Transcript Literature as models for writing

Literature that invites
and supports writing
by
Laurie Stowell
San Marcos Writing Project
Cal State San Marcos
[email protected]
Reading and writing processes:
Readers and writers:
Prepare by:
Setting goals, setting purposes, planning, previewing, questioning, forming
hypotheses, engaging prior knowledge and experiences, establishing a
stance, perspective and making choices
Make Meaning by:
Using resources, making connections (to self, other texts, the world),
identifying patterns or organizational structures, selecting details,
reflecting, organizing ideas, adjusting rate, rereading, visualizing,
summarizing, elaborating, discussing, taking risks, and validating
predictions or hypotheses.
Refine by:
Monitoring for meaning, revising ideas, negotiating, problem solving,
reflecting, paraphrasing, self correcting, making adjustments and sharing
and discussing with others.
What writing does:
“Watching, noticing and thinking deeply will help
them be better writers but it will also help them be
better scientists, sociologists, historians,
mathematicians, and on and on. Watching, noticing
and listening-reading the world is what smart people
do. All of the work teachers have been doing with
writer’s notebooks and lifebooks and journals is in
support of this goal. Over time, we want students to
develop more and more ways of finding important
ideas to bring to their writing desks.”
- Ray, K.W. (2001) The writing workshop: working
through the hard parts (and they’re all hard parts).
Urbana, Ill.: NCTE
How books teach writers:
* Explicitly
*the book tells what writers do
*”Copying”
* Implicitly
*Borrowing and Improvising:
the language of literature,
language patterns, literary format,
traditional literary elements, i.e.
characterization, plot, setting, tone, theme
and style.
*Mentor texts (Calkins)
Explicit borrowing
I loved my friend
He went away from me
There’s nothing more to say
The poem ends
Soft as it began
I loved my friend
-Langston Hughes
I like my friend
But she went away
There’s nothing to say.
the poem ends
soft as it began
I like my friend.
- Gabby (3rd grade)
That’s bad, no that’s good
(based on the book by Margery Cuyler)
We went to the park. I got lost.
I said, “Oh, that’s good.”
“No, that’s bad.”
I went to see the frogs, and I stepped on one.
“Oh, that’s good.”
“No that’s bad”
“I went to the balloons. I got some and POP!”
“Oh, that’s good.”
“No, that’s bad”.
- Maria (3rd grade English learner)
Fortunately/Unfortunately
(based on the book by Remy Charlip)
Once there was a new kid going to school
Unfortunately he was lost.
Fortunately, a friend showed him where to go.
Fortunately he found a map
Unfortunately, it was the wrong state.
Fortunately, he got on a bus.
Unfortunately, the bus broke down.
Fortunately, it was across the street from the school.
…
by Steve, a 6th grade English learner
Implicit borrowing
When children’s lives are filled with literature and good writing, one
never knows from where they will borrow and what will become
mentor texts:
“In this the darkest night, in this the darkest sea,
After coral was born, there came the mud-digging grub,
and its child, the earth worm.
There came the pointed star-fish, and the rock-grasping barnacle,
and its child the oyster
and its child, the mussel.
There came the moss which lives in the sea,
And the fern which grows on the learn.
In this the darkest night
There came the fish,and all the creatures of the sea.
There came the lurking shark and the darting eel,
moving quickly through the high weeds.”
In the night still dark by Richard Lewis
Deanna’s “Creatures of the Night”
As the night falls, a young fox runs from the cold into his warm den. A
mother bat soars out of her cave on her nightly rounds of searching for food
for her babies. A bright light attracts a lonely moth flying by. A frog lets
out a soft croak before it dives into the ink colored pond. An owl perches
above on a high branch scanning the grounds for her prey. A rat pokes his
head out of the ground revealing his bright red eyes and down below on the
river bottom, fish swim, swim, swim until morning comes into view. In the
distance a coyote lets out a sharp and piercing howl. An opossum lurks
behind a soft green bush, looking for trouble. And into this night, unknown
to all the animals, the wolf stalks the forest waiting for the right moment to
devour the unsuspecting.
Which animal will be his next victim? A strong burst of wind rustles
the leaves on the trees and startles a sleeping bird. Hours pass and slowly
the sun begins to appear from beneath the horizon. And for the night
creatures who have escaped the wolves clenching jar, another day dawns.
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
“The barn was very large. It was very old. It smelled of hay and it
smelled of manure. It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and
the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows. It often had a sort of
peaceful smell-as though nothing bad cold happen ever again in the
world. It smelled of grain and of harness dressing and of axle
grease and of rubber boots and of new rope. And whenever the cat
was given a fish head to eat, the barn would smell of fish. But mostly
it smelled of hay, for there was always hay in the great loft up
overhead. And there was always hay being pitched down to the
cows and hoses and the sheep.” (p. 13)
After reading White third grade students say "I write stronger
language, put in more detail, and tell more about the thing I
am writing about."
“Reading this book helped me learn to expand my characters"
"I make different descriptions. I love his beautiful language.”
Elements of narrative:
* Character
* Setting
* Plot
-Problem
-Solution
* Tone
* Language
* Theme
Teaching writing explicitly
with a book
1. Introduce the book
2. Give a focus for listening (descriptive language,
character, plot development, etc.)
3. Read the book or part of a book (If students are not familiar with
the book, give a brief summary beforehand)
4. Students take notes in writer’s notebooks.
5. Discuss: What did you notice?
6. Record their responses on chart or overhead
Elements of narrative:
Character
There’s a boy in the girl’s bathroom
by Louis Sachar
Bradley Chalkers sat at his desk in the back of the room-last seat, last row. No one sat at the desk next to him.
He was an island.
If he could have, he would have sat in the closet. Then he could have shut the door so he wouldn’t
have to listen to Mrs. Ebbel. He didn’t think she’d mind. She’d probably like it better that way too. So would
the rest of the class. All in all, he thought everyone would be much happier if he sat in the closet, but,
unfortunately, his desk didn’t fit.
“Class,” said Mrs. Ebbel. “I would like you all to meet Jeff Fishkin. Jeff just moved here from
Washington D.C., which as you know, is our nation’s capital.”…
Mrs. Ebbel smiled at him. “Well, I guess we’d better find you a place to sit.” She looked around
the room. “Hmmm, I don’t see anyplace except, I suppose you can sit there, at the back.”
“No, not next to Bradely!” a girl in the front row exclaimed.
“At least it’s better than in front of Bradley,” said the boy next to her….
“That’s right,” Bradley spoke up. “Nobody likes sitting next to me!” he smiled a strange smile.
He stretched his mouth so wide, it was hard to tell whether it was a smile or a frown.
As Mrs. Ebbel began the lesson, Bradley took out a pencil and a piece of paper and scribbled. He
scribbled most of the morning and sometimes on the paper and sometimes on his desk. Sometimes he scribbled
so hard his pencil broke. Every time that happened, he laughed. (p. 1-2)
What do we know about Bradley and how do we know it?
*The teacher doesn’t like
him
*Few (if any) students like
him
*Troublemaker
*Teacher apologizes for seating a child
next to him. He sits in the last seat,
last row
*No one wants to sit next to him
*Scribbles on desk, seemingly not
paying attention
Because of Winn Dixie
by Kate DiCamillo
I went around a really big tree all covered in moss, and there was Winn-Dixie. He was eating
something right out of the witch’s hand. She looked up at me. “This dog sure likes peanut butter,” she said
. “you can always trust a dog that likes peanut butter.”
She was old with crinkly brown skin. She had on a big floppy hat with flowers all over it,and
she didn’t have any teeth, but she didn’t look like a witch. She looked nice. And Winn-Dixie liked her, I
could tell.
“I’m sorry he got in your garden,” I said.
“You ain’t got to be sorry,” she said. “I enjoy a little company.”
“My name’s Opal,” I told her.
“My name’s Gloria Dump,” she said. “Ain’t that a terrible last name? Dump?”
“My last name is Buloni,” I said. “Sometimes the kids at school back home in Watley called
me’Lunch Meat’”
“Hah!” Gloria Dump laughed. “What about this dog? What do you call him?”
“Winn Dixie” I said.
“Whooooeeee,” she said. “That takes the strange-name prize, don’t it?”
…Gloria Dump made me a peanut butter sandwich on whit e bread.
then she made one for herself and put her false teeth in, to eat it; when she was done, she said
to me, “You know, my eyes ain’t too good at all. I can’t see nothing but the general shape of things so I got
to rely on my heart. Why don’t you go on and tell me everything about yourself, so I can see you with my
heart.”
And because Winn Dixie was looking up at her like she was the best thing he had ever seen and
because the peanut-butter sandwich had been so good, and because I had been waiting for a long time to tell
some person everything about me, I did. (p. 63)
What do we know about Gloria Dump?
What do we know about
Gloria Dump?
*What she looks like
* Dogs like her
*She is a generous person
*She can’t see very well
*She likes to talk to people
How do we know it?
*Description
*Winn Dixie responds well to her
*She gives a peanut butter sandwich to
Winn Dixie and Opal
* Gloria Dump tells Opal she can’t see
very well
*She tells Opal to tell her all about
herself
How does the reader learn about
character?
•Description: physical, emotional or mental
•Interior monologue: character expresses thoughts,
feelings, fears, etc.
•Observed by others: other characters observe (and may
comment on) behaviors, mental state, etc.
•Actions
•How the character interacts or responds to others
Melissa’s “A friend at school”
“Her name was Christy Montgomery and she had
a problem. She is really mean to everyone and I want to
help her. Christy seems to want to have friends except she
thinks that everyone has to come to her if they like her.
Most of them don’t like her because she is kind of
skuzzy looking and isn’t all that pretty. I don’t know why
I’m going to help her except I guess in a way, I know how
she feels. I guess that I’ve been through the same things.
Today is September 14, 1999 and I’m starting my
New Year’s resolution early. I am determined to help that
girl yet and that’s a promise. Tomorrow I start my work.”
Stories with fully developed main characters:
Ramona
Bud
Birdy
Ramona Quimby, age 8 by B. Cleary
Bud, not buddy by P. C. Curtis
Catherine called Birdy by K. Cushman
Lucy
The ballad of Lucy Whipple by K. Cushman
Stone Fox by J. Gardiner
Chrysanthemum by K. Henkes
Swamp Angel by A. Issacs
Sarah plain and tall by P. MacLachlan
Island of the blue dolphins by S. O’Dell
Too many tamales by G. Soto
Sign of the Beaver by E. Speare
Maniac McGee by J. Spinelli
Roll of thunder hear my cry by M. Taylor
Dragonwings by L. Yep
Little Willy
Chrysanthemum
Swamp Angel
Sarah
Karana
Maria
Matt
Maniac
Cassie
Moon Shadow
Elements of narrative
Setting
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
It was late one winter night, long past my bedtime, when Pa
and I went owling. There was no wind. The trees stood still as giant
statues. And the moon was so bright the sky seemed to shine.
Somewhere behind us a train whistle blew, long and low, like a sad,
sad song.
I cold hear it through the woolen cap Pa had pulled down
over my ears. A farm dog answered the train, and then a second dog
joined in. They sang out, trains and dogs, for a real long time. And
when their voices faded away it was as quiet as a dream. We walked
on toward the woods, Pa and I.
Our feet crunched over the crisp snow and little gray
footprints followed us. Pa made a long shadow, but mine was short
and round. I had to run after him every now and then to keep up, and
my short, round shadow bumped after me.
But I never called out. If you go owling you have to be
quiet, that’s what Pa always says.
Home Place
by Crescent Dragonwagon
Every year, these daffodils come up. There is no
house near them. Unless someone happens to come this way,
like us, this Sunday afternoon, just walking, there is not even
anyone to see them. But still they come up, these daffodils in
a row, a yellow splash brighter than sunlight, or lamplight, or
butter, in the green and shadow of the woods. Still they come
up, these daffodils, cups lifted to trumpet the good news of
spring, though maybe no one hears except the wind and the
raccoons who rustle at night and the deer who nibble
delicately at the new green growth and the squirrels who jump
from branch to branch of the old black walnut tree.
But once, someone lived here. How can you tell?
Look. A chimney, made of stone, back there, half-standing
yet, though honeysuckle’s grown around it-there must have
been a house here. Look. Push aside these weeds-here’s a
stone foundation, laid on earth. The house once here was built
on it.
How do we learn about setting?
*Description of what a place looks like
* Description through the other senses
*What characters tell the reader
* Focus on smaller details to build a bigger
picture
*Description of a feeling a time and place
give a reader
Try this:
Think of a place (or a time and place in
your past) you like to go for a visit,
vacation, occasionally to have a
moment to yourself or daily. Using one
of the techniques the authors mentioned
use, describe that place by using the
senses, building it from small details,
the feeling the place gives you or a
combination of techniques. If it helps
to sketch it out first, try that.
Stories with integral settings:
* Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit
*Smoky night by Eve Bunting
*Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
*From the mixed up files of Mrs. Basil E.
Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
*Sarah plain and tall by Patricia Mac Lachlan
*Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say
* The keeping quilt by Patricia Polacco
*The bracelet by Yoshika Uchida
*Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
*Bridge to Terebithia by Katherine Paterson
*Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo
* Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
Elements of Narrative
Language
John Henry by Julius Lester
John Henry chuckled. “Just watch me.” He swung one of his hammers
round and round his head. It made such a wind that leaves flew off the
trees and birds fell out of the sky.
RINGGGGGG!
The hammer hit the boulder. That boulder shivered like you do on a
cold winter morning when it looks like the school bus is never gong to
come.
RINGGGGGG!
The boulders shivered like the morning when freedom came to the
slaves.
John Henry picked up the other hammer. He swung one hammer in a
circle over his head. As soon as it hit the rock- RINGGGGGG!-the
hammer in his left hand started to make a circle and - RINGGGGGG!
Soon the RINGGGGGG! Of one hammer followed the RINGGGGGG!
Of the other one so closely, it sounded like they were falling at the same
time.
RINGGGGGG! RINGGGGGG!
RINGGGGGG! RINGGGGGG!
How does Lester use language in
John Henry?
How many adjectives are there in
this passage?
How many verbs does he use?
How many similes or metaphors?
“I have a dream”
by Martin Luther King Jr.
“I have a dream that one day on the red hills
of Georgia, sons of former slaves and former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table
of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day the state of
Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of
injustice , sweltering with the heat of oppression,
will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and
justice.
I have a dream that my four little children
will one day live in a nation where they will not be
judged by the color of their character. I have a
dream today!”
There is a fifth dimension beyond that
which is known to man. It is a
dimension as vast as space and as
timeless as infinity. It is the middle
ground between light and shadow,
between science and superstition, and it
lies between the pit of man’s fears and
the summit of his knowledge. This is
the dimension of imagination. It is an
area we call...
THE TWILIGHT ZONE
Guess who my favorite person is
by Byrd Baylor
She said, “Tell your favorite color.”
I said, “Blue.”
But she said, “See you’ve already done it wrong. In
this game you can’t just say it’s blue. You have to say what
kind of blue.”
So I said, “All right. You know the blue on a lizard’s
belly? That sudden kind of blue you see just for a second
sometime-so blue that afterwards you always think you made it
up?”
“Sure,” she said. “I know that kind of blue.”
Then she told me hers and it was brown. Maybe I
looked surprised because she said, “Not many people appreciate
brown but I don’t care. I do. And the one I like best is a dark
reddish brown that’s good for mountains and for rocks. You
see it in steep cliffs a lot.”
Then we chose our favorite
sounds. She said hers was bees
but not just one or two. She
said it takes about a thousand
bees buzzing in all the fields
around to make the kind of
loud bee sound she likes.
Hello Ocean
by Pam Munoz Ryan
I see the ocean, gray, green, blue
A chameleon always changing hue.
Amber seaweed, speckled sand,
Bubbly waves that kiss the land,
Wide open water before my eyes,
Reflected in a bowl of skies,
Glistening tide pools and secret nooksI love the way the ocean looks.
I smell the ocean, the fresh salt
wind,
wafting lotions from suntanned
skin.
Aromas from some ancient tale
disclose their news when I inhale.
Reeky fish from waters deep,
fragrant ore from holes dug steep.
Drying kelp and musty shellsI love the way the ocean smells.
Simile and Metaphor
* Quick as a cricket by Don and Audrey
Wood
* “Cliché” by Eve Merriam
*Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary
O’Neill
* “Morning” by Eve Merriam
*My side of the mountain by Jean
Craighead George
*Bridge to Terebithia by Katherine
Paterson
Graham’s story:
On an early Saturday morning, my darn alarm clock
came on. The loud noise was singing “Sugar and Spice
and all things nice”. My sister turned the volume up on
my radio. The noise sounded like a bulldozer going
through the house. I woke up very slowly and walked
like a turtle to the restroom. To wake me up, I turned
the faucet on and the ice cold water gushed out into the
sink. I stuck my hands under the cold water. My hands
started to tingle. Shivering goosebumps went up and
down my spine as fast as a running rabbit. I took the
water and put it on my face. My eyes were as hard to
open as a stuck locker. Then all the computers turned
on in my brain. It’s like little mice saying, “Mission
Control, come in Mission Control, Mission control,
come in. All systems are going.” I walked like a human
being for once to my room. My teeth were chattering
together, just like a beaver chewing a tree down.
Ramsey’s “The Motorcycle”
I go out to my driveway
And there it sits,
The shinning black and silver Harley Davidson Motorcycle
It is so breathtaking,
That I almost faint, just looking at it.
I go over to it.
And I can’t believe it’s here.
So, I go and sit on the Harley
And the leather seat makes a rubbing noise, and it is so beautiful,
That I can not keep my hands off of it.
If I had to sell it,
It would take
All of the money in the world to get it!
Voice
 Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
 Voices in the park by Anthony Browne
 Bull Run and Seedfolks by P. Fleishman
 Out of the Dust and Witness by K. Hesse
 Monster by Walter Dean Myers
 True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff
 The true story of the three pigs , Math Curse, Squids will
be squids by Jon Scheizka
 Lilly’s purple plastic purse by Kevin Henkes
 What authors have you read that you could immediately
recognize their style and say: “That’s a Kevin Henkes
book or that’s a Betsy Byars book”?
How does the author use language
effectively?
* Appeals to senses
* Parallel structures
* Rhythmic language
* Repetition
*Use of metaphor and simile
*Uses verbs and adverbs to describe rather than only
adjectives
• Use of specific language, like adjectives
(specific is terrific!)
* Voice
Effective Leads
*Typical (It was a day at the end of July.)
* Action
* Dialogue
*Interior monologue
*A surprise
* Reaction
*Drop reader into middle of story and
go back later to tell beginning.
Wringer by Jerry Spinelli
He did not not want to be a wringer.
This was one of the first things he had learned about himself. He could
not have said exactly when he learned it, but it was very early. And more than
early, it was deep inside. N the stomach, like hunger. But different from hunger,
different and worse. Because it was always there. Hunger came only sometimes,
such as just before dinner or on long rides in the car. Then, quickly, it was gone the
moment it was fed. But this thing, there was no way to feed it. Well, one way
perhaps, but that was unthinkable. So it was never gone.
In fact, gone was something it could not be, for he could not escape it
any more than he could escape himself. The best he could do was forget it.
Sometimes he did so, for minutes, hours, maybe even for a day or two.
But this thing did not like to be forgotten. Like air escaping a punctured
tire, it would spread out from his stomach and be everywhere. Inside and outside,
up and down, day and night, just beyond the foot of his bed, in his sock drawer, on
the porch steps, at the edges of the lips of other boys, in the sudden flutter from a
bush that he ad come too close to.
Everywhere.
This thing, this not wanting to be a wringer, did it ever knock him from
his bike? Untie his sneaker lace? Call him a name? Stand up and fight?
No. It did nothing. It was simply, merely there, a whisper of
featherwings, reminding him of the moment he dreaded above all others, the
moment when the not wanting to be a wringer wold turn into becoming one. (p. 3-4)
Seven Brave Women
by Betsy Hearne
In the old days, history marked time by
the wars that men fought. The United States
began with the Revolutionary War. Then there
was the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish
American War, the First World War, the Second
World War, the Korean War and the Vietnam
War. But there are other ways to tell time. My
mother does not believe that wars should be
fought at all. She says history should be her
story too, and she tells stories about all the
women in our family who made history by not
fighting in wars.
Elements of informational writing
How do authors make information
interesting to read?
Hottest, coldest, highest, deepest
by Steve Jenkins
“The hottest spot on the planet is Al Aziziyah,
Libya, in the Sahara, where a temperature of over
136 degrees has been recorded. Your body
temperature is 98.6 F., room temperature is usually
68 F. and water freezes at 32 F. “
He compares new information to
things that are familiar.
Lincoln: A photobiography
by Russell Freedman
The morning he died, Lincoln had in his pocket a pair of small
spectacles folded into a silver case; a small velvet eyeglass cleaner:
a large linen handkerchief with A. Lincoln stitched in red; an ivory
pocketknife trimmed with silver; and a brown leather wallet lined
with purple silk. The wallet contained a Confederate five dollar bill
bearing the likeness of Jefferson Davis and the clippings praised
him. As president, he had been denounced, ridiculed, and damned
by a legion of critics. When he saw an article that complimented
him, he often kept it.
Freedman chose interesting bits of
information that made Lincoln human
Through my eyes
by Ruby Bridges
When I was six years old, the civil rights movement
came knocking at the door. It was 1960, and history
pushed in and swept me up in a whirlwind. At the
time, I knew little about the racial fears and hatred in
Louisiana, where I was growing up. Young children
never know about racism at the start. It’s we adults
who teach it.
She tells about history from a first person or personal
perspective.
Eleanor Roosevelt
by Russell Freedman
Eleanor Roosevelt never wanted to be a president’s wife. When her
husband Franklin won his campaign for the presidency in 1932, she felt
deeply troubled. She dreaded the prospect of living in the White
House.
Proud of her accomplishments as a teacher, a writer, and a political
power in her own right, she feared that she would have to give up her
hard-won independence in Washington. As First Lady, she would have
no life of her own. Like other presidential wives before her, she would
be assigned the traditional role of official White House hostess, with
little to do but greet guests at receptions and preside ver formal state
dinners.
The author gives the reader some (perhaps)
surprising information.
Shipwreck at the bottom of the world
by Jennifer Armstrong
Just imagine yourself in the most hostile place on earth. It’s
not the Sahara or the Gobi Desert. It’s not the Arctic. The
most hostile place on earth is the Antarctic, the location of
the South Pole. North Pole, South Pole-what’s the
difference? The Arctic is mostly water-with ice on top,of
course- and that ice is never more than a few feet thick. But
under the South Pole lies a contintent that supports glaciers
up to two miles in depth. Almost the entire southernern
continent is covered by ice.
Just imagine: put yourself there.
Elements of persuasive writing:
*Written for a specific audience
*Strong thesis statement
*Uses facts to support opinion
*Refutes counter arguments
*Strong conclusion
Red is best by Kathy Stinson
*Written for a specific
audience
*Strong thesis statement
*Uses facts to support
opinion
*Refutes counter arguments
*Mom
*Red is best
*I like my red stockings,red
jacket, red boots, etc.
*My mom says, “Wear these. Your
white stockings look good with that
dress.” But I can jump higher in my
red stockings.
*Strong conclusion
*Red is best
Earrings by Judith Viorst
*Written for a specific audience
*Strong thesis statement
* Mom and Dad
*Uses facts to support opinion
*Refutes counter arguments
*”Teachers and lady dentists have them.
Mothers and even grandmothers have
them.”
*”They say I’m too young.”
“I’m not too young. I’m actually mature for
my age. I clear plates after dinner. I
take a shower without being told.”
*Strong conclusion
*”I want them. I need them. I love
them. I’ve got to have them.”
*I want my ears pierced NOW- not
when I’m 20, 40, 80 or 100 years
old.
Aspects of writing process
How does a writer get ideas?
“If you were a writer you would search for
ideas,” mother said. “ideas are everywhere. The
more you look for ideas, the more you will find.”
“Is the idea the story?”
“No the idea is just the beginning of the
story. If you were a writer you would let ideas
bounce in your brain while you watched them grow
and turned them over to see the other sides, and
poked them and pushed them and pinched off parts
of them, and made them go the way you wanted
them to go.”
If you were a writer by Jean Lowery Nixon
When I write nonfiction, I always choose subjects I’ve always
been curious about: evolution, how cuts and bruises heal, how
a chick grows inside an egg... Occasionally, I get an idea for a
new book from one I wrote before. For example, when I was
working on A fish hatches, I was fascinated to learn how a
fish is adapted for swimming and breathing underwater. This
gave me the idea for a series about animals’ bodies. The first
book was A frog’s body…Sometimes a book comes out of a
very personal experience I’ve had. I wrote How you were
born for our daughter Rachel, when she was 4 years old.
On the bus with Joanna Cole
by Joanna Cole with Wendy Saul
Nothing ever happens on 90th Street
by Roni Schotter
Here are some helpful hints Eva receives from her
neighbors:
*The actor, Mr. Sims suggests “Watch the stage carefully, observe the
players carefully and don’t neglect the details.”
*The baker, Mr. Morley, says, “Try to find the poetry in your
pudding…There’s always a new way with old words.”
*Th ballerina, Alexis, tells Eva to “use her imagination…stetch the
truth…ask what if?”
*Mrs. Martinez suggests Eva “Add a little action…A little of this. A
little of that. And don’t’ forget the spice. Mix it. Stir it. Make
something happen. Surprise yourself!”
The Circus Surprise
by
Ralph Fletcher
Revision
All the long way to school,And all the way back,
I’ve looked and I’ve looked, And I’ve kept careful track,
But All that I noticed, Except my own feet,
Was a horse and a wagon, On Mulberry Street.
That’s nothing to tell of, That won’t do of course…
Just a broken down wagon, That’s drawn by a horse.
That can’t be my story. That’s only a start.
I’ll say that a zebra was pulling that cart!
And that is a story that no one can beat,
When I say that I saw it on Mulberry Street.
And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street
By Dr. Seuss
Author Studies
Karla Kuskin and Mauricio
Mauricio is eleven and he loves football. He read
The Dallas Titans Get Ready for Bed to a group of second
graders. Two weeks later he was rereading it. “I love it,”
he explained, “I just love it.” His teacher said, “Do you
love it because it is about football or is there more to it?”
“It’s a good book and she’s a good writer,”
Mauricio answered.
“Well, when you love a book, when you love a
writer, you should learn from that writer.” His teacher
opened to the first page of all three books and spread them
across her desk. “Figure out what makes a Kuskin text a
Kuskin text.”
The Dallas Titans Get Ready for
Bed
The big game is over. Under the lights
the football field shines green. Above the
green field the big night sky is full of yells and
screams, cheers and stars. It is twenty-seven
minutes after ten o’clock on Monday night, and
the Dallas Titans have just won a big game.
The cheerleaders do double reverse banana
splits and we are roaring, we are scoring slips
and slides. The crowd keeps going crazy. (The
Dallas Titans Get Ready for Bed )
The Philharmonic gets dressed
It is almost Friday night. Outside, the dark
is getting darker and the cold is getting
colder. Inside, lights are coming on in
houses and apartment buildings. And here
and there, uptown and downtown across the
bridges of the city, one hundred and five
people are getting dressed to go to work.
(The Philharmonic gets dressed)
Jerusalem Shining Still
The bread is baked before sunrise. I have seen a loaf that looks
like a pair of eyeglasses. And another in the shape of a ladder.
Every morning sixty-four kinds of break are baked here. Every day
in these narrow old streets seventy languages are spoken. This is not
a very large city. It is far, far away from many that are much larger
and newer. Then why should so many people come from
everywhere to here? And why should they have been coming here
for more than three thousand years?
Sit beside me. The sky is getting lighter. The sun comes up
behind that ridge. It puts gold on the crescents and stars of the
mosques, gold on the crosses of the churches. It touches the
Western Wall and turns the old enormous stones pure white. This is
a city made of stone sitting along the tops of stony hills. (Jerusalem
Shining Still)
What Mauricio noticed about
Kuskin’s writing:
Mauricio’s list
1. She writes a lot about the sky.
2. She has numbers in her books.
3. Nobody talks.
4. She writes like its today
5. She makes pairs.
Then Mauricio wrote:
Smoke fills the skye. As the waving, swaying team
boats float on the steady motion waves in the water. RR-R-R-R. The steamship makes the sound of teaktle
only louder. They carry passenger and goods to
America. The steamship rocks back and forth. The
passengers get colder and colder as the rocking boats
rock faster and faster. Creak, creak is the sound that
you hear as stamping legs and feet plunder on the old
wooden floor. Finally they reach America. Hooray,
Hooray, thats the sound of the roaring crowd waiting to
be hugged and kissed by their fellow friends.
What did Mauricio learn from Karla Kuskin?
*He used the present tense (and rarely had
before)
*He wrote about the sky
*No one is talking
*He made a deliberate attempt to use
“pairs” - “cold and colder”, “faster and
faster”, “back and forth”, “hugged and
kissed”, “friend and relatives”.
Features of Betsy Byars books:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Never an intact family
Page turner – reads fast – good pacing
Use of metaphor and simile
Kid characters are realistic
Kids always clearly face a problem
Kids usually have to figure it out or face it themselves
Good primary character development (secondary characters not so
good)
8. Usually a helping or caring adult
When YOU get to know author’s work well, you can refer students to them
when they need specific help:
How does Betsy Byars keep us interested? How does she keep the story
moving and tell all the important parts?
How to choose authors for author studies:
* Author has several books available: in print and/or in the library
*Author has several books in the same genre
*Books that are age appropriate and engage readers emotionally and/or
intellectually (Books the students will read!)
*Books that evoke a range of responses
*Books that connect to students’ lives
*Books with memorable language
* Author has distinctive identifiable features to his or her writing like
Van Allsburg’s surprise endings, Henkes’ characters, Paterson’s
language
*Autobiographical and/or biographical information available about the
author
*Select quality literature: a void series books or books with formulaic
plots and shallow characters. What do you want writers to reach
toward?
What authors make good author studies?
A few suggestions:
*Gail Gibbons
*Eric Carle
*Chris Van Allsburg
*Patricia Polacco
*Paul Goble
*Betsy Byars
*Katherine Paterson
*Walter Dean Meyers
*Lawrence Yep
*Kevin Henkes
*Eve Bunting
*Steve Jenkins
*Cynthia Rylant
*Jane Yolen
*Cynthia Voight
*Chris Crutcher
*Avi
*Gary Paulsen
When the main character is an author:
Borden, L. The day Eddie met the author
Brown, M. Arthur writes a story
Cleary, B. Dear Mr. Henshaw
Duke, K. Aunt Isabel tells a good one.
Fitzhugh, L. Harriet the Spy
Gantos, J. Jack’s black book
Gottleib, D. My stories by Hildy Calpurnia
Greenfield, E. Sister
Grimes, N. Jazmine’s Notebook
Kallok, E. Gem (12 year old author- published book)
Lipsyte, R. Summer Rules
Little, J. Hey world, here I am
Lowry, L. Anastasia Krupnick
MacLachlan, P. Arthur for the very first time
Moss, M. Amelia’s Notebook (There are several Amelia books)
_________Rachel’s journey, Emma’s journal and Hannah’s Journal
(historical journals)
Murphy, S. Rousseau Poor Jenny, Bright as a penny
Skarmeta, A. The composition
Professional Resources
Buss, K. & L.Karnowski. (2000) Reading and writing literary genres. Newark, Del.:
IRA
Copeland, J. (1993) Speaking of poets: Interviews with poets who write for children
and young adults. Urbana: NCTE.
__________ & V. Copeland. (1994) Speaking of poets 2. Urbana: NCTE.
Cummings, P. (1992) Talking with artists (There are three of these)
Fox, M. (1992). Dear Mem Fox, I Have Read all Your Books, Even the Pathetic
Ones.
San Diego: HBJ.
Gallo, D. (1990) Speaking for Ourselves. Urbana: NCTE.
Hansen, J. (2001) (2nd ed.) When writers read. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Jenkins, C. B. (1999) The allure of authors. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Jensen, J. (ed.) (1984). Composing and Comprehending. Urbana: NCTE.
Kurstedt, R. & M. Koutras. Teaching writing with picture books as models.
Scholastic
Lloyd, P. (1987). How Writers Write. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Marcus, L. (ed.) (2000) Author talk. New York: Simon and Schuster
Paterson, K. (1986) Gates of Excellence. New York: Lodestar Books.
Paterson, K. (1989). The Spying Heart. New York: Lodestar Books.
Weiss, M.J. (1979) From Writers to Students. Delaware: IRA.
The End