Abel's Island

Newberry Honor. Read this in fourth grade and have been hooked on ready since. Story tells of a mouse lost and trying to get home again. A must read.

My fiance bought this book for me when he learned I had never read it. It's charming, and Abel just roots right into your heart. As Abel recovers from the storm that blows him far away from his upper-crust mousie life, he must learn to survive. It's a great storyline and the illustrations are nice.

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I would recommend it for any child and this makes for a great read-aloud activity.

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This is a story about a mouse who gets sept away ina flood while trying to catch his wife's scarf. Abel en up on a deserted island and must learn how to survive on his own. Abel tried to build boats to get back across the river but fails. Eventually Abel makes friends with a frog and figures out

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how to acroos the river with the frogs help.

I can relate to Abel's crisis with being stranded on a deserted island and wanting to get home because I often felt that way when I lived in Alaska, I felt cut off from the rest of the world and my family. My son and I read this story together and enjoyed it tremendously.

As a classroom extension I would have the students draw pictures of what they thought the island was like with a sentence or two describing their picture. Another extension would be to have the students choose other books with similar themes to read during independent reading.

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A storm suddenly comes while Abel and his wife Amanda along witha few others are at a picnic. They run to a cave to stay dry from the storm. Abel chases after his wife's scarf which causes him to go on an adventure. He lands on an island which he must learn to survive on.

I have never read this

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book prior to this. I thought it was a cute book.

I would use this book when talking about storms or how to survive. I would have my students come up with different ways that Abel could survive on this island.

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This book is an amazing chapter book to read with 4th or 5th graders. It is about a mouse who get's separated from his wife Amanda because of a storm. He chases after he scarf and then ends up on an island to himself! Abel must find a way to build a home and life for himself while he is on the

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island. He encounters other animals and objects while on this island. Steig's choice of word and tone are beautifully displayed throughout this book. There are sporadic illustrations along the way to help young readers visualize what this mouse is going through!

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Summary:
A storm suddenly erupts while Abel and his wife Amanda along witha few others are enjoying a picnic. They run to a cave to stay dry from the storm. Abel chases after his wife's scarf which causes him to go on an adventure. He lands on an island which he must learn to survive.

Personal

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reflection:
I enjoyed this book. The writer offered vivid descriptions and it felt as if I was seeing the story unfold from the background scens of a movie.

Classroom extensions:
1. I would use this book when talking about storms or how to survive.
2. I would have my students come up with different ways that Abel could survive on this island.

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Joining the librarything 75 challenge group folk who are reading YA books in July, I'm looking forward to making a dent in the Newbery books I want to read.

Abel's Island is a 1977 Newbery honor book that is deceptively simple. While bored with the beginning chapters, as the story progressed, I was

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captivated by the wonderful illustrations and descriptions of Abel, the sophisticated mouse who was stranded for a year on an island far away from his home.

When on a summer picnic with his new bride Amanda, a sudden storm approaches. Finding shelter in a cave, Abel risks safety to rescue Amanda's wind blown scarf. Whisked away in turbulent currents, it is this prized possession that he clings to through the long year of loneliness.

The pampered, sophisticated Abel humbly learns to fend for himself while facing many perils. Longing for Amanda and his creature comforts, Abel gradually accepts his fat,e while proudly growing in self sufficiency.

While the winter winds whip, when the screeching owl stalks Abel as prey, and when the spring rains swell the river and hinder his escape, Abel survives valiantly and takes solace in the stars at night, in the beauty of the water and the glistening of the snow.

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I recently read this book to my 5 year-old daughter.

Summary:
Abel is carried away by a storm when he ventures from shelter in an attempt to retrieve his wife's scarf. The wind and water of the storm eventually leave him stranded on an island from which he must either escape quickly or learn to

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survive in wilds of nature.

Review:
The book is a wonderful example of WIlliam Steig's writing. The exciting parts were dramatic enough to keep my daughter on the edge of her seat, but not so much as to cause nightmares. There were also many funny parts that appealed to her as the child listener and I as the adult reader.
I have read this book in the past, but had forgotten how serious and somber the tone became in a few places. My daughter didn't catch on to how touchingly desperate some parts were, proving how carefully the story is layered for different levels of understanding. For a children's book, Abel's Island is a surprisingly deep and meaningful story.
Although we finished the book almost a week ago, I have seen my daughter pull the book down to look at the pictures several times - reliving the story again and again.

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This book was a read aloud we had sitting in our TBRA pile for too long. It was delightful, and by turns laugh-out-loud funny and touching. Abelard Hassam di Chirico Flint, of the Mossville Flints, and his wife Amanda are picnicking when a sudden storm turns violent and they have to seek shelter.

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When his wife's scarf is blown away, Abel tries to save it, and is swept away by the storm to an island, where he is marooned, alone, for a year. Abel, with his fancy, fussy clothes, and his well-bred but idle ways discovers what he is made of as he attempts his own rescue, determines to stave off starvation and predators, and combats loneliness. A terrific read aloud.

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This is a story about a couple of mice who gets swept away in a rain flood while trying to catch his wife's scarf. Abel ends up on a deserted island and must learn how to survive on his own. Abel tried to build boats to get back across the river but fails. Eventually Abel makes friends with a frog

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and figures out how to across the river but only with the frogs help.

As a classroom project we might use sticks or organic elements found outside on the playground that rain might collect to make possible rafts to get across the stream. We could also draw pictures on what the deserted island might look like. This book present multiple ways to incorporate all kinds of literary and artistic lessons.

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Gorgeously told fable about a proper, gentlemanly mouse named Abel who becomes stranded alone on an island. His love for his wife sustains him while he learns to fend for himself. Great fun.

Abel's Island (Newbery Award & Honor Books) by William Steig is a Newberry Award book. This is a chapter book that is the story of a privledged mouse named Able. Able gets stranded on an Island. Able must learn to survive and fend for himself as well as build independence skills. Able learns to

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never give up.

This is an enjoyable book that sparks the readers imagination. The words are vivid and the pictures descriptive. Young reader will learn some problem solving skills and the importance of never giving up.

Story extenders could be setting up a survival/camping theme in the dramatic play area. If there are no allergies children could explore nuts and edible seeds. They can crack and eat them then graph their favorites. Seeds can be sorted and counted as well.

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I read this to my girls at bedtime because one daughter was reading it for a novel study. Thoroughly enjoyed the adventure and it made an excellent "family" read.

A mouse gets stranded on an island for a year.
Meh. I'm just not a fan of Steig's stuff, I suppose.

A wild August torrent sweeps Abel Mouse away from home, family, and familiar world to an uninhabited island where, between efforts to return home, he makes new discoveries about himself and the world.

This is a story of a "dandy" mouse who becomes stranded on an island after a flood. How he copes with his circumstances and grows into a thoughtful creature is entertaining. And the simple illustrations are...perfect.

Classic survival story about nature and transformation but instead of man vs nature its a little mouse!

A gentle, contemplative retelling of Robinson Caruso with a mouse protagonist. Swept away by wind and flood from a happy outing with his wife, Able has to fend for himself when he cannot escape an island in a river and keep himself safe from an owl and the winter.