YA Novel ‘Maggie Vaults Over the Moon’ is Classroom Tested and Kid Approved for SEL and ELA
The chapter discussion questions for the second edition were created specifically for middle school students by Dr. Melissa White, a 6th grade Language Arts (ELA) Teacher and Mental Performance Consultant with a Doctorate in Sport Psychology. One of her former athletes, Bridget Guy, shown lower left, made the finals at the the US Olympic Team Trials in the pole-vault event this past summer.
WICHITA, Kan. — Seventh-graders who tuned-in remotely for Kelsey Potter’s Stucky Storm Time class couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next to the gritty heroine they were reading about during their social emotional learning time at Stucky Middle School last year.
Potter, who earned the Wichita Public School District’s Distinguished Classroom Teacher Award as the Secondary New Teacher of the Year, says Maggie Vaults Over the Moon was a perfect way to discuss the real-life challenges students were facing as the pandemic had disrupted their everyday lives and kept them away from school.
Maggie Vaults Over the Moon is now a classroom reader with chapter discussion questions designed for middle grades, created by Dr. Melissa White, 6th grade English teacher and mental performance coach with a doctorate in performance psychology.
Recognized as one of the great track and field novels of all time, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon has stirred the hopes and dreams of readers around the world since it was published in 2012. The new edition of the timeless story was published this summer and includes the chapter questions designed to help students reflect and regroup as they return to school following the pandemic that disrupted their lives.
“A fine YA novel about perseverance in sports and in life.” – KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Girls who play sports and the coaches and families who support them will thoroughly enjoy this warm, uplifting story.” – Christine Brennan, USA TODAY
In addition to the original award-winning story by Wichita, Kansas author Grant Overstake, the new version includes a foreword by Olympic Pole Vault Champion Katerina Stefanidi and chapter questions created by Dr. Melissa White, a Language Arts (ELA) Teacher and Mental Performance Consultant with a Doctorate in Sport Psychology, who uses the book to inspire her own student athletes.
"An inspirational pick for young adult fiction collections." — MIDWEST BOOK REVIEWS
Maggie has been republished is a perfect read-aloud book for middle school language arts classes or to supplement Social Emotional Learning (SEL) activities, in which children learn to understand and manage their emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions for themselves.
"Highly recommended for all teens, especially those seeking direction during the storm and stress of adolescence.” -- Dr. Timothy M. Tays, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist
Dr. White says her questions make Maggie easy to add to social emotional learning and English language arts curriculum.
“One of the ways that you could use Maggie in your classroom would be if you had the class set and all of the students were reading it together, and then the discussion questions lend themselves to look deeper into the text,” White added. “Having the discussion questions already there makes it easy for the teachers because they're right there and they're already pushing different issues. Another way too that I have seen is, teachers, use books like this in the classroom is in small groups and then the discussion questions aren't led by the teacher necessarily, they would be led by the group itself. And as they read a chapter or two, then the questions would lend themselves to digging deeper into the text and allowing the students to see those important points and to identify themes and symbolism. And also, as I mentioned, mental performance skills as far as visualization, building confidence, goal-setting, self-talk, those kinds of things.”
Distinguished Classroom Teacher Award Winner, Kelsey Potter beta tested the chapter questions for the new version of Maggie Vaults Over the Moon with 7th graders at Stucky Middle School. “This book is a perfect story of resilience, perseverance, and a limitless attitude toward success,” she said.
Potter read the novel and chapter questions to her Stucky Middle School 7th graders during Stucky Storm Time, the school’s SEL program.
“Being a first-year teacher amidst the COVID 19 pandemic and a former college athlete, I searched for many ways to address and embrace adversity with my students,” Kelsey said. “All of us were facing our own unique struggles, but everyone found something in Maggie to relate to and learn from. As the tale unfolded and we learned more and more about Maggie, students began to find commonalities with her incredible story. I was able to teach my students some of the tough life lessons sports teach us the hard way through Maggie’s experiences.
“This book is a perfect story of resilience, perseverance, and a limitless attitude toward success,” Kelsey added.
After reading and discussing the book together, Stucky students answered the question: “What did you learn from reading Maggie, and why do you think others should read the story?”
“I think Maggie teaches kids they should never give up no matter what. And it shows people how to use and show emotions.” – Libby
“Because it’s a good book and it shows you to try new things.” -- Alex
“Because it was very motivating and it could help kids overcome fears, and it could help them stop saying "No" or "I can't".” – Emely
“To never give up because it will eventually get better.” – Connor
“It's a unique story in many ways. It would help you when you’ve lost somebody and feel like giving up.” – Awab
“They should read Maggie because some of the things that happened to her might of happened to you.” – Jayda
“I think other kids should read Maggie because I liked it and I would recommend it as a 10 out of 10 and it’s very motivating.” – Valerie
“I think other kids should read Maggie because they can learn to trust themselves and keep trying no matter how tough things are.” – Judi
Author Grant Overstake presents “Don’t Quit, Use Grit!'“ and has helped students publish their own books as a teaching artist in Wichita USD 259. He is available for virtual and in-person author visits to schools.
"Heartwarming and realistic, this book is a winner!" -- Nancy Julien Kopp, CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL
Award-winning author Grant Overstake is a native Wichitan who has presented the story to thousands of USD 259 students as a teaching artist with Arts Partners Wichita, and is available for virtual classroom visits to talk about Maggie and the process of writing and publishing.
Read about Grant’s presentation with Dr. White at Wendover Middle School.
Teacher discounts are available for group sets, along with classroom posters and a limited number of free download codes for the audiobook, performed by Audie Award-Winning voice actress Tavia Gilbert.
Contact Grain Valley Publishing at grainvalleypress@gmail.com.
MAGGIE VAULTS OVER THE MOON
Print Information
Page Count
246 Pages
Print ISBN
978-1-7323047-2-7
RETAIL PRICE
$14.99 (Paperback)
Bulk Discounts Available
FOR EDUCATORS
Flesch Reading Ease score: 86.8 (text scale)
Gunning Fog: 6.5 (text scale)
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 4.2
Grade level: Fourth Grade.
The Coleman-Liau Index: 6
Grade level: Sixth Grade
The SMOG Index: 4.5
Grade level: Fifth Grade
Interest level: Middle Grades