A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Stead

Stead, P. (2010). A Sick Day for Amos McGee. New York: Roaring Brook Press. Grades K-2.

Award: 2011 Caldecott Medal

Subject Area: Language Arts

Genre: Fiction

Summary: Amos McGee is an old man who gets up early, winds his watch, enjoys his breakfast, and gets on the bus that takes him to his job at the nearby zoo every day. He plays chess with the elephant, runs races with the tortoise, sits with the penguin, lends a handkerchief to the rhinoceros and reads with the owl. One day, when Amos wakes up, he finds that he’s not feeling well and decides to stay in bed. The animals wonder where he is and in time decide to go to his house. When they find that he is sick they keep him company and take care of him in order to reciprocate all that he has done for them. 

Themes/Topics: Friendship, routine

Initiating Questions & Activity:

• Questions: Who here loves to go to the zoo? Would you ever like to work at the zoo? Do you think you would make friends with the animals? What is your favorite animal at the zoo?
• Activity: We will discuss the questions presented as a class. We will talk about what my favorite animals are as well as each students favorite animal, too. We will discuss who has animals at home and if they consider them to be friends. We will also discuss what they do to take care of their pets as well as what they think would need to be done to care for animals at the zoo.

Culminating & Extending Questions: 

• Questions: What was your favorite part of the book? After hearing the story, do you have a new favorite animal? What do you think Amos felt when his animal friends showed up at his house?
• Activity: The students will form small groups and have a discussion about the reading that they just heard. When they are finished with that they will explain to their group what their favorite animal in the story was and then draw a picture of that animal or of their favorite scene in the book.