The Cowgirl's Luck

Pirate's Plot by Ellen Miles is a story about a boy named Leo. He was thinking of quitting soccer because his new coach was teaching drills that Leo found boring. Even during class, Leo kept thinking about quitting soccer. So his teacher, Mr. Taylor decided to help him out with the decision. So Mr. Taylor asked Leo to choose five items. Leo chose: a brass key, a six toed cat, a hunk of cheese, a mop, and a pirate ship. Mr. Taylor started his storytelling. He included the five items in his plot. He told a story about a young stowaway named Tom. After Mr. Taylor ends his story, Leo gets a better idea that helps him decide what to do next. This book was amazing because it taught me a big lesson and it might also teach you a lesson if you read it. I recommend this book for first and second graders. By Luisa (soon to be in second grade)

I'm a second grade teacher with 4 boys of my own at home. These "tales" are stories within a story. The author really captures teachers' ability to engage their students in storytelling. You must give these stories a try! Normally I do not care for "series", but these are great. I'm ordering a set to read with my students in small group guided reading.

This is our first experience with this author and this series and I must say, we are quite pleased with what we read here. In The Pirate's Plot, we meet Mr. Taylor (a new teacher) and his class...specifically Leo, the student who gets to choose the five special items for the tale being told here. The entire premise of Taylor-Made Tales is that this new teacher allows one student at a time to pick five items and he then tells a story that must include those five items! Leo loves soccer but is not feeling happy with how the new coach handles the practices, so blurts out in class that he wants to quit the soccer team (a very big decision for him). When he's chosen to pick the items, Leo is sure that he can stump Mr. Taylor...he chooses a pirate ship, a huge hunk of cheese, a six toed cat, a brass key and a mop. To his surprise, Mr. Taylor begins to weave an excellent tale about Tom a ten year old boy who wants something more than daily routines and roast on Sunday...a boy who longs for sometime different and who thinks he might find that in Barbados...so he stows away on the Adele and gets much more than he bargained for...sure he gets adventure but he also gets much, much more! It seems that the books in this series are written in such a way that the story is divided between the Taylor-Made part and the "classroom" or real time events that include Leo and the rest of the class. The story takes a week time to tell and the students must work to earn more bits of story time, so it's both a creative process and a motivating one, something that keeps the students excited about learning. There is a certain excitement for young readers to watch for the items selected and see how and when they come into play in the story. One of the interesting things about the creation of the Taylor-Made tale is that the author manages to weave together Tom's adventure and lesson therein with Leo's soccer dilemma, creating an entertaining story AND a lesson for Leo that the entire class can appreciate, learn from and be entertained by! Overall I give The Pirate's Plot five stars. It would make a fine read aloud...but I think its strength is in young readers who have made (or are just making) the transition from picture books to chapter books. There are a few illustrations to help the story along and it's slightly more complex than most beginner chapter books in that the reader has to work out the division of "real time" story (about Leo, the class and Mr. Taylor) and the story...the text makes the division clear (bolder text for the Taylor-Made parts), but for readers who have not experienced such a division in their reading, it makes for an interesting reading experience. The story overall is entertaining and well done, its not heavy handed in the message that Mr. Taylor creates about drilling and practice in the story which Leo can draw from to help him solve his own dilemma with his future on the soccer team. I'd recommend it heartily for readers ag

Great book...my 6 year old sat and listened to the entire book in one sitting. Really caught his attention and kept it! He can't wait to read more of this series!

It has all the elements of a great story, but in a way that is accessible to a young child. Decent lesson. My son and I enjoyed reading this together.