eSource: Free Teaching Guides
Select a product from the list below to view available teaching guides. Use the tags on left to filter the list.
Info Wise
Today’s students are bombarded with facts and opinions. They need strong information literacy skills to navigate our data-rich world and identify the best information. These books take students step by step through the research process—how to ask good questions and strategize their View →
Into the Wind
A character-driven novel about the unlikely friendship between a 10-year-old boy and an elderly woman. The old woman badgers the boy into taking her sailing, but when the weather turns bad, it becomes a wild sail. It becomes the last trip before she goes into the hospital where she dies: View →
It's Just an Expression
It’s Just an Expression explores the meaning and origin of common idioms in the English language, from “batting a thousand” to “bring home the bacon.” The series’ dual-level approach makes the books perfect for both striving readers as well as advanced learners looking… View →
Ivy Newt and the Storm Witch
It’s Ivy’s birthday, and her parents, the King and Queen of the Sand Witches, have prepared her a show-stopping present—a magic act where they disappear! But hold on, they really have disappeared! Foul work is at play, and to rescue Ivy’s… View →
Ivy Newt in Miracula
Ivy Newt, a young witch, and her shape-shifting friend, Tom, find themselves caught up in perilous adventures, but they always end up making friends, helping others, and defeating bullies. The fast-paced plot gallops along with lots of twists and turns, danger,… View →
Jack Death
Jack is an ordinary boy except that his father happens to be Death. Nadine is a perfectly normal girl except that her Mother is—oh well, that’s a Secret and not to be carelessly revealed on the back cover of a book. The important thing is that together, these two incredibly average View →
José and the Pirate Captain Toledano
Set in the shadows of the Spanish Inquisition, this is the coming-of-age story of José Alfaro, a young refugee who forms a powerful bond with the mysterious Pirate Captain Toledano. It’s also a dynamic pirate adventure on the high seas, with hand-to-hand combat and ship-to-ship… View →
Kwame Votes
Kwame is excited to tell his family who he voted for and why in his school student government election. To his surprise, his family is also getting ready to be part of Election Day. He spends a celebratory afternoon with his family eating and talking about why… View →
Last of the Name
April 1863, height of the US Civil War Twelve-year-old Danny O’Carolan arrives in New York City with nothing but his father’ songs, his brothers’ dancing steps, and his only remaining relative—his older sister, Kathleen. Driven from their home in View →
Little Wolf Adventures
Little Wolf often fails to live up to his family’s standards of badness, but his adventures are certainly full of fun. Told through letter or diary entries with hilarious wordplay and amusing illustrations, these easy chapter books are perfect for beginning readers or as read alouds. View →
Lorimer Sports Stories
Realistic, action-packed sports stories for reluctant middle-grade readers. Each book covers a contemporary theme—like bullying, friendship or prejudice—set against the backdrop of a specific sport. The themes will appeal to kids who play sports, such as rivalry, teamwork, competition… View →
Make a Little Wave
Swim with the current, or go against the flow? Savannah has been feeling out of place ever since her family moved to Sandy Dune, Florida. She finds it easier to make friends with animals than people. Plus, everyone in Sandy Dune seems to love spending time in the View →
Mallory
Meet Mallory McDonald, a spunky, energetic young girl whose comical exploits and joke-telling will hit the mark with early chapter book readers. Check out Mallory’s website at www.mallorymcdonald.com. Kids can meet Mallory’s creator (author Laurie Friedman), find out fun… View →
Mira's Diary
History comes alive as Mira travels through places and times, trying to right old wrongs, starting with the Dreyfus Affair. Each book introduces real political characters, writers, artists, and actual cases of great injustice. View →
My Ex-Imaginary Friend
Eleven-year-old Jack thought he had outgrown his imaginary friend, George—until his dad also disappears from his life. His mom’s bipolar disorder isn’t being properly treated, so while in the throes of a manic episode, she ditches Jack with his aunt, uncle, and cousins. Jack… View →
Name Tags and Other Sixth-Grade Disasters
Fun, funny, and fully heartfelt. Everyone needs true-blue friends like Lizbeth’s. SuperChicken for life. —Kristin L. Gray, author of The Amelia Six and Vilonia Beebe Takes Charge One of those books that explores difficult topics—divorce, View →
Name That Text Type!
This accessible new series introduces young readers to the basics of differentiating between genres. Readers will learn the characteristics of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, plays, and legends and folktales. Each book contains written examples of the text type in question,… View →
Noah Green Saves the World
Noah is a would-be filmmaker who has trouble making friends and understanding people. In Noah Green Saves the World, by Laura Toffler-Corrie, Noah thinks that this summer, the best place for him is the David Lynch Film Camp, to work on his film “opus,” and not his parents’… View →
Not So Shy
Twelve-year-old Shai hates everything about moving to America from Israel. She’s determined to come up with a plan that will get her back home. Maybe she can go back with her grandparents when they come to visit. Or maybe she can win a drawing competition… View →
One Wise Sheep
Tonight, the sheep can’t sleep. The pasture is floodlit by a strange new star and their shepherds have disappeared. They must have been kidnapped by a UFO—or perhaps they’ve gone to meet the child rumored to have been born in a stable. The sheep set… View →
On the Case with Holmes and Watson
Get ready to jump on the case with Holmes and Watson! This graphic novel series presents the thrilling adventures of the world’s greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes, and his assistant, John H. Watson. At the end of each book, readers examine the clues that helped Holmes solve each… View →
Pop Flies, Robo-Pets, and Other Disasters
Thirteen-year-old Satoshi Matsumoto spent the last three years living in Atlanta where he was the star of his middle-school baseball team—a slugger with pro potential, according to his coach. Now that his father’s work in the US has come to an end, he’s moved back to his… View →
Power Button
Kaz and Truly, two mismatched cousins, have discovered a pair of mysterious matching wristbands. And when they bump the bands together, they summon an outer-space superhero. Meet Trinn Cyclo, the Omega Knight! It’s a weird afternoon. But as Kaz, Truly, and the rest of Oregon become View →
Red Dove, Listen to the Wind
Abandoned by her white father, thirteen-year-old Red Dove faces another lean winter with her Lakota family on the Great Plains. Willful and proud, she is presented with a stark choice: leave her people to live in the white world, or stay and watch them starve. Red Dove begins a journey… View →