Anastasia Suen - Developmental Editor

Birdie’s First Day of School
by Sujean Rim (Author/Illustrator)

Booktalk: Tomorrow is Birdie’s first day of school and she is just SO nervous. What will her teacher be like? What should she bring? What should she WEAR? When Birdie walks into her brand-new classroom . . . oh my! A whole new world opens up as she discovers all the fun and adventure that school has to offer.

Snippet:
Birdie couldn’t sleep.

Tomorrow would be her very first day of school and she was so nervous.

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Organization This picture book story about a rite of passage clearly shows how the beginning of a story sets up how that story will end. On the first page of this story, we meet the character and find out what her story problem is.

Art Note: The art illustrating the snippet on this first spread (two facing book pages) shows three views of little Birdie trying to sleep. We know that time is passing because of the clock on the wall. From left to right the time is 10:03, 3:00, and 6:57.

What happens next, of course, is more worrying, followed by the first day of school. In the middle of the story, we see how she works to solve her story problem. And solve it she does, so on the last page of the book, we see the story come full circle.

Snippet:
It was time for bed . . .
but Birdie couldn’t sleep.

Tomorrow would be her very second day of school . . .
and she just couldn’t wait.

I’m New Here
by Anne Sibley O’Brien (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Maria is from Guatemala, Jin is from Korea, and Fatima is from Somalia. All three are new to their American elementary school, and each has trouble speaking, writing, and sharing ideas in English. Through self-determination and with encouragement from their peers and teachers, the students learn to feel confident and comfortable in their new school without losing a sense of their home country, language, and identity.

Snippet:
I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: Class, this is Maria.

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: Boys and girls, please welcome Jin.

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: We have a new student everyone. Her name is Fatimah.

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Voice This “new kid at school” story created by an established author/illustrator has three main characters! So how do you juggle three main characters? The characters speak one at a time.

The first book page says:

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: Class, this is Maria.

The second book page says:

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: Boys and girls, please welcome Jin.

The third book page says:

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: We have a new student, everyone. Her name is Fatimah.

Trait: Organization This one “character at a time” pattern is continued throughout the book. Readers see each how each new child experiences school on a separate book spread.

Q. How do you develop three stories at one?
A. By using story arc patterns from all three genres!

Notice the repetition? Each child says the same thing. This is an organizing tool that poets use.

I am new here.

It is the teacher who answers and her answer is unique to each new character.

This repeated question and answer pattern is a pattern that “idea” books use. It’s a nonfiction story arc.

Most fiction stories use a problem-resolution pattern as their story arc. This one does the same for its characters. These new immigrants are trying to find their place at their new school and we see that they have accomplished that in the art on the last page of the book.

Q. Why did this book use patterns from all three genres?
A. Books about “social issues” use both fiction and nonfiction patterns, and this one has a poetry pattern as well.

The problem-resolution pattern commonly used in fiction showed us how the characters solved their emotional problem.

The nonfiction (question and answer) story arc and the repetition found in poetry helped the story manage three characters and convey the message.

The finished book looks simple, but it’s not. There is a lot of organization going on underneath to make it work.