Jake Burt Teacher’s Guides
Download the teacher’s guides for these must-read sci-fi adventure books by Jake Burt,
perfect for your classroom library!
Jake Burt is the author of the middle-grade novels Greetings from Witness Protection!, an Indie Next selection, The Right Hook of Devin Velma, a Junior Library Guild selection, and The Tornado, which School Library Journal called “one of the best stories about bullying for middle grades,” in a starred review. His novel Cleo Porter and the Body Electric was praised as a “thrilling sci-fi adventure” by #1 New York Times bestselling author Alan Gratz. Jake Burt teaches fifth grade, and lives in Hamden, CT, with his wife and their daughter.
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The Ghoul of Windydown Vale by Jake Burt
Ages 10-14
A thrilling middle-grade mystery, The Ghoul of Windydown Vale is from the author of Cleo Porter and the Body Electric.
“Don’t miss this book! It takes you to another world—and then terrifies you with surprise after surprise. Great ghoulish fun!” —R. L. Stine, author of Goosebumps and Fear Street
In this action-packed mystery from award-winning author Jake Burt, Copper Inskeep holds Windydown Vale’s deepest and darkest secret: he is the ghoul that haunts the Vale, donning a gruesome costume to scare travelers and townsfolk away from the dangers of the surrounding swamps. When a terrified girl claims she and her father were attacked by a creature – one that could not have been Copper – it threatens not just Copper’s secret, but the fate of all Windydown.
Praise for The Ghoul of Windydown Vale:
A “Don’t miss this book! It takes you to another world—and then terrifies you with surprise after surprise. Great ghoulish fun!” —R. L. Stine, author of Goosebumps and Fear Street
“Burt really puts the swamp into swamp gothic (and the gothic, too). . . . The agony Copper feels as both his assumptions and his loyalties are severely tested is as tangible as the muck in this magnificent, macabre melodrama.” —Booklist, starred review
“Offbeat and immersive … Chapters are short with cliffhanger endings, and [characters] are all memorable.This tale for middle grade readers has a vivid sense of place, an unusual mystery with genuine scares, and a satisfying, if bittersweet, ending that will appeal to readers looking for something a little different.” — School Library Journal
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Cleo Porter and the Body Electric by Jake Burt
Ages 8-12
Jake Burt’s Cleo Porter and the Body Electric is a futuristic middle-grade novel about a girl who lives in a hermetically sealed housing development.
In a future forever changed by a pandemic, a girl survives in total isolation.
A woman is dying. Cleo Porter has her medicine. And no way to deliver it.
Like everyone else, twelve-year-old Cleo and her parents are sealed in an apartment without windows or doors. They never leave. They never get visitors. Their food is dropped off by drones. So they’re safe. Safe from the disease that nearly wiped humans from the earth. Safe from everything. The trade-off?
They’re alone. Thus, when they receive a package clearly meant for someone else–a package containing a substance critical for a stranger’s survival–Cleo is stuck. As a surgeon-in-training, she knows the clock is ticking. But people don’t leave their units.
Not ever. Until now.
Praise for Cleo Porter and the Body Electric:
“Cleo Porter is the most compassionate, intelligent, irrepressible, admirable hero I’ve come across in years. Readers will flat-out go nuts for her. I know I did. CLEO PORTER AND THE BODY ELECTRIC would be a great book at any time. At this moment in our history, it is astonishing. Every kid – and adult – should read this!”—Gordon Korman, #1 New York Times-bestselling author
“Apocalyptic diseases, nefarious drones, hovering skulls, and one nigh-inescapable quarantine bunker — young Cleo Porter has her work cut out for her in this thrilling sci-fi adventure!” —Alan Gratz, New York Times-bestselling author of Refugee
“Jake Burt must have a crystal ball because he’s written a dystopian novel set in the future that manages to feel ‘of the moment.’ In an antiseptic world scarred by a pandemic, our brave and courageous hero Cleo Porter embarks on an epic quest fueled by curiosity and compassion. It is a triumph of humanity and the perfect book for this time.” —James Ponti, New York Times-bestselling author of City Spies
“Current readers will immediately draw parallels with the Covid-19 pandemic, but they’ll also find a well-constructed and enjoyable adventure. …A topical read that’s worth the attention.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A humorous, humanistic sci-fi adventure set in the near future, after the outbreak of a quickly mutating flu pushed citizens into sealed apartments. … Through the eyes of a fierce and compassionate protagonist, Burt mixes snippets of science into the action, adding a layer of nonfiction to this entertaining, speculative look at selflessness and integrity.” —Publishers Weekly
“In this timely addition to the “plague novel” shelves, the (seeming) misdelivery of a life-saving medicine prompts a sheltered preteen to leave her apartment for the very first time. …Cleo especially is a winner, gifted with wells of empathy and determination deep enough to weather wild mood swings, bouts of debilitating terror, life-threatening hazards, and more than one extreme challenge to her comfortable worldview.”—Booklist