Book+Reviews1

Miss Jennifer Kish, second grade, Central Elementary School, Amherst VA.

Dear Sean, My second-grade students really enjoyed reading your book. I read it aloud, and we discussed it as we went. Even though most of the content was beyond their background knowledge, your pictures really drew them into the story. They were clearly corresponded to the text and the simpler text in the pictures helped my students understand the more difficult ideas. My favorite illustration displayed the relative size of the British and American troops, because you showed it visually and with words and symbols. My students’ favorite illustrations were the Canadian and American capitols burning! They were surprised to learn that this had happened. We did think that the placement of the middle section was a little confusing. You seem to jump from American/British/French trade to Native American and American fighting with little transition. Again, after you finish talking about Tecumseh’s ruined dream, you jump right back into Congress and the War Hawks. We had some trouble following the story line. I think you did this to show events that were happening simultaneously, but I think it would be more easily understood if you told us that the story was moving to another location, and involving some new characters. We were also confused about why France and Britain could tell America who they could and could not ship goods to. From the context (you’re calling the country the United States and not colonies) we assumed that the beginning of the story is after the Revolution. So why are other countries being so bossy to us? Another suggestion I have would be to give some kind of time period at the beginning of the story. This would help my students place the War of 1812 between two events they do know- the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. We really enjoyed reading your story! Thank you for teaching us something new from American history! You are a great author!

Sincerely, Ms. Kish and her second graders.

To the students of Mr. Bogush,

We are Ms. Sherwood's fifth grade class at Central Elementary School in Amherst, VA. We are one of the classes that read your books. We want to tell you that your students are awesome authors. We really enjoyed reading your stories. This happened at a perfect time as we are preparing for our SOL test. It was good practice for us. We used our fifth grade rubric to score it. This is the same standard that we are scored by. We returned the books to Mrs. Lewis along with the rubrics to mail back to you. Thank you again for allowing us this opportunity, Sincerely, Ms. Sherwood and her fifth graders

Hello,

We are third graders at Amelon Elementary School in Amherst VA,

We liked reading your stories. We really liked the time you put into your pictures. We liked your stories too. We used a rubric to help us edit them as we read. We do not take a writing SOL test in third grade but we have to get ready to take in the the fifth grade so we are glad you asked us to read your stories.

Sincerely, the students of Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Dooley

Hello Middle Schoolers,

We are also at Amelon Elementary. We are fifth graders. We will go to middle school next year. We enjoyed reading your books. It was a good experience to see what will be expected of us in middle school. Thank you for allowing us to read for you. We returned your books along with the rubrics that we used to edit.

Sincerely, the fifth grade students of Ms. Brooks, Mrs. Gilbar, and Mrs. Hoden.

Hello Middle Schoolers and Mr. Bogush,

We are third graders at Central Elementary School in Amherst, VA. Our school is a small rural school at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is beautiful here! We have lots of history all around us. In third grade we take about Mali, Greece, and Rome. We also talk about explorers. Did you know that Christopher Newport explored in our area? He is the one who transported settlers to Jamestown, VA, including John Smith. We have a city names after him, Newport News, VA. We don't talk about VA history until we get to fourth grade but it was nice to get a head start. Thank you for letting us be included in this project. We are returning your books with index cards in them that have our notes on them. Keep writing!

Sincerely, Miss Ibrahim's Third Graders

Hello,

We are also third graders from Central Elementary School. We are in Mrs. Hazlett's room. We enjoyed your books very much. You took a lot of time to put these together. We can tell! Did you have fun with this project? We think we may write some books too. We are sending your books back with sticky notes on the front.

Sincerely, Mrs. Hazlett's Third Graders

Dear Mr. Bogush and students, We really enjoyed reading your stories. I gave my students a rubric to go by as they edited. This was good practice for us. When you get your books back, I placed a note in each one. Good luck with the rest of your year!

Mrs. Susan Cargill, fifth grade, Central Elementary

To the Middle School Authors. We are a fifth grade at Madison Heights Elementary in Amherst County, VA. Thank you for including us in your project. We throughly enjoyed reading your work. You are all very talented writers and I am sure your teacher is proud of you. We went through you books and placed sticky notes with our edits. You will also see sticky notes on the cover with our names.

Your teacher must be very proud of you! You will always remember this project. My students are still talking about this and they will remember this project as well.

We are hoping that your year ends well, good luck to you all!

Mrs. Rhonda Henry Fifth Grade Madison Heights Elementary School