David Weisner books

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David Weisner books
By meg

If your student is a reluctant reader, David Weisner's wonderful books might just spark an interest... my children pour over them again and again. I used Sector 7 in conjuction with a science unit on clouds and also for
one on Caldecott award winners.
--I often like to give my children biographical information about authors and try to dig up interesting facts to bring "life" to the person who wrote the book. Weisner was a student of Chris Van Allsburg. You could bring in some of Van Allsburg's books and look for similarities in the illustrations.
--Since Weisner has won a number of Caldecott awards,

you could tell your student about the award and bring in some of other books by Weisner to contrast and compare. Many of his books carry similar fantasy themes. (Have you seen his new book, The Three Pigs? It recently was named the 2002 Caldecott winner. In it the pigs are huffed right off the page into a new world! My kids loved it.) Another favorite Weisner book is Tuesday. For Caldecott background visit www.ala.org/alsc/caldecott.html
--You could have your student go through the book and chart fiction/fantasy.
--You could talk about the Empire State building. (There is a webcam on the observation deck.)
--I have set up a listening center with Weisner's books and classical music selections... see how your student reacts to listening to "Ride of the Valkyries" (used in Star Trek) while perusing Sector 7 or Tuesday. The books and the music fit together perfectly!
Even though his books are generally wordless, I do think they inspire certain students to find a reason to "read".