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Boston Jane

  Summary of Book: Boston Jane is a series of three books written by Jennifer Holm. The first book follows 16 year old Boston Jane who is heading to the wild to marry her beloved William in Shoalwater Bay from comfy Philadelphia where she lived with her Papa who was a doctor. On her trek over, Janes maid ends up dying and Jane meets the mysterious sailor Jehu who looks out for her. When Jane makes it to Shoalwater Bay, she learns that her fiance has left and she now has to wait until he comes back to marry him. While she waits, she battles fleas, befriends a chiefs wife, fights a smallpox outbreak, and falls in love with a different man. When her fiance does finally return, Jane is shocked to find he has already married another woman. Jane is shocked and asks why he did not wait, to which William simply states "you weren't here." After hearing this, Jane decides to leave and head home. However, the day she is to leave she receives a letter telling her that her father has died while she was away. The story ends with Jane fainting and Jehu catching her. 


Why you would/would not use this book in your classroom? I don't think I would actually have this book integrated into my classroom. But it is a fun and engaging read for a student to read. 

Appropriate age group for this book: 8-12

Ideas for unit of study to include this book or how you might use this book in the classroom: The teacher could read the story aloud to the kids, or play the audiobook. While the kids are listening, they individually have to write down and note any characters, settings, and events in the story. After listening, students could fill in their own sequence worksheet from the notes they took while listening to the story. The students could also create an interactive notebook where each character has a page and they can compare and contrast how the characters develop and change throughout the book. 









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