Fen has been busy. He took an unexpected trip, hung around some important people – who are also dead – all the while keeping a deep secret.
​
Fenmore Jacks does things on a grand scale. His personality is huge. His wit is enviable, especially among the other fourth-graders. And his school career? It is a colossal – failure. He has to hide the fact that he is dyslexic, and he uses his behavior to do it.
Learning through reading has become an impossible feat, and he wants to quit school, but it’s not looking good since he is only ten. One day, something bizarre happens. He is whisked away and finds himself journeying with George Rogers Clark on a seemingly impossible expedition during the Revolutionary War.
While learning the historical facts in Acts of Courage, Fen learns even more about himself, which is a much greater lesson. He is shocked as he discovers who he really can be. He finds that just because he feels fear does not mean that he lacks courage, and he finds that maybe, just maybe, his dyslexia is more a gift than the disability he thought it was.
Lesson Plans for
ACTS OF COURAGE
The novel, Acts of Courage, is a young adult historical fiction. I was so excited about the reviews and feedback from family, friends, students, and other teachers that I decided to create lesson plans to complement the book.
As a middle school English teacher, I appreciate the opportunity to have creative and stimulating lesson plans that are either CCRS (Indiana-based College and Career Readiness Standards) or the comparable Common Core-based standards at my fingertips. A conversion chart from CCRS to Common Core is included.
​
I think you will find this with the Acts of Courage lesson plans. Each section has standards-based lessons for grades four, five, and six. The sections cover vocabulary, elements of fiction/writing, and grammar from which your students will not only learn, but they will also enjoy!
If you think you know Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood, and Beauty and the Beast’s stories, think again! In Rats, Pumpkins, and Other Rumors, you will discover that the humorous and unexpected truth behind these characters and many more is about to be revealed.
With the help of SWUMFT (and such), a support group for fairy tale characters who are sick of being misrepresented, a cast of characters like you have never imagined break free from the bonds of the traditional fairy tales and give us the real scoop. Better buckle up for the ride, though; there are quite a few unexpected twists and turns!
Betty is exhausted, confused, and frightened. She has no idea how long she has been lost and wandering--now that she has finally managed to escape. But where is she now, and more importantly, how can she find someone to help her get back home?
After finally evading her captor who has emotionally tortured her months on end, Betty seeks help from a man unknown to her, but well-known and well-loved by the strangers around her. When he questions her about her past, however, she is easily frustrated by the black holes in the fabric of her memory. Calm and kind, and oddly knowledgeable about her, the man helps her through the long journey of understanding where she came from, who she is, and where she is going.
Alzheimer's Disease shows no discrimination, no mercy, nor does it limit its boundaries in its victims and their loved ones. This story reflects one family--a typical, everyday family--who finds itself thrown into an alternate universe and struggles to hold together and just…live.
The Long Road Home was written as a tribute, a guide, and a memoir to those beautiful souls who lose their way once they are within the grip of this disease, and to their caretakers, and to give, perhaps, a glimpse of hope that the way will be made clear once again.
Wally, an elf who works in Santa Claus’s toy shop, has some ideas that would rocket Santa to be even better! If Santa would just listen to his ideas and stop being so old-school, things would really rock and roll at the North Pole. He just needs to come up with an idea to get Santa’s attention. The rest will fall into place, right?
​
Or will it?
​
Settle down with a steaming mug of hot chocolate and follow Wally the Elf as he encounters one adventure, or (mis)adventure after the other, all on one wild Christmas Eve night. It will remind each of us that one is never too old or too young for the magic that is Christmas!
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Secrets of Willowbrook
Ashton walked over to where John was and sat on the carpet beside him. She held out her hands to the newly crackling blaze. Talking a deep breath, she said, "This isn't easy. I have been fearful of something that I ran across, and...oh, this is going badly." She bit her lip, looking at the fire, carefully not looking at him "Let me begin again."
​
And so begins one of the many secrets that dwell within the pretty, storybook town of Willowbrook.
​
Ashton Fox has everything; just ask anyone in town. She is lovely, young, intelligent, and the daughter of the town's richest couple. During the Depression, a time when people were without creature comforts, jobs, or even hope, they would often glance longingly at the Fox mansion and wonder what it would be like to be one of them,m on the flip side of poverty and despair. But Ashton, caught like an innocent bird locked away in a cage with no key, knows all too well that to be inside the beautiful mansion means secrets, danger, and fear...for to discover the secrets so carefully guarded through Prohibition, American's gangster era, and the Great Depression could very well cost you everything, maybe even your life.
They Cry of Freedom
Fen, crows are highly intelligent creatures...
​
They build their nests high so that they can look down on us, study us, and they make their choices carefully. They study not only our outsides, but they can see into our souls, so when they choose you, it is an omen.
​
"An omen? Like something bad is going to happen?"
But what "bad" could possibly happen?
​
In fourth grade, Fen had a dream about an adventure. At least that is how he has explained it to himself. A dream; it never really happened. So what is he to believe when a stranger appears to take him to Madison, Indiana, during the Civil War, the bloodiest and deadliest war on American soil? Now in eighth grade, Fen continues to struggle with his grades and his dyslexia, but he has added to the mix; he is in serious trouble for misusing social media.
​
If he has gotten himself into such a mess, how can he possibly be expected to help others with something as dangerous as the Civil War- and the Underground Railroad?