Interesting Common Core Young Adult Novels

Funded Jan 16, 2014

I greatly appreciate the generous donation of 35 copies of the novel, Wonder, by R.J. Palacio. My students have been thoroughly engaged in the novel since we began reading it! They have been anticipating reading these novels since they arrived earlier on in the year! From the first day they arrived my students were so excited to see brand-new, hard-cover books!

My students and I have been reading the novel as a whole class, in reading groups, and independently. We have been discussing the importance of this novel having differing narrations; we have discussed the importance of character development; we have written "I am from" poems, from the point of view of a selected character; we have created posters analyzing character relationships and presented them to our classmates; we have engaged in Socratic Seminars discussing and questioning the deep issues in the novel.

I would not have been able to complete any of these wonderful, motivating lessons with my students had it not been for this novel. This current novel has engaged my students in ways that other novels would not have. My students can connect to every aspect of this novel; from the very beginning of the setting. My NYC students can understand what it is like to grow up in an urban environment with people having so many different backgrounds. Their ability to connect to the text only prompted a deeper connection to the text itself. The novel allowed my varying students to engage with different characters on a variety of levels.

Again, I deeply appreciate your donations.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Sanicola