Stormy Night
by Salina Yoon (Author/Illustrator)
Booktalk: When thunder shakes his house and rain pounds the windows, Bear is frightened. But comforting his Mama, Papa, and Floppy helps make the storm seem not so scary. Before Bear knows it, the storm has passed, because even storms need their sleep . . . and so do bears.
Snippet: The wind was whirring, the trees were crackling, and the rain was pounding against the windows.
Six Traits Mini Lesson
Trait: Sentence Fluency Picture books for the preschool age don’t have very many words. As Bear looks out the window on this stormy night, this is the only sentence on this double-paged spread. Bear looks out his bedroom window on the verso (left) page of the spread. On the recto (right) page of the spread, the story text is seen on the outside of the house next to Bear’s window.
Notice the use of threes? The storm is shown in the art and in the words in three different ways.
The wind was whirring,
Young readers can see the wind blowing the trees outside Bear’s window. That’s the first ACTION. Every action leads to a REACTION, one that is shown in the second example:
the trees were crackling
The third example makes the storm complete:
and the rain was pounding against the windows.
TIP: The use of threes in storytelling is a oft-used Western tradition.
Three is considered the perfect number to use in fairy tales, advertising, and public speaking. (Most stories have also three acts!) A pair is not enough and four is a bit too much, but give three examples and the story feels complete.
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