Title: Babymouse: burns rubber! (Holm, J. L.,
& Holm, M. (2010). Babymouse: burns rubber!. New York: Random House).
Author: Jennifer L.
Holm & Matthew Holm
Copyright: 2010 by
Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm
Published by: Random
House Children’s Books, New York
Reading level: ages
7 and up, Reading Level: 2.8, Grades 3-4
Awards: Children’s Choice Award 2011
Suggested delivery:
Independent or guided reading
Fun, Lighthearted,
Suspenseful, Charming, Enthralling
Electronic Websites to support reading:
a. This
is the official Jennifer Holm website, co-author of Babymouse: burns rubber!, which
provides readers with information about the author herself including a full
biography, contact information, video blogs, and additional reading materials. Students can navigate through the website to
learn more about the author, which will ultimately help them understand the ideas
and motivation behind the Babymouse series.
a. This
is the official Matthew Holm website, co-author of Babymouse: burns rubber!, designed for students and teachers to
gain access to Holm’s personal blog and information about the author and
illustrator. This can be used if
students are assigned to collect information for a biography, as well as gain
information about inspiration for the Babymouse
series.
Teaching suggestions:
1.
Vocabulary:
a. Generation
b. Eavesdrop
c. Pupils
d. Domination
e. Retire
f. Confidence
2.
Teaching strategies
a. Before
reading: Have students either watch this video as a whole class or independently
at the computer by visiting: http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/babymouse/. This is the Babymouse homepage which is a fun
way for students to become acquainted with the authors’ style and characters included
in the series. It includes a brief introduction to each of the books in the
series with additional reading summaries and quotes from professional reviews. After students interact with this website they
will become more familiar with the character they will soon engage with
throughout the pages. Students are
likely to develop a genuine desire to further their engagement with the text to
learn more about the character Babymouse.
b. During
reading: Students can make their own
timeline to record the events and character relationships throughout the
story. This will help students analyze
the friendship between Babymouse and Wilson as their friendship is put to the
test when Babymouses’ dreams to become a racecar driver are turning into
reality. Students should be encouraged
to look for changes in the relationship and track those on their timelines
accordingly to visually see the relationship grow.
c. After
reading: Students can make their own
Babymouse comic strip as a sequel to the series. Students will demonstrate their
inferential comprehension by continuing the relationship among Babymouse and
Wilson, demonstrating consistent writing conventions, and character dialogue. There is a “complete-a-comic” teaching
resource available for download on http://matthewholm.net/filestorage/teaching_GNs_activities-sm.pdf
to provide support to students when teaching this concept.
3.
Writing activity: Students can write out their
story in a narrative form to accompany their comic strip. This narrative story will be limited to text
only to help students practice and build upon their narrative writing skills. The teacher can provide a writing prompt such
as: Imagine you are a co-author for the
Babymouse series and you have been asked to come up with a sequel for Babymouse: burns rubber! Story must include:
a. an introduction to characters,
b. defined
plot, theme, and setting,
c. character
actions, and
d. thorough
conclusion. There are additional teaching
resources helping students transfer story ideas into graphic novels on http://matthewholm.net/filestorage/teaching_GNs_activities-sm.pdf.
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