Sometimes Boys and Girls Just Have Trouble Getting Along

              Fifth-grade girls and boys just can not work together, according to the students at the beginning of Andrew Clements’ No Talking.  They also can not be friends. Boys have  cooties, all the fifth-grade girls in the book know that, just as all the boys know that it s really the girls who infected by the cootie-bug.  In fact, the students, known by their teachers as The Unshushables, find that the only thing they can do around one another, is talk--very loudly, and a lot. Unfortunately a lot of this talking is aimed at insulting the opposite gender: boys against girls, and girls against boys.
             The ringleaders hurling many of these insults are enemies Dave Packer and Lynsey Burgess.  One day, Dave, inspired by a school report on Ghandi, experiments by trying to take a vow of silence for a whole day, only to have have his attempt ruined by Lynsey. Soon, the two of them, along with their friends, face off in a “no talking” competition, boys against girls, and girls against boys.  The competition goes strong until suddenly, the teachers in the school, who are frustrated with the contest, order them to stop. What are the kids to do? Stop an important contest, or join forces in order to carry on with it? What will happen when the girls and boys are forced to work together? Will they unite to gain the freedom to finish their contest or will they continue to be divided and be forced to give the whole idea up? And what about those enemies Dave and Lynsey? Find out in this thoughtful book that shows how even fifth-grade girls and boys can forgo cooties, and learn to work together.
              I  really loved the no talking contest the kids did. In the contest, the kids were allowed to speak three words to answer any adult that asked them a question. It was so cool to see all the different ways the characters found to speak in three words or less. This would be a great book to teach about the value of brevity. I would also love to have a class tryout the experiment/contest for themselves and see if they could do it. I found one teacher online who tried it with disappointing results (I lost the link, sorry!), but I think with the right amount of determination, it could work out.   Here are more activites for this book!
       Another of the things I liked best about this book is that is showed how sometimes, being a teacher control freak is not always a good thing. When the students start their no talking contest, all of the teachers get super worried because they do not feel they are in control of their students. They try and try to stop the students’ contest, and the students become more and more determined to keep up with it. Eventually, the teachers learn to lighten up and let the students continue with their experiment. This view of teachers in book, serves as a good reminder for any overbearing adult that sometimes you should trust kids to know what they are doing and let them do things their own way (within reason of course). Just because kids are kids, does not mean they can not teach themselves something, as well as teach adults something too!
   

Be Careful Who You Try to Eat, Because They Just Might Eat You First!

        Anyone who loves Roald Dahl, will not be disappointed by his fabulously funny book of poetry, Dirty Beasts.  The book is about various beasts, some who abuse humans in revenge for the abuse that humans give them, and others that abuse humans for the fun of it. For example, the poem, “The Pig” chronicles the intellectual discover of a “wonderfully clever pig” who was trying to figure out “what LIFE was really all about”. One day he realizes that the whole purpose of his life is to be eaten by Farmer Bland. Thus Piggy decides to take preventative methods, which, while they save his life, do not bode well for Farmer Bland. Another poem, discusses a scorpion who is a “most repulsive ugly thing” who likes to “sting you hard upon your rump”. My favorite is “The Ant-Eater”, not only because it is funny, but it discusses the differences between British English and American English, and how, when you are talking to an ant-eater, it makes all the difference in how you pronounce the word “aunt”!!!!!
             Like most children's poetry, fun language, like adjectives, similes, and metaphors, as well as lovely sounding rhymes, abound in Dahl’s poems. These are intensified by Dahl’s own personal magical and fanciful turns of phrases, and made up words and situations. It also deals with different pronunciations of words. I love reading Dahl’s work with children, because he is so good at getting them to think totally outside of the usual and teaches them to write very beautifully and descriptively!!!!
          Be careful that you only use these poems with children who have a sense of humor and are old enough to understand that animals do not routinely and premeditatingly eat and harm children!  It is an extremely dark humor book, which I personally LOVE, but some kids (and parents) might not appreciate it! This book is really funny, but it could really scare kids who do not understand that it is pure and utterly fanciful fiction! With that in mind, it could be a really great book to use to talk about how to treat others, and to emphasize how sometimes, once you mistreat someone, they will start to harbor ill feelings towards you and might seek revenge. For example, one poem  was about a winged cow who splattered a cow patty on the head of someone who makes fun of her. (Note, this poem has some very un-PC views on men from Afghanistan, so if you read this book to your class, especially in light of current American-Afghan relations, please figure out how to change the teaser’s country of  origin!)  The book does show the negative effects of abusing others, especially animals.The book is also delightful for showing various points of view, so it may be useful for teaching that as well. The poems come from both the points of views of humans and animals, as well as people from differing countries, and would be perfect to talk about how perceptions change depending on who you are are and where you are from! Just be aware that, in the wrong group of children, this book may prove controversial!!!