young adult Archives - Page 101 of 102

The Shadow of Seth
by Tom Llewellyn (Author)

Booktalk: Sixteen-year-old Seth Anomundy is a product of his environment: in this case, Tacoma, Washington, a working-class port city now undergoing urban renewal. Seth has grown up in Tacoma’s tough neighborhoods, where he’s perfectly at home in Choo-Choo’s boxing gym and Miss Irene’s soul food palace, the Shotgun Shack. With his mom working nights as a cleaner, Seth goes to high school, gets decent grades, and makes money where he can: filling in as cook at the Shotgun Shack, working as a sparring partner, and running errands for Nadel, the clock repairman. Life is hand-to-mouth, but okay–until he gets the news that his mother has been killed. The police don’t care about the death of just another drug addict, so a bewildered Seth takes it upon himself to find the killer. On a clock delivery run, he meets a beautiful rich girl named Azura Lear, who encourages Seth and tries to help track down the killer. But instead of finding answers, Seth finds only trouble. He faces down a gang of baseball-bat-wielding high school jocks and deals with the contempt of Azura’s suspicious father. And then there’s King George–a teenage thug Seth has previously managed to avoid–who has for some reason let it be known that he wants Seth dead. Right now.

Snippet: Nadel called my cell phone just as I got home from school, asking if I could make a pickup. Mom was sleeping. She wouldn’t need her car until she left for work, after dinner. I took her car keys and drove her Jeep over to Nadel’s House of Clocks.

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Traits: Sentence Fluency This young adult mystery begins with a four sentence paragraph. As the curtain opens on this story, we meet the main character and see his life on the stage. His life may be bumpy, but the sentences are not.

In the first sentence of the book, the main character is given a task to perform. Showing us that task also establishes the when and the where of the story setting.

Nadel called my cell phone just as I got home from school, asking if I could make a pickup.

The next sentence adds more details with just three words.

Mom was sleeping.

The third sentence builds on the second sentence by adding more details. We find out why the second sentence was important.

She wouldn’t need her car until she left for work, after dinner.

The two middle sentences let us know the factors the main character considered as he made his decision. In the final sentence of this opening paragraph, the main character has made his decision. He is on the move.

I took her car keys and drove her Jeep over to Nadel’s House of Clocks.

Every word counts. Each word in these four sentences adds a specific detail that readers need to know.

The Sculptor
by Scott McCloud (Author/Illustrator)

Booktalk: David Smith is giving his life for his art–literally. Thanks to a deal with Death, the young sculptor gets his childhood wish: to sculpt anything he can imagine with his bare hands. But now that he only has 200 days to live, deciding what to create is harder than he thought, and discovering the love of his life at the 11th hour isn’t making it any easier!

Snippet:

DAVID: Harry, what’s happening??

HARRY: When the sun comes up, you’ll get your wish.

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Organization Most fiction stories are divided into three acts. In Act 1, the curtain opens and readers see the story setting. They meet the main character and find out what the story problem is. David wants gets his childhood wish: to sculpt anything he can imagine. In order to do that, he has to agree to die in 200 days.

This scene happens after David has made his decision with Death (in the form of his dead Grand Uncle Harry) in the restaurant. Now they are out on the street in New York. As they walk from one place the next, the story moves from one act to the next.

Now the story moves into Act 2. (On the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet, this step is called Break Into Two.) The long middle of the book has now begun. The main character has left his familiar world. No one knows what will happen next–but we keep reading to find out!