This summer, I am participating in the Bloomington Public Library's Summer Reading Program. My twelve-year-old son, Ignatius, is also participating. Every summer, we try to read some books together. It is very rare that we pick these books out of the blue. This year we started by using the Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award list for 2009. Since Ignatius had heard his school librarian discuss Letters from Wolfie, that was what we chose as our first book.
For students who might wish to read this book, it has a Lexile of 760. There is a 14 point Reading Counts! test in Irving's database.
I would like you to read about how we pace ourselves through the book and about what we read. If you, like me, would rather not know about the plot, you might not want to read the summaries. They are intended to make you want to read.
We first went to the Bloomington Public Library site to make sure they had two copies of the book. Whew! They did! When we went to the library, we realized that there are a lot of programs going on that service a lot of people in our area. We also realized that, now that Ignatius was 12, he could get a Teen Zone card. A big day!
Then, I let Ignatius choose how far we should read. He thought the first five chapters would be good for the first day. I made the mistake of letting him play on his Wii before he met his goal, and he became too tired yesterday to finish (52 pages of fairly easy reading), but I hit the mark. I just explained that today, we will enter into it knowing that the reading has to be done first. I thought I would give him a chance.
Summary of Chapters 1-5: The setting of the book is 1969 in America. Mark is Danny's younger brother. It seems like the world revolves around Danny. He has a great personality, and everyone really likes him.
Danny just left for Viet Nam. At the time, our country was at war, and the war against Communism's spread in Viet Nam was going on for quite some time. Danny had written how they could really use dogs to help the soldiers over there. Enter Wolfie, the family dog, a mix of German Shepherd and... something else... with two different colored eyes and a gentle, but hyper, spirit.
At first, Mark and his mom and dad immediately eliminated the idea of "enlisting" Wolfie. However, Mark's jealousy of his brother's fame and pride got the best of him, and, before he knew it, he was leaving Wolfie at boot camp.
When Mark got a form letter from the US Army thanking him for "enlisting" Wolfie, Mark wasn't satisfied with the information he received. So he wrote the captain back with some very specific questions.
He received a letter back from Wolfie's trainer. The captain decided that keeping families informed was a good idea based on Mark's letter. However, the letter made Mark a little nervous, and the private who was his trainer made some negative comments about things Mark liked about Wolfie.
Mark was also struggling with his mom's decision to start working outside of the home. His dad, a music teacher, says that she wants to keep her mind off of Danny being in Viet Nam. She also thinks the family could use some more money, but Mark's dad doesn't think that's true.
Over the weeks, Mark hears some disturbing things from classmates about the use of dogs in Viet Nam. The girl he wanted to impress (who eventually asks him to the girls' choice dance) is actually very upset what she thinks is his lack of knowledge about what's really going on in Viet Nam. To make matters worse, the family receives a letter from Danny that says they should NOT send Wolfie because of some new things he found out about how the dogs are used.
Today's goal will be to reach Chapter 11. With as engaging as this book has been, I don't think that will be a problem!
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