English Language Arts (ELA) classes aim to prepare students to be competent communicators who are capable of analyzing information and diverse points of view as they prepare to become members of a global community. Through a combination of novel studies, short stories, informational articles, poems, speeches, pieces of media, works of art, and other everyday texts, students explore different historical time periods and cultures from around the world. By practicing different writing and presentation styles emphasizing real-world applications, students gain skills in composition, language, and grammar, and they learn to express their well-researched ideas clearly and effectively. All learning objectives are aligned with the New Jersey Student Learning Standards. 

• Blood on the River by Elisa Carbone – Twelve-year-old Samuel Collier is a lowly commoner on the streets of London. So when he becomes the page of Captain John Smith and boards the Susan Constant, bound for the New World, he can’t believe his good fortune. He’s heard that gold washes ashore with every tide. But beginning with the stormy journey and his first contact with the native people, he realizes that the New World is nothing like he imagined. The lush Virginia shore where they establish the colony of James Town is both beautiful and forbidding, and it’s hard to know who’s a friend or foe. As he learns the language of the Algonquian Indians and observes Captain Smith’s wise diplomacy, Samuel begins to see that he can be whomever he wants to be in this new land.
  
  
• Heroes of the Revolution by David Adler – brief biographical information on the following people: Ethan Allen, Crispus Attucks, Lydia Darragh, Nathan Hale, Mary “Molly Pitcher” Hays, Thomas Jefferson, John Paul Jones, Thomas Paine, Paul Revere, Haym Salomon, Deborah Sampson, and George Washington.
  
  
• Young Patriots by Marcella Anderson and Elizabeth Weiss Vollstadt – Major events of the American Revolution are brought to life in this collection of historical fiction that shows young people caught up in the dangers, hardships, and conflicts of America’s fight for independence.
  
  
• The Fighting Ground by Avi – Takes place during the American Revolution in NJ – The compelling story of a young boy’s first encounter with war and how it changes him.
   
• Charlie Skedaddle by John and Patricia Beattle – Charley is a member of the Bowery Boys in New York City. When his older brother is killed at Gettysburg, Charley vows revenge against the Confederates. So he joins the Union Army as a drummer boy.  Charley thinks war will be glamorous and exciting. But then he sees two of his friends gunned down mercilessly. When Charley shoots a Confederate soldier in self-defense, he knows he can’t take any more killing. He “skedaddles” away from the battle, convinced he’s a coward. Hiding in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Charley encounters the ultimate test of courage. Can Charley prove his mettle once and for all — and restore his shattered self-image?

• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis – It’s 1936, deep in the heart of The Great Depression, Flint, Michigan. Times are hard, and ten-year-old Bud is a motherless boy on the run, but he’s got an idea about how to find his father. Once he decides to hit the road to find this mystery man, nothing can stop him—not hunger, not fear, not even Herman E. Calloway himself.

• The Odyssey by Gillian Cross – An illustrated version of Homer’s epic, age-old story. Odysseus faces storm and shipwreck, a terrifying man-eating Cyclops, the alluring but deadly Sirens, and the fury of the sea-god Poseidon as he makes his ten-year journey home from the Trojan War.
  
  
• I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb – When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. Read about Malala’s extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she became a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.

• Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess by Richard Platt – What was it really like to live in a castle? Step back to the Middle Ages with CASTLE DIARY: THE JOURNAL OF TOBIAS BURGESS. Eleven-year-old Toby’s vivid diary entries offer an insider’s view of day-to-day castle life, including tips on etiquette (where do you spit at a feast?) and exciting descriptions of hunting, jousting, and harvesting. Complete with glossary, index, and detailed endnotes, this is a rich look at medieval life that informs as much as it entertains.

• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, Retold by Geraldine McCaughrean – Geraldine McCaughrean retells The Canterbury Tales for children in a lively and humorous style which captures the original flair of Chaucer himself. She introduces us to the characters who told these tales: the shy, battle-hardened Knight, the Summoner whose breath smells of onions, the angry Miller with his read beard, and the Widow of Bath who likes a happy ending. (7th graders will read a small selection of tales.)

• Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac – Joseph Bruchac brings World War II Navajo Code Talkers’  stories to life for young adults through the riveting fictional tale of Ned Begay, a sixteen-year-old Navajo boy who becomes a code talker. His grueling journey is eye-opening and inspiring. This deeply affecting novel honors all of those young men, like Ned, who dared to serve, and it honors the culture and language of the Navajo Indians. (1 choice for our 7th grade book club)

• The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman – A brutally moving work of art—widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written—Maus recounts the chilling experiences of the author’s father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats. (1 choice for our 7th grade book club)

• Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston – The powerful true story of life in a Japanese American internment camp.In Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston recalls life at Manzanar through the eyes of the child she was. She tells of her fear, confusion, and bewilderment as well as the dignity and great resourcefulness of people in oppressive and demeaning circumstances. Jeanne delivers a powerful first-person account that reveals her search for the meaning of Manzanar. (1 choice for our 7th grade book club)

• The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton – The Outsiders is a dramatic and enduring work of fiction that laid the groundwork for the YA genre. S. E. Hinton’s classic story of a boy who finds himself on the outskirts of regular society remains as powerful today as it was the day it was first published.
  
  
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson –  In vivid poems, Woodson shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world.

• A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park – Set in Africa, this story is told from the perspective of two characters impacted by events beyond their control, and touches on themes of facing and overcoming tremendous challenges. 

• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech – Set in the United States, this novel tells the story of a young teenager who takes a journey of self-discover and is challenged by family, love, and loss.

• Caminar by Skila Brown – In this book written in verse, an adolescent boy in Central America, along with his family and community, learns several lessons as he faces tremendous challenges to his security and his identity.

• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang – This semi-autobiographical story is presented as a graphic novel that considers themes of identity, acceptance, and belonging.

• Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science by Jeannine Atkins – This tells the story of the lives of three girls in Europe and the United States who developed an interest in different fields of science and later contributed to their fields in exciting ways.