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In Times Past
an eBook on CD
by Carol Hurst and Rebecca Otis

Integrating US History with Literature in Grades 3-8.

Enliven your US History curriculum!

Teach US History using great kids books.

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Owl At Home

by Lobel, Arnold. (HarperCollins, 1975 ISBN 0 06 444034 6) Picture Book. 64 pages. Grades 1+.
This book was reviewed by Carol Otis Hurst in Teaching K-8 Magazine.

Review

Owl is more than confused; he's crazy, but his innocence is delightful. When the wind rattles the door, he lets it in to destroy his house. When he is upstairs, he wonders if he's downstairs and tries to be both. When he discovers strange bumps at the foot of his bed, he becomes furious, never realizing that they are his feet. The book is a so-called easy to read and has short, choppy sentences which we used to think made easier reading, but Lobel's talent for storytelling is so great, it overcomes the artificial boundaries he puts on it.

It's a useful source for reading skills activity. In the story about the bumps at the foot of the bed, for instance, the author never explicitly states that the bumps are his feet. That is left for the reader to infer. Placing the sentences from the story on sentence strips and showing them, one at a time, to a group of children who have trouble making inferences can help them approach the concept together.

Related Areas of Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site

• Arnold Lobel. Featured Author Article.
• Books for Emergent Readers