This is a series of six, gentle short stories about the same Cherokee-Seminole characters, a young boy, Ray Halfmoon, and his Grandpa Halfmoon. Over the course of the stories, the reader learns Ray is living with his grandpa in Chicago after his parents were killed in a tornado in Oklahoma.
Each story is only 11-pages, so they're perfect for lower elementary grades /middle grade readers.
In "Indian Shoes," Ray trades his high tops for a pair of moccasins for grandpa.
In "Don't Forget the Pants," Grandpa has to think fast to find Ray a pair of pants that fit so Ray can be in a wedding.
In "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" Ray and Grandpa figure out a way to get Christmas dinner to the pets they're house sitting despite a power outage.
In "The Accident," Ray's ferret ruins his watercolor painting the day before it's due and he has to figure out a solution.
"Team Colors" reminded me of past haircuts gone wrong on my son. Grandpa Halfmoon kinda messes up Ray's hair and has to figure out a solution.
And finally in "Night Fishing," Ray and his Grandpa go home to Oklahoma and relive old memories on the lake.
Teachers' Note:
There is a Reading Group Guide, a Readers Theater for "Don't forget the pants," Multiple Intelligence Projects, a Word Search puzzle with vocabulary from the story, and Discussion Questions including one from each short story and four general ELA concept questions, such as "What makes a short story collection different than a novel?" She also offers an author interview, an excerpt from the text and a "behind the scenes" look at several interviews wtih the author published in several outlets.
And to mark the release of the paperback of the book, author-educator Andrea Page (Lakota) created a new teaching guide. It features 11 discussion questions, including a preview for clues about the main characters in the illustrations. Other questions relate to setting, foreshadowing, transitions, identifying conflict, symbolism and themes / values, and one question pertaining to the author in the Author's Note at the end.
