DeRin reading program

In order to motivate kids to read on a regular base, we are organizing a reading program in which students need to read one book every two weeks.  These books are picked by Heidi, the director of DeRin and Co-Founder of  aboutread.com.  Inspired by an idea ' helping kids to discover good books from local libraries, Heidi has added more than 2000 book recommendation lists to aboutread system,  and she has the confidence to recommend books to children at different age groups. 

Kids through grades 1-8 are welcome to join this reading program.  In order to keep a reading log and encourage kids to read actively, a booktalk is required for students at grades 1-3 (recorded by a voice recorder, 2-3 minutes preferred) ,  and a book summary is required for students at grades 3-8 (200-300 words) after finishing one book. Please send the booktalk and book summary to heidiyao@derinedu.com before the due date assigned to each book). Please refer the tips at the end of the book list. Those who finish reading 8 books with a submission of all booktalks /summaries will get a present from DeRin. (A children's book for current students at DeRin or $10 coupon for new students when registering any program at DeRin) .

2021 Spring schedule

Book 1: March 1- March 14

Book 2: March 15- March 31

Book 3: April 1- April 14

Book 4: April 15- April 30

Book 5: May 1- May 14

Book 6: May 15-May 31

Book 7: June 1-June 14

Book 8: June 15-June 30

Book 1 

Grade 1-3  All Because You Matter, by Tami Charles. Illus. by Bryan Collier.  (Booktalk )

Grade 4-5  Your Place in the Universe, by Jason Chin. Illus. by the author. (Book summary)

Grade 6-8  Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine (Book summary)

Book 2 

Grade 1-3  The Camping Trip, by Jennifer K. Mann. Illus. by the author. Candlewick   (Booktalk )

Grade 4-5  Catherine’s War, by Julia Billet. Illus. by Claire Fauvel. Tr. by Ivanka Hahnenberger. Harper/HarperAlley.  (Book summary )

Grade 6-8  The Call of the Wild, by Jack London (Book summary)

Book 3 

Grade 1-3  Digging for Words: José Alberto Gutiérrez and the Library He Built, by Angela Burke Kunkel. Illus. by Paola Escobar. Schwartz & Wade  (Booktalk)

Grade 4-5  When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Keller (Book summary )

Grade 6-8  Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry,  by Mildred D. Taylor  (Book summary)

Book 4 

Grade 1-3  Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera. By Candace Fleming. Illus. by Eric Rohmann.  (Booktalk)

Grade 4-5  The Saga of Erik the Viking, by Terry Jones, Michael Foreman (Book summary)

Grade 6-8  The Giver, by Lois Lowry  (Book summary)

Book 5 

Grade 1-3  Lift by Minh Lê. Illus. by Dan Santat. Little, Brown  (Booktalk)

Grade 4-5  James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake  (Book summary)

Grade 6-8  How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity’s Greatest Adventure. By John Rocco. Illus. by the author (Book summary)

Book 6 

Grade 1-3 The Most Beautiful Thing, by Kao Kalia Yang. Illus. by Khoa Le. Carolrhoda/Lerner   by Dennis Brindell Fradin   (Booktalk)

Grade 4-5  My Life with the Chimpanzees, by Jane Goodall  (Book summary)

Grade 6-8  Good Night, Mr. Tom, by Michelle Magorian  (Book summary)

Book 7 

Grade 1-3  Outside In, by Deborah Underwood. Illus. by Cindy Derby.

Grade 4-5  Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan  (Book summary)

Grade 6-8  Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway (Book summary)



Book 8 

Grade 1-3  The Little Engine that Could, by  Watty Piper (Booktalk)

Grade 4-5 Who Was Albert Einstein? by Jess Brallier, Robert Andrew Parker, Nancy Harrison  (Book summary )

Grade 6-8 The Owl Service,  by Alan Garner   (Book summary)

Tips for a Booktalk:

Introduce Yourself and the book

Name the:

-Title

-Author

-Genre

-Where you got it

-How many pages

Talk about the book

-Give a summary of who, what, where, when

-Interesting points to hook the listener

-Enough plot to interest the listener

-don’t give away the ending or solutions to the problem

Talk about the characters

-Name the important characters

-Describe the main character(s) character traits/personalities

-Brief description of relations between characters (rivalries, friendships, etc.)

Rate the book

- what did you like about it

-what didn’t you like about it

-star rating (1-5)

Read Excerpt (Optional)

-Only read an important part that doesn’t give away anything but hooks the reader more

-Read with expression

Tips for writing a book summary:

Read the book intensively. The key to writing an excellent summary is in the reading. The more you know and comprehend about the text, the better your book summary will be. Take notes for important ideas while you read  – this will help you with the summary later on.

Introduce the story.  You need to give your audience some basic information about the book, such as the title, author and time frame in which the book was written. If possible, also give the reason the book was written.  

Summarize and describe. After you provide the background of the book, you need to condense and describe the important events of the book. No need go into every minute detail, make sure you describe what happened in the book, but keep it general.

Make some kind of meaningful conclusion statement. Now  it’s time to make something out of it after you’ve described the book. Come to a resolution about the meaning of the events, or challenge the audience to consider the implications of the story, like What does it show? Where will it lead?

Edit, proofread and revise.  Once you’ve finished your first draft, return to the beginning and reread for grammatical and spelling mistakes, clarity, organization and flow. 

2020 Winter schedule for One Book Two Books:

Book 1: January  19- January 31

Book 2: February 2- February 15

Book 3: February 16- February 29

Book 4: March 1- March 14

Book 5: April 1- April 15

Book 6: April 16- April 30

Book 7: May 1- May 14

Book 8: May 15-May 31

Book 9: June 1-June 14

Book 10: June 15-June 26

Book 1 (January  19- January 31) selected for different age groups is (If you kids already read these books, please let them read it one more time and write a short summary and send it to heidiyao@derinedu.com):

Grade 1-3  The Carrot Seed     by Ruth Krauss   (Booktalk is required)

Grade 4-6  Charlotte's Web     by E. B. White  (Book summary is required)

Grade 7-10 Wonder      by R. J. Palacio  (Book summary is required)

Book 2 

Grade 1-3  Green Eggs and Ham  by Dr. Seuss   (Booktalk is required)

Grade 4-6  James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl  (Book summary is required)

Grade 7-10  Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls  (Book summary is required)

Book 3 

Grade 1-3  The Butterfly Lion    by  Michael Morpurgo   (Booktalk is required)

Grade 4-6  The Wind in the Willows    by Kenneth Grahame (Book summary is required)

Grade 7-10  The Cay    by Theodore Taylor  (Book summary is required)

Book 4 

Grade 1-3  Fantastic Mr. Fox    by Roald Dahl   (Booktalk is required)

Grade 4-6  Wheel On The School    by Meindert Dejong  (Book summary is required)

Grade 7-10  Skellig    by David Almond  (Book summary is required)

Book 5 

Grade 1-3  Stone Age Boy    by Satoshi Kitamura   (Booktalk is required)

Grade 4-6  Matilda   by Roald Dahl  (Book summary is required)

Grade 7-10  The Maze Runner ( Book One)    by James Dashner  (Book summary is required)

Book 6 

Grade 1-3  Who Was Ben Franklin?    by Dennis Brindell Fradin   (Booktalk is required)

Grade 4-6  Smile    by Raina Telgemeier  (Book summary is required)

Grade 7-10  The Hobbit    by J.R.R. Tolkien  (Book summary is required)

Book 7 

Grade 1-3  The Very Hungry    Caterpillar by Eric Carle   (Booktalk is required)

Grade 4-6  The Little Prince    by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry  (Book summary is required)

Grade 7-8  A Wrinkle in Time    by Madeleine L'Engle (Book summary is required)



Book 8 
Grade 1-3  Blueberries for Sal    by Robert McCloskey (Booktalk is required)

Grade 4-6  The Long Winter    by Laura Ingalls Wilder  (Book summary is required)

Grade 7-10 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn    by Mark Twain   (Book summary is required)


Book 9

Grade 1-3  Madeline    by Ludwig Bemelmans  (Booktalk is required)

Grade 4-6  Where the Mountain Meets the Moon    by Grace Lin   (Book summary is required)

Grade 7-10  Travel Team    by Mike Lupica (Book summary is required)


Book 10

Grade 1-3  Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares     by Frank Murphy (   (Booktalk is required)

Grade 4-6  The Tale of Despereaux    by Kate DiCamillo   (Book summary is required)

Grade 7-10  The Boy on the Wooden Box    by Leon Leyson  (Book summary is required)

 Intensive reading and booktalk program (will resume soon)

The ultimate goal of our Intensive Reading/ Book Talk program is to inspire kids to read, train them how to read actively, improve their writing and public speaking skills as well.

Most kids read without questions in mind and they never make time to reflect upon and evaluate what they have read. This is called passive reading. Kids pay little attention to identifying and remembering the main ideas, and hence feel little engagement with the reading. How to turn a passive reader to an active one?  During and after reading, the reader needs to be involved in repeated questioning, critiquing, re-examination and development of ideas within the literary text they just digested. The benefits of active reading include: more efficient reading and studying, greater concentration and focus while reading, improved understanding of key information.

The Intensive reading/Book Talk program encourages kids to prepare a speech about the book and re-write some plots of the book using creative thinking, so that kids will become more active in their readings.