Anastasia Suen - Developmental Editor

Trapped! A Whale’s Rescue
by Robert Burleigh (Author) and Wendell Minor (Illustrator)

Booktalk: In the icy waters of the Pacific, a massive humpback whale unexpectedly finds herself tangled in a net abandoned by fishermen. When a rescue boat and a convoy of divers arrive to help the struggling humpback, a realistic and moving encounter bridges the human and aquatic worlds.

Snippet:
The chug-chug of a motor fills the air.
Rescuers. Are they too late?
Divers drop cautiously into the frigid water.

They know the whale is wild.
One quick roll of her immense body can crush.
One blow from her gigantic tail can kill.

TrappedSpread

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Organization The title of the book, Trapped! A Whale’s Rescue, sets up the way the book will be organized. We know what will happen just by reading the title. The whale will be trapped and then rescued.

This excerpt appears on the page after the whale becomes trapped in the forgotten fishing net. Notice how the events unfold in chronological order.

The sound comes first.

The chug-chug of a motor fills the air.

Then we find out more about that sound.

Rescuers.

At the end of the second line comes that essential, emotional question.

Are they too late?

And then the rescue begins . . .

Divers drop cautiously into the frigid water.

Trait: Organization There is another organization pattern at work in this book. Notice how the text is organized into three line units.

The chug-chug of a motor fills the air.
Rescuers. Are they too late?
Divers drop cautiously into the frigid water.

They know the whale is wild.
One quick roll of her immense body can crush.
One blow from her gigantic tail can kill.

Organizing text into a predetermined number of lines is a poetic device. The Poetry Foundation Glossary defines it this way:
Tercet
“A poetic unit of three lines, rhymed or unrhymed.”

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Keri Recommends.

The Moon Dragons
by Dyan Sheldon (Author) and Gary Blythe (Illustrator)

Booktalk: When a king discovers that there are still singing moon dragons high up on the mountainside, he offers a room full of gold to anyone who can bring one to him. The beautiful dancing dragons only reveal themselves to Alina, a young peasant girl, but she preserves the secret of their whereabouts, knowing that there are some things far more precious than a room full of gold.

Snippet:
Slowly and quietly, Alina followed the sound to the top of the hill. And there, in the dale below, was a dance of dragons, shining pearl and silver in the soft lunar light.
As Alina watched, first one then another rose into the air, graceful as clouds, their voices joined in song.
Alina stood on the hilltop as if in a dream. Her heart beat with the singing of the dragons, her breath flowed with the rhythm of their wings.

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Word Choice After the Big Picture traits (ideas, organization, and voice) are figured out, it’s time to work on the small details traits (word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions).

On this page, the Big Picture looks like this: A girl walks up the hill and watches the dragons dance. We experience this story with a third person voice.

Word choices make the Big Picture come alive for readers:

Slowly and quietly, Alina followed the sound to the top of the hill. And there, in the dale below, was a dance of dragons, shining pearl and silver in the soft lunar light.

Trait: Sentence Fluency The flow of the words in each sentence adds to the magic in this read aloud.

As Alina watched, first one then another rose into the air, graceful as clouds, their voices joined in song.

As the page ends, the order of the words in the sentences draw us in and allow us to share Alina’s experience.

Alina stood on the hilltop as if in a dream. Her heart beat with the singing of the dragons, her breath flowed with the rhythm of their wings.

We are there on the hilltop with her, seeing what she sees and feeling what she feels. We too, have found the moon dragons.