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A review by bezoar
Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry
3.0
I read this book out lout to two small groups of 2nd graders in a book club setting. After each chapter we would talk about what happened and answer some questions together in a packet.
This book does that sneaky teaching thing - Gooney Bird elements of storytelling without sounding too lecture-y. Each time we sat down to read together I would ask my students "Does Gooney Bird tell absolutely true stories?" and we would discuss what we thought. Generally the conclusion was that to Gooney Bird they are absolutely true, although she leaves key pieces of information out.
Other things we talked about were truth vs. lies, what all of Gooney Bird's stories have in common, how the truth can change depending on whose truth it is, and how we'd feel if we had a friend like Gooney Bird. We also learned how to make origami stars out of paper strips like they do in the book! Fortunately none of them stuck them in their noses, though. :)
The students enjoyed it much more than I did. I can't help but analyze the behavior of teachers in books, and I wasn't crazy about Mrs. Pigeon. While my students enjoyed the elements of mystery and figuring out what parts of Gooney Bird's stories are true vs. what is misinterpreted, I personally do not enjoy stories like that.
This book does that sneaky teaching thing - Gooney Bird elements of storytelling without sounding too lecture-y. Each time we sat down to read together I would ask my students "Does Gooney Bird tell absolutely true stories?" and we would discuss what we thought. Generally the conclusion was that to Gooney Bird they are absolutely true, although she leaves key pieces of information out.
Other things we talked about were truth vs. lies, what all of Gooney Bird's stories have in common, how the truth can change depending on whose truth it is, and how we'd feel if we had a friend like Gooney Bird. We also learned how to make origami stars out of paper strips like they do in the book! Fortunately none of them stuck them in their noses, though. :)
The students enjoyed it much more than I did. I can't help but analyze the behavior of teachers in books, and I wasn't crazy about Mrs. Pigeon. While my students enjoyed the elements of mystery and figuring out what parts of Gooney Bird's stories are true vs. what is misinterpreted, I personally do not enjoy stories like that.