TOP TEN

Erika-San by Allen Say.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. 

ISBN: 9780618889334

Media: Watercolor

Q5/P5

Erika, as a young girl, becomes fixated with a picture of a Japanese house.  After she graduates college, she moves to Japan and finds the house and her future husband.

CURRICULUM CONNECTION:  5^th-10^th grade for geography and language arts classes

Lesson Plan Title:	Plan Your Own Journey
Grade Level	Seventh
Subject	Language Arts Class
Topic/Theme addressed:	Travel and connecting ideas in an expository essay.
Student Learning Outcomes:	Learn more about different cultures/geographic regions Connect ideas through explanations and reasoning.
CA Academic Standards Addressed:	WRITING 1.0 Writing Strategies
Required Materials:	4 picture books on travel, paper, collage materials, and markers.  Possible trip to the library.
Lead-In Activity:	Read Traveling Man by James Rumford; How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz; Erika-San by Allen Say; and Uncommon Traveler by Don Brown.
Step 1:  Gather Ideas	Think about the stories we have read about real people who left their home to visit far-off places.  Are you like Ibn Battuta or Uri want to visit many places, or are you like Erica or Mary Kingsley who both become fixated on going to one place?
Step 2:  Research	Research the different locations using print and online sources.  Find out what you would need to know to travel effectively in those cultures.
Step 3:  Essay Assignment	Write an exposition paper about what journey you would plan for yourself and why?                           In your thesis/topic sentence, explain why you want to go to these locations, and how are these locations connected?  For example, to find connections, you can choose places with famous nature sites, sites related to one historical event, or cities that feature types of art or architecture.  Or, re-trace of a famous explorer. Your research on these different locations will go into your essay and the complete source will be on the last page, called the bibliography.
Step 4:  Present Ideas to the Class	Give a 3-5 minute presentation on the places you will go and what a traveler should know about these locations.  Design a poster or a brochure highlighting your trip.  Convince your classmates to take your journey with you.

 FBoggs 07/09

 

Erika-San by Allen Say, ill. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2009.

 

 

    ISBN 978-0618889334

Erika is fascinated with an old Japanese photograph hanging in her grandmother's house. She studies Japanese all throughout school and upon graduation immediately flies to Tokyo.

 

 

  Media: Watercolors

 

5Q/4P

 

 

D. Guhl Summer 2009

 

 

 

 

 

Citation:  Erika-San by Allen Say and Allan Say, ill.  Boston, MA. :  Houghton Mifflin Company, 2009.

ISBN: 978-0-618-88933-4

Annotation: As a child, Erika loved her Grandmother’s picture of a teahouse in Japan. Her dream of seeing the teahouse comes true when she moves to a remote island in Japan where she teaches and meets her future husband.

Media: Beautiful illustrations done in watercolor

Personal Rating: 5Q/4P

Grade Level or Age Range: Grades 5-7

By: Joanne Maher July 26th, 2009

 

Erika-San by Allen Say.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2009.  ISBN 978-0-618-88933-4

The story of a young girl’s dream to travel to Japan.   On a quest, she searches for the house in a beloved painting from her grandmother’s home. 

 

Media:  Watercolor

Q4/P4

5-7^th

 

D. Balestreri added to PB 7/25/09

 

 

Citation: Erika-San by Allen Say. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2009.

 

 

ISBN: 0618889337

 

 

Annotation:  Erika, an American girl fascinated by Japanese culture, dreams of living in Japan. She moves there to teach, but she yearns for the “old Japan.”  

 

Media: Watercolors

 

 

Rating:4Q/4P

 

S.F 06/21/09

 

Erika-San by Allen Say, ill. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2009.

As a little girl, Erika is fascinated with an old Japanese photograph hanging in her grandmother's house. She studies Japanese all throughout school and upon graduation immediately flies to Tokyo to find the old Japan she imagines from the picture.

    - ISBN 978-0618889334

    - Media: Watercolors

    - Rating: 5Q/4P

    - Curricular Connections: Grades 5-8, World Culture

 

DPower 6/26/09

 

Erika-San by Allen Say. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. ISBN-13: 978-0618889334

We follow Erika as she pursues a childhood dream to find a house she sees in a picture at her grandmother's house. She travels to Japan to teach and meets a man who is intrigued by her search.

     - Media: Watercolors
    - Rating: 5Q/5P

    - Special Category: one of five copyright 2009 picture books for older readers.

CHA 8/1/09