The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman
He's back!
Many years ago, I found a story about a wooden man who traveled around a couple states by asking people to give him a lift. I wrote that story and <blah!>, it was terrible. I rewrote it many times, but it never worked.
So, I did what every author does. I put it in a drawer and forgot about it for seven years.
One day, I read The Gardener, by Sarah Stewart. It was a 1998 Caldecott Honor Book, a New York Times Notable Children's Book, and an ABBY Award Honor Book, among other awards. It’s a story of hard times when a girl must go to town and live with her uncle, who gardens on his rooftop. The story is told in letters that the main character writes back to her mom.
And I thought: you can write a story in letters? I didn’t know that!
I pulled out that old story about the wooden man and a huge map of the U.S. In an afternoon, I wrote the story of Oliver K. Woodman, a wooden man who travels across the U.S. to unite a family. The story is told in letters written by someone who gives Oliver a ride. The story, illustrated by Joe Cepeda, was a Irma Black Honor book, starred Kirkus and BCCB, among other awards.
The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman and Searching for Oliver K. Woodman just celebrated their 20th anniversary. And they went out of print.
American Geography and Friendly Letter Writing for Kids, ages 6-10
And now—The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman is available again through Mims House Books! It’s a large picture book, 56 pages, including the maps on the end papers.
The book was included in the Harcourt Journeys reading textbook, so there are lots of activities for it on TPT. We are emphasizing that you can teach friendly letter writing and U.S. Geography with this story. Read it because it’s fun! But then integrate it into your classroom activities.
Here’s one of my favorite pictures from OLIVER. They are traveling down I-40, going across Arkansas. (See Oliver in the back of the old station wagon? When I visit schools in Arkansas, I point to the hill behind the car and ask, “Do you know what is right behind that hill?
Kids make guesses.
Then, I answer, “Your school.” Of course, I name their school! And kids love it
Building a List of English Language Arts Titles
One reason I’m excited about this: we are growing our list of English Language Arts titles. The 4-book Read and Write series emphasizes writing essays. The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman brings in friendly letter writing. Coming later this summer is Book 1 of the Silly Grammar Stories series: FROWNS: Nouns, a Few Adjectives, which is told entirely with nouns. Following that will be Book 2, VOTE: Verbing Wildly, which is told entirely in verbs and adverbs. They will be perfect for K-2 classrooms which are learning to read and learning basic grammar such as nouns and verbs.
Mims House is known for our extensive STEM offerings. We’re glad to add to the ELA offerings this year!
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