Mentor Monday Linky: Analyzing Characters ~ 3/10/14

I was so excited to find out that the topic for this week for Mentor Monday at The Reading Tutor/OG was character analysis.  I have spent a lot of time in the past working on this with many of my groups.
http://thereadingtutorog.blogspot.com/2014/03/mentor-monday-linky-31014-analyzing.html

Congratulations, Emily, on the birth of your little baby girl!  She is a cutie!  And thanks, Wendy from Read with Me ABC for hosting as a guest blogger this week.  I am so glad to be able to keep it going!

I want to share a mentor text and idea for character analysis this week.  It is one of my favorite books to use for it.  Many of the kids can relate to the characters in the story.  I love using Julius, the Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes.
In the book, Lilly is faced with the challenge of the arrival of her new baby brother,Julius.  He gets all of the attention, and she is not happy.  She resorts to calling him names and making fun of him, even to the point of saying mean things to him in his crib.  Jealousy plays a huge role in her feelings, just as they do with many children in the same situation.  But when her cousin insults Julius, Lilly stands up for him since he can't stand up for himself.  What a true change of character and a show of love!

This book is perfect for looking into a character's heart and thinking about the changes that Lilly makes because of her little brother.  Students can map out how Lilly's feelings change through the story by focusing on the the turning point in the story.

To help my students better comprehend the text, I use a character change chart.  Just as in real life, the students can see that Lilly has a change of heart because she really does love her brother.  Love wins over jealousy in this case!  Click {here} or on the picture below to grab your copy of the character change chart which can be used with any book. 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z2irda25ld9gzg0/character%20change.pdf

What books do you use to help students understand character analysis?  Leave a comment below or link up with The Reading Tutor/OG with your book!

Classroom Freebies Manic Monday

4 comments

  1. Kevin Henkes has such fantastic books! Thanks for sharing this freebie!

    Love to Learn

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  2. Kevin Henkes characters are perfect for character analysis. He does a wonderful job creating vivid characters that grow and change during the story. Lilly is a great example of character growth. Love the freebie you provided! Thanks for linking up. :)

    Wendy
    Read with Me ABC

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  3. Kevin Henkes has so many great books to teach character traits with! And, since many of them are read at the beginning of the year, this is a great time of year to bring them back out and analyze the characters during a second or third read.

    Krista
    Teaching Momster

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  4. Kevin Henkes books are great for character development. One of my favorites is Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. I think I might have to add that to the collection I made. ;-) Thanks for the organizer.

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