To help your students understand synthesizing, choose books with something to think about. You might look for books that give students new or surprising information, books from a point of view students are unfamiliar with, or books with a theme that might help students understand or change their way of thinking about something. You could also choose a set of books from the "Making Connections" list, and talk about how "putting the pieces together" from all of them has given them new insight on that topic.

Here is a list of suggested books you could try as you introduce the strategy of synthesizing. These are outstanding trade books chosen for us by the Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The list includes engaging titles that meet a range of reading and listening abilities. You may also print the complete list with suggested books for all strategies: Reading to Understand: Children's Books to Use with Comprehension Strategies. Then find multimedia, online resources about these books and authors using the Into the Book List at TeachingBooks.net.

Children's Books to Help You Teach the Synthesizing Strategy

Casanova, Mary. The Hunter: A Chinese Folktale. Illustrated by Ed Young. Atheneum, 2000. 32 pages

Diakité Baba Wagué. The Magic Gourd. Scholastic Press, 2003. 32 pages

Falwell, Cathryn. David's Drawing. Lee & Low, 2001. 32 pages

Hooks, bell. skin again. Illustrated by Chris Raschka. Hyperion, 2004. 32 pages

Jiménez, Francisco. La Mariposa. Illustrtated by Simón Silva. Houghton Mifflin, 1998. 40 pages

McDonald, Megan. Judy Moody Saves the World. Illustrated by Peter Reynolds. Candlewick Press, 2002. 144 pages

Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. The Water Gift and the Pig of the Pig. Illustrated by Linda Wingerter. Houghton Mifflin, 2003. 32 pages

Muth, Jon J. Stone Soup. Scholastic Press, 2003. 32 pages

Rumford, James. Calabash Cat and His Amazing Journey. Houghton Mifflin, 2003. 32 pages

Ormerod, Jan. Who's Whose? Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1998. 32 pages

Paterson, Katherine. The Smallest Cow in the World. Illustrated by Jane Clark Brown. HarperCollins, 1991. 64 pages

Raschka, Chris. John Coltrane's Giant Steps. Atheneum, 2002. 32 pages

Reiser, Lynn. The Surprise Family. Greenwillow, 1994. 32 pages

Wong, Janet S. Apple Pie 4th of July. Illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine. Harcourt, 2002. 32 pages

Compiled by Megan Schliesman
Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison

For another list of books for strategy instruction and practice, see Strategies that Work.