The Extraordinary Mark Twain According To Susy

Thirteen-year-old Susy Clemens wants the world to know that her papa, Mark Twain, is more than just a humorist and sets out to write a comprehensive biography of the American icon.

Thirteen-year-old Susy Clemens wants the world to know that her papa, Mark Twain, is more than just a humorist and sets out to write a comprehensive biography of the American icon.

A modern classic that no child should miss. Since it was first published in 1939, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel has delighted generations of children. Mike and his trusty steam shovel, Mary Anne, dig deep canals for boats to travel through, cut mountain passes for trains, and hollow out cellars for city skyscrapers -- the very symbol of industrial America. But with progress come new machines, and soon the inseparable duo are out of work. Mike believes that Mary Anne can dig as much in a day as one hundred men can dig in a week, and the two have one last chance to prove it and save Mary Anne from the scrap heap. What happens next in the small town of Popperville is a testament to their friendship, and to old-fashioned hard work and ingenuity.

The most beloved humorist of his day, Mark Twain is today considered one of the greatest authors the United States has ever produced.

Everyone knows the story of the raft on the Mississippi and that ol' whitewashed fence, but now it’s time for youngins everywhere to get right acquainted with the man behind the pen. Mr. Mark Twain! An interesting character, he was...even if he did sometimes get all gussied up in linen suits and even if he did make it rich and live in a house with so many tiers and gazebos that it looked like a weddin’ cake. All that’s a little too proper and hog tied for our narrator, Huckleberry Finn, but no one is more right for the job of telling this picture book biography than Huck himself. (We’re so glad he would oblige.) And, he’ll tell you one thing—that Mr. Twain was a piece a work! Famous for his sense of humor and saying exactly what’s on his mind, a real satirist he was—perhaps America’s greatest. Ever. True to Huck’s voice, this picture book biography is a river boat ride into the life of a real American treasure.

A dual portrait of two American founding fathers shares introductions to the many ways they helped a young United States in spite of their disparate views, tracing how they overcame interpersonal differences at key points in the nation's early history.

The Classroom Go-To Guide for the Common Core is the first in a series of comprehensive tools to tap into the vast flow of recently published books for children and teens, offering recommendations of exemplary titles for use in the classroom. Currency meets authority, brought to you by the editors of the highly regarded review sources, School Library Journal and The Horn Book Magazine. This guide includes approximately 200 selections published since 2007 for grades 4-6 recommended by The Horn Book Magazine. The titles are grouped by subject and complemented by School Library Journal’s “Focus On” columns, which spotlight specific topics across the curriculum. Providing context for the guide, and suggestions on how to use these resources within a standards framework, is an introduction by Common Core experts Mary Ann Cappiello and Myra Zarnowski. These experts provide perspective on the key changes brought by the new standards, including suggestions on designing lessons and two samples plans. Following the introduction, you’ll find a wealth of books, by category. Each section includes a listing of the top titles with brief, explicit annotations, and key bibliographic data. “Focus On” articles are appended to appropriate categories to support in-depth curricular development. Each of these articles includes a topic overview and list of current and retrospective resources (including some fiction), and multimedia, that will enable educators to respond to Common Core State Standards call to work across formats.

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” Observations like this make Mark Twain the most widely read and quoted American author. This guide utilizes quotes, excerpts, biographical information, and critical analysis in examining Twain’s vast output of novels, personal memoirs, social criticisms, and essays, both serious and hilarious. It also demonstrates how Twain carefully stored his life experiences in his mind, then mined and refined them years later, to bring us the timeless lessons he had learned. In all his works, students will find the underlying fears, disappointments, hopes and dreams he held for America—and he always found the right words to tell us.