From: Julie Corsaro <jcorsaro>
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 13:14:14 -0400

The Great Mouse Plot" in Boy by Roald Dahl has always been a big hit with middle-schoolers (I think Meg Ryan read from it in the film You've Got Mail). I usually begin reading in the previous chapter "The sweetshop in Llandoff in the year 1923" where Dahl describes the horrible candy shop owner , Mrs. Pratchett. "The Great Mouse Plot" details Dahl and his school chums' revenge against this mean "skinny old hag" who never smiles and sticks her filthy hands into the candy jars to retrieve the boys' sweets. It is a horribly delicious story with wonderfully descriptive prose.

A picture book that works well with this age group is Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady, retold by Selina Hastings. It is a beautifully illustrated version of an Arthurian Legend that deals with many of the concerns of this age group: honor, courage, romance, physical apprearance, etc.


Julie Corsaro
Received on Fri 20 Aug 2004 12:14:14 PM CDT