Joshua T Bates Takes Charge

Tommy Wilhelm and his gang of bullies have never let fifth-grader Joshua forget that he was held back in the third grade. Now Tommy has started picking on a dorky new kid and Joshua must choose between sticking up for the nerd and saving his own neck.

In the sequel to The Flunking of Joshua T. Bates, Joshua, now in the fifth grade, is caught between a gang of bullies and a short red-haired kid and must decide whether or not he should stick up for his classmate.

This easy chapter book picks up immediately after The Flunking of Joshua T. Bates and before the events in Joshua T. Bates Takes Charge. The youngster gets a mid-year promotion to fourth grade and then his problems really begin. His archenemy, Tommy Wilhem, is waiting for him and Joshua is determined to be cool and non-nerdy. Unfortunately, this leads him into unwise actions such as going into class with an unlit cigarette behind his ear and 'borrowing' his father's Swiss Army knife and taking it to school. The boy's insecurities are well drawn and right on target for the intended audience. His triumph over Tommy is...will be gratifying wish-fulfillment for similarly afflicted readers. Well written, with occasional, full-page, black-and-white drawings, this is a solid addition to the series.

In this Knopf Paperback reissue, Joshua is devastated to learn that he must repeat third grade. But he manages to survive the taunts of former classmates, learn something important about himself, and make it through the year with the help of a sympathetic teacher in this "funny, touching, and realistic story."--School Library Journal

Twelve-year-old Ellie Tremont is b-o-r-e-d, bored, and she wishes something, anything, would happen. So when 14-year-old Tommy Bowers moves in next door, with his lanky swagger and his troubled past, Ellie knows her summer is about to get interesting. When Tommy suggests they start a camp for the kids on their street under their elderly neighbors’(the Watsons’) porch, Ellie quickly agrees to that, and everything else Tommy suggests. And when Tommy gives her a diamond necklace that he says he bought, she’s suspicious, though smitten. But by the time her parents forbid her from seeing him, she’s given him her heart. Soon, though, Tommy goes too far and even Ellie isn’t sure what to make of him.

What do you do with students who cannot or will not read and write? This portrait of Kyle Gonzalez's classroom offers teachers theory-based strategies for helping students become motivated and successful readers and writers. You will see how one middle school teacher sets up her literacy classroom, offers intervention and support for struggling students, and assesses their progress. Rich in description of Kyle's successes, the book also looks honestly at why some practices were ineffective in her setting. With Janet's and Kyle's practical and detailed suggestions for creating a literate environment, you'll learn how to:establish a literacy workshop;choose and use effective resources;implement effective, informative record-keeping;help students establish goals and assess progress;use read-alouds as well as shared, guided, and independent reading and writing;instill reading and writing practices that help students read content-specific texts. There's Room for Me Here includes record-keeping forms, extensive bibliographies of literature and professional materials, resource information, and samples of strategy lessons all embedded in this engaging story of a teacher's first three years building a literacy workshop in her classroom. Kyle's students are middle school learners who struggle with literacy. The strategies, content-area connections, and management ideas, however, are applicable and appropriate for use by any 3-12 teacher.

Young people who feel marginalized due to physical differences or disabilities may benefit from discovering fictional characters who face similar difficulties. This unique bibliography surveys the field of children's and young adult literature published since 1990, identifying 200 quality books that deal with a wide range of contemporary health and self-image topics. Coverage includes physical handicaps, Autism, burns, scars, and disfigurement, obesity and anorexia, speech disorders, skin color, and basic issues of popularity and fitting in. The literature covered here includes picture books, chapter books for middle school readers, and young adult novels spanning different genres, such as mysteries, historical fiction, and poetry. Annotations provide brief plot synopses, full bibliographic information, publishers' age-level suggestions, and subject key words. This resource is perfect for obtaining information about authors, titles, and age levels of books on particular subjects, or to determine the subject of a particular book. Four indexes-Title, Author, Subject, and Age Level-facilitate easy reference for all users and readers.