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Style-Alikes

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Sometimes kids finish a great book and start looking for another read that has a similar writing style– not a similar plot line. My 4th graders sniffed out some great “style-alikes” last year, and I came up with a few in my own reading. I’ve tried to put together a list with some of the favorites from my class this past year. The books on the list are roughly 4th through 6th grade reading level. As always, please add a title if you have a suggestion. I am always wanting to expand the library!

Epistolary Novels

Epistolary was a new word for me this year.  These are the books that are told through letters or journal entries.

  • 43 Old Cemetery Road series by Klise
  • Regarding The series by Klise
  • Letters from Camp by Klise
  • Love That Dog by Creech
  • Hate That Cat by Creech
  • The Naked Mole-Rat Letters by Amato

Scavenger Hunts

These books contain riddles or puzzles that the reader is trying to solve along with the main characters.

  • Gollywhopper Games by Feldman
  • 7th Level by Feldman
  • Floors by Carmen
  • Red Blazer Girls series by Beil
  • 13th Reality series by Dashner
  • Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School series by Clements

Shift in Point of View

In each chapter or section of the book, the narrator changes, so you get different viewpoints of the same story.

  • The View from Saturday by Konigsburg
  • Because of Mr. Terupt by Buyea
  • Candymakers by Mass
  • Kane Chronicles by Riordan

Vocabulary Focus

The authors of these books insert unusual vocabulary with definitions as part of the storyline.  The authors may also create crazy words to support the story.

  • The Lemonade War and sequels by Davies
  • A Series of Unfortunate Events series by Snicket
  • How to Train Your Dragon series by Cowell
  • Almost all Roald Dahl books

Orphan (or child with one parent) Who Triumphs

The protagonist is the smart, daring, resourceful character in these books and always comes out ahead of any adults or bad guys.

  • The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Selznick
  • Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Auxier
  • A Little Princess by Burnett
  • The Million Dollar Putt by Gutman
  • Mandy by Edwards
  • The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Stewart
  • Almost all Roald Dahl books

Dinosaur Dig

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After the success of the “J” week jellybean treat, we decided to send in another themed snack to the nursery school class during “D” week.  We combined some Chex mix recipes and came up with a dinosaur style snack mix.  The idea was to have kids dig for dinosaur bones and dinosaur eggs in the snack mix.

Ingredients

  • 2 c. Corn Chex cereal
  • 2 c. Rice Chex cereal
  • 1 1/2 c. oyster crackers
  • 1/2 c. small pretzel sticks or pretzel snaps
  • 2 c. graham sticks (dinosaur bones) or Stauffer’s original animal crackers (dinosaurs)
  • 6 oz. dried fruit (we liked a combination of dried blueberries, cranberries, and cherries)
  • 1 c. yogurt-covered raisins (dinosaur eggs)
  • 5-6 T. butter, melted
  • 2 T. sugar
  • 2 t. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 t. ground nutmeg

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 13×9 pan with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Place cereals, oyster crackers, pretzels, and graham sticks in a large bowl; mix lightly.
  • Combine butter, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in small bowl; mix well.  Drizzle evenly over cereal mixture.  Toss to coat. **If the mixture is pretty dry, mix another half batch of butter/sugar/spice and add.
  • Spread the coated cereal mixture in an even layer on the pan.
  • Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown, stirring gently halfway through.  Cool completely.  Stir in dried fruit and yogurt-covered raisins.

Variations

  • Instead of graham sticks or animal crackers, you could use mini-dinosaur grahams.  I can’t ever find these at my grocery store, but I think they are out there.
  • For “G” week, you could make Gorilla Grub and substitute the yogurt-covered raisins and dried fruit for plain raisins and dried banana chips.

Jellybean Joke Bags

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My daughter’s nursery school class sent home a small Ziploc bag every Friday with a “letter of the week” printed on the outside. Over the weekend, we would find a small item at home to represent the letter and return the filled bag on Monday for a class share. During “J” week, we sent treats for the whole class.

I used a Word label template for the joke inserts and printed them on cardstock.  They are roughly business card size.  We purchased clear cellophane bags from Michael’s, added a handful of jellybeans, and tied up the treat with curly ribbon.

I’ll need some fresh letter-of-the-week-treats for next year so if anybody has suggestions, please comment!

SIDE NOTE: Not all 4-year olds get the humor in the elephant joke even after 7-year old siblings try to explain.

Author Letters

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There is nothing like getting personal author letters to peak interest in a book.  Many of my students wrote to various favorite book authors and received replies this year.  Overall, we had about a 50% success rate and learned a few things along the way. (To download the lesson plan for free, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store.)

author letters

Newer authors have websites with an e-mail address and are more likely to send a personal reply.  We e-mailed Annie Barrows, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Kate Klimo, Jody Feldman, Jonathan Auxier, Tracy Barrett, Erica Kirov, and a few others.  In most cases, we received replies within three days.  The replies were unique and specifically responded to the letter written by the students.  Some authors even gave new book suggestions, which built excitement among the students to pick up an unfamiliar book.

author letters

Other authors provide a snail mail address on their website. These replies take longer– sometimes up to three months, so be patient. Kate Klise wrote us back twice and each letter contained different content.

Mega authors like J.K. Rowling are overloaded with letters and are less likely to reply to fanmail. But Rowling and other popular authors like Sharon Creech will send a generic reply if you include a self-addressed stamped envelope with your letter.

If you can’t find contact information on the author website, locate a mailing address for the author’s publishing company.  Mail a letter to the author c/o the publisher.  Publishers will forward all mail to the author.  We mailed a letter to John Christopher via his publisher.  We did not realize that the author had passed away, and his daughter actually replied to our letter several months later!

No matter how you try to contact an author, it will encourage a child to reach for that next book and establish a personal connection with a writer. To read more tips for contacting book authors, check out THIS POST by author Annabelle Fisher.

Read-Alikes

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Have you ever read a book that was so good you hoped it would never end?  Students are always asking for book suggestions that are “just like” a great book they finished last night, last week, or last month.  Here are some popular book titles with alternate book names that might almost be as good as the original. (If you have a great read-alike, please add a comment!)

If you love Harry Potter, TRY:

  • Knightly Academy by Haberdasher
  • The Magic Thief series by Prineas
  • Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist by LaFevers
  • Books of Elsewhere series by West

If you love The Lightning Thief, TRY:

  • Magickeepers series by Kirov
  • Kane Chronicles by Riordan
  • The Grimm Legacy by Shulman

If you love Wrinkle in Time, TRY:

  • When You Reach Me by Stead
  • 13th Reality series by Dashner
  • The Magic Half by Barrows

If you love Little House on the Prairie, TRY:

  • Caddie Woodlawn by Brink
  • Understood Betsy by Fisher
  • Sarah, Plain and Tall by MacLachlan
  • The Bread Winner by Whitmore

If you love Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, TRY:

  • Candymakers by Mass
  • The Candy Shop War by Mull
  • Gollywhopper Games by Feldman
  • Floors by Carmen

If you love My Side of the Mountain, TRY:

  • Island of the Blue Dolphins by O’Dell
  • Hatchet by Paulsen
  • Far North by Hobbs

If you love From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, TRY:

  • Wonderstruck by Selznick
  • Red Blazer Girls by Beil
  • Sherlock Files series by Barrett

If you love The Hunger Games, TRY:

  • The Giver by Lowry (and all companion books)
  • The White Mountains trilogy by Christopher
  • Museum of Thieves by Tanner

If you love The Lord of the Rings, TRY:

  • The Ranger’s Apprentice series by Flanagan
  • The False Prince by Nielsen
  • The Thief by Turner