Swindle

By: Gordon Korman

Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

Copyright: 2009

Griffin Bing is the sixth grade students that always has a plan even if they are some way bigger than they need to be. Griffins most recent plan was to sleep in the local haunted house that is condemned and was being knocked down the next day. While in the house Griffin discovers a very rare George Herman Ruth baseball card. This is the key to all his problems, since he knows he can get a lot of money for the card, this will help his family from their financial problems. He goes to the collectibles dealer to see how much it is worth and the dealer says its only worth 120 dollars, then he later discovers that they card can sell for over a million dollars. Now Griffin must put together a band of misfits to break into the Swindles house to capture their card. But there are so many obstacles in their way including a vicious guard dog.

Suggested Delivery: Guided Reading

Lexile Level: 710L

Key Vocabulary: Condemned, supernatural, clamorous, emporium, narcolepsy, allergy

Web Resources:

Meet the Author: Students can meet Gordon Korman and watch a video of how he got started writing books.

Guide for teaching: This is a guide for teaching the book Swindle http://www.emporia.edu/libsv/wawbookaward/curriculumguides/swindle.html

Comprehension Strategies:

Before Reading: Have students complete an anticipation guide: What does it mean to be Swindle? If someone steals from you is it okay to steal the thing back? If you find something does it make it yours?

After Reading: Have your students pretend they write for the local newspaper, have they write an article about the story as if it really happened http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=110&title=

Writing: Have Students write their own story (related it to Griffin's story). Questions to spark writing; Have you ever had anything taken away from your? How would you get it back? If your most valuable possession was taken from you, how you get it back?