www.hmhbooks.com/middlegrademania

BOOKS FOR READERS in grades 3-6 play such a crucial role in helping

kids bridge from early chapter books to YA. It’s vital to nurture that

love of reading through these critical years to help kids develop ever more

sophisticated language skills and to blossom into lifelong readers.

Use the materials in this kit to celebrate reading and encourage your reading maniacs

to stay crazy for books!

ACTIVITY KIT

MiddleGradeMania

Illustrations copyright © 2013 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

FALL 2015

Smackdown!In the spirit of WrestleMania, host a Reading Smackdown! Challenge another group to a reading contest. How many books can your kids read and report on in a month versus the other group? When the month is over, have each group vote to select one title from all the books reported on for the entire group to read. Each group then presents their book through skits, artwork, videos, and the like to an impartial judge—perhaps the school principal or librarian. The judge, who has already read both books, selects the best presentation as the winner.

Word of MouthCreate a “This Reader Recommends” display on a bulletin board in your meeting room or library. Whenever a student loves a book, have him/her fill out a recommendation card you can post in a public space to encourage other kids to give the book a try.

Jacket GalleryAs kids finish books, have them create their own cover illustration depicting a particular character or scene. Be sure to have them include the title and the author’s name within the new cover design. Display the new book covers on a bulletin board or in a reading corner.

Book MobileHave kids create a mobile for a favorite book. Use two pencils as the mobile framework—position them in an X, with one pencil on top of the other, and tape them in place. Wrap a string or piece of yarn from which to hang the mobile around the intersection of the two pencils, with a long length extending from the top. Create two-sided illustrations of characters and events and key elements from the story on cardstock, and hang them from the pencil frame. Be sure to include the book’s title and author on one hanging element. Display the mobiles around the classroom or library.

Opening LinesBooks often begin with provocative, compelling openings to hook the reader from the very first page:

Sophie had only ever stolen one dream. —The Girl Who Could Not Dream

Mom and Dad claim they met on a nudist beach in the tropics somewhere. These days they are only nudists in the shower. I am also a nudist in the shower, but I wear clothes at all other times. —I’m an Alien and I Want to Go Home

When I got born, Mama Frances took one look at me and said, “That child is marked. He got hoodoo in him.” And that’s how I got my name. —Hoodoo

Encourage your kids to keep a journal of first lines from books to inspire them in their own creative writing endeavors.

Character QuiltPass an 8.5-by-8.5-inch square piece of construction paper to each student. Have each child draw a portrait of a favorite book character on his/her square using crayons, markers, or paint. Be sure to include the character’s name and the book title on each square. Arrange the squares in a quilt pattern on a bulletin board or wall.

All the activities on this page can be modified and used in bookstores for applicable reading clubs!

Activities MiddleGradeMania

MiddleGradeMania

MiddleGradeMania

This reader recommends . . . BOOK TITLE

AUTHOR

RECOMMENDED BY GRADE

Plot summary/characters:

What I liked about the book:

This reader recommends . . . BOOK TITLE

AUTHOR

RECOMMENDED BY GRADE

Plot summary/characters:

What I liked about the book:

Illustration © 2013 by M. Sarah Klise from Hollywood, Dead Ahead. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Use this handy log sheet to keep track of the books you read. How many books can you read in a month? In a year? Challenge your friends!

Reading Log Title Author Date finished

Flower illustrations © 2013 by Cara Llewellyn; face illustration © 2013 by Matt Smith. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.MiddleGradeMania

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This page may be photocopied for free distribution.MiddleGradeMania

READ

ING

IS A

N

ADV

ENTU

RE!

Time to get L ost in a Book

Get into a little

mischief.

READ

Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Helen Dardik. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Name: ________________________________________

When Mischief Came to TownBY

Katrina Nannestad978-0-544-53432-2 hardcover 978-0-544-63376-6 ebook

When Inge Maria arrives on the tiny island of Bornholm in Denmark to live with her grandmother, she’s not sure what to expect. Her grandmother is stern and children are supposed to be seen and not heard. But no matter how hard Inge Maria tries to be good, mischief has a way of finding her. When an apple tart falls in the mud, Inge Maria comes up with a story about how the accident happened:

“The pie dish had grown wings and was flying hither and thither all over the yard and Klaus was leaping up and down, grabbing at it. I cried, ‘Goodness gracious me, Klaus! What are you doing?’ and Klaus replied, ‘I was just walking by on my way home from school, when I saw this apple tart grow wings and start to fly away and I thought I had better catch it so that Inge Maria Jensen and her grandmother would not go hungry this evening.’ So I joined in and tried to help, but at the very moment that Klaus leapt up and caught the tart, I accidentally collided with him and we all fell down into the mud.”

Write your own fanciful, Inge Maria–inspired story about why Henry the turkey sleeps in the bedroom with Grandmother and Inge Maria.

Tall Tales

GradeMiddle

HoodooBY

Ronald L. Smith978-0-544-44525-3 hardcover 978-0-544-44527-7 ebook

Illustration copyright © 2015 by Sebastian Skrobol. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Name: ________________________________________

The Stranger

GradeMiddle

Hoodoo Hatcher was born into a family with a rich tradition of practicing folk magic: hoodoo, as most people call it. But even though his name is Hoodoo, he can’t seem to cast a simple spell. When a mysterious man called the Stranger comes to town, Hoodoo starts dreaming of the dead rising from their graves. Even worse, he learns the Stranger is looking for a boy—a boy named Hoodoo. Read the description of the Stranger below and draw your vision of this scary demon.

“A black hat sat on top of his head and his eyes glowed red. Swamp grass and green slime dripped from his clothes. . . . He reached out a long arm. A black snake coiled around it, a split tongue flicking out of its mouth. . . . The Stranger smiled but he didn’t have any teeth, just a mouth full of black, oozing swamp water. . . . Flies swarmed around his head. . . . instead of hair, a nest of snakes sprung up from his scalp, squirming and hissing.”

Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Mariano Epelbaum. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Name: ________________________________________

Character Crossword

GradeMiddle

Milo reaches for a sock in the clothes dryer and suddenly he finds himself in Ogregon, a land populated with hungry ogres, dino-sized turkeys, kids needing rescue, and—Milo’s dad? What is his regular old salesman father doing in Ogregon? Milo soon discovers a world of secret agents and a plot to turn kids into ogre snack food. Can a small boy make a difference in this very big world? Read the book, then solve the crossword puzzle below to reveal the colorful characters in Milo Speck, Accidental Agent.

Milo Speck, Accidental AgentBY

Linda Urban978-0-544-41951-3 hardcover 978-0-544-63373-5 ebook

Answer key follows, or can be found at hmhbooks.com/middlegrademania/resources.html.

Across1. The dinosaur-sized turkey that helps the Tuckerman agents in Ogregon3. The new head of the Tuckerman Agency5. A singing security ogre6. The hero of our story

DOWN2. The youngest of three kids trapped in a cage in Ogregon, rescued with Jane and Ernesto

by 3 Across and 6 Across4. The evil inventor of the whazzit, a device that will suck more children into Ogregon

2

3

5

6

4

1

I’m an Alien and I Want to Go HomeBY

Jo FranklinILLUSTRATED BY

Marty Kelley978-0-544-44295-5 hardcover 978-0-544-44297-9 ebook

Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Marty Kelley. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Name: ________________________________________

Alien DNA

GradeMiddle

Daniel Kendal knows he’s an alien. He doesn’t look anything like anyone in his family, he has nothing in common with his parents or siblings, and his mother saved a newspaper clipping about a meteor that landed nearby on the day he was born. Do you look anything like the rest of your family? Check out the chart Daniel created to search for similar DNA within his family, and then fill in your own chart. Could you be an alien too?

ME MOM DAD _____ _____

Eyes

Hair

Height

The Girl Who Could Not DreamBY

Sarah Beth Durst978-0-544-46497-1 hardcover 978-0-544-46499-5 ebook

Illustration copyright © 2015 by Andrea Femerstrand. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Name: ________________________________________

Make a Dreamcatcher

GradeMiddle

Sophie loves the hidden shop beneath her family’s bookstore, where dreams are bought and sold. Sophie helps collect nightmares from two girls at school by bringing them dreamcatchers to hold the bad dreams. It’s a win-win: the girls are nightmare-free and her parents can harvest the nightmares and sell them to people who need a little escape from their lives. Do you have bad dreams sometimes? Make a dreamcatcher to trap them!

Supplies needed:Hard plastic bangle bracelet or the outer ring from a Mason jar lidYarnBeads and/or feathersScissors

Instructions:From your larger skein of yarn, make a small ball of yarn, about two inches in diameter. Be sure the ball is small enough to fit through the center of your ring.

Tie a loop of yarn around the ring and knot it, leaving about six inches of the end of the yarn hanging free. Take the ball of yarn and slowly wrap it around the ring, passing it through the center and around to the other side. Continue until your ring is completely wrapped in yarn and you’re back to where you began. Cut the yarn leaving a six-inch tail, and knot your new end to the end you left loose when you started. Tie the tips of those ends together to make a hanging loop for your dreamcatcher.

Cut a strand of yarn four to five feet long. Tie one end around your ring and knot it. Take the long end of the yarn and stretch it to the other side of your ring and wrap it around to secure it in place. Continue crossing the ring at random points with your yarn, pulling it tight and wrapping it to secure. After six or so passes, you’ll have a crisscross pattern of yarn crossing your ring. Wrap the loose end several times around to secure it in place. Knot the yarn at the base of the ring and trim off the excess.

Cut three pieces of yarn, each eight to nine inches in length. Tie beads or feathers to each strand. Tie the three decorated strands to the bottom of your ring so they hang down beneath it. Trim any excess yarn.

Hang your dreamcatcher by your bed to catch those pesky nightmares!

The Last BoglerBY

Catherine Jinks978-0-544-08696-8 hardcover 978-0-544-08727-9 ebook

Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Sarah Watts. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Name: ________________________________________

Victorian Vocab

GradeMiddle

With the plague of bogles in Victorian London barely contained, the bogle hunter Alfred Bunce needs all the help he can get. So young Ned Roach becomes Mr. Bunce’s newest apprentice, luring child-eating monsters from their lairs just as his friends Jem and Birdie do. Are you ready to hunt bogles with Ned? Take the Victorian slang quiz below to find out!

Check your score!8–10 correct answers: You’re Mr. Bunce’s next apprentice!5–7 correct answers: Nicely done! You’re not glocky!0–4 correct answers: Time to study the glossary in The Last Bogler!

Answer key follows, or can be found at hmhbooks.com/middlegrademania/resources.html.

1. “Kicksies” are a. shoes b. trousers c. friends

2. A “gaol” is a. a goal in soccer b. a jail c. a pretty girl

3. A “ticker” is a. a watch b. a person who takes tickets at a theater c. a bomb

4. A “mumper” is a. a person who is sick b. a runner c. a beggar

5. If you’re feeling “clammed,” you’re a. cold b. hungry c. sweaty

6. “Cocks o’ the game” are a. the best athletes b. pickpockets c. cooks

7. A “speeler” is a. a cheater b. a singer c. a grocer

8. If you’ve been “nibbed,” you’ve been a. robbed b. well fed c. arrested

9. A “flash house” is a. a criminals’ meeting place b. a restaurant c. a place to store explosives

10. If someone is “well-togg’d,” he/she is a. fat b. popular c. dressed nicely

Previous books in the series:

HOW TO CATCH A BOGLE 978-0-544-08708-8 hardcover 978-0-544-33627-8 paperback 978-0-544-08730-9 ebook

A PLAGUE OF BOGLES 978-0-544-08747-7 hardcover 978-0-544-54067-5 paperback 978-0-544-08735-4 ebook

Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Goro Fujita. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Name: ________________________________________

Battle of the BotsRobots Rule,

Book 3

BY

C. J. RichardsILLUSTRATED BY

Goro Fujita978-0-544-33932-3 hardcover 978-0-544-33828-9 ebook

With TinkerTech shut down for investigation and the townspeople abandoning their own beloved robots, life in Terabyte Heights needs a reboot. Boy genius George Gearing is desperate to solve the computer glitch that keeps him from his parents, but the tech support he needs can only come from the last person he should trust. If George accepts his help, who will save the town when the Battle of the Bots begins? Unscramble the letters below to reveal characters and key terms from Battle of the Bots.

Character Scramble

GradeMiddle

Answer key follows, or can be found at hmhbooks.com/middlegrademania/resources.html.

Unscramble the circled letters in your answers above to solve the final puzzle:

When Mrs. Glitch leaves her security-bot, Hector Protector, with George, Hector has a unique programming glitch. What is it?

KOCOEI

BKCATOJ

COMRIN

REERACATK

SAPRYK

RIHKEENTCT

RIALEWLF PIRNOS

ROCJEPT MERUYRC

NANE DORDI

Previous books in the Robots Rule series:

THE JUNKYARD BOT 978-0-544-33936-1 hardcover 978-0-544-33821-0 ebook

LOTS OF BOTS 978-0-544-33934-7 hardcover 978-0-544-33823-4 ebook

Illustration copyright © 2015 by Leigh Walls. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Name: ________________________________________

Borrowed TimeBY

Greg Leitich Smith978-0-544-23711-7 hardcover 978-0-544-23666-0 ebook

Max and his friend Petra are whisked back to the treacherous, dinosaur-packed Cretaceous Period by Max’s great-great-grandfather’s time machine, the Chronal Engine. They are on a mission to save Max’s then-teenage uncles, Nate and Brady, who inadvertently traveled back in time from 1985. The two pairs must not only fight for survival from mosasaurs, tyrannosaurs, and other dangers, but they must join forces to find their way home to their respective decades. Solve the cryptogram below to discover what Max, Petra, Nate, and Brady must do to leave the Cretaceous in this exhilarating time-travel adventure!

Cryptogram

GradeMiddle

21 18 13 23 26

NI

A B C D E F G H I J K L M

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

24 18

13

Answer key follows, or can be found at hmhbooks.com/middlegrademania/resources.html.

Hints:Start by looking at the single little word— #26—what must that letter be?How many letters are in the alphabet? Do you notice a pattern in the letter chart at the top of the page?

23 22 5 18 24 22CI !

R4

15

8 4 1

9 22 24 26 15 15C L L

Name: ________________________________________

Wild at Heart Mustangs and

the Young

People Fighting

to Save Them

BY

Terri Farley978-0-544-39294-6 hardcover

The fight to save America’s wild mustang horses began in 1950, but today, more than forty years later, these majestic animals are still under attack. Ranchers, developers, and miners demand that wild horses be stripped from public lands to be sold or slaughtered. But young people are fighting back and raising their voices to defend these beautiful creatures. Declan, a sixth-grader from New Hampshire, has organized letter-writing campaigns and spoken to congressional leaders about the cruelty of horse slaughter. Visit his blog, children4horses.blogspot.com, and the Children 4 Horses Facebook page to learn how to voice your support of the SAFE Act (H.R. 1942/S.1214) to protect horses from slaughter in the United States and from exporting them for slaughter. Create a poster to speak out against horse slaughter and save the wild at heart!

Save Wild Horses Poster

GradeMiddle

x

h

1

˜ SAVE WI

LD HORSES ˜ STO

P HORSE SLAUG

HTER ˜˜ SA

VE W

ILD

HO

RSES

˜ S

TOP

HORS

E SL

AUG

HTER

˜

SAVE WILD HORSES ˜ STOP HORSE SLAUGHTER

SAVE WILD HORSES ˜ STOP HORSE SLAUGHTER

This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Name: ________________________________________

The Rosemary SpellBY

Virginia Zimmerman978-0-544-44537-6 hardcover 978-0-544-44540-6 ebook

Best friends Rosie and Adam love books, so finding a mysterious old volume in a locked cupboard is exciting for them. Seeing handwriting appear on its pages and then disappear again is like something out of their favorite stories! But soon they discover that the book contains a terrifying secret and has the power to make people disappear—not only physically, but even from their memories. As Rosie and Adam struggle to remember Shelby, Adam’s older sister, one line from a Shakespearean play keeps their memories of her alive along with their only chance to retrieve her from the void. Find character names and key words from The Rosemary Spell (green list at right) hidden in the puzzle below; words can appear forward, backwards, and diagonally. Then write the first forty-three letters between the found words in the spaces below the puzzle to reveal the crucial line from Hamlet.

Word Search

GradeMiddle

R S O S S E B M A R Y T C H D

A P T H S O F O R R E O B S N

M E E A O M B R A N N C O H A

E L P K R O S I E S R A A E L

Y L S E L O V E T Y R E T L S

M E M S B E R A P P R W G B I

Q I Z P I K N H B O E O B Y S

O Z D E B C A G W Z E U M K W

M Y I A E M T Y N Z H T R E Z

Y K S R L R J V N F T C R Z M

K Y C E I K L I W M E U A Y D

R A T T Z E L V A D B V J U H

P M E B V U P D A N C X S J L

P Y I X K Z A C K X A U Z Y T

W X A K Q V Q P F W M P R F G

ADAMBOATBOOKSCONSTANCEHAMLETISLANDMACBETHMEMORYPOETRYROSIERUESHAKESPEARESHELBYSPELLWILKIE

Answer key follows, or can be found at hmhbooks.com/middlegrademania/resources.html.

✤

✤

✤✤✤

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, _ _ _ _’_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. _ _ _ _, _ _ _ _, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

Name: ________________________________________

Lizzie and the Lost BabyBY

Cheryl Blackford978-0-544-57099-3 hardcover 978-0-544-63372-8 ebook

GradeMiddle

World War II is raging in Europe, and the British government, fearing bomb raids, evacuates children living in vulnerable cities, sending them to the English countryside to board with strangers until the war is over. Lizzie and her younger brother, Peter, are evacuated and move in with a rather frail woman named Elsie in the remote Yorkshire valley. When Lizzy finds a baby abandoned in a meadow, she takes the child to Elsie, who immediately claims her. But the child belongs to a Gypsy family, who frantically search for her. Prejudice against the Gypsies causes the magistrate to declare the child Elsie’s, but Lizzie knows it’s wrong to keep the baby from her family, especially once she befriends Elijah, the baby’s older brother. Will she defy her foster family to help Elijah take baby Rose home? British vocabulary is often a little different from American speech, though both countries have a common language. Can you match the British words from the book listed below with their definitions?

Brit-speak

Answer key follows, or can be found at hmhbooks.com/middlegrademania/resources.html.

a. gasoline

b. an outdoor toilet

c. a diaper

d. a valley

e. a child

f. a stream

g. a four-wheeled baby carriage with a hood

1. bairn

2. beck

3. dale

4. nappy

5. petrol

6. pram

7. privy

This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Name: ________________________________________

TookA Ghost Story

BY

Mary Downing Hahn978-0-544-55153-4 hardcover 978-0-544-55368-2 ebook

GradeMiddle

Daniel and his sister, Erica, didn’t want to move to rural West Virginia. Their new home is a rundown old farm surrounded by woods, miles from town. The local kids treat Daniel and Erica as outsiders and frighten them with strange stories about a witch called Old Auntie who took a girl from their house fifty years ago—and the time is right for her to take another. Erica hears strange whispers in the wind and withdraws from the family, who slowly become more quarrelsome and unhappy. When Erica disappears one night, Daniel is sure she’s been “took.” He must face Old Auntie and her man-eating razorback hog, Bloody Bones, to get her back. When Daniel knocks on Old Auntie’s door, he poses a series of riddles to her. If she can’t solve all three, she must let him in. Can you answer the riddles below? Quiz your friends! But be on your guard—or you might get “took”!

Guess the Riddles

This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Answer key follows, or can be found at hmhbooks.com/middlegrademania/resources.html.

¢

’’

1. What has hands but cannot clap? _______________________

2. What’s tall when it’s young and short when it’s old? _______________________

3. What is at the end of a rainbow? _______________________

4. What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries? _______________________

5. What can run but cannot walk? _______________________

6. What is full of holes but still holds water? _______________________

7. What never asks questions but is often answered? _______________________

8. What belongs to you, but others use it more than you do? _______________________

Answer Key

MiddleGradeMania

MILO SPECK, ACCIDENTAL AGENTCharacter Crossword

THE ROSEMARY SPELLWord Search

BATTLE OF THE BOTSCharacter Scramble

1. b 2. b 3. a 4. c 5. b 6. b 7. a 8. c 9. a 10. c

1. e 2. f 3. d 4. c 5. a 6. g 7. b

1. A clock 2. A candle 3. The letter w 4. A towel 5. A river 6. A sponge 7. A doorbell 8. Your name

2

3

5

6

4

1G I L G A M E S H

T U C K

RD

O G E RLT

I

E

M I LE

O UD

D

THE LAST BOGLERVictorian Vocab

BORROWED TIMECryptogram

LIZZIE AND THE LOST BABYBrit-Speak

TOOKGuess the Riddles

21 18 13 23 26 NIF D A LR A LE

9 22 24 26 15 15C

D E V 23 22 5 18 24 22

C EI !

Rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray, love, remember.

C O O K I E

J A C K B O T

M I C R O N

C A R E T A K E R

S P A R K Y

T

B

I

A

N

C T

K

K A

E

W L

R

A K

T

R S

E

D

C

S H

H

E

F I R E W A L L P R I S O N

P R O J E C T M E R C U R Y

A N N E D R O I D

R S O S S E B M A R Y T C H D

A P T H S O F O R R E O B S N

M E E A O M B R A N N C O H A

E L P K R O S I E S R A A E L

Y L S E L O V E T Y R E T L S

M E M S B E R A P P R W G B I

Q I Z P I K N H B O E O B Y S

O Z D E B C A G W Z E U M K W

M Y I A E M T Y N Z H T R E Z

Y K S R L R J V N F T C R Z M

K Y C E I K L I W M E U A Y D

R A T T Z E L V A D B V J U H

P M E B V U P D A N C X S J L

P Y I X K Z A C K X A U Z Y T

W X A K Q V Q P F W M P R F G

This page may be photocopied for free distribution.