Determining Importance -- Pauline Polk

The Wicked History of the World : History with the Nasty Bits Left In! by Terry Deary & Martin Brown

This nonfiction book is packed full of fun and interesting historical facts that are typically overlooked in school curriculum. Chapter titles in the book include Beastly Barbarians, Cruel Criminals, Evil Explorers, Rowdy Rebellions, Rotten Rome, Vicious Villains, and so on. Other topics covered are what actually happened when Christopher Columbus came to America (Evil Explorers), cannibal cavemen, witchcraft through out the centuries (Rowdy Rebellions), and human sacrifice (Super Sacrifice). The illustrations in the book are very visually appealing because they are cartoon/comic-like, use bright colors, and include cartoon recreations of historical documents.

Connection to Strategy: This book is connected to the determining importance strategy mainly because it is nonfiction and easily allows students to pick out important information. Although the pages are packed full of information, it allows students to put to practice strategies for determining importance in nonfiction text through captions, visually appealing illustrations, specifically bolded words, and how the text is organized.


























Elephants by Steve Bloom

Elephants is a nonfiction text that includes eighty captivating photographs of elephants in their environment which allows the reader to get up close and personal with them. These pictures include elephants swimming, running in herds, playing in mud, interacting with their family, and being used for sports and festivals in various cultures. Other pictures include up close photographs of their skin texture, eyes, trunks, tusks, ears, tails, and feet. Small sections of text accompany the photographs but the book mainly focuses on the photographs themselves.

Connection to Strategy: Students will get the chance to practice not only determining importance with this book, but also visual literacy. The simple chapter titles, such as Ears, specific pictures, and small sections of text will help younger students determine importance simply because the pages aren't overloaded with information and visuals. If younger students have trouble reading, they will be able to look at the photographs to determine what is important.























Hidden Under the Ground by Peter Kent

Hidden Under the Ground is a nonfiction book that includes information and fun facts about the mysteries of what exists below us. The illustrations are cartoon-like and each chapter includes a few fun facts on one page. The chapters are short and include titles such as Subterranean Celebrities, Caves and Caverns, Afterlife Underworlds, Dungeons, Homes, Hidden Rockets, Digging Tools, The Street Beneath Our Feet, and so forth. The very last page of the book includes a small glossary of words used through out it as well as an answers section to questions asked through out it as well.

Connection to Strategy: Like The Wicked History of the World, this book incorporates a lot of pictures for students to determine what is important information and captions. The glossary and answers section in the back of the book would also would help students determine what information is important because they are specific words the author thought was important to point out and answers to questions he thinks readers should gain from the book. Similar to the Elephants book, the chapters are very short and specific which may help students find important information in them, rather than searching through pages and pages for important information.