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!
Copyright © 2015 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.