Family Reminders

By: Julie Danneberg
Illustrated by: John Shelley
Charlesbridge Publishing, 2009
Reading Level: 4.8 (Accelerated Reader)
Independent Read


Book Description: Realistic Fiction, Chapter Book

Mary McHugh is a young girl living in Colorado during the late 1800's.  While she goes to school, her father heads to the mines for a tough day of work and her mother tends to the house.  However, one day there is a serious accident at the mine and Mary's father suffers a terrible injury.  Everything in Mary's life changes at this point and she struggles to bring happiness back into her home.  Author Julie Danneberg and illustrator John Shelley tell a story of hope, struggle, and perseverance in Family Reminders.

* Teacher Resources for Family Reminders

Supporting Electronic Resources:
TeacherVision
The Teacher Vision website offers a printable teacher's guide for Family Reminders.  The guide includes comprehension questions, extension activities, and a list of other books written by Julie Danneberg.
Cripple Creek
The Cripple Creek website explores the mining history of Cripple Creek, Colorado.  Use this website as a before-reading source to discuss setting, story characters, and examine the town's heritage.

Vocabulary:
fripperies, trudge, deliberately, bleak, revert, listlessly, orneriness, exasperated, brood, flounce, linger, lilting

Teaching Suggestions:
-Use this book in conjunction with a social studies lesson on westward expansion.
-Discuss the role that flashbacks play in a story.  Why are they used?
-Explain the purpose of the author's note at the end of a story.

Comprehension Strategies:
Before Reading- Use the prologue to introduce the characters and setting.  Have students make predictions of what the conflict will be based on what they read in the prologue.
After Reading- Using the comprehension guide listed under the electronic resources, have a literary discussion based from the comprehension questions.  These questions focus mainly on inferential comprehension.

Writing Prompt:
Have students draw a reminder of their own.  Using this reminder, have them write a journal entry explaining what the reminder depicts and also have them explain why they chose to draw that specific reminder.