Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Anything but Typical

Anything but Typical
By Nora Raleigh Baskin
Published by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Copyright 2009

Jason Blake was diagnosed with autism when he was in third grade, and every since then his family and life have been different. Jason used to play baseball, he used to get along with everyone, he used to get invited to birthday parties, but since he has been seen as different he doesn't do any of those things. He just writes, and one day "PhoenixBird," a girl, writes to him on his blog. They start to talk through their stories and he is excited to have a friend, until he finds out he may meet her in person and he knows she wont like him anymore.

Relatable, Complex, Powerful, Engaging, Informative

Reading Level/Lexile
5th grade/HL640L

Suggest Delivery
Small Group

Electronic Resources
http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism
This is a website focused on the disability, autism. It explains what autism is, how often it is seen, what causes it, and much more. This is a beneficial website for students when they write their expository essay and for students who are unfamiliar with the disability and would like to know more.

http://www.norabaskin.com/a_little_more....html
This is the author, Nora Baskin's, website. This website provides information about the author, information on her books, where she will, and new books she is publishing. This is a good website for students interested in this author's writing style.  

Teaching Suggestions
1. A teacher can use this book when discussing first, second and third person, but focusing more on first person.
2. A teacher can use this when focusing on diversity in the classroom.
3. This book can be used to discuss autism.

Vocabulary 
1. Autism
2. Neurotypicals
3. confluence
4. chromosome
5. gene
6. hormones

Before Reading
The teacher will introduce the disability autism to the class. She will explain the disability and how it affects students in the classroom. She will then introduce Jason Blake to the students and give a quick overview of Jason's specific disabilities on the autism spectrum. She will also review the concept of first person, and how it effects a story.

During Reading
After each chapter the students will reflect on how they felt after that chapter in their writing journal. This will be a brief reflection, 2-3 sentences.

After Reading
As a class they will talk about how the book would've been different if it was written in a different person. They will talk about if it would've been as effective written as second or even third person. They will then discuss how effective it was written as first person.

Writing Activity
The students will research the topic, autism. They will find out information about the disability, how it affects students in the classroom, and then compare it to the novel, Anything but Typical and then they will have to write an expository essay using the information they researched.

Baskin, N. R. (2009). Anything but Typical. New York: Simon & Schuster.

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