Desk Stories

Desk Stories

Written By: Kevin O'Malley

Published By: Whitman, Albert & Company

Copyright: 2011

Funny, Relatable, Creative, Enjoyable, A Story for Everyone

Reading Level

Accelerated Reading Level: 3.0
Lexile: 600
DRA: 30
Fountas and Pinnell: N

Suggested Delivery

Individual
Read Aloud

Electronic Resources

http://www.fictiondb.com/author/kevin-omalley~46934.htm

If students like reading Desk Stories by Kevin O'Malley this is a website that lists 18 other title he has written. It lists all of his books from the 1990's to 2016.

http://www.booksbyomalley.com/

This is the authors own personal website. He has information about school visits, free books you can download, information about getting published, and more. 

Teaching Suggestions

Vocabulary

Graphic Novel: A novel in the form of comic strips

Dynamic: Full of energy or action

Middle Ages: The time in European history between classical antiquity and the Renaissance

Dark Ages: A period in European history from 476 a.d to 1000 

Gaping: Stare with mouth wide open

Dumbfounded: To make speechless with amazement

Reading Strategies

Before Reading: Prior Knowledge- Ask students what their prior knowledge is about reading graphic novels, how they are written, and what is the purpose of them.

During Reading: Dear Classmate- Using email, twitter, or someother form of communicating have students write to each other as they read the book. 

After Reading: Text-connections- Use text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world to compare and contrast the story to the students lives, other students around the world and other graphic novels or stories that have been previously read

Writing Activity

Have students use www.toondoo.com to create their own comic strip or graphic novel. You can give them a specific topic to write about or let them do it on their own. This can be used as a comic maker, a book maker, a character maker, or a doodle maker.