Picture Book Month: Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge

Summary: In this Mem Fox gem, Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge is a little boy who lives next to an old folks' home.  His favorite resident is Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper because she also has four names. When Miss Nancy loses her "memory," Wilfrid interviews the other residents in order to help Miss Nancy find her memories. He presents her with objects that help her to remember.

What it looks like in the Middle:
I present this children's book when I introduce character baskets as a possible way to present their individual summer novels. Like this book where Wilfrid uses objects as symbols to try and help Miss Nancy make some kind of connection to her lost memory, character baskets offer up physical objects as symbols for themes and concepts in the book. Students are tasked with finding "metaphors" (objects) that they place in a basket and use those objects to explain their symbolism with the story.