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This teacher needs your help!

Ms. Kuhns from Plainfield, IL is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Ms. Kuhns is requesting

Strengthening the Core: Fiction for Freshman

My students need readable, high interest fiction aligned with Common Core standards.

  • $320 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

My Students

"The world is dark, and light is precious." So says a brave little mouse named Despereaux who believes that it is the brightness of stories that can save us. My students need stories, the ones that shine a light on who they are and who they can be.

My students are the girl next door and the hooded sloucher on the corner, the homecoming king and the earnest fan wishing the next Dr. Who is a ginger.

They live in a community hit hard by the housing market's recession, and the attendant stresses are theirs: the cramped homes, the parents working two or three jobs, the lure of drugs and alcohol, the chaos. But the crowded hallways of our large public high school, squatting between cornfields at the barest edge of the city's suburbs, are full of laughter, the chatter of dreamers who still believe that their "once upon a time" is coming. What they need are novels that will keep those dreams alive by showing them that all stories are beautiful, that each narrative matters, that hope can be found in a simple string of sentences reminding us we are not alone.

My Project

The books in this collection align with Common Core standards, and that's the least best thing about them. They fulfill a thoughtful committee's idea of what's educationally appropriate for 9th and 10th graders. More importantly, however, they disperse the light of stories into all their myriad hues, reflecting the depth and breadth of possible human experiences. These are books for reluctant readers, for fans of flash fiction, for students of sociology. They blend history, forensic science, global studies, anthropology, religion and the ethics of technology with compelling tales of teenagers in flux. One reimagines the Anne Frank story from Peter van Pel's perspective; another investigates the nexus of family, success and the specter of AIDs in modern Ghana. Yet another follows the travails of a kid in the Bronx who is trying to live honorably in the projects. Together, these books reveal that love is funny, that grace is possible and that nearly every thing is survivable.

"Stories are light.

Light is precious in a world so dark." Teachers and librarians and lovers of books and a little mouse named Despereaux know this to be true. Let it be true for my students, too. Let the light of stories in. Your donation may not brighten the whole world, but it will dispel the dimness of one important corner.

Ms. Kuhns
Grades 9-12
    More than a third of students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

    This project will reach 350 students.

    9 donors have given to this project.

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Expand the "Where your donation goes" section below to see exactly what Ms. Kuhns is requesting.

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TEACHERS, FEELING INSPIRED?

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
The Complete Hush, Hush Saga: Hush, Hush; Crescendo; Silence; Finale (The Hush, Hush Saga) • Amazon $26.99 1 $26.99
Shattered Star (Surviving Southside) • Amazon $19.48 1 $19.48
On The Come Up (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) • Amazon $18.72 1 $18.72
I Am Forbidden: A Novel • Amazon $16.50 1 $16.50
Between Sisters • Amazon $14.93 1 $14.93
What Boys Really Want • Amazon $14.67 1 $14.67
StarCrossed • Amazon $14.49 1 $14.49
Black Boy White School • Amazon $14.44 1 $14.44
Bronxwood • Amazon $13.58 1 $13.58
The Kissing Game: Short Stories • Amazon $13.46 1 $13.46
Wither (The Chemical Garden Trilogy) • Amazon $12.78 1 $12.78
iBoy • Amazon $12.78 1 $12.78
Lola and the Boy Next Door • Amazon $12.18 1 $12.18
Running the Rift • Amazon $9.98 1 $9.98
Sirenz • Amazon $8.96 1 $8.96
Deadly Cool (Hartley Featherstone) • Amazon $7.38 1 $7.38
Annexed • Amazon $6.80 1 $6.80

Materials cost

$238.12

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$3.57

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$271.69

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$47.95

Total project goal

$319.64

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $319.64

8 Donors

-$288.69

Donations toward project cost

-$263.19

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$25.50

match offer

-$10.00

Match offer toward project cost

-$8.50

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$1.50

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$20.95

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Kuhns and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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