Welcome to The Reader’s Journey. . .. . . a full-curriculum novel-based Language Arts program dedicated to making students lifelong readers. The goal is to teach trade books while ensuring a curriculum that meets English/Language Arts standards. Because the program is so unique, there are expected questions. That’s the purpose of this booklet—to answer the most frequently asked questions about selecting books for use with the program.

What’s an Anchor Book? 1. Answer: Anchor Books are the books students read while the curriculum unfolds.

The program recommends six such books each unit; students read two per unit. Not only do the books we recommend support the Big Question themes of the unit, but many are winners of prestigious awards such as the Newbery Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Children’s Book Award for Young Adults.

The program recommends six books per unit. Why so many?2. Answer: Each book is leveled so that you can match students to books written at

their reading level.

How do I match a student to a book?3. Answer: Your district may have formal reading assessment tools. If not, use

students’ reports from previous years to guide you. Some teachers opt to let students examine the books and choose for themselves. It’s not a guarantee that students will select books that match their reading level, but when students are motivated to read they often rise to the occasion.

What kind of support comes with the Anchor Books offered by Pearson? 4. Answer: Each book is supported with background and author biography

blackline masters, as well as multiple-choice assessment. You will find the materials online at the program’s Teacher Center.

In my school we already have classroom sets of books. Can we use 5. these books with the program instead of buying new ones?

Answer: Absolutely! The program is designed with that kind of flexibility in mind. It only makes sense to start with what you already have. To use your existing books effectively, consider the Big Question themes of the units to determine in which unit or units the book might work best. On the next few pages you will see lists of books most frequently mentioned as being on hand in schools. For your convenience, we have made recommendations as to which Big Question themes they best support.

What happens if an Anchor Book offered by Pearson goes out of print? 6. Answer: That can happen from time to time. After all, these books are regular trade

books, and their publishers make those decisions for themselves. Should a book go out of print we will list new recommendations as quickly as possible, and keep you posted as to changes in our bookshelf on our website at www.PHSchool.com.

May you and your students truly enjoy this unique approach to teaching and learning.

Enjoy the journey!

Choosing Books From Your Own LibraryIn each unit of The Reader’s Journey, we suggest six titles. Many of these may be new and unfamiliar to you. They present a great opportunity to teach a contemporary text. The Reader’ Journey was built to support a wide variety of books, however. That’s where your school’s book room comes in. You may already have a number of books not on the list of titles recommended in the program, and those books can be terrific candidates for using as Anchor Books with The Reader’s Journey.

Below are lists of some of the favorite books from a wide number of school districts around the country. Since it is important that the books you use support the Big Questions of the units in the program, the lists are clustered by units, according to the Big Question they support best. The number in bold type next to the title is the Lexile score. Not all of the books have been Lexiled yet by their publisher.

Note that the Big Questions for particular units from grade to grade focus on similar themes and grow in complexity. The chart, therefore, allows you and your school to make decisions in which grades to use the books you already have.

Unit 1 Fiction and nonFictionGrade 6 How do we decide what is true?

Grade 7What is the best way to find truth?

Grade 8Is truth the same for everyone?

Behind the Blue and the Gray: The Soldier’s Life in the Civil War, Delia Ray* 1120L

The Black Canary, Jane Louise Curry 1020LThe Glory Field, Walter Dean Myers* 800Going Home, Nicholasa Mohr* Let Me Play: The Story of

Title IX, the Law That Changed the Future of Girls in America, Karen Blumenthal 1140L

Guys Write for Guys Read, Jon Scieszka* 920LThe Heart of a Chief, Joseph Bruchac 750LThe Hot Zone, Richard Preston (1030L)The House of Dies Drear, Virginia Hamilton* 670LAn Island Like You, Judith Ortiz Cofer* 910LLeft for Dead: A Young Man’s Search for Justice for

the Living up the Street, Gary Soto 1140LMy Friend the Enemy, J.B. Cheaney 860LMy Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir, Samantha Abeel 1050L

Night, Elie Wiesel 590L A Night to Remember, Walter Lord 950L No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War, Anita Lobel 750LOrphan Train Rider, Andrea Warren 960LThe Outsiders, S.E. Hinton* 750LQueen’s Own Fool, Jane Yolen 740LRascal, Sterling North 1140LRobot Dreams, Isaac Asimov* 820LRoll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor*Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, Jennifer

Armstrong 1090LSport Shorts: An Anthology of Short Stories, Bruchac et al. To Be a Slave, Julius Lester* 1080LTwo Suns in the Sky, Miriam Bat-Ami 550LU.S.S. Indianapolis, Peter Nelson

* On The Reader’s Journey1 recommended Anchor Book lists, and available from Pearson. Be sure to check www.PHSchool.com for the most up-to-date status of their availability.

All Quiet on the Western Front, Enrich M. Remarque 830LThe American Revolutionaries: A History in Their Own

Words, Milton Meltzer 1220LAnne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank*

1080L Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatzuki Houston &

James Houston* 1040LThe Forbidden Schoolhouse: The True and Dramatic Story of

Prudence Crandall and Her Students, Suzanne Jurmain 920L

Gorilla Doctors: Saving Endangered Great Apes, Turner, Pamela S. 910L

Guinea Pig Scientists: Bold Self-Experimenters in Science and Medicine, Leslie Dendy 1100L

The I Hate Mathematics! Book, Marilyn Burns 610LHomesick: My Own Story, Jean Fritz 860LInherit the Wind, Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee 850L

King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero, David Remnick The Life and Death of Crazy Horse, Russell Freedman

1100LOh, Rats: The Story of Rats and People, Albert Marrin 960LRamsay, Jennifer Owings DeweyRyan White: My Own Story, Ryan White 860LTeam Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the

Moon, Catherine Thimmesh 1060LThey Had a Dream: The Civil Rights Struggle from Frederick

Douglas, Malcom X & Julies Archer* 1150LThe Way Things Work, David Macaulay Wildlife Rescue: The Work of Dr. Kathleen Ramsey, Jennifer

Owlings DeweyWho Moved My Cheese: For Teens, Spencer Johnson,

M.D.* 880LYou Want to Vote, Lizzie Stanton?, Jean Fritz* 870LZlata’s Diary, Zlata Filipovic* 640L

Unit 3 types oF nonFictionGrade 6 What is important to know?

Grade 7What should we learn?

Grade 8How much information is enough?

Unit 2 the novelGrade 6 Is conflict always bad?

Grade 7Does every conflict have a winner?

Grade 8Can all conflicts be resolved?

Across the Nightingale Floor, Lian Hearn 840LAngelfish, Laurence Yep 570LAnimal Farm, George Orwell 1170LArrow Over the Door, Joseph Bruchac 810LBearstone, Will Hobbs* 780LThe Boy Who Saved Baseball, John H. Ritter 660LBucking the Sarge, Christopher Curtis 1000LThe Chocolate War, Robert Cormier 820L The Clay Marble, Minfong Ho* 860LDaughter of the Nile, Eloise McGraw 910L Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff, Walter Dean Myers* 860LFeed, M.T. Anderson 770LFlip-flop Girl, Katherine Paterson 720LFreak the Mighty, Rodman Philbrick 1000L

The Iron Ring, Lloyd Alexander 680L The Journey Home, Yoshiko Uchida 890LLet the Circle Be Unbroken, Mildred Taylor* 850L Letters From Rifka, Karen Hesse 660L Mara, Daughter of the Nile, Eloise McGraw 910LMiracle’s Boys, Jacqueline Woodson* 660LRoll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor* 920LSleeping Ugly, Jane Yolen 590LStargirl, Jerry Spinelli 590LStrays Like Us, Richard Peck 650LThe Sword and the Circle, Rosemary Sutcliff 1210LTuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt 770LA Year Down Yonder, Richard Peck 610LThe Young Landlords, Walter Dean Myers 820L

Unit 5 dramaGrade 6 How do we decide who we are?

Grade 7Do others see us more clearly than we see ourselves?

Grade 8Is it our differences or our similarities that matter most?

The Dolphins of Laurentum, Caroline Lawrence 660LDon’t Tell Anyone, Peg Kehret 690LDragonwings, Laurence Yep Eagle Song, Joseph Bruchac 690LFair Weather, Richard Peck 670LFlowers for Algernon, David Rogers*Girl in a Cage, Jane Yolen 690LI, Juan de Pareja, Elizabeth Borton de Trevino 1100LLet Me Hear You Whisper, Paul ZindelThe Member of the Wedding: The Play, Carson McCullers

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare Mind’s Eye, Paul Fleischman The Miracle Worker, William Gibson*The Mousetrap and Other Plays, Agatha Christie*

Nerdlandia, Gary Soto*Our Town, Thornton Wilder*Seek, Paul Fleischman Anne Frank and Me, Cherie Bennett Lives of the Writers, Kathleen Krull 1070L

Unit 4 prose and poetryGrade 6 Do we need words to communicate well?

Grade 7What is the best way to communicate?

Grade 8What is the secret to reaching someone with words?

A Dime a Dozen, Nikki Grimes* The Boy in the Painted Cave, Justin Denzel 800LBronx Masquerade, Nikki Grimes 670L Fearless Fernie: Hanging Out With Fernie and Me, Gary

Soto*The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn, Dorothy and Thomas

Hoobler 740LHush, Jacqueline Woodson 640LMy Side of the Mountain, Jean Craighead George 810LOdes to Common Things, Pablo Neruda Poems by Robert Frost, Robert Frost

The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano, Margarita Engle

Seedfolks, Paul Fleischman 710LShark Beneath the Reef, Jean Craighead George 800LShow Way, Jacqueline Woodson Someone is Hiding on Alcatraz Island, Eve Bunting* 630LThings Not Seen, Andrew Clements 690LThwonk, Jan Bauer 860LTouching Spirit Bear, Ben Mikaelsen 670LThe Westing Game, Ellen Raskin* 750LWhere the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls 700L

Unit 6 the research processGrade 6 How much do our communities shape us?

Grade 7Community or individual: Which is more important?

Grade 8Are yesterday’s heroes and events important today?

An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, Jim Murphy 1130L

The Brooklyn Bridge: They Said It Couldn’t Be Built, Judith St. George

Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction, David Macaulay 1120LGirls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by

Women, Catherine Thimmesh 960LThe Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage, Walter

Dean Myers 1130LHiroshima, Laurence Yep* 660LHow the Future Began: Communications, Anthony Wilson Kennedy Assassinated! The World Mourns, William

Hampton 1040L

Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX, the Law That Changed the Future of Girls in America, Karen Blumenthal 1140L

Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Homefront in World War II, Penny Colman

Safari Beneath the Sea: The Wonder of the Pacific Northwest, Diane Swanson

Six Million Paper Clips: The Making of a Children’s Holocaust Memorial, Peter W. Schroeder

Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I a Woman?, Patricia McKissack 960LSpace Station Science: Life in Free Fall, Marianne Dyson 910LWhen Justice Failed: The Fred Korematsu Story, Steven A.

Chin 900L