On My Bookshelf: Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty

The basic plot from Amazon: "Never go into the forest, for there are many dangers there, and they will ensnare your soul."

Serafina has never had a reason to disobey her pa and venture beyond the grounds of Biltmore Estate. There's plenty to explore in Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt's vast and opulent home, but she must take care to never be seen. None of the rich folk upstairs know that Serafina exists; she and her pa have lived in the basement for as long as Serafina can remember. She has learned to prowl through the darkened corridors at night, to sneak and hide, using the mansion's hidden doors and secret passageways.

But when children at the estate start disappearing, only Serafina knows the clues to follow. A mysterious man in a black cloak stalks Biltmore's corridors at night. Following her own harrowing escape, Serafina risks everything by joining forces with Braeden Vanderbilt, the young nephew of Biltmore's owners. Braeden and Serafina must uncover the Man in the Black Cloak's true identity before all of the children vanish one by one.

Serafina's hunt leads her into the very forest that she has been taught to fear, where she discovers a forgotten legacy of magic. In order to save the children of Biltmore, Serafina must not only face her darkest enemy, but delve into the strange mystery of her own identity.

Why I liked it: Serafina and the Black Cloak was a slow start for me, particularly because all of the talk about catching rats creeped me out. Fantasy isn't my favorite genre and because this is a cross between fantasy and mystery/thriller, this was a bit stranger than my usual reads. Eventually I was drawn into the mystery surrounding who the Man in the Black Cloak might be and where he might strike next.

Perhaps because I was listening to the book via audiobook rather than reading it, at times I found Serafina to be self-centered and hung up on her past. In fairness, she doesn't have a pretty amazing origin story, part of which she learns from her "father" and part of which she learns from her mother, a catamount (a woman who can take the form of a mountain lion). There were also parts of the novel where the passage of time and the occurrence of events didn't seem to match up realistically.

Classroom application: Serafina and the Black Cloak is the first book in a series (the fourth installment was released July 2019) that I would recommend for middle school. There is some violence, but mostly of the fantastical kind.

After reading, students could research the Vanderbilt family and the Biltmore Estate (both real!) and  mythological creatures like the catamount. Discussions could also be held about the difference between being an extrovert or an introvert (like Brayden) and the misconceptions about these personality types, i.e. introverts are often thought to be aloof.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Serafina and the Black Cloak for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.

Note: The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Stand Up For A Friend: A Social Emotional Learning Activity

One of the changes to our school’s schedule this year was to build in additional time for homeroom. Previously students had a 20 minute window of time to arrive, unpack, and report to homeroom before first period began. But because of issues with buses running late, many times half of our students weren’t arriving until 15 minutes into our first period.

This year our leadership team made some changes to our arrival procedures, buses are generally running on time, and we have a 15 minute period where all students are present so we can accurately take attendance and handle other homeroom business. Most mornings I put on CNN10 for students to watch and at least once a week, I do organization checks to help students keep their binder and folder in order.

This homeroom period is also dedicated to holding class meetings and implementing our school wide anti-bullying program (Olweus). Many of the class meeting activities I do are short and informal. For example, at the start and end of the week, I try to do a quick check in and check out. During these, I will ask questions about what they are looking forward to over the weekend, something they are proud of from the past week, something kind they did for someone or someone did for them that week, something they are struggling with in the transition from fifth to sixth grade, etc.

A more structured activity I did at the start of the year was called “Stand Up For A Friend.” First, students numbered a piece of loose leaf from 1 to 13. Students were instructed not to put their name on these papers. Then, in response to a series of statements (13 in total), students put a check mark next to each number that they agreed with. Statements included things like “I was nervous on my first day of sixth grade,” “Sometime I feel like I don’t fit in,” and “I worry about the future.”

Once students marked off all of the statements they agreed with, everyone crumpled up their paper into a ball and at my signal, tossed their papers to the front of the room, retrieved another paper, and returned to their seats. Then as I read each statement, students stood if it was checked off on their paper. After all of the statements were read, I asked students if they noticed anything, if there were statements where many or few students were standing, if there was anything that surprised them. Following our discussion, I shared with students how I would have responded as a sixth grader and how I responded as an adult (I did participate so my paper was one of the ones in the mix).

My hope is that activities like these will help build empathy among students and show them that they are not alone in some (if not all) of the feelings they have. If you’d like to try out this activity with your students, click here to make a copy of the Google Slides presentation I used.