Sample Solution

Dear Mr. Henshaw Chapter Book/Upper Elementary Fiction
Cleary, B., & Zelinsky, P. (2000). Dear Mr. Henshaw. New York, N.Y.: Avon Books.
Leigh Botts’ parents separate when he is in the sixth grade. As a result, he moves to a new town with his mother. In addition to moving to a new town and dealing with his parents’ divorce Leigh is confronted with bullies at school. He struggles to make friends in school and as a result gets very invested in a school project where he writes to his favorite author; Boyd Henshaw, as he does every school year. He asks the questions he was required to by his project and Mr. Henshaw replies with more questions for him to answer. With Mr. Henshaw’s replies they form a friendship in which Leigh divulges his innermost thoughts and emotions. He reveals his struggles with his parents’ divorce, being the new kid in his new town and school and dealing with his father after his parents’ divorce. Mr. Henshaw encourages Leigh to keep a diary and the first entry is written to a Mr. Pretend Henshaw. Writing his diary, he accepts parts of his life he cannot change; his father, being in a new school and his parents’ divorce. He writes for the Young Writers club and earns an honorable mention when writing about a memory of him and his father hauling grapes to a factory.

Because Your Daddy Loves You Picture Book/Realistic Fiction
Clements, A., & Alley, R. (2009). Because Your Daddy Loves You. Boston: Sandpiper.
Because Your Daddy Loves you is the story of a young girl and her father at the beach one day. It is a very simple and basic picture book which outlines the love a father has for his little girl. Like every day at the beach with young children it comes with many minor dramas; a lost shoe, a ball that gets carried out to sea and a dripping ice cream cone. Small dramas which can be frustrating for any parent but Daddy in the book finds a loving, kind and patient way to fix each and every problem because he loves