organization Archives - Page 6 of 9

I’m New Here
by Anne Sibley O’Brien (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Maria is from Guatemala, Jin is from Korea, and Fatima is from Somalia. All three are new to their American elementary school, and each has trouble speaking, writing, and sharing ideas in English. Through self-determination and with encouragement from their peers and teachers, the students learn to feel confident and comfortable in their new school without losing a sense of their home country, language, and identity.

Snippet:
I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: Class, this is Maria.

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: Boys and girls, please welcome Jin.

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: We have a new student everyone. Her name is Fatimah.

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Voice This “new kid at school” story created by an established author/illustrator has three main characters! So how do you juggle three main characters? The characters speak one at a time.

The first book page says:

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: Class, this is Maria.

The second book page says:

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: Boys and girls, please welcome Jin.

The third book page says:

I am new here.
SPEECH BUBBLE: We have a new student, everyone. Her name is Fatimah.

Trait: Organization This one “character at a time” pattern is continued throughout the book. Readers see each how each new child experiences school on a separate book spread.

Q. How do you develop three stories at one?
A. By using story arc patterns from all three genres!

Notice the repetition? Each child says the same thing. This is an organizing tool that poets use.

I am new here.

It is the teacher who answers and her answer is unique to each new character.

This repeated question and answer pattern is a pattern that “idea” books use. It’s a nonfiction story arc.

Most fiction stories use a problem-resolution pattern as their story arc. This one does the same for its characters. These new immigrants are trying to find their place at their new school and we see that they have accomplished that in the art on the last page of the book.

Q. Why did this book use patterns from all three genres?
A. Books about “social issues” use both fiction and nonfiction patterns, and this one has a poetry pattern as well.

The problem-resolution pattern commonly used in fiction showed us how the characters solved their emotional problem.

The nonfiction (question and answer) story arc and the repetition found in poetry helped the story manage three characters and convey the message.

The finished book looks simple, but it’s not. There is a lot of organization going on underneath to make it work.

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!