Maizy Chen's Last Chance by Lisa Yee/CCSS Aligned Novel Study

This is a close reading guide to the book Maizy Chen's Last Chance. In Lisa Yee's beautiful story of Maizy Chen and the discoveries she makes within herself and her extended family while getting to know her Oma and Opa in Last Chance, Minnesota, students are exposed to the idea of prejudice and the perseverance required to educate others to the danger of bigotry. This is such a must-read for students in grades 4-7. Maizy is a lovable character, and Lisa Yee explores the path of Chinese immigration from China to San Francisco to the midwest...which is part of America's history of immigrants that many of us never learn about in school. Students will be completely drawn in by Yee's appealing characters as well as her beautiful storytelling.

As close reading is such an important part of the Common Core, students need to be taught to be analytic as they read texts. This unit includes close reading sections, chapter-by-chapter vocabulary, a chapter-by-chapter summary, and discussion questions (for each chapter), as well as "essential questions" that can serve as long-term class discussion starters. I have used this unit with gifted grade four all the way through grade seven. I have used this unit in special education as well as regular education classrooms, and it has been successful across the board. It includes everything you need! (RL.4-RL.7 as well as W.4-7 covered in this novel study)

** Please feel free to share with your own class on Google Classroom**