Shiloh (the book) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor vs. Shiloh the movie

Shiloh

By: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Though I have heard about Shiloh for years and knew most of the story , I had never seen the movie or read the book. I decided it was time to do both! I read the book first. It was very good. As I was reading I thought about how I just discussed negatives with my class. This book contains many examples of the characters using double negatives in their dialogue. Also, I remember from an article I read a while back that the main character in stories is usually a girl. This book has an eleven year old male main character.

The book and the movie were very similar. They both made it very clear the love between he boy and the found beagle. Both book and movie did a fantastic job showing the strong relationship between Marty and his family as well as the strong dislike between Judd Travers and Marty. The overall stories were the same. A boy finds a dog and hides it from his family. When his family finds out they insist he gives the dog back to the owner. The dog gets hurt so the family works together to get him well before returning it to the owner. The owner finds out and gets upset. Marty makes a deal to work for the owner to buy the dog. The owner doesn't want to, but eventually gives in. (With help from a little blackmail). In the end of the book and the movie Mary ends up with a new addition to his family, Shiloh.

Though there were many similarities, there were some small differences as well. The differences I noticed didn't change the story, just a few of the scenes changed from book to movie. One of the biggest differences is the character "Sam" in the movie. She is a granddaughter of the Doctor and is one of Marty's friends. In the book she doesn't exists. The book has Marty's only friend being David. Thought the movie does mention David, he is never seen. Sam has several roles in the movie. Another difference is the blackmail Marty uses against Judd Travers. In the book Marty sees Judd kill a deer and says he will turn him in to the game warden if he doesn't sale Shiloh to him. In the move he sees Judd shoot at a fox and catch rabbits out of season. He makes the same deal, if he doesn't sale Shiloh to him he will turn him in to the game warden. In the movie the mom goes looking for a job to help the family. She tries to sale nail polish and get a job as a hair dresser. This does not happen in the book. There were a few other small differences, but like I said, the overall story and message from the book and the movie were alike.



Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

by: Roald Dahl

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the move

Though I remember seeing he movie a million times as a kid, I couldn't remember actually reading the book. The recent Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johhny Depp had a different twist to the old classic story I remembered. As far as the original movie and the book there were many similarities. The book and the movie were so similar in fact I had trouble finding differences. The new movie had some special effects, such as the bird houses at the beginning that catch on fire, that differ from the book and the original movie.
At the beginning of the school year I had many fifth graders that had read the book in fourth grade and completed an assignment where they compared and contrasted them. I loved how interested in this activity they had been. They remembered it all summer and it was one of the first things brought up in reading. I knew right away I had to bring in great literature to my classroom that they would learn to love!



Beezus and Ramona

Beezus and Ramona

by Beverly Cleary

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Ramona and Beezus the movie

I bought my eight year old daughter the book and the movie Beezus and Ramona a few months ago. She was very interested since she too has a little sister she considers a pest. I hadn't read the book since I was a little girl and hadn't sat down to watch the movie, so I thought it was about time.
I read the book first. It was about a four year old Ramona and her eleven year old sister Beezus. The little girl caused lots of trouble from wrecking Beezus' art class to throwing a party for 15 four year old without telling anyone. Each chapter was a different story of something crazy Ramona had done.
The movie was completely different, but still shows Ramona as being a pest. In the move Ramona is nine and Beezus is about thirteen or fourteen. In the movie the Quimby's are about to lose their house and Ramona does all she can to save it. Everything she tries to do to help turns into a disaster.
Both the book and the movie were great! Thought the stories about Ramona and Beezus were very different in the book and movie, they both were about the relationship between the two sisters and the troubles they face growing up.
This would be a great read aloud in a third or fourth grade classroom. The book is funny and would easily hold students attention.



One Crazy Summer-Coretta Scott King Honor

One Crazy Summer

by Rita Williams-Garcia

Corretta Scott King Honor



This was a story about an eleven year old little girl that had, what I would consider, a pretty tough life. Her mother had left her and her two sisters when she was small and she lived with her father and his mother. They did the best they could with the three girls, but she still felt sad that her mother left them. One summer the girls father decided to send them to California to spend the summer with their mother. Not only was it scary for them to travel from Brooklyn to California on their own to meet someone they didn't really know, but the time period made it even scarier for them because they were black. The story took place in the summer of 1968. They were faced with a lot of stares, hippies, and even black panthers that summer. The book does a great job of describing the situations and the feelings of the girls. There were many situations where the oldest daughter, Delphine, the main character, had to do things and think the way an adult would normally. I think this would be a good book to recommend to a reader in the seventh or eight grade. I enjoyed this story and would think it would also be a good book to use as a read aloud in fifth or sixth. I probably wouldn't have many fifth or sixth graders read it on their own because they may have a lot of questions about the things the girls face and go through. It would definitely be good to have many conversations while reading this book.

Newbery Honar- Surviving the Applewhites

Surviving the Applewhites

by Stephanie S. Tolan

Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan was about a very artistic family who takes on a child who has been in trouble and is in foster care because both his parents were arrested on drug charges. I enjoyed reading this book, but feel that some of the content may not be suitable for a younger reader. I would definitely recommend this book to maybe a late year eight grader though. I think my favorite part about this book was the message. The boy that was in trouble, Jake, had done everything from smoking and cussing to burning down his last school. The Applewhites took on the challenge of helping him when they already had a full plate. While he was there they had to work together to put together a play the dad was directing. They had to come together and work as a family when the original theater decided to cancel the show and they decided to put it on in their barn. What helped Jake come around was his ability to help and see how he was needed. He helped with the four year old son, one of the dogs really took to him, and he was even part of the play. By the end of the story he was ready to be known as an "actor" not a "delinquent".