Laugh
with the Moon
by Shana Burg
with Mosquito Bite
by Alexandra
Siy and Dennis Kunkel
A Texas Bluebonnet Award NomineeSM
2013 Kids Wings Top Flight Award
Hardcover
Book
Paperback
Book
Kindle
Edition
Death
often sends waves of sadness, denial, anger, and grief through the persons
who must face it. For 13-year-old Clare Silverman, death blurs the memory
of her mother and anger with her father coils itself around her like a
python. After all, he IS a doctor, isn't he? He should have been able
to save her mother. Now he has ripped her from what is left of her home
in the United States and has dragged her to Malawi deep in the jungles
of Africa to serve as a hospital doctor in the Global Health Project,
away from her friends and all that is still familiar. In Laugh
with the Moon, Clare struggles to survive, to find meaning, and to
regain joy, once part of every moment, but anger and grief have swallowed
up every hint of a smile. Surrounded by dense jungle, confusing culture,
sickness, and a house "half the size of a PopTart," she is determined
to make her father so miserable that he will take her back home.
Clare
begins the story through the rebellious, though often humorous voice of
a teenager attempting to make the "silent treatment" work for
her. Has her father even noticed? Does he even care? If he cared, would
he take her to the village school, the Mzanga Full Primary School? Would
she have to learn Chichewa, their second language? Besides, if English
is their first language, why wouldn't Clare get a new uniform instead
of having to wear the same old one that is five sizes too big and that
only gets washed on Tuesdays? Is she really supposed to be happy that
they have a enormous housekeeper (the "intruder") whose cheeks
swallow her face when she laughs in her deep roar of a laugh.
What
can possibly happen to cause a change in Clare? Will it be going to the
village of mud huts where she meets a girl named Memory who has recently
lost her mother, too? Will it be at school where she finds herself sitting
between Memory and a "satanic" girl named Agnes? Is it seeing
the wild animals at the outing to Liwonde National Park that her father
takes her to? Is it the deadly snake wrapped around her ankle or the chicken
named Fred that was left as a gift?
Laugh
with the Moon is a story unlike any you have ever
read. It will lead you deep into Malawi where you will get to know the
people, the problems, the challenges, and the opportunities available
only through imersion in the new culture, holding the hands of people
who may be very different from you on the outside but who are surprisingly
the same on the inside. It is a book you won't want to end, filled with
surprises, laughter, bitter sweet stories, and lessons you won't want
to forget.
Figurative
language frames Laugh with the Moon
in hyperbole, simile, metaphor, and personification. Without an illustration
in the whole story, the language will sparkle in your mind to create vivid
pictures of animals, people, and events you have never imagined living
through.
The
Kids Wings unit provides opportunity for discussion, drama, math skills,
reading strategies, writing, solving logic and crossword puzzles, research,
and problem solving. In addition, a 50-page Jeopardy-type game will challenge
the class to compete in interactive fun.
Research
Links for
Laugh
with the Moon by Shana Burg
with
Mosquito Bite by
Alexandra Siy and Dennis Kunkel
Welcome to
Malawi, the Warm Heart of Africa
Staple Crop
The
Children's Corner Game--UNICEF
National
Geographic, Malawi Facts
What
is Malaria?
Fighting
Malaria
Transition
Words and Phrases
A
48-page Kids Wings Literature Guide PLUS a 50-slide interactive Jeopardy-type
game, perfect for lesson plans, handouts, or projection on your SmartBoard
for Laugh
with the Moon by
Sharon Burg and with
Mosquito Bite by
Alexandra Siy and Dennis Kunkelare
now available for instant download!
The
Activity Guide Contains:
Pre-reading Discussion Cards
Anticipation Guide
2-Page Introductory Readers Theater Script
Vocabulary List by Chapter
Preparing Your Intellectual Tools, Dialectical Journal
Map Activities: Where in the Worls is Africa?
Vocabulary, Prediction and Grouped Chapter Questions with Quick Write
Prompts
An Expert in Class: Chichewa Vocabulary
Our Malawi Names
The Research Song
Research The Baobab Tree
Research Malaria
Making Connections, Quick Writes, and Prediction Chapter Questions
Quick Write Treasure
Landing in a New Life, Ch. 1-4 Multiple Choice Comprehension
Crossing the Story, A Crossword Puzzle
Visualizing Chapter 11
Visualizing Chapter 1-14
Turning Point, Chapter 15
Healing Words, a Fallen Letter Puzzle
Creating Compound and Complex Sentences, a 3-page lesson
Storms and Flowers, Multiple Choice Comprehension, Chapters 16-17
The Dream, Teaching, and The Start to Lake Trip
The Emergency--a Comic Strip Summary
Visualizing the Text, Chapters 29-32
Secrets to Writing a Persuasive Letter, a 3-Page Guide
Making Amends, Projects, and All, Chapters 33-38 Short Answer Comprehension
The Play, a Logic Puzzle
Write an Expository Composition
Character BioPoems
Exploring Fiction Set in Other Countries
Answer Pages
Plus, a BONUS Interactive Jeopardy-type Game






Laugh
with the Moon is one of the 27 units in the Kids Wings
Literature Collection, Growing Young Americans
Quotes to memorize:
"Even
the mourner must stop and laugh with the moon." Memory in Laugh
with the Moon
"Weeping
may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." Psalm
30:5
"A
human life is a story told by God." Hans Christian Andersen
"When
someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure."
Author Unknown
"It
is the will of God and Nature that these mortal bodies be laid aside,
when the soul is to enter into real life; 'tis rather an embrio state,
a preparation for living; a man is not completely born until he be dead:
Why then should we grieve that a new child is born among the immortals?"
Benjamin Franklin, February 22, 1756
For
death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity. William
Penn
"Blessed
are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Matthew 5:4
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Literature
Connections
The Humming Room
Each Little Bird That Sings
Umbrella Summer
Because of Winn-Dixie
The
Earth Dragon Awakes
Firegirl
African
American Literature
Africa
Connections
Rain School
Home of the Brave and Fourteen
Cows for America
Circle Unbroken --
picture book
One Child, One Seed --
picture book
For You Are
a Kenyan Child -- picture book
Kids
Wings
Kids
Wings Social Studies on the Internet
Kids
Wings Writing Room
Kids Wings Research
Kids Wings Literature
Guides
Kids Wings Quotes
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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