Characters From Books Come Alive For St Rose Fourth Graders

By Tanjua Damon

There are some pretty interesting figures peering out the windows of Mrs VanZanten’s fourth grade class at St Rose School. Some may even look a bit familiar.

The students in Mrs VanZanten’s class had to read Newbery Award-winning books for their most recent book reports. But they did not just read the books and write about them. They also constructed a character from the book of their choice and brought it to life.

Students were asked to use a paper bag and create a book character from the book they read. Some of the recreated characters were life-size figures. The students were able to add whatever features they felt necessary. Students read a variety of Newbery Award-winning books including Old Yeller, Mr Popper’s Penguins, A Long Way from Chicago, Island of the Blue Dolphins, My Side of the Mountain, Sounder, The Whipping Boy, Walk Two Moons, A Wrinkle in Time, The Great Gilly Hopkins, Number the Stars, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, The Cat who Went to Heaven, and Maniac McGee, to name a few.

The students also handed in written reports and gave three-minute presentations to their classmates, giving just enough information to entice them to also read the books.

Rebecca Clarke read Maniac McGee, which is about the issue of race. Rebecca really enjoyed the book and the added project of recreating a book character.

“It taught how black people got treated badly and you can make a difference,” she said. “It teaches us love and to show compassion for one another. It made me excited.”

Jonathan Savarese read From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweile. His report was enthusiastic and he thought the report was fun.

“I liked this book more than others. Mrs VanZanten showed us books she had. I thought I would like it,” Jonathan said. “I liked it because it was fun for me and it was a little bit of a challenge for me.”

“Kit” from The Witch of Blackbird Pond came alive through Genevieve Bleidner’s recreation of the main character of the book. Kit was life-like and added to the flavor of Genevieve’s report, but she admitted it was not all easy.

“I really want to have good grades. I really like doing things like this. I like doing art things,” she said. “Trying to write the report out because you didn’t want to be just like the book. You just wanted to give a taste of it.”

Genevieve said the challenge of the book report was worth it and that everyone is capable of doing the same kind of project as long as they try.

“If they try their best and don’t give up,” she said. “If you make a mistake you can always fix it.”

So if you happen to stumble by Mrs VanZanten’s class at St Rose you may see a few added classmates, ones from the minds of the fourth graders who recreated book characters with stuffed paper bags and a little creativity.