Esperanza Rising-Quiz

Esperanza Rising
QUIZ

What is the name of the ranch Esperanza grew up on?
a. El Rancho de las Rosas
b. El Rancho de las Uvas
c. El Rancho de las Papayas

What happened to Esperanza’s father?
a. he was killed by bandits
b. he drowned in a river
c. he was hurt while hunting

Who wanted to marry Esperanza’s mother after her father passed away?
a. Her uncle Tio Luis
b. Their servant Miguel
c. Their servant’s brother Juan

Where did Esperanza, her mother, and their servants immigrate to?
a. Texas
b. California
c. New York

What did Esperanza’s mother get sick with after the dust storm?
a. Valley Fever
b. Hay Fever
c. Scarlet Fever

What does Miguel and Alfonso water on their way to California?
a. their pet cat
b. the rose roots that they got out of Papa’s fields after the fire
c. the grape seeds they saved from Papa’s fields after the fire

Why doesn’t Isabelle when Queen?
a. because she was failing her classes
b. because she was Mexican
c. because she did run for it

True or False Esperanza’s mother does not survive Valley Fever and she passes away while in the hospital.

True or False Esperanza goes to work in the fields as soon as she gets to California.

True or False Miguel steels Esperanza’s money orders to get Abuelita from Mexico.

What does the title of every chapter of the book have in common?
a. they are the names of Esperanza’s dolls
b. they are the names of food that are grown in order
c. they are the names of the places Esperanza visits

Write three paragraphs, make sure you are using a topic sentence and conclusion sentence.
Paragraph one: What is your favorite part of the book?
Paragraph two: Explain why Esperanza, her mother, and their servants had to immigrate to California.
Paragraph three: How would you feel if you were Esperanza, experiencing the same situations she experienced?

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan is a Historical Fiction book set in the 30s during the Great Depression. Esperanza and her family live in Mexico on El Rancho de las Rosas. The night before Esperanza’s 13th birthday, her father is killed by bandits on a cattle drive. Then her uncle burns their house down after her mom refuses to marry him. Esperanza’s life is turned upside down as her and her mom immigrate to California to work with their servants family. Esperanza’s mother gets sick and put in the hospital and Esperanza grows up leaving her “royalty” life and turning into a hard working young girl. The hardships the immigrants in this book encounter are a clear-cut description of real life situations immigrants faced in the 30s.

Surprisingly I really liked this book. I am a fantasy person and I would rather read about flying into Neverland versus people dying and houses being destroyed. I think the author’s use of setting is what made me like this book so much. I felt like I could feel and see what Esperanza felt and saw.

My favorite part of the book was the connection Esperanza had with her father growing up. I am my dad’s baby girl and even though we never laid on the ground to listen to the Earth’s heart beat, we had many moments together that have made huge imprints in my heart. I love this book and recommend it to anyone to read!

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate and illustrated Ashley Wolff is an amazing book! The books takes you through the different things students do while they get ready for school, and it also shows what a teacher goes through to get ready for the first day of kindergarten.
This book can be used for many different things. One, it can be used to lighten the tension on the first day of school. But it can really be used for a teaching aide. It would be really good to use when teaching the alphabet. Each child’s name is a different letter of the alphabet and the letter is in a different color. For example, A is Adam, B is Brenda, and C is Christopher. Each character is an animal whose name starts with the same letter of the alphabet. For example: D is for Danny who is a dog, E is for Emily who is an elephant and F is for Fran who is a frog.
This book could also be used to teach rhyming. Each saying on the page rhymes which makes the book catchy and fun for young children. Well, I like rhyming books too, so maybe for everyone it’s catchy and fun! Some examples of the rhyming are “Gwen McGunny packs her bunny. Henry Fetter fights his sweater.”
Over all this is a great book to use in a classroom or to read to your kids on their first day of kindergarten.

Enchanted

Enchanted is a movie that puts a twist on our classic fairy tails. The princess is supposed to marry the prince until the wicked step-mother pushes her into the well where she ends up in New York City. While watching the movie, I noticed that there are a lot of things that tie back to the fairy tales. First of all, the princess and prince are obviously in just about every fairy tale. But we have the wicked step mother in this movie. She is the step mother of the prince and she plots to keep her prince from marrying the princess so she gets to keep the thrown.
Like in snow white, we have the evil step mother turning into an ugly old lady to defeat the princess. The first sign of her is at the beginning when she pushes the princess into the well and sends her to New York. Then we have three poison apples she uses to try to destroy her. The first one is given to the princess has a candy apple, but she throws it and never eats it. The second one is given to her as an apple martini, but the cute little chipmunk knocks it over. Then towards the end, when the wicked step mother comes to New York, she turns herself into an ugly old lady and she gets the princess to eat the last poisoned apple. The princess will die if she doesn’t get true love’s kiss by midnight. Then the prince from the fairy tale world kisses her and doesn’t wake her up; however, when her “prince” from New York kisses her she wakes up and lives.
There is also the “slaying of the dragon” in this movie like there is any many fairy tales. It just so happens to be that slayed dragon is a bus in New York City!
I really liked this movie and the more I watch it the more I see things from the classic fairy tales. My favorite part thing from the movie is the chipmunk! He is so adorably funny! What I find funny is how when they are in the park in New York, everyone knows the dance and there is like eight couples getting married in the park at that very time. I laughed just about the whole time; it is a very good movie!

The Tale of Two Grizzly Bears

Once upon a time in a far off forest, there lived two grizzly bears. The older one, Fido, was the biggest, meanest brown grizzly bear you have ever seen. He was the king of the forest and all of the animals feared him. The other one, Corky, was a medium sized bear who was friends with every creature in the forest. The grizzly bears spent their days roaming through the forest and Fido would command Corky to do things for him. See, Corky was cursed; he had to obey Fido no matter what. Fido would command Corky to do things like catch his fish, walk first to nock down the grass, and fight his battles as well. Corky tried and tried to break the spell, but he couldn’t. The harder he tried to break it, the more Fido commanded him. Fido liked the fact that Corky was under a spell and had to follow his every command, that’s why he made Corky’s life harder and harder every time he tried to break the curse.
One day, Fido commanded Corky to cross an old rotten log to get to the other side of the river where the trout were swimming. Corky begged and begged not to take the walk on the death bridge; however, Fido wouldn’t listen and commanded him to cross the rotten log. Well, the woodpecker in the sky overheard this command and rounded up all of the creatures in the forest. They all ran up to the log, right in front of Corky’s paws and built a barricade. Corky tried to push through them; he had to follow the command. But the animals would not let him pass. Fido commanded the animals to move at once, but they stood their ground like trees with roots in the ground. Once again Corky tried to break through the wall, but once again the animals wouldn’t move. All of a sudden, lightening and thundering filled the pitch-black sky. Scared half to death, the creatures continued to hold their ground. Fido commanded Corky to cross the log again and to everyone’s surprise Corky shouted no, I will not cross that log. With the help of the creatures, Corky broke the curse. The sky cleared up and the animals all gave a cheer as they chased Fido out of the forest; he was banished forever. Corky and the creatures of the forest lived happily ever after!

Because of Winn-Dixie Quiz

Because of Winn-Dixie Quiz

Who was Winn-Dixie and how did he get his name?
a. He was a dog named after the local grocery store.
b. He was the owner of the grocery store, and was named after his father.
c. He worked at Gertrude’s Pets, and had to change his name because he had previously been arrested.

What did Otis name Gertrude, and then bring to the party at the end of the book?
a. his jar of pickles
b. his guitar
c. the parrot from the pet store

What was Opal’s father’s occupation?
a. He was a preacher.
b. He worked at the post office.
c. He worked at the pet store.

What was Winn-Dixie’s fear in the book?
a. He was afraid of mice.
b. He was afraid of thunderstorms.
c. He was afraid of the preacher.

Why had Otis been previously arrested?
a. He wouldn’t stop playing his guitar in the streets, after being asked to stop by the police.
b. He didn’t pay his bills.
c. He stole food from a store.

What was the name of the candy that had a secret ingredient in it?
a. a Littmus Lozenge
b. a Sorrow Drop
c. a Strawberry Swirl

What was in Gloria Dump’s backyard?
a. the oldest tree in Naomi
b. a tree with bottles hanging from it
c. a shed where she sat to read

Why couldn’t Gloria Dump read?
a. Her eye sight was bad.
b. She never learned to read in school.
c. She had gone blind after a car accident.

What duties did Opal have at the pet store?
a. She would sweep, clean up, and help arrange shelves.
b. She walked the dogs.
c. She ordered supplies for the store.

What happened when Otis played guitar for the animals in the pet store?
a. The animals wrecked their cages.
b. Otis was asked to stop playing his guitar.
c. The animals seemed to listen to the music.

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

This story shows how a young girl, India Opal Buloni, grows as she must learn some of the hardest lessons in life. Opal faces a daily struggle to understand more about her mother, who left when she was only three years old. She and her father have just moved to a new town. In the small town of Naomi, Florida, one trip to the local Winn-Dixie grocery store and the following summer’s adventures change Opal and help her through her struggles. Through the new people she meets, Opal learns about friendship, forgiveness, love, and life. The author really speaks to young reader through her book because they deal with some of he same struggles as Opal and the learn many of the same lessons.
My favorite part of the book was chapter 9. I think its funny how everyone thought a witch lived there and she would eat the dog; making the woman out to be a cruel, evil person. However, the lady turned out to be a nice sweet lady. My favorite line is, “Why don’t you go on and tell me everything about yourself, so as I can see you with my heart” (page 66). This made me smile because I grew up in a small town and everyone had their thoughts of each other, but no one really knew the truth. Kind of like don’t judge a book by its cover!