Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The Girl with 500 Middle Names

Author/authors: Margaret Peterson Haddix  (Janet Hamlin)

Type of emotional/crisis issues addressed: Family financial difficulties

Year of publication: 2001

Book title: The Girl with 500 Middle Names

ISBN#: 978-0689841361

Age level: Upper Elementary

# of pages: 96

Quality of illustrations: Black and white pencil; fair

Brief summary: After Janie’s father has a back injury and is unable to work, Janie’s mother knits personalized sweaters to make some extra money.  Janie and her parents move into the suburbs where everyone dresses better than Janie.  When the storeowner returns the sweaters, Janie decides to wear them to school, telling everyone they are her middle names.

Activity: Have a class discussion about what Janie did to make her family’s financial situation better.  Have students share what they’ve done in their own lives to make the best of a hard situation.  The class could also make a list of how to befriend someone new to moves in to school.

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