Curriculum Connections
Ideas, Themes For Writing or
Discussion, Activities
Captain
Bob Sets Sail
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Imagination: This is a story about how anyone with a good
imagination can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Does
Bob need a lot of equipment for his adventure? What does he need?
What objects does he use in his adventure? Does he use his imagination
to turn the people around him into something or someone else?
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Word Play: Bob loves to play with words. What are some
examples of how he uses words to have fun? Does he like to rhyme?
Does he like to put words together that start with the same letters?
Do the students have any favorite words that they love the sound of?
Are there any words they can think of that sound good together?
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Activities: Have students imagine their own adventure in a
tub with soap or other ordinary items. What can they imagine happening?
Can they imagine turning the ordinary items into extraordinary, imaginary
ones?
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Have them create some imaginary sea monsters that they then name and draw.
Write or tell what they do. Put a child in with the sea monster.
What does the child do with the sea monster? Do they go anywhere
together?
Related Books: (See When Crocodiles Clean Up,
Dreamland,
Captain
Snap and the Children of Vinegar Lane, There’s A Dragon About)
Nothing Ever
Happens On 90th Street
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Neighborhood/Community: What is the difference between a neighborhood
and a community? Is 90th Street a neighborhood or a community at
the start of the story? At the end? In what ways? What
is the result of everyone’s new relationship at the end of the story?
This story is set in an urban environment. Is a story like this one
possible in the suburbs or the country? How would it be different?
How would it be the same?
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Multiculturalism: How does the fact that the people of 90th
Street come from different ethnic backgrounds enrich the neighborhood?
What do these people contribute to the life of the neighborhood?
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Intergenerational: The people of 90th Street are all different
ages. What is their relationship to one another? What are the
advantages and/or disadvantages of having people of varying ages living
near one another?
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Imagination/The Role of the Writer or Artist: What does one
need to do in order to write a good story? Is daydreaming important?
Is imagining important? Is thinking important? Is looking and
listening important? What does Eva do to get ideas? What do
the neighbors advise her to do? What part of this story really happens?
What part happens in Eva’s imagination? All of it? Some of
it? None of it? Is there one correct answer to this question?
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Activities: Have students write their own story (fiction,
nonfiction or a mix of both) about an event that occurs on their own street
or in their own building (if they live in an apartment house). Have
them show how the people of the story might come together to solve a common
problem.
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Have students list the various writing tips that are included in this story
and possibly use them to create their own story.
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Have students write a story that starts off realistically and then becomes
imaginary.
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The illustrator of this book used a combination of collage (pasted papers--old
newspaper, wallpaper, magazines, fabric, etc) as well as ink and paint
and drawing to create the illustrations for this book. Have students
make their own collage/drawings illustrating the neighborhoods they live
in, and, ask them to write a short description of their neighborhood.
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Have students write a menu of foods they might have in a class restaurant
based on their own ethnicity/ancestry/race.
Related Books: (See Dreamland, and Captain
Snap and the Children of Vinegar Lane and Rhoda, Straight
and True and A Fruit and Vegetable Man)
Dreamland
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Multicultural: Though unstated,
this is a story about an ethnic family, probably from Eastern Europe, who
makes clothes for all kinds of people, e.g. a Passover suit for Mr. Gold,
an Easter dress for Mrs. Reilly, a pair of trousers for Mr. De Mello.
Who lived in cities in the past? Now?
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Role and Importance of Imagination, Dreams, and
the Artist: Theo and Uncle Gurney are dreamers. When Theo
should be marking patterns with tailor’s chalk, he is instead drawing imaginary
machines. When Uncle Gurney should be cutting nice, neat shirts,
he’s creating “gabardine gazanias” and “herringbone horses,” and wild-colored
shirts. The rest of the family doesn’t understand them. Do
people sometimes misunderstand dreamers and artists? Is Mama proud
of Theo? What is the evidence? (Have the children look at the
walls of the tailorshop.) In the end, Gurney has combined hard work
with imagination and produced something special. Are daydreaming
and imagination important? What about hard work? What’s the
right mix?
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History, Westward Expansion: Like many
people at the turn of the century, Uncle Gurney decides to go West to seek
his fortune. The rest of the family soon follows, settling in what
is probably California where, Uncle Gurney believes, new ideas grow “as
fast and as easily as plums do on trees, and the air is warm and light
and sweet with the scent of jasmine and oranges.” How did life compare
with the urban east then? What was the lure of heading west?
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Intergenerational: There is no generation
gap between Uncle Gurney and Theo. They share love, a special
understanding, and the gift of imagination.
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Activities: Children can make two and
three-dimensional art--drawings of their own imaginary machines and/or
construction of their own imaginary machines. They can name them
and write a description of their use or how they work.
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Have students write their own stories about an artist
and/or daydreamer.
Related Books: (See A Fruit &
Vegetable Man, Captain Snap & the Children of V.L,
90th St, Capt. Bob.)
Captain
Snap & The Children of Vinegar Lane
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Rumor, Gossip, Thinking For Oneself:
The grownups of Vinegar Lane--Otto Phelps & Penina Boyle--tell the
children of Vinegar Lane to have nothing to do with Captain Snap because
he lives so differently from the rest of the people of Vinegar Lane.
It’s the children who are wise enough to ignore rumor and gossip and find
out the truth about who Capt. Snap really is. How much should anyone
listen to rumor? How much to gossip? How much should anyone
think for him or herself?
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Multiculturalism and Differences:
If someone is different, in this case, Capt. Snap, do you steer clear of
them as some people on Vinegar Lane suggest, or do you find out who they
are as individuals? (See related section, above)
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Intergenerational: Captain Snap is an
elderly, shy, cantankerous man, but the children and adults and eventually
all the people of Vinegar Lane befriend him.
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Shyness: Captain Snap is shy, Curly
Jess is shy. What do Curly Jess and Capt. Snap do that shows
they’ve overcome their shyness? How is it hard to be shy?
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The Role of The Artist: Captain Snap
is revealed to be an artist and the children begin to call him “Captain
Scrap, the artist of Vinegar Lane.” What is the evidence that
he is an artist? To what extent is an artist different from other
people? Is everyone an artist or only certain people? Are artists
only people who paint or sculpt? Is it possible to be an artist in
anything one does?
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Recycling, Environmental Studies: Captain
Snap recycles chicken bones, old umbrellas, old record players, etc. into
wonderful creations and inventions. Has anyone ever done this him
or herself? Does anyone know anyone who does this sort of thing?
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Activities: Make imaginary or practical
machines out of found or recycled objects.
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Have students write their own stories about someone
strange, or about an artist, or about courage.
Related Books: (See Dreamland,
A
Fruit and Vegetable Man, Rhoda, Straight & True,
Nothing
Ever Happens on 90th Street, Captain Bob Sets Sail)
F is For
Freedom
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History: Amanda and Hannah’s story takes
place in 1850 before the Civil War. How was life different then?
What are the chores children their age do today? What were they then?
How were Amanda’s chores different from (or the same as) Hannah’s chores
on the plantation? What was the big difference? What about
the new law about returning slaves to their owners? We are taught
that we should obey the law. What do you think about the fact that
Amanda and her family break the law? What does Amanda’s father say
about breaking the law? Was it only Northerners who helped escaping
slaves, or did some Southerners help? In some of the final moments
of the story, there is a mysterious man at the end of the tunnel who helps
Hannah and her family escape. Where do you think he comes from? Are
there any other instances in history in which people took risks and hid
other people in order to save their lives? What about the Jews in
World War II? Did anyone help them? Are there any more recent
instances of people taking risks to keep other people safe?
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Multicultural:
Hannah and Amanda come from two different races and cultures. How
often did such people meet in 1850? What is similar/what is different
about their backgrounds? What special things do each of them know
that they can teach the other?
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Literacy: What would it mean if you
were not allowed to learn to read or write? What could you do without
words? What couldn’t you do without words? Hannah’s mother
says, “Reading is freedom.” Her father says, “The thoughts in books
are powerful strong, stronger even than chains.” Why do you think
it was dangerous for slaveowners to allow their slaves to learn to read
and write?
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Imagination: Who has a big imagination?
When does she use it? When does she decide she shouldn’t use it?
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Friendship: Amanda & Hanna become
good friends. How easy or hard is it to become friends with someone
whose life is different from your own? What is the nature of friendship?
What other people become friends in this story?
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Activities: Do some reading about the
Civil War. Read about some of the heroes of the Underground Railroad.
Do you know about Harriet Tubman? Frederick Douglas? Sojourner
Truth? Read The Diary of Anne Frank.
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Have students write their own story about someone
who is, on the surface, different from them, but with whom they’ve become
friends. Or, have them write a fictional story on the same subject.
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Write something about Charlie Meecker. Do you
think he was intentionally trying to help Amanda’s family get Hannah’s
family to safety?
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Hannah and Amanda hide in “The Hole.” Have
students write about a secret place or a hiding place they have made, discovered,
or made up.
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Have students write an imaginary diary of what it
would be like for them if they were escaping to freedom, or, what it would
be like if they were helping to hide someone.
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Hannah makes a doll for Amanda. Amanda’s mother
made Coey Yocks for Amanda a long time ago. Have students create
their own doll or animal out of scraps of fabric, found objects, etc.
Related Books: (See Dreamland,
Nothing
Ever Happens on 90th Street)
A Fruit
And Vegetable Man
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Immigration: Ruby and Trudy Rubenstein came in a ship
“50 years ago across the sea to make a new life in America,” though unstated,
probably from an Eastern European country. Sun Ho and his family
have come recently, in a plane “across the sky to make a new life together
in America,” though unstated, from an Asian country, probably
Korea. Book can open up discussion or writing about “making it” in
America through hard work and “taking care” as Ruby does and Sun Ho learns
to do.
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Neighborhood, Community, Familiar Sights: Can be tied in with
a trip to a local produce market where children can ask questions about
how the produce is obtained, selected, where it comes from, how it is cared
for and arranged.
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The Role of the Artist: Discussion of what it is to be an
artist. Ruby is considered an artist by the people of Delano Street.
Are artists people who work in studios with paint or clay or are there
also everyday artists among us? Is it possible to be an artist in
anything one does? What does it mean to be an artist?
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Multicultural: Though unstated, Ruby Rubenstein is of Eastern
European, possibly Jewish heritage. Sun Ho and his family are Asian,
probably Korean. The people of Delano Street are African-American
(Old Ella), Irish (Mary Morrissey), etc. A story about community,
mutual concern, interdependency and the value of shared lives.
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Activities: (See Neighborhood above) Visit local produce store
or section in supermarket.
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Art: Some schools have designed bulletin boards as fruit &
vegetable stands with the children cutting out fruits, etc. and arranging
them in their own special way and titling it_____’s Fruit & Vegetable
Store.
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Have students write their own story about someone new to this country or
someone who owns a store.
Related Books: (See Dreamland and
Captain
Snap and the Children of Vinegar Lane)
Rhoda, Straight
and True
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Multiculturalism: Though not specifically about other races,
religions, and cultures, this is a book about differences. The Mancy
family is different from the people of MacNeeley Street and everyone
is suspicious of them. The Roses are also different and again, everyone
is suspicious of them. If people are different, should we automatically
be suspicious of them?
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Intergenerational: Rhoda, ultimately, becomes friends
with Mrs. Mancy (“Old Lady Mancy”) and with Mr. and Mrs. Rose. In
the end, she discovers that she admires them and can learn from them.
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Rumor/Gossip/Thinking For Oneself: Who is the voice
of rumor and gossip in this book? (Mr. Pruitt) Should we always
believe what we are told? (Is Mr. Pruitt correct about Mrs. Rosalsky?
Could he be wrong about other things?) What does everyone say about
the Mancys and “Baby Nicotine”? About the Roses? Is it true?
Any of it? All of it? None of it? What do people believe
about Mrs. White? Is it true? Any of it? All of it?
Many people in this book claim to know the truth about many things--Mr.
Pruitt, Hattie’s parents, Mr. Keller, do they? Which children
in this book think for themselves? Rhoda? Jerome? Mary
Jane? What is the risk of going against the group? What happens when
you think for yourself? What is the loss to Rhoda in this book?
What is the gain? What do students think they would do in the same
situation? Would they go along with the group? Has anyone had
a similar experience?
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History/The Era of the Cold War: What was the “cold
war”? When did it occur? Why did it occur? What did people
fear? What are the signs of the cold war in this story? (air
raid drills, watchtowers, dog tags, suspicion, fear of Russian spies, etc.)
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The Effects of War/War and Its Aftermath: What actual
war was going on during the time of this story? Where was the war
taking place? Hattie feels her brother, Victor, is a hero and that
when he returns he will take care of things. What happens when he
returns? What is wrong with him? Why do you think he behaves
in the way that he does? How does that make Hattie feel? Does
war have an effect on people? Is it always the same effect?
Does anyone know anyone who fought in World War II? In Vietnam?
In the Gulf War? How did they feel about it? Is there another
war in this book? What about the one in the Lot? How does it
start? On purpose? By accident? What is the cause of
that war? How do wars start? Are there alternatives to war
or are they necessary?
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Friendship: There are all kinds of friendships in this
story. Who is friendly with whom at the start? Later on?
Are any of the friendships surprising? What is the nature of friendship?
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Activities: Do some reading about the cold war or the Fifties.
What was the history? Who was president? Who was vice president?
Who were the popular singers of the time? What did people wear?
What cars did they drive? What did things cost?
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Have students write their own stories about someone they were “mean” to.
About how it felt when someone was mean to them. About cliques.
About having the courage to think for oneself and go outside a group.
Have them write about a special place that has some meaning for them (like
Old House).
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About someone who seemed strange at first and then proved to be special.
There are many possibilities.
Related Books: (See Captain Snap and the Children
of Vinegar Lane and Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street)