Abstract
My intention is that this novella (with accompanying teaching materials) be used to assist struggling readers. I believe this novella could be taught to a whole class as a teacher-directed activity. After the teacher had modeled reading parts of the story out loud, students can take turns reading out loud so they can work on their own fluency building. The teacher can allow students to write in the book or she can photocopy question pages to hand out to the students. Not every activity needs to be completed, but they are available as options for the teacher to use. The teacher should allow time for students to complete the journal question before reading each chapter. Students should also be encouraged to respond to the journal prompts out loud and share their thoughts with the class. When students are given the opportunity to talk to their classmates about their connections with the novel, a community of learners develops. Students should also preview vocabulary words that will come up in the story before they begin reading. These vocabulary words are listed by chapter in the appendix. If students have a question or want to make a comment about the story or a character, the teacher should allow time for these comments to be heard and discussed. Reading a novel as a class is not a race and should not be pushed into certain time constraints. Reading one book well is more effective than pushing through many novels superficially just to fulfill a required reading list.