This Spring, my 4th and 5th graders are spending the bulk of their library classes doing a novel study of a book that I loved and devoured in 2024–A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hdoing aall by Jasmine Warga. This quick-paced chapter book, which clocks in at just over 200 pages, is full of relatable coming-of-age characters, family dynamics, and of course…the theft of a piece of art. Let me tell you about how this book revitalized my library teaching this semester.
The Right Book for a Novel Study
Choosing the right book for a once-a-week read aloud to 4th and 5th grade students is a difficult task. The book can’t be too long, for a lot of reasons, half of which are curricular. The chapters can’t be too long, or fitting them in cleanly during a 45 minute class period is difficult. The topic and characters must appeal broadly to students who love to read and to students who are struggling to identify as readers.
Cherry Hall offered the perfect middle of the road novel study choice on all of these criteria. It also allowed me, as a librarian and researcher, to bring one of my favorite history and research topics into the equation: art heists.
The story begins with a turtle named Agatha emerging from her hibernation to witness the thief sneaking away with the untitled painting. My students were immediately intrigued by the concept of a turtle witnessing a crime. By the time we met the floating girl, even my most reluctant readers were rapt.
Beyond the Book
A novel study is an invitation, even when only happening once a week, not just to study a great story and help students feel like accomplished readers, but also to incorporate research and exploration of adjacent topics that have real-world correlaries.
As we are doing our novel study of A String Thing Happened in Cherry Hall, we are also learning about some of the famous art heists throughout history. We started with news clips about the theft at the Gardner Museum in the 1990s. These clips showcased how the news used headlines, interviews, footage, and recreation to tell this story to a modern audience. They were enraptured, and had so many questions.
The following week, we talked about the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa, and utilized excerpts from Nicholas Day’s Sibert winning The Mona Lisa Vanishes. We’ll be following up with coverage of the 2025 Louvre thefts, and thinking about what being stolen does to a piece of art.
This semester will not just include our read-aloud and discussion, but other activities, including biweekly book checkout, a word search, comprehension questions, and writing a letter to the author, but it will also transition into a chance for these students to research an art heist of their own. This activity invites them to use a slew of resources around them: biographies about artists, internet databases, news articles, and even police reports to tell the story of one singular piece of art that was stolen.
Germinating Ideas For More Novel Studies
The success of this project has not only buoyed me as a school librarian struggling through the winter months, but also got my gears turning thinking about other potential partnerships with novel and research projects. A Rover’s Story would go great with a unit on NASA and space. The One and Only Ivan could be paired with exploration of the history of zoos around the world–good and bad. Max in the Land of Spies or The Bletchley Riddle offer unique ways to talk about World War II with readers,
What are your favorite novels for young readers that invite them to explore a new topic?
Cover art courtesy of HarperCollins and Random House Studio.
Aryssa Damron is a school librarian in Washington, D.C, serving elementary school students from PreK3 through 5th grade. She’s a former children’s librarian who still loves crafts and storytime. She’s an active ALSC member, having served on the Caldecott, Children and Libraries Editorial Advisory, and Membership committees. Her favorite stolen painting is Rembrant’s Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee.
Jen Lechner
Aryssa, I think we are on the same page …I love Jasmine Warga and Nicholas Day….. I loved these two books that you mentioned, thanks for the blog!!!! I agree completely with grouping them together for student interest and further research. I would love to group novels and informational texts together too. I work as a children’s instructor and research specialist at a public library and offered a solve the art heist /find whodunit in my library, with a clue board game feel to find the artwork, thief and location of the library to win I am now reading Picasso Curse by Dan Gutman.
Nicholas Day’s new book “A world without summer” is another great book and has so many interesting and well researched tidbits about global weather effects and ties in Frankenstein .
Thanks for your blog , will stay tuned for more