FICTION CHOICES

Each novel listed here has a set of Spangler's SCRUTINY cards about that novel. (Novels are not included) Below is a brief description of the games that are currently available. Please click on the title that you would like to find out more about.

Classic Set (printable question/answer cards sent via e-mail that you download)-$10 U.S. Dollars

  Grades 2-4

A Taste Of Blackberries, Freckle Juice, Junebug, The Flunking of Joshua T. Bates

Grades 4-6

Bridge To Terebithia, Castle In The Attic, The Midwife's Apprentice, Max and Me and the Time Machine, Walk Two Moons, The View From Saturday

Grades 6-8 and beyond

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone,  Freak The Mighty,     Max The Mighty,    Tuck Everlasting,    Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry,       The Giver,    Number The Stars,       The Outsiders,           The Watsons Go To Birmingham - 1963

Get FREE assessment suggestions for use with any of Spangler's Scrutiny games by clicking here.

  • A Taste of Blackberries by Doris Buchanan Smith

    From The Publisher
    Jamie is special, full of surprises, unpredictable. He can get into trouble, and then out of it. He courts danger, and always escapes. And he has an answer for every impossible question.

    But when something sudden and terrible happens to Jamie, his best friend has to face the tragedy alone. Now there are questions that not even Jamie could have answered. How could Jamie be alive one minute, and the next, gone forever? How can some things, like flowers or playing games in the sun or the taste of the blackberries Jamie loved, go on without him - and still be so full of joy and pleasure?

    Target Audience: Grades 2-4

    Back to top   

  • Freckle Juice by Judy Blume: Second grader, Andrew, really wants to have freckles. He wants them so much that he is willing to try a secret recipe. Will it work?

    • Target Audience: Grades 2-4 >   

    Back to top

  • Junebug by Alice Mead: From the Publisher - "Reeve McClain, Jr. - Junebug - has a big dream that keeps him going. Junebug dreams that someday he and his younger sister and mother will move from the awful housing project where drugs, gangs, and guns are part of everyday life. Junebug's tenth birthday is coming up, and he knows the gangs and drug dealers will be after him to join them. But Junebug has a big birthday plan to keep his hope alive. He's going to launch his collection of glass bottles filled with notes about his dreams and wishes. Maybe someway, somehow, Junebug's big dream will come true.
    •

    Target Audience: Grades 2-4

    Back to top

  • The Flunking of Joshua T. Bates - by Susan Shreve

    From the Publisher: (Gr 2-4) "It's the worst possible end to a great summer vacation: Joshua Bates finds out he has to repeat the third grade. His teachers say he needs another year 'to mature'. What do they expect from a nine-year-old kid? A beard? The first day of school is a complete nightmare. The fourth graders think he's a freak, the kids in his new class are babies, and his teacher looks like a two-ton tank. Joshua is totally miserable. Will he ever catch up - or is he stuck in the third grade forever?"

    Target Audience: Grades 2-4

    Back to top

    Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

    Fifth graders Jess and Leslie become unlikely friends and create their own magical kingdom of Terabithia. But can the magic last forever?

    Target Audience: Grades 4-6 >   

    Back to top

  • Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop: William is our main character who must enter medieval times, fight an evil wizard and save his friends from certain doom. An excellent book to accompany a study of Medieval Times.

    • Target Audience: Grades 5&6 >   

    Back to top

  • The View From Saturday by K.L. Konigsburg: From School Library Journal - K.L. Konigsburg's Newbery Award winner (Atheneum, 1996) makes a smooth transition into this medium. Mrs. Olinski and her four bright students make a dynamic team as read by this cast of competent actors. In this story of four sixth graders' victory in an Academic Bowl, Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian each tell their story. The foursome and the supporting characters come to life while Mrs. Olinski blossoms. Careful prose is well adapted into a funny, realistic, caring portrait through clear and varied voices. No bells and whistles are needed to bring this winner to life, just a skilled reading. Put this on the shelf and watch it fly. -Angela J. Reynolds, West Slope Community Library, Portland, OR

    • Target Audience: Grades 4-6

    Back to top

  • Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech: Meet Salamanca Tree Hiddle who is on a journey across the USA to find her mother. A story within a story, Sal relates her life as she struggles to be normal person in an abnormal world.

    • Target Audience: Grades 4-6 >   

    Back to top

    • The Midwife's Apprentice By Karen Cushman

    From The Publisher
    In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.     1996 Newbery Award Winner!

    Target Audience: Grades 5-6 >   

    Back to top

    • Max and Me and the Time Machine By Gery Greer

    Steve and Max are best friends. Steve brings a time machine he made over to the clubhouse one day and the boys decide to try it. When they discover themselves transported back to the Middle Ages, they are thrilled at their success and all the new things that history is about to share with them. A book with a great sense of humor, students will find this to be a good read.

    Target Audience: Grades 4-6 >   

    Back to top

    Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

  • From The Horn Book, Inc.
    On orphaned Harry Potter's eleventh birthday, mysterious missives begin arriving for him, culminating eventually in the arrival of a giant named Hagrid. Harry learns that his parents died saving him from an evil sorcerer and that he himself is destined to be a wizard of great power. A charming and readable romp with a most sympathetic hero and filled with delightful magic details.

    Target Audience: Grades 5-8     >   

    Back to top

  • Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick: In the course of my teaching experience, I have found this book to be one of my students' favorites. It is about a larger than normal middle school student who does not think much of his intellectual ability who teams up with a much smaller middle school genius. Together they became Freak the Mighty "walking high above the world", saving damsels in distress, and sharing the excitement that life can bring.

    • Target Audience: Grades 6-8    

    Back to top

  • Max the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick: This is the sequel to Freak the Mighty. Max is now a 9th grader who gets caught up in saving another damsel in distress. Only this time it takes him across the country. In the end, he sees that he can indeed be "mighty" in his own right.

    • Target Audience: Grades 7-9    

    Back to top

  • Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt: The Tuck family has everlasting life! They try to hide this fact, but when Winnie finds out the truth, they try to show her why living forever isn't what it's cracked up to be. Newberry Honor Book.

    • Target Audience: Grades 6-8 >   

    Back to top

  • Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor: This book is set in Mississippi during the times when segregation was still a reality. See how a black family survives this difficult time period with dignity and honor.

    • Target Audience: Grades 7-9 >   

    Back to top

  • The Giver by Lois Lowry: A utopia where everything is equal and the same has been achieved by the characters in this book until the Giver and Jonas realize that maybe sameness means missing out on some of life's greatest treasures.

    • Target Audience: Grades 7-12 >   

    Back to top

  • Number the Stars by Lois Lowry: During the Holocaust, young Annmarie learns the meaning of solidarity as she works to protect her Jewish friends.

    • Target Audience: Grades 6-8 >   

    Back to top

    • The Outsiders By S.E. Hinton         

    Description from The Reader's Catalog
    Ponyboy is fourteen, tough and confused, yet sensitive behind his bold front. Since his parents' death, his loyalties have been to his brothers and his gang, the rough, swinging, long-haired boys from the wrong side of the tracks. When his best friend Johnny kills a member of a rival gang, a nightmare of violence begins and swiftly envelops Ponyboy in a turbulent chain of events.

    Target Audience: Grades 7-8 >   

    Back to top

  • The Watsons Go To Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis: From The Publisher - Enter the hilarious world of 10-year-old Kenny and his family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan. There's Momma, Dad, little sister Joetta, Kenny, and Byron, who's 13 and an official "juvenile delinquent. " When Momma and Dad decide it's time for a visit to Grandma, Dad comes home with the amazing Ultra Glide, and the Watsons set out on a trip like no other. They're heading south. They're going to Birmingham, Alabama, toward one of the darkest moments in American history.

    Target Audience: Grades 7-9

    Back to top

    • ©Copyright 1999 Elizabeth Spangler