Write a series of letters, emails, or texts between yourself and a friend, discussing what happened in the book and what it made you think about.
Include your feelings, your connections, and information from the book to drive your dialogue. There is a RUBRIC for each project below.
The series of letters should be 3 and It must be at least 3/4 to 1page long.
The series of emails should be 3 and it must be at least 3/4 to 1 page long.
The series of text messages should be 30 and do not use short text language. Use proper English.
For each Literature Project, you will need a TITLE PAGE that gives the following information:
Your Name The Literature Project Title (Either Series of Letters, Series of Emails, or Series of Texts) The Title and Author of the book
SAMPLE - SERIES OF LETTERS
Kim Smith Literature Project - Series of Letters The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
LETTER 1 September 15, 2016
Dear Ainsley,
How are you? I am wonderful. I want to tell you about a book that I think you would enjoy reading. I know you like historical fiction. The title is The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. The author won her first Newbery Award for this book.
The book takes place in a 1 bedroom apartment in London with only one windows to the outside world. It is 1939 and World War II has started.
It has 3 main characters, a little boy, a little girl, and a woman named Susan. The little girl is Ada. She's about 9 years old. She was born with a clubfoot. She is unable to walk because of her foot. She has been locked in her apartment for 9 years and just looks out the apartment window. The apartment is on the 3rd floor of the 6-story building. Jamie is the little girl's brother. He is about six years old. He gets special treatment from his mother. He is probably the favorite. He is probably treated similar to you because you are an only child. He is rotten too. Susan is the woman who has been assigned as their guardian. At first, she is not nice. But later, she loves them like her own children. She lives in the countryside. She has horses and fields where she lives.
This book makes me feel sorry for Ada. Her mother doesn't really care about getting her any help. She seems to care more about Ada's little brother, Jamie. Deep down I want Ada to run away, but she can't even walk. But guess what? She does "run away". Well actually she crawls away.
Does this sound like a good book to you? If so, I will tell you more about it later. Got to go.
Your friend,
Destiny
LETTER 2
September 16, 2016
Dear Destiny,
That book does sound very interesting. I do love historical fiction. It is one of my favorite genres. The main reason I love historical fiction is that you can imagine the characters during that time period. And I love history.
I have so many questions about the book! How in the world does Ada crawl away when she is living in an apartment on the 2nd floor? Does her brother help her? Does she take her brother with her? What about their mother? Why doesn't she get some help for Ada? Why does Ada want to "run away"?
Please write back soon and answer all my questions.
Sincerely,
Ainsley
LETTER 3
September 17, 2016
Dear Ainsley,
I am so excited that you are interested in reading The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. I will try to answer all your questions.
First, Ada crawls out of the apartment. She does have a hard time, but she feels as though her life depends on it. Her brother, Jamie, helps her. At first, he doesn't want her to go. But then he changes his mind. Her brother and her both leave and find a great home. Their real mother doesn't really care about Ada. She has given up on her because she thinks she will never amount to anything because of her clubfoot. So all she really cares about is her son, Jamie. She has decided to send him away to keep him safe from the war. She doesn't know that Ada is going to sneak out and go with her brother.
When Ada and Jamie meet their new "mother", things change. At first, Susan doesn't want them, but she learns to love them. Ada has never felt motherly love until now. She teaches herself to read and to even ride a horse. She even makes a new friend.
This book is so good. It won a book award called the Newbery Honor in 2016. I hope you read it so we can talk about it together at lunch. Talk to you later.
Your friend,
Destiny
SAMPLE - EMAILS
Kim Smith Literature Project - Series of Emails The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
FIRST EMAIL
To: [email protected] Subject: A great book Date: September 15, 2016 Dear Ainsley,
How are you? I am wonderful. I want to tell you about a book that I think you would enjoy reading. I know you like historical fiction. The title is The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. The author won her first Newbery Award for this book.
The book takes place in a 1 bedroom apartment in London with only one windows to the outside world. It is 1939 and World War II has started.
It has 3 main characters, a little boy, a little girl, and a woman named Susan. The little girl is Ada. She's about 9 years old. She was born with a clubfoot. She is unable to walk because of her foot. She has been locked in her apartment for 9 years and just looks out the apartment window. The apartment is on the 3rd floor of the 6-story building. Jamie is the little girl's brother. He is about six years old. He gets special treatment from his mother. He is probably the favorite. He is probably treated similar to you because you are an only child. He is rotten too. Susan is the woman who has been assigned as their guardian. At first, she is not nice. But later, she loves them like her own children. She lives in the countryside. She has horses and fields where she lives.
This book makes me feel sorry for Ada. Her mother doesn't really care about getting her any help. She seems to care more about Ada's little brother, Jamie. Deep down I want Ada to run away, but she can't even walk. But guess what? She does "run away". Well actually she crawls away.
Does this sound like a good book to you? If so, I will tell you more about it later. Got to go.
SECOND EMAIL
To: [email protected] Subject: A great book Date: September 16, 2016
Dear Destiny,
That book does sound very interesting. I do love historical fiction. It is one of my favorite genres. The main reason I love historical fiction is that you can imagine the characters during that time period. And I love history.
I have so many questions about the book! How in the world does Ada crawl away when she is living in an apartment on the 2nd floor? Does her brother help her? Does she take her brother with her? What about their mother? Why doesn't she get some help for Ada? Why does Ada want to "run away"?
Please write back soon and answer all my questions.
THIRD EMAIL
To: [email protected] Subject: A great book Date: September 17, 2016
Dear Ainsley,
I am so excited that you are interested in reading The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. I will try to answer all your questions.
First, Ada crawls out of the apartment. She does have a hard time, but she feels as though her life depends on it. Her brother, Jamie, helps her. At first, he doesn't want her to go. But then he changes his mind. Her brother and her both leave and find a great home. Their real mother doesn't really care about Ada. She has given up on her because she thinks she will never amount to anything because of her clubfoot. So all she really cares about is her son, Jamie. She has decided to send him away to keep him safe from the war. She doesn't know that Ada is going to sneak out and go with her brother.
When Ada and Jamie meet their new "mother", things change. At first, Susan doesn't want them, but she learns to love them. Ada has never felt motherly love until now. She teaches herself to read and to even ride a horse. She even makes a new friend.
This book is so good. I hope you read it so we can talk about it together at lunch. Talk to you later.
SAMPLE TEXT MESSAGES
Kim Smith Literature Project - Series of Text Messages The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
1. DESTINY SAYS: How are you? I am wonderful.
2. AINSLEY SAYS: I'm good.
3. DESTINY SAYS: Hey, I know you like historical fiction. I want to tell you about a book that I think you would enjoy reading. The title is The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. The author won her first Newbery Award for this book.
4. AINSLEY SAYS: What's it about?
5. DESTINY SAYS: It has 3 main characters, a little boy, a little girl, and a woman named Susan. The little girl is Ada. She's about 9 years old. She was born with a clubfoot. She is unable to walk because of her foot. She has been locked in her apartment for 9 years and just looks out the apartment window. The apartment is on the 3rd floor of the 6-story building. Jamie is the little girl's brother. He is about six years old. He gets special treatment from his mother. He is probably the favorite. He is probably treated similar to you because you are an only child. He is rotten too. Susan is the woman who has been assigned as their guardian. At first, she is not nice. But later, she loves them like her own children. She lives in the countryside. She has horses and fields where she lives.
6. AINSLEY SAYS: How long is the book? It sounds really long. You know I like short books.
7. DESTINY SAYS: It does not matter how long it is. It's really good. Think about quality instead of quantity!
8. AINSLEY SAYS: And what makes it so good?
9. DESTINY SAYS: Well the book makes me feel sorry for the little girl. Her mother doesn't really care about getting her any help for her clubfoot. She seems to care more about Ada's little brother, Jamie. Deep down I want Ada to run away, but she can't even walk. But guess what? She does "run away". Well actually she crawls away.
10. AINSLEY SAYS: It sounds like a good book. But I don't want to read about a kid running away.
11. DESTINY SAYS: No, it's not like that. It ends up being a good thing that she runs away.
12. AINSLEY SAYS: How can that be a good thing?
13. DESTINY SAYS: Well, you see her real mother doesn't care about her and doesn't help her to get her foot fixed. But the other mother, Susan, helps her.
14. AINSLEY SAYS: Her other mother?
15. DESTINY SAYS: Yes, her other mother is the one she lives with. Her name is Susan. At first, Susan is mean and doesn't want any children to stay with her. But then she comes to love Ada and her brother, Jamie.
16. AINSLEY SAYS: So if this is historical fiction, what is the time period?
17. DESTINY SAYS: It's1939 and World War II has started.
18. AINSLEY SAYS: Oh, and where does this take place?
19. DESTINY SAYS: It's London, and it's 1939 and the government begins to ship out the children from London to escape the war.
20. AINSLEY SAYS: You already told me it is 1939. Where does the government send them?
21. DESTINY SAYS: The government sends them to the countryside.
22. AINSLEY SAYS: So this other mother, Susan - tell me more about her.
23. DESTINY SAYS: Susan lives alone in a two-floor house and makes it very clear that she does not want to take care of kids. But in the end, she...
24. AINSLEY SAYS: She what? Don't start a sentence and not end it. Why doesn't she want any kids?
25. DESTINY SAYS: You really need to read the book. I can't tell you everything. I don't want to spoil the ending for you.
26. AINSLEY SAYS: So how many copies of this book is in the KMS Library?
27. DESTINY SAYS: How should I know? Look it up in Destiny - you know the Library program that's named after me!
28. AINSLEY SAYS: OK. I will look for it tomorrow. And by the way, the library program is not named after you.
29. DESTINY SAYS: Whatever. I'm so excited that we will have something to talk at lunch.
30. AINSLEY SAYS: Well, I have to read the book first.
Kennett Middle School Library Media Center, Kennett, MO