e

l
d
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i
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Grade

M ania
ACT IVIT Y KIT
B

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

bridge from early chapter books to YA. Its 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!
www.hmhbooks.com/middlegrademania
Illustrations copyright 2013 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Activities

Middle Grade

M ania

Smackdown!

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

Word of Mouth

Create a This Reader Recommends display on a bulletin board in your classroom 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 Gallery

As students 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 authors name within the new cover design. Display the new book
covers on a bulletin board or in a reading corner.

Book Mobile

Have students create a mobile for a favorite book. Use two pencils as the mobile frameworkposition 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 card stock and hang them
from the pencil frame. Be sure to include the books title and author on one hanging element. Display the mobiles around the classroom or library.

Opening Lines

Books often begin with provocative, compelling openings to hook the reader from the very first page:
There is a right way to do things and a wrong way, if youre going to run a hotel in a smugglers town.
Greenglass House
In the blink of an eye, Jonathans life changed forever. Gabriels Clock
Dad has been gone exactly two months, one week, and four days when Mom stands up and says,
I cant do this anymore.
The Perfect Place

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

Character Quilt

Pass 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 characters
name and the book title on each square. Arrange the squares in a quilt pattern on a bulletin board or wall.

This reader recommends . . .

BOOK TITLE
AUTHOR
RECOMMENDED BY GRADE
Plot summary/characters:

What I liked about the book:

Middle Grade

M ania

This reader recommends . . .

BOOK TITLE
AUTHOR
RECOMMENDED BY GRADE
Plot summary/characters:

What I liked about the book:

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

M ania

Reading Log
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!

Title

Author

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

Date finished

Middle Grade

M ania

Fall

This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Rainy-day
reading
Time
to
read!

Middle Grade

M ania

Illustration copyright 2014 by August Hall from Gabriels Clock. All rights reserved.

into a
SpineTingling
book!

Illustration copyright 2014 by Julie McLaughlin from The Question of Miracles. All rights reserved.

Illustration copyright 2014 by Sarah Watts from A Plague of Bogles. All rights reserved.

Bookmarks

TICK
TOCK

Middle Grade

Name: ________________________________________

Pinwheel
Iris Abernathy hates life in Corvallis, Oregon, where her family just moved. Its always raining
and everything is so wet. Besides, nothing has felt right since her best friend, Sarah, died.
Iriss dad loves their new farmhouse and plans on raising chickens and planting an organic
garden. He even builds a wind turbine on the property to produce energy. A pinwheel is a
tiny wind turbine. Make your own using the template below and watch it spin!

The Question
of Miracles
BY

ELANA K.
ARNOLD
978-0-544-33464-9 hardcover
978-0-544-33255-3 eBook

SUPPLIES
NEEDED
Instructions
Use your scissors to cut out the template on the solid lines. Then cut on the dotted lines from
the four corners. Be sure to stop cutting when the lines end near the center of the square. Pull
the dots at the four corners to the center of your square, aligning the first dot on top of the dot
in the center, the second dot on top of the first, and so on until you have all the dots on top
of each other. (Note: you can have the colored side of your pinwheel facing up or down when
you pull in the four corners.) Carefully push the pushpin through all layers of the paper. Then
push the pushpin into the eraser on your pencil just until it feels secure. Don't push it all the
way in or your pinwheel won't spin. Blow and watch it go!
Illustrations copyright 2015 by Julie McLaughlin. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Scissors
A pencil with
a full eraser
A pushpin

Middle Grade

Name: ________________________________________

Eco Dog Patch

A dogs nose has hundreds of millions of sensory neurons just waiting to process that next
scent. Their sense of smell is roughly 1,000 to 10,000 times greater than a humans! Specially
trained dogs can use their smart noses to help locate missing people or human remains,
detect explosives or illegal drugs, and sniff out life-threatening changes in an owners blood
sugar levels. There are even dogs trained as conservation detection dogs, or eco dogs, that
help scientists locate everything from moose scat in the Adirondack Mountains to invasive
snails in Hawaii, tigers in Cambodia, and cheetahs in Kenya. All working dogs wear a badge
or patch to let others know theyre on the job. Look at the two patches below and design
your own patch for an eco dog.

Sniffer Dogs:
How Dogs
(and Their
Noses) Save
the World
BY

NANCY F.
CASTALDO
978-0-544-08893-1 hardcover

o
A

This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Middle Grade

Name: ________________________________________

Word Search
From bank robbery to gambling, domestic violence to civil rightsour countrys laws change
as our culture and values change over time. Guilty? offers a fascinating look at how justice in
America has evolved, and challenges readers to ponder some difficult questions about how
our criminal justice system worksand how it might be improved. Find the legal terms listed
in the lower right corner hidden in the letters below. Words can appear backward, forward,
and diagonally.

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Bonus Question:

What does recidivism mean?

_________________________________________________________________
Answer key follows, or can be found at hmhbooks.com/middlegrademania/resources.html.
This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Guilty?:
Crime,
Punishment,
and the
Changing Face
of Justice
BY

TERI
KANEFIELD
978-0-544-14896-3 hardcover

Legal Terms:
APPEAL
ASSAULT
CAPITAL
PUNISHMENT
DUE PROCESS
FELONY
INDICT
LARCENY
MISDEMEANOR
PREMEDITATED
PROSECUTOR
SELF-DEFENSE
SETTLEMENT

Middle Grade

Name: ________________________________________

Map Maker
Theres something special about the village of Hobbes End. On the surface, it looks like any
other English village, with thatched-roof cottages surrounding a village green, a large pond,
and deep woods. Young Cay tells Jonathan, The village calls out to people who need help,
who need somewhere to be safe. Evil creatures attacked Jonathan and his parents,
so Hobbes End is just the place he needs to recover. In the space below, draw a map of
how you imagine Hobbes End to appear. Be sure to include the following on your map:
St. Michaels Church, the vicarage, the churchyard/graveyard, Gabriels cottage, the village
green, the village shop, the pond, the woods.

Gabriels
Clock
BY

HILTON
PASHLEY
978-0-544-30176-4 hardcover

Illustrations copyright 2014 by August Hall. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Middle Grade

Name: ________________________________________

Character Crossword
Dad has been gone for two months and Moms at her wits end. She loads the girls into the
car in the middle of the night and heads to her aunts house, planning to leave them there
while she goes in search of Dad. The Perfect Place is a story of hope in the face of despair and
of learning that first impressions can often be misleading. Its also a story with colorful
character names! Solve the crossword puzzle below to reveal them.

The Perfect
Place

BY

TERESA E.
HARRIS
978-0-547-25519-4 hardcover
978-0-544-37427-0 eBook

j
7

Across
3.

Unflattering nickname
for 4 down

5.

Adult who runs the Mount

Holy Baptist summer camp

6.

Favorite stuffed bear

of 1 down

7.
8.

Gentleman friend of 4 down

9.

First name of the storys

narrator

The boy who befriends 9

across in Black Lake

j
8

Down
1.
2.
4.

Sister of 9 across
Mean girl who picks on 9 across and 8 across
The relative 9 across and 1 down are forced to stay with in Black Lake
Answer key follows, or can be found at hmhbooks.com/middlegrademania/resources.html.

This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

k
o
o

Middle Grade

Name: ________________________________________

Victorian Vocab
Jem always liked the idea of being a boglers apprentice like his friend Birdie, but
bogle-hunter Alfred Bunce has given up his dangerous trade. Yet when more and more
children disappear from Victorian London, Mr. Bunce must help once again, with Jem
as his boglers boy. Jem cant wait to step into the salt circle and lure the child-eating
monsters out of their dank holes, but the job isnt easyfor the city seems to have been
taken over by a vast plague of bogles! Take the Victorian slang quiz below and see if
youre ready to be a bogle hunter with Jem and Birdie.

1. A lurk is

a. someone who follows people

b. a trick or a scam
c. a type of stew

a. a bar maid
b. a stick or bat
c. a fine girl

7. A nobbler is

2. A sneckdraw is

6. A kinchin crack is

a. a sly, crafty person

b. a card player
c. an artist

a. someone who eavesdrops

b. a thug
c. a wealthy person

3. A bluffer is

8. A sneezer is

4. If you say someone is downy,

9. If you dun someone, you

you mean he or she is

a. soft and sweet
b. sad
c. cunning or clever

5. A mudlark is

a. a liar
b. a thief
c. an innkeeper

a. a type of bird
b. a child who scavenges
on riverbanks
c. a boat

a. someone with allergies

b. an old person
c. a drink
a. demand he or she pay you
b. hit him or her over the head
c. pick his or her pocket

10. If someone is humming you,

he or she is
a. deceiving you
b. singing to you
c. yelling at you

Check your score!

810 correct answers: Youre ready to be a boglers apprentice!

57 correct answers: Good job! Youve not been on the wag!
04 correct answers: Time to study the glossary in A Plague of Bogles!
Answer key follows, or can be found at hmhbooks.com/middlegrademania/resources.html.
Illustration copyright 2014 by Sarah Watts. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

A Plague
of Bogles
BY

CATHERINE
JINKS
978-0-544-08747-7 hardcover
978-0-544-08735-4 eBook

Middle Grade

Name: ________________________________________

The Green Man

Brendan is smart and a talented artist, yet his teachers and classmates mock him, his foster
mother is cold and critical, and he has become a target for bullies. In a book of British myths,
Brendan reads about the Green Man, a sort of eco-superhero who protects the forest and all
who dwell there. The Green Man is just and powerful. Brendan draws the Green Man on the back
of his math sheet: My Green Man is treetop tall. He carries a sword. His beard is long and thick,
his mustache curls, and his face is framed with oak leaves. His wavy hair falls to his shoulders.
Brendan needs to believe in the Green Man. Draw your vision of the Green Man below.

Where I
Belong
BY

MARY
DOWNING
HAHN
978-0-544-23020-0 hardcover
978-0-544-37428-7 eBook

This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Middle Grade

Name: ________________________________________

Word Scramble
Twins Tom and Eddie are halfieshalf alien, half human. Its 1958 on Eddies home planet,
EarthOne, and 2012 in Toms world on EarthTwo. But the very existence of both home planets
is at stake if the Primary People cant be convinced to put off their destruction. Can Tom and
Eddie learn to use their special twin powers in time? Unscramble the letters below to reveal
key words and phrases from The Twin Powers. Then take the letters that appear in the circles
and unscramble them to answer the bonus question.

HFLASIE

The Twin
Powers
BY

SEADRRI LURE

ROBERT
LIPSYTE
978-0-547-97335-7 hardcover
978-0-547-97452-1 eBook

TEHC FOF DYA

ODEVCRE GWOAN

VETROIRAB

COPHAEMEL

Bonus:

What famous American author is referred to throughout The Twin Powers?

K
Answer key follows, or can be found at hmhbooks.com/middlegrademania/resources.html.
This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Middle Grade

Name: ________________________________________

Make a List
Anastasia Krupnik loves making lists in her special green notebook. Like Anastasia, make a
list below of the things you love and the things you hate. Revisit your list in a month. Did any
items from the hate column move to the love column, or vice versa? Do you have new
items to add to each list?

Anastasia
Krupnik
978-0-544-33668-1 paperback
978-0-547-34562-8 eBook

Anastasia
Again!
978-0-544-33667-4 paperback
978-0-547-34564-2 eBook

BY

LOIS LOWRY

Illustrations copyright 2014 by Jaime Zollars. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Middle Grade

Name: ________________________________________

Clue Box
Greenglass House, a smugglers inn high atop a hill overlooking the harbor, is home to
Milo and his adoptive innkeeper parents. Normally its quiet during the winter holidays,
but this year the inn is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange
story that is somehow connected to the old house. Milo and the cooks daughter,
Meddy, play a role-playing game to solve the mystery of an old nautical chart and
investigate the unusual guests whove descended on the inn. Milo becomes Negret in the
game, an escaladeur, or reconnaissance expert, whos adept at sneaking around and
finding clues. Every good escaladeur needs a place to hide the clues he or she finds
during a campaign. Follow the instructions below and on the next page to create your
own Greenglass House clue box.

BY

Box Top

KATE MILFORD

978-0-544-05270-3 hardcover
978-0-544-05555-1 eBook

Greenglass
House

Illustrations 2014 by Jaime Zollars

Instructions
Cut out the box top on the solid exterior lines. Flip the box top over so that
the white side of the paper is facing you. Fold the green and blue sides up
toward you along the black lines. Fold in the tabs at the dotted lines. Use
small pieces of tape to adhere the tabs to the backs of the sides adjacent to
them. Your box top is now finished! See next page for box bottom.
Illustrations copyright 2014 by Jaime Zollars. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Middle Grade

Name: ________________________________________

Box Bottom
Instructions
Cut out the box bottom on the solid exterior lines. Flip the box bottom over so that the white side of the paper is
facing you. Fold the box sides up toward you along the black lines. Fold in the tabs at the dotted lines. Use pieces of
tape to adhere the tabs to the
backs of the box sides adjacent
to them. Your box bottom is
now finished! What clues will
you store inside it?

Illustrations 2014 by Jaime Zollars

Illustrations copyright 2014 by Jaime Zollars. All rights reserved. This page may be photocopied for free distribution.

Answer Key
Guilty?

A Plague of Bogles

Word Search
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Victorian Vocab
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L
C
R
D
R
O
Z
G
N
C
E
E
S
P

A
P
P
E
A
L
X
X
F
X
N
T
F
R
N
V
F
J
Y
O
B
J
R
K
L

O
D
W
K
A
U
Q
S
T
A
K
L
G
O
I
R
I
T
Z
D
M
O
J
R
D

A
L
Z
O
T
C
R
J
Q
U
P
W
U
Y
K
T
P
O
L
D
H
P
Q
E
E

The Perfect Place

Character Crossword
T
2
I
J
F
A
3
F
G A 4G
A
U
R
5
E U N E T T A
E
Y
R
A
T
6
M R T E D D Y D A N I E L S
U
7
M O O N
T
G
8
T E R R A N C E
A
C
9
T R E A S U R E
1

Y
M
C
T
Q
R
O
T
U
C
E
S
O
R
P
M
B
D
O
D
V
V
W
M
X

V
A
S
T
C
W
W
A
K
F
Q
X
D
S
L
U
M
D
D
P
U
N
F
Y
K

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

The Twin Powers

Word Scramble
H A L F I E S
R A I D E R S
T E C H

R U L E

O F F

C O V E R E D

D A Y
W A G O N

R I V E R B O A T
H O M E P L A C E
M A R K

T W A I N

Middle Grade

M ania