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Crenshaw Book Club Focused on Theme

Jackson’s family is no stranger to hard times and the return of his imaginary friend, Crenshaw, signals that hard times may have found them once again. Crenshaw first appeared when Jackson was young and his family started living in their van. The sharply dressed, surfboard riding cat helps Jackson when he needs it most, but Jackson feels that he is now too old for an imaginary friend. This touching story about family, friendship, and perseverance is ideal for a Book Club focused on theme and how it is developed over the course of the text.

Included in this resource
Lesson plans for 6 book club meetings focused on Theme
Chapter by chapter discussion questions and key vocabulary
Book Club calendar
Conversation prompts
Student self-evaluations forms
Reading response board
Culminating activity
Instructional focus assessment, answer key, and rubric
Note: This set of instructional resources is for use with the book Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate. A copy of the book is not included in this set of resources.

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Included in this resource
Lesson plans for 6 book club meetings focused on Theme
Chapter by chapter discussion questions and key vocabulary
Book Club calendar
Conversation prompts
Student self-evaluations forms
Reading response board
Culminating activity
Instructional focus assessment, answer key, and rubric
This set of instructional resources is for use with the book Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate. A copy of the book is not included in this set of resources.

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Book Club resources

The management resources include a Book Club Calendar, conversation prompts, Student Self-Evaluation forms, Reading Response Board (with optional Common Core alignment), and an Expectations for Book Club anchor chart.

The instructional overview includes instructional background for determining theme, instructional objectives for each of the Book Club meetings, and a list of the materials and preparation necessary to host the Crenshaw Book Club.

Open the Crenshaw Book Club by practicing identifying the theme of a popular children's story that students are familiar with. Then, provide the broad category of friendship for readers to follow as they read and look for ways author Katherine Applegate share her message throughout the story.

An important step in learning to determine the theme of a story like Katherine Applegate's Crenshaw, is identifying the main ideas and supporting details. Students will work on this skill using a graphic organizer that will help them track their thinking.

While following friendship throughout Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate, readers will find it helpful to look at the relationships between Jackson and Crenshaw and Jackson and Marisol. Paying attention to these relationships and the characters' thoughts, dialogue, and actions will help students begin to formulate a specific theme related to friendship.

This Crenshaw Book Club focuses on how author Katherine Applegate woven her theme of friendship into the plot of the story. Readers will be able to explore how this is done using the "story within a story" of the first time Jackson's family became homeless.

Now that students have progressed further into Katherine Applegate's Crenshaw, it is time to revisit the main ideas and supporting details that they have been tracking. Students will be able to identify some common main ideas related to friendship that are supported by the text. These main ideas will help shape their thinking when it comes to determining a theme in the final meeting.

The final Book Club meeting for Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate provides an opportunity for readers to showcase their learning related to determining theme. Students will use their creative side to create a book poster that illustrates a theme found in the book.