picture book Archives - Page 711 of 716

Dinotrux Dig the Beach
by Chris Gall (Author/Illustrator)

Booktalk: Fed up with steamy summertime Jurassic jungles, the mighty monsters are getting hot and grumpy, and they need a vacation…. Time to roll on down to the beach! Tyrannosaurus Trux might be able to “hang ten” on his surfboard, but not all of the trux feel so at home near the water. Can they organize their skills to dig up the beach and build the best sandcastle ever?

Snippet: MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO
the summers were so hot they never seemed to end.
DINOTRUX ruled the earth!
The jungle was steamy, bugs flew everywhere,
and the Dinotrux were getting grumpy and overheated.
They needed a vacation.

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Organization The beginning of the story sets up how the story will end.

Art Note: The opening of this story is on the very FIRST page of the book. Starting the story before the title page is a decision that is made when the book is designed. This is an unusual set up, but it was done in service to the story. Pages 2 and 3 do show the book title, but they also show the characters arriving at the beach, so the story is moving forward visually. (All of the publishing information usually found on page 4 appears inside a wide tree branch on page 2, another book design decision.)

On the first page of the story, the setting is introduced first:

MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO
the summers were so hot they never seemed to end.

Then we meet the main characters:

DINOTRUX ruled the earth!

And now that we know WHO is in the story, we find out what the story problem is:

The jungle was steamy, bugs flew everywhere,
and the Dinotrux were getting grumpy and overheated.
They needed a vacation.

In the middle of the story, we see how their vacation went.

See a snippet in the book trailer.

On the very LAST page of the book, after the story problems are all solved, we see the final ending. Just like a movie, the final image is the OPPOSITE of the first image we see. The beginning of the story and the ending of the story are opposites. The change that occurred because of the main characters’ actions is there for all to see. Ahh…satisfaction!

The Swamp Where Gator Hides
by Marianne Berkes (Author) and Roberta Baird (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Under the algae that carpets the swamp, near the duck who paddles in ooze, close to the turtle who takes a snooze . . . hides a gator! Still as a log, only his watchful eyes can be seen. But when gator moves, he really moves! What happens to the duck, the turtle, the egret, the deer, and the many other critters of the swamp when gator makes his move?

Snippet:
This is the sunfish
who scoots away
when Gator comes out
to catch his prey.

WHO WILL HE HAVE FOR LUNCH TODAY?

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Organization This poem is written as a cumulative tale, a story that uses the This Is The House That Jack Built pattern. Each new creature is introduced with “This is …”

This is the sunfish

The second pattern in this rhyming picture book is seen in the end rhyme. The words at the end of the second and fourth lines rhyme.

The second line ends with the word away:

who scoots away

and the fourth line ends with the word prey:

to catch his prey.

Trait: Word Choice To make a rhyming pattern work, you need to choose your words carefully. The words away and prey aren’t spelled the same, but the sound in the final syllable is the same. Both words end with the long a sound. So does the word at the end of the final line on this page:

WHO WILL HE HAVE FOR LUNCH TODAY?

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by The Opposite of Indifference.