Spirit Animals: First Born

Well, it's summertime, and Mrs. Edwards has taken me to her house for the summer.  I keep an eye on her children while they read over the summer.  Her oldest son, who is 8 and going into 4th grade, is currently working on a series called Spirit Animals.  The first book is by Brandon Mull, titled First Born.  Spirit Animals: First Born is about four children in the land of Erdas about to find out if they have the spirit animal bond.
 

In the land of Erdas, some special people have the gift of being able to conjure and speak to the Spirit Animals.  Four children, Conor, Abeke, Meilin, and Rollan each see a flash of light one fateful day.  After that the animals come.  For Connor, it's a wolf; Abeke, a jaguar; Meilin, a panda; and Rollan, a falcon... beasts of legend.  Erdas is plagued by dark forces from the past and the children with their Spirit Animals must go on an epic quest where they will learn about themselves and their Spirit Animal.  This is an outstanding series so far, and Mrs. Edwards son gives it two enthusiastic thumbs up.

Spirit Animals: Wild Born by Brandon Mull

Copyright:  2013

ISBN 10:  0545522439

Where to find it:  F Mul

Lexile level:  680L

I think this would be a fun book to explore creative epic writing with students.  One of the cool things with this series is that the books have a special code for http://spiritanimals.scholastic.com/books where kids can find their own spirit animal and go on adventures with it.  Kids can use the spirit animals they get to craft a new story with themselves as the star.

Standards covered: 

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1  Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3  Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3  Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.