Children's Literature - Brenda Seabrooke's Teaching Guides

Brenda Seabrooke's Teaching Guides

Jerry On The Line
By Brenda Seabrooke

"A light-hearted yet realistic story. . .Should both entertain and encourage its reader." - Kirkus

Shortlisted for Sequoia, Maryland and West Virginia Awards

   iUniverse
   Grades 4 and up $10.95
   ISBN: 9781440187667

THE ORIGINS OF THIS BOOK

When a fourth grade boy told me he didn't like to read, I asked him what he would like to read about if he had to read a book. Eric said, "Sports!" The next morning I sat at my computer and wrote, "Beat 'cha to the playground," Ricky said. I kept going until I had finished Jerry's story.

THEMES:

You don't have to be a sport star to be a hero.

Rules have reasons and consequences when they are broken.

You are not alone in your feelings.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

SOCIAL STUDIES

Find out how many children use latchkeys in your state? What percentage is this to the number of school children in your state? How many children use latchkeys in the US? What percentage is this to the total number of school children in the US?

What opportunities does your community offer to children of working parents for afterschool activities? Make a list. List activities in other nearby communities and compare the lists.

Do you think Jerry's mom's rules are fair? Do you have rules to follow? Are they posted somewhere like Jerry's are?

Do you have an animal shelter in your community or nearby communities? Find out how many animals the shelter takes in every week, month, year. List the different kinds of animals. Have you ever adopted an animal from a shelter?

LANGUAGE ARTS

What are Sherita's reasons for calling Jerry?

What are Jerry's feelings about Mr. Feeney? Do they change? How?

What are Jerry's feelings about Sherita? How do they change?

This story is told from Jerry's point of view. How would the book be different told from Joel's point of view? Sherita's? Tank's? Mr. Feeney's? The kitten's? Choose a paragraph and rewrite it from one of these points of view.

QUOTES TO QUESTION

Jerry needed to play soccer. (page 4)

Or he could lick the plate his cake had been on and nobody was there to tell him to mind his manners. (page 7)

"You don't have a beehive in your apartment, do you?" (page 14)

"She's so ugly she'd scare Godzilla!" (page 33)

If he hadn't hung up, maybe his knee wouldn't be keeping him awake. (page 45)

She was so trusting Jerry knew what he had to do. (page 59)

"You wouldn't believe this guy," Jerry exploded on the phone that night. (page 81)

Jerry tried to think what else a kitten needed. (page 101)

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