The Misadventures of Family Fletcher
Written by Dana Alison Levy

Summary:
Read about the adventures of a family with two fathers, four adopted boys, and a variety of pets as they make their way through a school year, Kindergarten through sixth grade, and deal with a grumpy new neighbor.

Primary Source Pairing:
The loveable Fletcher family has a lot going on with four children, two dads, and an assortment of pets. To keep track of character traits, use images to describe the characters in a character map. In the example, the boys are described in three or four images. To extend learning, give students the opportunity to collect their own images for the characters. Include additional characters from the story. To include a writing component in the lesson, invite students to write about how the image describes the character.

Questions for Discussion:

• How do the pictures describe the characters in The Misadventures of Family Fletcher?
• What additional pictures would you use to describe Sam, Jax, Eli, and Frog?
• How does using images help you understand the characters in the book?

Credits:
Book Cover and Summary: Follett
Character Map: images cited below, character map created by JMarek

Sam: soccer ball, iphone, Annie movie poster

Jax: Veterans Affairs seal, hockey gear, friends playing soccer

Eli: bridge model, books, science beaker

Frog: cheetah, turtle, kitten, kindergarten

For more information on veterans’ history, check out the Primary Source Set titled “Veterans’ Stories: The Veterans History Project” on the Library of Congress website.