100 Cupboards

Earlier in the school year my new teammate insisted that I read aloud 100 Cupboards to my class. She was in the middle of reading it and her class was enjoying it. I had a copy on my shelf and so we dove right in, and our class loved it too. It's definitely in the same genre of some of my favorite books (Alice in Wonderland, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Wizard of Oz) and we had many opportunities to discuss literary reference and homage.

The basic premise is that Henry, whose parents have gone missing, must live with his aunt and uncle. He discovers a wall of cupboards, each of which leads to a different and strange place. There were funny moments and times that we were on the edge of our seats, and our class really enjoyed this book.

My teammate also came up with a wonderful idea to have the students create their own cupboards. Using construction paper they made cupboards that open out. Students decorated the front, drew what world would be seen when opened, and then wrote a sensory description of that world. My students were so creative and had different ways that their cupboards opened and one even devised a working latch out of paper!

I love this cupboard that has multiple doors, and multiple places that it leads to!

A Hunger Games inspired door, key included. 

Look at that impressive paper latch!

Many got creative with the shape of their cupboard doors!