Young Scholars

Anansi stories originated in Ghana, passed on through storytelling. Though early versions depict him in various forms as different animals or even a man, Anansi is best known in contemporary literature as a spider. He is a “trickster,” and Anansi uses his experience with a moss-covered rock to trick many forest animals out of their food supply. But have no fear! Look closely, for as Anansi is tricking animals, Little Bush Deer is watching and plotting to help her friends get their food back.

Some of the activities in this unit are drawing the flag of Ghana, learning about the anatomy of a spider, and making a toy djembe drum.

On a day where her large family was busy, the duchess decides to bake “a lovely light luscious delectable cake”. After refusing the help of the kitchen staff, the duchess adds many items to her cake, including over six times the amount of yeast the recipe called for! The cake begins to rise and rise. Despite the kingdom’s best efforts, no one could figure out how to get the duchess down. The solution comes from the littlest daughter, and it is a tasty one! Some of the activities in this Book-A-Week unit are conducting a Yeast and Balloon Experiment, baking a cake, and creating knight shields.

Miss Nelson has a class with terrible behavior! They are even rude during storytime! Miss Nelson knows something must be done. That’s when the scary Miss Viola Swamp shows up and quickly whips the class into shape. Will she return? Will Miss Nelson and her class learn each other’s secrets? In 2007, Allard was posthumously awarded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his “substantial and lasting contribution” to children’s literature with this book.

Some of the activities in this unit are making a "missing poster", folding paper airplanes, and making pompom shooters.

Tikki Tikki Tembo is set long ago in China, where firstborn sons were given great, long names. As a sign of respect, those full names were expected to be used anytime when speaking about that person. This causes trouble for Chang whose older brother who has fallen into a well. This retelling of an ancient Chinese folktale is a classic! Tikki Tikki Tembo went on to win several awards (such as the American Library Association Notable Book and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award) and was listed as one of the best 50 children’s books by the New York Times.

Some of the activities in this unit are painting cherry blossom trees, building a dragon, and making Chinese lanterns.