Looking for a Crenshaw novel study that gives your students meaningful reading practice while helping them explore empathy, friendship, family, and difficult real-world issues?
Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate is a powerful middle-grade novel that can lead to thoughtful classroom conversations and engaging ELA activities. This story follows Jackson, a young boy whose family is struggling financially, and Crenshaw, his unusual imaginary friend—a giant talking cat who appears when Jackson needs him most.
With its relatable characters, emotional depth, and opportunities for discussion, Crenshaw is an excellent choice for a 4th, 5th, or 6th grade novel unit.
Why Teach Crenshaw in Your Classroom?
Explore Empathy and Real-World Issues
Crenshaw gives students an age-appropriate way to think about challenging issues including homelessness, financial hardship, family struggles, friendship, and compassion.
These themes can encourage students to consider different perspectives and discuss how people respond when circumstances are difficult.
Build Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking
The novel provides plenty of opportunities for students to analyze characters, motivations, relationships, and important events.
As students read, they can practice identifying key details, making inferences, explaining their thinking, and supporting their ideas with evidence from the text.
Strengthen Vocabulary and Language Skills
Katherine Applegate’s engaging writing provides opportunities to explore vocabulary and language in context. A Crenshaw novel unit can help students build vocabulary while strengthening their overall reading comprehension and written responses.
Encourage Meaningful Discussion
Jackson’s relationship with Crenshaw creates an especially interesting opportunity to discuss friendship, imagination, coping with difficult circumstances, and the ways people find support.
The novel naturally lends itself to partner discussions, small-group conversations, writing prompts, and whole-class literary analysis.
Connect Literature to Social-Emotional Learning
Students can explore emotions and relationships through Jackson’s experiences while thinking about topics such as empathy, resilience, family, and helping others.
Crenshaw can become much more than a reading assignment—it can serve as a starting point for meaningful conversations and reflection.
Crenshaw Novel Study for Grades 4-6
If you’re looking for a ready-to-use Crenshaw novel study, I’ve created a complete unit to accompany Katherine Applegate’s novel.
The Crenshaw Novel Study is designed for grades 4-6 and includes printable resources as well as a Google Drive™ format for teachers who prefer digital or paperless instruction.
What’s Included?
The novel study includes:
- Chapter-by-chapter reading comprehension questions
- Vocabulary activities
- Grammar practice
- Critical-thinking activities
- Writing activities
- Assessments and answer keys
- Nonfiction activities connected to themes in the novel
- Interactive notebook activities
- Teacher lesson plans and pacing resources
- Printable and digital materials
The unit is designed to provide the skills practice and instructional support you need without having to create all of your Crenshaw reading activities and assessments from scratch.
See what people are saying about the Crenshaw Novel Study by The Teaching Bank!
Make Your Crenshaw Unit Easier to Teach
Whether you’re teaching Crenshaw as a whole-class novel, literature circle, small-group reading unit, or homeschool novel study, having your comprehension questions, vocabulary, writing activities, and assessments organized in one resource can make planning much easier.
The Crenshaw Novel Study from The Teaching Bank gives students opportunities to read closely, think critically, discuss important themes, and demonstrate their understanding of the novel.
Try a Free Sample
Want to see what’s included before purchasing?
Download the free sample of the Crenshaw novel study to preview the types of reading activities included in the complete unit.
You can purchase this Crenshaw novel study at the following locations:
Connect with Fellow Educators!
Are you teaching Crenshaw this school year?
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