
Who are your favorite children’s book authors? If you have a concept to teach, do you have a favorite author or book collections you use? I definitely do, and today, I’d like to share one of my favorites with you. I was first introduced to Mem Fox with Wilfred Gordon, a sweet book about connecting with the elderly. Mem Fox’s books offer extensions to study Australia, koalas, family relationships, connecting with the elderly, and more.
Introducing Titles by Mem Fox
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge
Since Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge was my first book. I’ll share about it first. I just love the sweetness of this book/ It highlights how important it is for children to look at aging in a positive light. Wilfrid visits the nursing home next door and entertains the patients. His attention to each patients’ needs is just plain sweet. If you are gearing up for Grandparents’ Day or want to do a community service project with your class, this book would be a great fit. I love that it provides a great chance to address reading and writing skills too. The unit I made to go with this book includes materials for:
- Schema Building
- Vocabulary
- Sequencing
- Character Analysis
- Questioning
- Writing Extensions
- and Making Comparisons
Shoes from Grandpa
Another book that I’ve enjoyed from Mem Fox is Shoes from Grandpa. This too is a great one for Grandparents’ Day. You can discuss all of the gifts given from our grandparents. This book is best shared orally with its rhythmic patterns, and I’d recommend it for primary students. Teachers can use the text for modeling the following skills:
- Point of View
- Vocabulary
- Cause/Effect
- Visualizing
- Questioning
- Writing about Family
- Connections to Keepsakes
Koala Lou
Koala Lou is one book your sports-minded kids will love. She isn’t quite getting her mom’s full attention, so she enters the Bush Olympics. Mama is a little busy with the littles. Will Koala Lou get her attention now?
The thing I liked about this book is the ties to Australia and the opportunities this book has for extension. Teachers can pair fiction/nonfiction texts for students to learn about Koalas, the setting, and even a little history about the Olympics. The following skills work well with this book:
- schema building about koalas
- sequencing
- story elements
- character traits and change
- making connections
Possum Magic
This sweet tale includes a bit of magic with a hint of Australian history and facts. Two possums are on the hunt for magical food Hush needs to become visible once again.
Skills you can teach with this book include:
- schema building about Australia
- story elements
- questioning and finding text evidence
- making inferences
- character traits and change
Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild!
Poor Harriet. She is struggling to do the right thing. She’s kind of a mess, and her mom’s losing her patience with it all. This book is perfect for helping kids realize that they don’t have to be perfect and that everyone makes mistakes, but at the end of the day, love is what matters.Teachers who want to use this book can model the following skills:
- character traits
- problem and solution
- questioning skills
- finding text evidence
- making inferences
- sequencing events
Teaching Ideas for Books by Mem Fox
Mem Fox is so talented, and these books are a great way to celebrate her many talents and provide students with the opportunity to explore Australia too. Of Mem Fox’s other books, I’d highly recommend Tough Boris and The Magic Hat too. Her characters are so unique, and her ability to use the setting and character description to build her stories’ plots is so beneficial to kids. All of these books work well as writing mentor texts too because we want children to mimic great writers. Mem Fox is certainly one.
To explore the units in my store for these books, you can click each of the images above which are linked to them or click the image below for the full bundle:
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Links to Other Author Study Posts:
Mercy Watson: The Perfect Introduction to Chapter Books
Discover the Magic of Jan Brett
Leo Lionni, A Must Teach Author for Primary