Books that need background information

                One of my favorite authors is Tedd Arnold.  I have enjoyed his Fly Guy, Huggly, and Parts books (the list goes on and on) both at home with my family and in the classroom with my students.  I find his books fun, feel-good books that are always a bright spot in the day.  That being said, although they are fun books for students who speak English as their native language, they can be a bit of a challenge for students who are learning English.  As obvious as that sounds, this is not something I had given much thought to until earlier this school year.  I took Huggly’s Halloween to school to read to my class before Halloween.  One of my students is a first generation American from a Nepalese family.  He spoke English very well so I assumed he would have no problem understanding this book.  On the second page of the book, Huggly and his friends looked outside and noticed that all the people had turned into monsters (dressed up for Halloween).  This confused little boy asked what a monster was.  I was really surprised.  I wasn’t sure exactly how to describe or define a monster.  It was something I had always just known about.  The rest of the book was a challenge for him to understand.  Not only was the book a challenge because of the monsters, but why were the people dressing up for Halloween?  This might be a new concept for some ELL students not only from the standpoint of language, but in terms of culture as well.  That was when I realized that I needed to be much more careful about the books I chose and that I may need to clarify concepts within the story.  As I looked for a second story that might be a challenge for ELL students, I realized that Tedd Arnold’s book More Parts would also be a challenge.  It was a challenge for the little boy in the book!  The comments made in the book are not meant to be taken literally.  “I’ll bet that broke your heart,” is not an indication that your heart is physically broken or shattered.  This is a terrific opportunity to introduce some of these common phrases to students who may not understand their meaning.  Now is the perfect time to think about how these books could be used in a classroom with ELL students. 

Title	Challenge	Solution
Huggly’s Halloween	What is Halloween?	Help students understand that Halloween is a holiday when people choose to dress up in costumes.  Some people dress up in scary costumes, some in fun costumes.
	Why are people dressing up?	People dress up just for fun.  After dressing up, children go to different houses, knock on the door, say, “Trick or Treat” and the person inside gives them candy.
	What is a monster?	Help students understand that a monster is not a real person.  Monsters can be scary or funny.  Not all monsters are the same.  Generally, monsters cause mischief.
	What is a haunted house?	A haunted house has things in it that might be scary.  But don’t worry, it’s just for fun.
More Parts	What is a broken heart?	If someone says their  heart is “broken”, it means they are very sad about something.  Do you think your heart can really break?
	What does it mean to give someone a hand?	This saying has two meanings.  Someone might ask you to give them a hand and help them do something.  You might also give someone a hand (applause) after a performance.
	What does it mean to crack up?	When someone says they are going to crack up, it means they will laugh at something.  They find it really amusing and will laugh heartily.  Have you seen someone “crack up”?
	When someone says, “Hold your tongue,”  what do they mean?	“Hold your tongue” is a way of telling people they should stop talking.