4 Candlewick Press Books You Need in Class This Year

Rescue thought he’d grow up to be a Seeing Eye dog — it’s the family business, after all. When he gets the news that he’s better suited to being a service dog, he’s worried that he’s not up to the task. Then he meets Jessica, a girl whose life is turning out differently than the way she'd imagined it, too. Now Jessica needs Rescue by her side to help her accomplish everyday tasks. And it turns out that Rescue can help Jessica see after all: a way forward, together, one step at a time. An endnote from the authors tells more about the training and extraordinary abilities of service dogs, particularly their real-life best friend and black lab, Rescue.

Activities based around positive school culture, service learning, community engagement, and inclusion are the highlight of the teaching guide for this book. Also included are discussion questions and community engagement activities.

Imagine if, on an ordinary day, after a morning of studying tadpoles and drawing birds at school, war came to your town and turned it to rubble. Imagine if you lost everything and everyone, and you had to make a dangerous journey all alone. In lyrical, deeply affecting language, Nicola Davies’s text combines with Rebecca Cobb’s expressive illustrations to evoke the experience of a child who sees war take away all that she knows.

Common Core-aligned activities and discussion questions are the highlights of the teaching guide for this riveting new book.

Chuck Wood is the most popular kid in school, and Louie Ratso can’t believe that Chuck has asked him for help! Chuck likes Louie’s friend Fluffy Rabbitski, and he wants Louie to help him get Fluffy to notice him. As for Ralphie Ratso, he can’t believe that his brother wants to spend all his time with Chuck instead of with him. Can Louie help Chuck find a way into Fluffy’s heart? And will Ralphie find a way to let his brother know how much he misses him?

This discussion guide includes more than 20 activity-based questions centered around the book's themes of friendship, tolerance, and interpersonal relationships, and features fun independent and group activities like writing poems, describing hobbies, and applying character traits to classmates.

Twelve-year-old Lowen Grover, a budding comic-book artist, is still reeling from the shooting death of his friend Abe when he stumbles across an article about a former mill town giving away homes for just one dollar. It seems like the perfect escape from Flintlock and all of the awful memories associated with the city. But is the Dollar Program too good to be true? The homes are in horrible shape, and the locals are less than welcoming. From the author of Small as an Elephant and Paper Things comes a heart-tugging novel about guilt and grief, family and friendship, and, above all, community.

The activity-based discussion questions in this book discussion guide can be used as part of an in-class discussion, assigned as journaling or take-home activities, or serve as the basis for small-group read-and-respond exercises.