was a contradictory issue in Jefferson’s life. Although he was an advocate for individual liberty and at one point promoted a plan for gradual emancipation of slaves in America, he owned slaves throughout his life. Additionally, while he wrote in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal,” he believed African Americans were biologically inferior to whites and thought the two races could not co-exist peacefully in freedom. Jefferson inherited some 175 slaves from his father and father-in-law and owned an estimated 600 slaves over the course of his life. He freed only a small number of them in his will; the majority were sold following his death.