sentence fluency Archives - Page 2 of 3

Lilliput
by Sam Gayton (Author) and Alice Ratterree (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Have you heard of the tale that’s short and tall? There’s an island in the world where everything is small! She is a girl three inches tall with eyes like drops of dew. Her clothes are cut from handkerchiefs and stitched with spider silk. For half her life, she has been trapped in a birdcage while her giant kidnapper sits beside her, writing in a leather-bound book the size of a house. Her name is Lily, and tonight she is escaping. She is going home. To Lilliput.

Inspired by Gulliver’s Travels, Lilliput is an exhilarating adventure filled with cunning escape plans, evil clock makers, and talkative parrots. Join Lily as she travels through 18th century London over rooftops, down chimneys, and into chocolate shops on a journey to find the one place in the world where she belongs…home.

Snippet: Lily tucked the atlas into one of the saddle pockets and hurried forward, past a teetering stack of old clocks. Somewhere at the other end of the counter, Swift called out for help.

“Skee! Skee! Skee!”

“Hold on!” she called out, trying to calm him. “I’m almost there! Just a little longer . . .”

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Traits: Sentence Fluency In this escape story, the sentences are detailed and action-packed. The main character is on the move and the sentences reflect that.

In the first sentence, the main character does two very different things.

Lily tucked the atlas into one of the saddle pockets

That’s the first action, but the writer adds more:

and hurried forward, past a teetering stack of old clocks.

The forward motion in this escape story continues in the next sentence:

Somewhere at the other end of the counter, Swift called out for help.

Now Lily has yet another reason to keep running.

“Hold on!” she called out, trying to calm him. “I’m almost there!

And we keep running too. We turn the page to find out what happens next!

The Mermaid’s Shoes
by Sanne te Loo (Author/Illustrator)

Booktalk: On the last day of vacation, Mia finds something special on the beach–a mermaid’s shoes!

When she puts them on her feet, she knows she has found her true identity. She’s really a mermaid! She makes her own mermaid’s tail and goes on a quest to find a place to fulfill her destiny. Is it the local aquarium? Maybe the river that runs through the town? In the end, this mermaid finds the perfect place to perch.

Snippet:
Mia still wore her mermaid shoes as she fell asleep. Her dreams flowed with friends from the sea. Fantastic fish with spots and stripes swam around her. One even looked like a horse.

Six Traits Mini Lesson

Trait: Sentence Fluency After Mia finds the swim fins at the beach, she puts them on and wears them throughout the story, even when she goes to sleep!

Mia still wore her mermaid shoes as she fell asleep.

After she falls asleep, we see her dreams–in the words–and in the art on the page.

Her dreams flowed with friends from the sea. Fantastic fish with spots and stripes swam around her. One even looked like a horse.

Trait: Word Choice The details of her dreams flow in the art and in the words. Notice the use of alliteration here. The two middle sentences use words that begin with f and then words that begin with with s, both sounds that the sea makes.

Her dreams flowed with friends from the sea. Fantastic fish with spots and stripes swam around her.

These alliterative words make the sentences pleasing to read aloud. Sentence fluency and word choice work together with a poet’s touch in this translation from the original Dutch.