Books for Adventurous Readers: By the Great Horn Spoon!

Come tour the world through great books! Join me and other classmates from all over the planet as we read exciting stories about great adventures and the people who experienced them.

In this series, we’ll read one book together over the course of 4 weeks, giving you time to read and dive into the story. Included in our book club will be:

-Weekly live book discussion
-An engaging presentation all about the author
-Intriguing background information highlighting locations, characters, and historical context
-Appropriate video tie-ins
-In-class dramatic readings
-Vocabulary review
-Weekly creative projects such as colorful mapping, an in-class scavenger hunt, calculating Gold Rush prices, and creating a Gold Rush store
-Optional hands-on activities such as flipbooks, posters, memes, and other fun projects

𝘉𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘯! is a fast-paced book that is not only full of adventure, it’s funny, interesting, and even educational—all the best things about reading rolled into one. 

Written by Sid Fleischman in 1963, 𝘉𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘯! tells the story of a young boy named Jack who sets out to San Francisco to find gold during the California Gold Rush. Jack’s not alone; he takes his butler along with him and together they experience both harrowing and exciting adventures, and we get to come along!

As with all of my classes, if there is negative representation of traditionally marginalized groups, we will discuss how the author got it wrong. In 𝘉𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘯! there are stereotypes of Native Americans in California and Chinese immigrants. Where necessary, we will have conversations about why these stereotypes are not accurate and how they make us think differently about a population. I also lead the discussion into ways in which marginalized groups have made significant and positive contributions to our society and to the settling of California as a state in particular. 

Every student is valuable, every human experience worth being heard from the perspective of their own stories. Let’s lead the way to break down the barriers!

You can choose to read or listen to an audio version of the book. We’ll split each book into 4 sections and read one section per week. For 𝘉𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘯!, our schedule will look like this:

Session/Week One: In-class intro (you do not have to read anything before our first session)
Session/Week Two: Come to class having read Chapters 1-6
Session/Week Three: Come to class having read Chapters 7-12
Session/Week Four: Come to class having read Chapters 13-18

Love reading? Intrigued by history? Enjoy talking about your favorite books with other kids who do, too? Join us!