More Books from Cover to Cover

16 Fifteen-Minute Programs
Grade Level: 5-6
Curriculum Area: Language Arts: Reading

Each episode in this reading motivation series features one or two books, blending dramatic narration, artwork, sound effects, and music to bring the books to life. The narration takes viewers up to a crucial point in the story. Students must then read the book to learn the ending.

Teacher Guide: 36 pages; includes pre- and post-viewing activities, topic index, on-air passages, notes about authors, related reading lists, resources, and certificate of achievement.

Programs:

1. The Wish Giver (Bill Brittain) 14:46
On Thaddeus Blinn's tent at the Coven Tree Church Social the sign reads, "I can give you whatever you ask for only 50 cents. " He warns his customers to think carefully before wishing: it will be granted exactly as they ask for it.

2. The Summer Birds (Penelope Farmer) 14:40
One summer morning a strange boy accompanies Charlotte and Emma to school. No one else seems to notice him, as though he were invisible.

3. Won't Know till I Get There (Walter Dean Myers) 14:19
When his parents announce that they are going to adopt a child, Stephen Perry is calm until he learns that the child is Earl Goins, who has a criminal record that includes armed robbery.

4. The Agony of Alice (Phyllis Reynolds Naylor) 14:37
While packing to move into a new house, Alice McKinley thinks of all the embarrassing incidents in her past.

5. Stone Fox (John Reynolds Gardiner) 14:20
When Grandfather won't get out of bed one day, Little Willy calls Doc Smith to examine him. She finds nothing wrong physically and tells Willy that Grandfather has lost the desire to live.

6. Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird (Jean Little) 14:28
Jeremy Talbot and his younger sister begin their summer vacation at the cottage in the care of their Aunt Margery.

7. The Ghost Squad Breaks Through (E. W. Hildick) 14:40
Four ghosts attempt to prevent a jewelry heist and to solve mysteries despite the police force's skepticism.
Who Kidnapped the Sheriff? (Larry Catten)
This is a collection of stories about Patrick O'Leary and Violet Deever and their encounters one summer with the citizens of Tickfaw.

8. The Castle in the Attic (Elizabeth Winthrop) 14:30
William makes himself tiny with the touch of a magic token given to him by a bewitched knight. He must then fight a dragon and wrestle with a wizard to obtain another token that will restore him to normal size.

9. Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job (Willo Davis Roberts) 14:40
When Darcy Stevens gets a summer job baby-sitting for the wealthy Foster family, she thinks the three willful children will be too much. Then the children are kidnapped, and Darcy must help them outwit their captors.

10. Come Sing, Jimmy Jo (Katherine Paterson) 14:40
James's quiet life on the mountain with his grandparents ends when he joins his musical family on a country-western TV show. Success on stage as "Jimmy Jo" does not guarantee a happy life for James at home or at school.

11. The Not-Just-Anybody's Family (Betsy Byars) 14:26
Junior's attempt to fly off the barn roof is thwarted by an approaching police car. Trying to hide from the police- something the Blossom children have been taught to do-Junior slides off the roof and breaks both legs.

12. Tom's Midnight Garden (Philippa Pearce) 14:39
Tom discovers a garden that only exists at night, where time seems to fly back and forth. It is inhabited by a charming Early Victorian ghost, Hattie, who befriends him. Tom wishes he could live with Hattie forever. But will the garden be there the next time the clock strike thirteen?

13. Midnight Is a Place (Joan Aiken) 14:40
Lucas Bell is sent to Midnight Court to learn the carpet business from his dishonest guardian. A fire and his guardian's suicide force the 13-year-old to fend for himself.

14. The Root Cellar (Janet Lunn) 14:42
After her grandmother's death, Rose Larkin is sent to live in Canada. Rose is miserable until one day she stumbles upon the doors of a root cellar in the backyard and travels back in time.

15. The Whipping Boy (Sid Fleischman) 14:30
Prince Brat is a royal mischief-maker. For his pranks he is punished-via his whipping boy, Jemmy. One night the prince awakens Jemmy and commands him to run away with him.

16. The Dark Is Rising (Susan Cooper) 14:40
Will Stanton receives a strange birthday gift: a black metal circle quartered by two crossed lines. When Will awakens the next morning, he finds himself in a strange world in a different time.