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The Legend of the Beaver’s Tail
by Stephanie Shaw (Author) and Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Long ago Beaver did not look like he does now. Yes, he had two very large front teeth, but his tail was not wide and flat. It was thick with silky fur and vain Beaver was inordinately proud of his glorious tail. (Based on an Ojibwe legend.)

Snippet:
“This tail is the tail to end all tails!” Beaver said to Deer. “I’ll bet you wish you had one like this.”

Deer said, “Beaver, it is a fine tail, but what I truly wish is for some tender grass for my family to eat.”

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Conventions Using dialogue adds more to the story–more insight into the characters and more punctuation! The dialogue itself is punctuated and the dialogue tags are punctuated, too.

The punctuation for the dialogue goes inside the quotation marks. The punctuation for the dialogue tag goes outside the quotation marks.

“This tail is the tail to end all tails!” Beaver said to Deer. “I’ll bet you wish you had one like this.”

When the dialogue tag comes before the dialogue, the punctuation for the dialogue tag is added before the quotation marks, too.

Deer said, “Beaver, it is a fine tail, but what I truly wish is for some tender grass for my family to eat.”

Wherever the punctuation goes, there is only a single space after it. (Double spacing after a sentence is a carryover from the days of the manual typewriter!)

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.