Red Kayak

Cummings, Priscilla, (2004). Red Kayak, New York: Dutton Children’s Books.

Summary: This book is about young boy, Brady, who is faced with a difficult decision in his life. He is dealing with the death a young kid he rescued and the guilt that he felt he could have done more. As the story goes on he learns his friends may have had something to do with it. He is faced with deciding what to do with what he learned about his friends.

Rationale for Selection: I spotted this book on a top reading list online somewhere. I thought I would give it a shot. I had no idea what I was in store for.

Reader Response: It was a great read. As I read on through, the more I could not put the book down. I feel there were a couple of times that the book really creates this suspense giving it a few climax points, which just get you curious to read on. I had to go back into the book to see the clues I missed.

Genre and Themes: Fiction, Death/Abuse/Friendship/Murder-Juvenile Justice System

Teaching Thinking notes: Building background for this book would be really important, it talks a lot about crabbing with most kids might not be all that familiar with. Here are some websites: http://www.gcs.k12.in.us/rvms/redkayak.htm This website touches many topics that are discussed in the book including: hypothermia, butterfly gardens, crabbing, kayaking, and Chesapeake Bay. It is a great resource for teachers needing information to build background for the book. Here is another website to help with background building: http://www.chesapeakebay.net/baybio.htm This website has a great page that talks about Blue Crabs. It is a great resource for teachers when introducing the book, or even a good resource for kids.
I would also talk about the author. Her website to find more information is http://www.priscillacummings.com/. It is kid friendly and in her bio you can learn a lot of interesting facts. She has written many other books including some picture books that might be fun to read first to introduce her as an author as well as to start building background information on crabs and crabbing. Older kids are not read to nearly enough and this would be a great fun opportunity to.
Some other activities include:
-Pg.9 (bottom of page) Great way to talk about oxymorons.This website is a good resource for teachers giving a definition of oxymoron and some great examples. http://thinks.com/words/oxymorons.htm
-This website had great discussion questions http://www.multcolib.org/talk/guides-kayak.html
-This website has some great ideas for this book. It also contains Across the Curriculum connections. http://pmms.msdpt.k12.in.us/imc/preddy/YHBA/Middle%20Grades/RedKayak-Eakle.doc
Some topics of discussion that you could used based off of this book includes:
-Life of a fisherman
-Moral Values, choosing right from wrong, especially when it is dealing with a friendship
-Abusive Relationships at home
-Death, how people deal with grief differently
-Juvenile Justice System
Here are a few passages that can be read from the book when doing a book talk. They contain some excitement and good advice. -P.114 last 5 paragraph (Brady has a confrontation with his friends about the situation).
-P.162 last paragraph (Important advice from Brady’s father about his situation).