May 2011: Freckle Juice

The month of May, we will explore the book Freckle Juice by Judy Blume.



Freckle Juice by Judy Blume is a funny easy chapter book in the genre of realistic fiction.

Main character Andrew Marcus wants freckles after noticing his classmate Nicky has them. In fact, Andrew wants freckles so bad that he buys a secret recipe for freckle juice from Sharon for fifty cents, his five-week allowance. But freckle juice does not work as expected. Andrew has to draw fake freckles with a blue marker. At school, Andrew's teacher gives him a "freckle remover" to remove the blue freckles.

To begin a unit, invite your homeschooler to PREDICT what will happen in the book just by looking at the cover and by reading the short description above.

There are no wrong answers and answers can be long or as short, but make sure you don't skip this step!! It's important in your journey through the book.

Further discussion topics for before reading:
• Do you have freckles? If you have freckles, do you like them? If you don?t have freckles, would you like to? Why or why not? Have you ever seen someone with freckles.
• Cover the different physical characteristics that people have such as tall, thin, short, not thin, straight hair, curly hair, different hair colors, different eye colors, different skin colors, etc. Students can list their own physical characteristics.
• Do you ever wish you could look like someone else? Who?

Discussion topics for during/after reading:
• Why does Andrew want freckles?
• What kind of person is Sharon? Do you know someone like her?
• Why does he trust her? Would you trust her?
• How do Andrew and Sharon exchange the money and the recipe? Do you pass notes in class? What do you do?
• What happens after Andrew drinks the freckle juice? What would you have done?
• How does Andrew finally get freckles? Why are his freckles unusual?
• What kind of teacher is Miss Kelly? Does she remind you of one of your teachers? Who?

Craft ideas:
• Draw a picture of yourself with freckles or make a collage of your face. Set aside a large piece of construction paper and sketch the outline of your face on it. Take various types of paper and tear up into rough shapes for eyes, nose, and mouth. Tear up more paper for face and add small pieces to be the freckles. Glue the paper and draw in the empty spaces with marker or crayons. Bring ahead option: tissue paper, wrapping paper, office paper, thread, yarn, or real fabric.
• Make up your own recipe for removing freckles. Why did you include the ingredients that you did?
• Draw your own freckle monster.