Sheila Rae the Brave

Henkes, K. (1987). Sheila Rae the Brave. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

Brief Annotation: Sheila Rae is brave, her sister, Louise, is not. That is, until one day, when Sheila Rae takes a new route home from school.

Genre: Picturebook; Animal Fantasy

Grade Level: K-3

Readers who will like this: children who like books with animal characters, children who enjoy patterned or predictable texts, readers fond of tales about sisters.

Response/Rating (1-4): **** Henkes creates an engaging tale about identity, sisterhood, and bravery. Students will enjoy the way this story makes them consider what it means to be brave.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: “Have you ever been helped by someone younger (littler) than you?”

Reading Strategies Connection: Story Map (Yopp & Yopp, pp. 74-75). Create a story map as a large group by identifying events or information at the beginning, middle, and end of Sheila Rae the Brave. Draw three boxes labeled “Beginning,” “Middle,” and “End” on chart paper, and then fill in the boxes with students, starting with events in the “Beginning” box and then moving on to the “Middle” and the “End,” subsequently. The story map will help students visualize the sequencing used in the narrative in an explicit way.