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Stormy Night
by Salina Yoon (Author/Illustrator)

Booktalk: When thunder shakes his house and rain pounds the windows, Bear is frightened. But comforting his Mama, Papa, and Floppy helps make the storm seem not so scary. Before Bear knows it, the storm has passed, because even storms need their sleep . . . and so do bears.

Snippet: The wind was whirring, the trees were crackling, and the rain was pounding against the windows.

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Sentence Fluency Picture books for the preschool age don’t have very many words. As Bear looks out the window on this stormy night, this is the only sentence on this double-paged spread. Bear looks out his bedroom window on the verso (left) page of the spread. On the recto (right) page of the spread, the story text is seen on the outside of the house next to Bear’s window.

Notice the use of threes? The storm is shown in the art and in the words in three different ways.

The wind was whirring,

Young readers can see the wind blowing the trees outside Bear’s window. That’s the first ACTION. Every action leads to a REACTION, one that is shown in the second example:

the trees were crackling

The third example makes the storm complete:

and the rain was pounding against the windows.

TIP: The use of threes in storytelling is a oft-used Western tradition.

Three is considered the perfect number to use in fairy tales, advertising, and public speaking. (Most stories have also three acts!) A pair is not enough and four is a bit too much, but give three examples and the story feels complete.

Goodnight Already!
by Jory John (Author) and Benji Davies (Illustrator)

Notice the shiny E.B. WHITE READ-ALOUD HONOR AWARD sticker on the cover!

Booktalk: Meet Bear. He’s exhausted. All he wants is to go to sleep. Meet Duck, Bear’s persistent next-door neighbor. All he wants is to hang out . . . with Bear.

Snippet:
“I’ve never been so tired. I could sleep for weeks. Months, even!”

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Organization In this fiction picture book, the dialogue at the beginning of a story sets up the ending perfectly. As the story begins, we hear from Bear:

“I’ve never been so tired. I could sleep for weeks. Months, even!”

What Bear wants is clear, but this is the very first page of the story, so we know that Bear won’t get what he wants. Fiction stories have problems to solve, so once we know what the main character wants, it’s the writer’s job to keep that from happening for as long as possible. That’s why readers turn the page–to see what happens next!

Who or what will that problem be? In this story it is Bear’s neighbor, Duck. Duck is wide awake and he wants company. Throughout the book, Duck wakes up Bear again and again.

Ideally, the end of a story is the opposite of the beginning. So what does Bear say on the last page of the book?

“I’ve never been so awake.”

On the previous page, Duck complains that Bear’s grumpiness has worn him out. Duck finally goes home and falls asleep. The ending for both story characters is the opposite of the beginning. The book begins and ends with Bear because he is the main character.

TIP: Allow your main story character to have the last word.

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