Bravo Zulu, Samantha! Bravo Zulu, Samantha! Kathleen Benner Duble; Peachtree, Atlanta, 2007 Grade Level: grades 3-5 ISBN & cost: ISBN: 9781561454013, $14.95 Blanket Permission to Reproduce Book Jackets: Reprinted with permission of Peachtree Publishers |
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Synopsis:
Samantha does not want to spend the summer with her grandparents, but her parents will be gone, and don't think she is old enough to stay alone. Actually, Grandma is pretty cool, but the “Colonel” (her grandpa) thinks he is still back in the military, and will be so impossible to get along with!
General Review:
We can learn so much about ourselves by looking at the relationships between characters in a book like this. Samantha and the “Colonel” can't imagine that they can get along all summer, but discover that perhaps they have much to learn from each other. This point of view might help all of us when trying to get along with others we see as so different from ourselves.
Themes: (Grandfathers – Juvenile fiction; Airplanes, Home-built – Juvenile fiction; Contests – Juvenile fiction; Flight – Juvenile fiction; Family – Juvenile fiction
Author information: Online information available through Kansas State Library free databases.
Blue Skyways . http://skyways.lib.ks.us/library/databases.html
Go to Literature Resource Center and search author's name for helpful information.
Also Author's website: http://www.kathleenduble.com/
Discussion Questions: (Standard 3; Benchmark 3)
• How did retirement affect the colonel? Why did he say: “Retired people are brain dead”? (p. 9). Can you imagine why he might feel this way?
• Why did the Colonel try to be sure that Samantha's grandma didn't know about his top secret project? Why did he feel the need to hide information like this from someone who obviously cared about him?
• How do Samantha's feelings toward the Colonel change throughout the story? What about the Colonel's feeling toward her? Give examples of interactions between two that illustrate changes in their feelings.
• What did Sam's mom mean when she said “Sometimes things aren't about what you want but about what others need”? (p. 117) What happened in the story that relate to this statement?
Activities:
• Look in the back of the book for “Sources of Sam's and Colonel's Facts.” Locate several of these books in your library, and look through one to select the most outrageous or weird facts in your opinion. Would Sam agree with your ideas? How about the Colonel? (Standard 2, Benchmark 5)
• Turn to the Author's Note at the end of the book. Do Internet research on “EAAAir Venture Oshkosh.” Write an advertisement for this gathering that might have motivated the Colonel to carry out his secret project. (Standard 3, Benchmark 4)
• Find out about the history of the NATO phonetic alphabet, as described on pages 63 and 73-74. Collaborating with classmates, prepare a poster or graphic display that explains the meaning and history of changes of the phonetic alphabet. (Standard 9, Benchmark 4)
• Invite an expert on aviation to speak to your class about some aeronautical principles the Colonel was concerned with when building the plane, and terms used in the book, such as “canard” (p.71). Have students prepare questions for the speaker. (Standard 3, Benchmark 2)
Similar Books for Further Reading
- Walks Two Moons by Sharon Creech
- Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
- The World Record Paper Airplane Book by Ken Blackburn , Jeff Lammers
- Wright Brothers : How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman
