Ariel
Ariel Wander
Library Media Specialist
West Haven Public Schools
Original Request:
I'm a new LMS in a district that still has the old card catalog system. The problem is that the card catalog system hasn't been kept up and a 4th grade teacher just approached me for help finding fiction books about Connecticut, preferably realistic fiction. This is the first time that this teacher has asked me for help and I want to be able to wow him, if possible, so any suggestions you all might have would be EXTREMELY appreciated.
Responses:
Try this: http://ctstatelibrary.org/childrens-young-adult-fiction-set-in-connecticut/
Because of Mr. Terupt, by Rob Buyea
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier
The Courage of Sarah Noble
Witch of Blackbird Pond
Sybil Ludington's Midnight Ride (or other books about her)
Sybil Ludington's midnight ride
by Marsha Amstel ; illustrations by Ellen Beier
The courage of Sarah Noble
by Alice Dalgliesh ; illustrations by Leonard Weisgard
If the books just need to be set in CT, my debut MG book comes out December 1st and it takes place in CT. The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow. A 4th grade teacher in my school got an ARC and read it to her class.
Avi's book Windcatcher! My 4th grade teachers love it.
"My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Collier. The book is about a family during the American Revolution and that it takes place in Redding, CT. Where I have lived and worked. Hope this helps!
I don't know if they talk about Connecticut in particular, but the first books of the Boxcar Children series were written by Putnam's own Gertrude Chandler Warner.
Here is what Wikipedia has to say -
On July 3, 2004, the Gertrude Chandler Warner Boxcar Children Museum opened in Putnam, Connecticut. It is located across the street from Warner's childhood home and is housed in an authentic 1920s New Haven R.R. boxcar. The museum is dedicated to Warner's life and work, and includes original signed books, photos and artifacts from her life and career as a teacher in Putman. Included is the desk at which a 9-year-old Warner wrote her first story titled Golliwog at the Zoo. There is also a recreation of the living space created by the Aldens — the Boxcar Children themselves.[12]
Here is what Wikipedia has to say -
On July 3, 2004, the Gertrude Chandler Warner Boxcar Children Museum opened in Putnam, Connecticut. It is located across the street from Warner's childhood home and is housed in an authentic 1920s New Haven R.R. boxcar. The museum is dedicated to Warner's life and work, and includes original signed books, photos and artifacts from her life and career as a teacher in Putman. Included is the desk at which a 9-year-old Warner wrote her first story titled Golliwog at the Zoo. There is also a recreation of the living space created by the Aldens — the Boxcar Children themselves.[12]
Welcome to the world of school librarians. After 27 years in the classroom, being a school librarian is the best job I've ever had.
Here are a few Connecticut authors whose stories take place in CT that are appropriate for 4th grade:
Leslie Connor: Waiting for Normal, Crunch
Lynda Mullaly Hunt: Fish in a Tree, One for the Murphys
Tony Abbott: Firegirl
Eric Berlin: Potato Chip Puzzles
Elise Broch: Shakespeare's Secret, Masterpiece
Patricia Reilly Giff: Eleven, Gingersnap, Picture's of Hollis Woods
I forgot about Eleanor Estes, whose Ginger Pye and the Moffats series are set in West Haven. Then there is "The Witch of Blackbird Pond," "The Courage of Sarah Noble," "Rabbit Hill" "26 Fairmount Avenue," "Bushnell's Submarine."
Attack of the Turtle
Historical Fiction:
Witch of Blackbird Pond
One for the Murphys takes place in Glastonbury CT- Lynda Hunt
Wind catcher -Avi
Rabbit Hill- Lawson
My brother Sam is dead -Colliers
I have been retired 9 years, but here are a few oldie but goodies .
Rabbit Hill- Lawson
My brother Sam is dead -Colliers
I have been retired 9 years, but here are a few oldie but goodies .