The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman
By Darcy Pattinson
Harcourt, Inc., 2003
Grades: 2, 3, 4
Synopsis: When Uncle Ray can't go visit his niece, Tameka, he sends his wooden friend Oliver instead. As Oliver travels across the country both Tameka and Ray recieve letters from the people he rides with. He travels from South Carolina to California throughout the summer stopping in Tennessee, Arkansas, Utah, and Nevada along the way.
Jump: This book, similar to Flat Stanley, is a great introduction to letter writing. Some of the correspondants write postcards, some write letters with the proper heading and greeting, a few even add a post script. After discussing each part and its purpose, students can be encouraged to write a letter to someone they know, or to pretend to be someone else and write a letter the way the author did in this book. Each character Oliver encounters has a very different voice and students could be encouraged to try using a new "voice" for their writing, too!
Great way to save an older book!
ReplyDeleteI like how "voices" are used.