In Bear is Scared, Bear, the protagonist, gets lost in the woods, experiences true terror, and is rescued by his small friends. Bear decides to go out and find food one evening, and sets off through the forest. He’s comfortable enough seeing the familiar sights in the light of day. However, when he notices it’s getting dark, he becomes anxious about being out alone. As night falls, he huddles into himself and listens as the sounds of the woods make him increasingly frightened. He is so scared, he can’t move from his spot. Meanwhile, his small friends take note of his absence and, knowing he’ll be frightened, worry he won’t make it home alone. They set off in search of him. They find him a short distance from the cave, and bring him back. Once home, they curl up and listen to his recounted misadventure, and fall asleep. In the presence of his friends, Bear finally feels safe and content.
Katarina, this is a precise summary. You’ll find when we talk about analysis that one way to enhance an “angle” is to think thematically. I was drawn to your note about “true terror.” What would this paragraph look like if your angle was, “Bear must learn how to deal with true terror.” Then, your examples would require analysis and explanation. How do you know he was terrified? Why does it matter that he was terrified? Etc.
Something to think about for our next class. Until then,
DW
The little girl has taken great care of her old dog Lulu, but she knows that it is old and ill and soon to die. They buried the dog in the backyard, but the little girl had not said her goodbyes to Lulu for a couple months because she too had been scared. She admitted “I wanted to say goodbye, but I was afraid, too.” showing her emotions toward the dog. She later got a new puppy and was able to find out that she can make room for both the new puppy and old Lulu. The way the narrator shows emotions in the reading is through the drawing and coloring, the tone and texture of the drawings express a sad mood when the little girls dog had died.
Hi Mentor, a couple of suggestions here– you start this post without identifying what the title of the text is. It’s always a good idea to give context. Additionally, your sentences feel disconnected here. I’m not sure how the sentence about her being scared is related to making room for a new puppy. I wonder if the reason for this disconnection is your main idea sentence is not focused enough. What if your angle was an interpretation of the book and not a statement of what happens.
In Bear is Scared, Bear, the protagonist, gets lost in the woods and becomes frightened, but is rescued by his small friends. Bear decides to go out and find food one evening, and sets off through the forest. In the light of day, he’s comfortable with walking around. However, once he notices it’s getting dark, he becomes anxious about being out alone. As night falls, he huddles into himself and listens as the sounds of the woods make him increasingly frightened. Meanwhile, his small friends take note of his absence and, knowing he’ll be scared, worry he won’t make it home alone. They light a lamp and set off in search of him. They find him a short distance from the cave, and bring him back. Once home, they curl up and listen to his recounted misadventure, and fall asleep. In the presence of his friends, Bear finally feels safe and content.
“Bree finds a friend” is a book that explains what children normally do when they are out with their other peers. They like do the monkeys bars. Like the book said Johanna and Maude did the monkey bar. Children also like to to explore their surroundings. In the book Bree explored her surroundings to find a worm. This even made her more curious for her to explore more. She explored till she taught she had found the whole worm’s family.
Thanks Prince. You’re right, the book is about children and friendships. I wonder if your second and third sentence are too repetitive. “They like to do monkey bars” is the same as Johanna and Maude did the monkey bar. What if you combined these sentences– Johanna and Maude did the monkey bars. Then, you can reflect on the significance of this example. I’m sure you felt there was nothing more to say about such an obvious statement like “J and M do monkey bars.” but you can explain in many ways– talk about why this moment is important, talk about what this moment proves, tell the reader what about this moment is important to you.
In “Bear Feels Scared”, a brown bear is able to cope with his fears with the help of his woodland friends. The bear is lost and a storm has started, which frightens the bear. Even though so close to it’s home, it can’t go on. Fortunately, the bear’s friends are worried about the bear. They fear that bear was caught in the storm and had gotten lost. As they are bear’s good friends, they search for him and comfort him so that he is not alone in the storm and bear appreciates their concern. This story tries to instill a standard for friendship when coming to terms with personal obstacles. Your friends may not always be there, but if they feel concerned for your well-being they may come to help you.
The children’s story “Saying Goodbye to Lulu” is about a little girl coming to terms with the impending death of her beloved pet dog. The story takes you through Lulu’s last days and how she slowly loses all motor skills and senses. When offered a replacement for after Lulu dies the narrator refuses and says she would prefer Lulu as she used to be. The narrator then takes us down memory lane of all the things she and lulu used to do together. Once Lulu passes the narrator wants to say goodbye but finds it hard. Its not until her family plants a tree over Lulu’s grave that she is able to say the words that she have been holding in. She then gets a new puppy and acknowledges that though it isn’t Lulu she sill loves it the all same .
Great work here Jalysa. I especially like your angle, “coming to terms with death.” Because this is your angle, you might’ve linked all of your examples to “coming to terms.” For instance, how does a replacement dog offer her a chance to come to terms with death?
“Goodbye to Lulu” is about a dog who is sick and is eventually going to died; however, in the story the little girl was close to her. In the beginning of the story the girl (daughter of the parents who were the owner) who was close to her dog. In the story the daughter would give Lulu commands and he wasn’t able to do it. For example, she use to say “Lulu go get the ball after she threw it” and he wasn’t able to do it. Lulu was so sick that he wasn’t able to do nothing for herself and participate in family activities. The little was sad and didn’t know how to react to the situation of her dog condition. As time went by the little girl was hopeful of a full recovery of the dog but, it never happen and the dog died.
Thanks Johnnie. I wonder if the angle here is the progression of Lulu’s illness. Your examples all focus on Lulu’s fatigue and weakness, so it makes sense to have an angle that highlights this. Something like Goodbye to Lulu illustrates the painful process of dying.
Grammatically, I want you to work on crafting shorter sentences. Go back to this piece for example and see if you can take some of your longer sentences and shorten them. I usually end sentences if I feel I’ve shifted focus a bit, but another reason to end a sentence is if grammatically you need to. Find out more about this here: https://english121.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2017/08/16/grammar-series-sentence-structure/
Harriet the Spy is about a little girl who spends a lot of time with a nanny called Old Golly since her parents are always busy. Through this, and her aspirations to one day become a novelist, she gets into writing her thoughts and feelings into a notebook that she keeps with her throughout school. Eventually Ole Golly gets engaged to her boyfriend and cannot be the nanny of Harriet. And after that Harriet drops her book in a game of tag and her two best friends Janie and Sport open and read the book. In the book itself there are a lot of mean things about Harriet’s two best friends which causes her two friends to feel betrayed and want to get revenge. So her two best friends or now ex-best friends get together with other kids to get revenge on Harriet. At this point Harriet is depressed because her parents cannot hang out with her, her nanny is away, and she lost her two best friends. This causes Harriet to become a bit anti social and only write in her book. This causes her grades to drop because she only cares about writing in her book. Eventually her parents notice this and cannot seem to understand why this is happening to Harriet so they take her book away so she can focus on school. This just makes the situation worse so they get Harriet to visit a psychiatrist who tells her parents to get Ole Golly to write a note to Harriet. Ole Golly sends a note to Harriet that says if her friends find her book Harriet needs to do one of two things, either apologize or lie to them. Meanwhile their were two people who assigned themselves as leaders of the club that bullies Harriet but Janie and Sport hate being bossed around so they leave the club. When Harriet goes to school, her and her parents visit the principal. Through this meeting, Harriet is appointed the school editor of the newspaper which works very well. Harriet also prints an apology to her best friends which Janie and Sport accept the apology.
Thanks Christian, you start off strong with a focus on Golly and busy parents, but then you shift focus in your second sentence by talking about her aspirations. How are her aspirations related to Golly? If you’re trying to say Golly instilled her love of writing, why not make THAT the angle? If your focus is on Golly and writing, then some of the examples here would probably go or need explanation. For instance, how does the reading of her book relate to her aspirations and Golly?
Bree Finds A Friend by Mike Huber focuses on the idea of friendships when we are children. In his book, children play on the playground together while Bree was “playing by herself” (Huber 4). Essentially, Bree is seems like someone who likes to keep to herself or finds it difficult creating friendships with other children. However, once she finds a worm, a girl, Johanna, from the playground joins her and they both begin digging for more worms until they find a “whole family of worms” (Huber 9). Both Johanna and Bree’s interest in digging for worms sparks a friendship and are seen hand in hand walking into the distance. Essentially, children are curious and innocent, however, they know what their interests are. Bree was alone in the beginning but soon was joined by someone who had similar interests to her therefore they became friends. Ultimately, children know who to become friends with according to their interests.
Thanks Rebeca, three things– 1) great angle! Focusing on friendship as an idea is interesting because she does realize friendship can happen at the strangest of moments. 2) Careful of repeating “essentially.” It’s like saying “obviously.” Nothing is obvious, and unless you’re rephrasing a really complicated sentence, essentially is not needed. 3) I wonder if you’re angle is also your final sentence– “children know who to become friends with according to their interests.”
In the book “saying goodbye to lulu” talked about how a little girl had dog for a long time and that his life came to an end. this shows that not all the time you going to have something. so through the book she explains the thing she used to like about him and what they did together.for example like him taking her sweater . After the day came it was hard for her to say goodbye to him cause she just cried. all she kept remembering the moments they had looking at pictures . she didn’t want no other dog. so she planted a tree to remember him and that the new dog wont replace him.
Thanks Anabel, a couple of things– look up verbs to use instead of “talked about.” A couple I can name right now are illustrated, showed, discussed, etc. Additionally, capitalize the first letter of a sentence.
Your angle is clear– it’s about a girl watching her dog die; however, I do think you might’ve picked a more specific angle. It might be in this sentence you write here: so she planted a tree to remember him and that the new dog wont replace him
What if the angle was “Saying Goodbye to Lulu” is about a girl coming to grips with moving on?
“The Mouth with a Mind of it’s own” by Patricia L Morvine is about a child named Matthew who struggles with his speech. Throughout the story, we see Matthew’s thoughts on what he wants to say but when he says it, it’s misinterpreted as something else. What stood out to me was how Matthew’s problems can be related to real world problems like opinions. A person with no speech impediment can also think something but when it’s said, it can be interpreted in any way the person views it. I believe the target audience to be children who are learning how to speak and express their thoughts but the story has a deeper message that might be noticed by older readers. The message it conveys is that when our ideas are shared, there might be some who don’t see it the way you do because they might not fully understand it or they might have their own opinion on it and that’s okay. Morvine wants readers to express their ideas but also understand why it might not be interpreted the way you meant, the author wants the reader to know what they’re saying in order to understand the world around them. Throughout the story, Matthew says things that make sense to him as shown by his thoughts but he doesn’t notice how they are expressed, which leaves him confused and frustrated when no one understands.
Thanks Bryan. What a thoughtful post. I was especially moved by this sentence: The message it conveys is that when our ideas are shared, there might be some who don’t see it the way you do because they might not fully understand it or they might have their own opinion on it and that’s okay.
I wonder if that really is your angle. If it is, you might provide examples where Matthew struggles to be understood and how the book makes it clear that being misunderstood is still okay.
The children’s book “Bree Finds a Friend” is about the events that occur to Bree during playtime that give way to her making a new friend. Bree is digging alone and finds a worm in which she believes that this worm is her new friend but she figures out that there is more than one way to make new friends. For example finding a worm that was nice and not harmful to her made her feel like she could be friends with the worm, but when Johanna came to help her dig she became friends with her too. The worm made Bree smile and laugh because it was tickling her hand while she held it and Johanna’s common interest in digging for more worms with Bree made her feel good that another person was doing the same as her. Johanna’s actions gave Bree the understanding that by sharing something they do together and have fun doing together they are now new friends with each other. Overall the book promotes to children that you can make different friends in more than one way.
Bree finds a friend”.
starting a friendship can be in so many different ways. At times people become friends through the funniest ways ever just like Bree. In the story “Bree finds a friend” many of the kids initially were playing with some friends they had some interest in the same things in common with. for example, Michi and Jayden were playing chase, Rita and Curtis played ice cream shop, Johana and maunde also played monkey bars whilst Bree played alone because she had no friends. so sitting alone, the idle hand found something to do which was digging the garden not knowing she would gain an interest in finding worms . It happened that Johana did not only have interest in monkey bars but also had interest in in the worms just like Bree which made them became friends.
in conclusion , we all have some differences that make us different from each other. Here, we can meet friends in ways we don’t expect. this is because friendship can develop through interest in certain things.
Bree finds a friend”.
starting a friendship can be in so many different ways. **Is this the title of your post? If not, you’re missing a subject— who is starting a friendship?
At times people become friends through the funniest ways ever just like Bree. **I agree, I think this is your angle– your main idea sentence. Also note, when you use transitional phrases like “at times” you should have a comma afterwards.
In the story “Bree finds a friend” many of the kids initially were playing with some friends they had some interest in the same things in common with. **careful of wordiness. Same things and in common with are the same thing. You need to use one of those phrases not both.
for example, Michi and Jayden were playing chase, Rita and Curtis played ice cream shop, Johana and maunde also played monkey bars whilst Bree played alone because she had no friends. **I think this is a great example until you get to Bree playing alone. How is this an example of “common things?” Might you analyze the examples of people playing together FIRST and then offer a new example of Bree playing alone and explain her meeting with a new friend to flesh out your idea about common things?
“Saying Goodbye to Lulu” is about a girl who learns to cope with her feelings of a loved one (Lulu the dog) passing. Lulu was at her final stage of life and the little girl was not ready for what was to come. For example, the girl says “I wanted to say goodbye to Lulu, but all I could do was cry instead” (Corrine 18). The girl grew up with Lulu all her life and initially it was difficult for her to adjust back to life without her. Crying is the little girl’s way of letting go of her emotions as it was the only thing she knew to do. When spring came, the girl planted a cherry tree and flowers by Lulu’s grave to cherish her memories with Lulu. When the flowers grew and the tree blossomed, the little girl was finally able to say the words “Goodbye, Lulu” (Corrine 21). Coping takes time that varies for everyone, especially for a little girl.
Excellent Fathima! I appreciate your emphasis on COPING. Did you notice, your summary also teaches readers whether they should buy this book. Based on your summary, I’d say this book is great for teaching kids about grief. That’s purely because of your concise angle and support.
Goodbye To Lulu is emotional children book that it show us how hard is to let go something that you have known or seen your whole life. For example, lulu was part of the family since the little girl was born it was so hard to see lulu to get old and sick but, not only that to watch her dead, lulu was more as part of the family. The little girl did not wanted another dog because when you lose someone it is hard to replace that person or thing. Not to long ago I lot loved my grandmother and she meet the world to me because I saw since I was little girl and she used to show me love and play just like Lulu used to do it with the little girl still it have been hard to see her gone but, just like the little girl at the end understood Lulu was going to be part of her forever I also, understood that my grandmother is going to be part of my Heart. We do not wanted to see our loved ones to suffer.
Thank you Reina. I appreciated the way you offer personal testimony to explain the significance of loss in the little girl’s life. That was powerful. Here’s a grammatical thing we should work on:
Goodbye To Lulu is emotional children book that it show us how hard is to let go something that you have known or seen your whole life.
Review articles. When you’re referring to a singular thing, you want to use A/AN. As in, “an emotional…book.”
Review possessive rules. If you have two nouns together, there’s a possibility one belongs to another. The Book is FOR children, therefore it is a children’s book.
Be careful with “it”. You say IT shows us, but because your subject is Goodbye to Lulu and we’re still following that train of thought, the it is not necessary and confusing. “Goodbye to Lulu is an emotional children’s book that shows us how hard…”
Remember the difference between IS and IT. IT is a subject, IS is a helping verb…
The children’s book ” The Mouth with a Mind of It’s Own” by Patricia L. Mervine was about a little boy named Matthew who had a speech problem. Matthew was entering the school year and his 1st road bump was his speech problem. He starts to notice that every time he spoke, his words didn’t match what his mind was telling him. Page 2, Matthew was asked his named and instead of saying Matthew he replies “Mah-yoo”. As the story begins to heighten the teacher realizes Matthew has a speech problem. As a resolution she sends Matthew to get help from the schools speech pathologist. Week after week Matthew starts to see how to manage his mouth and how it operates. Matthew starts to realize with every letter the mouth does various movements. Matthew started getting better at the letter to mouth movements game Mrs.Hicks would throw at him. By the end of the school year Matthew had mastered moving his mouth to fix his words. Matthew can now speak exactly what he wants to say
You’ve got one part of the summary down here and that is exploring important aspects of the text. What’s missing though is an angle. You’ve told your reader about what happens in the book, but I have no sense of what you’re interested in, what you want to zoom in on, what you want to focus on. I think you have an interest in the teacher’s relationship to Matthew, but you’d want to clarify that in your first sentence.
The bear feels scared is a book based on the compassion of a group of friends concerned about the bear lost in the woods. For example, when they were all gathered in the cave worried about the storm and the bear not being home yet. They began to prepare and equip themselves to go out to the woods and find their missing friend. Also we can see how they although being just friends they treated each other like family and were willing to do as much as it was necessary to secure there friend lost in the woods. Joy came upon all of them as they went back to the cave and shared stories and slept for the rest of the night.
Great work here Saul. I think there’s a sentence missing between lost in woods and Joy came upon all of them…maybe a mention of bear’s rescue? I’d also end with a repeating of your original angle– compassion and concern. How are those ideas related to joy?
Bear Feels Scared can show children that it can be scary to go out alone without the knowledge of where you need to go. The main character, who is the bear, leaves his lair at night without his friends. He explores the woods, and then gets lost. Meanwhile, he suffers harsh weather, and becomes terrified. He does not find any joy with being alone in bad weather, since “he longs for a friend” and also wails “poor me!” As a result of being lost, the bear’s friends try their best to look for him. Good friends should keep their friends out of suffering.
I’m with you until the last sentence. Before the last sentence, your focus is on bear, knowledge, and fear. GREAT! Your last sentence though presents a totally new idea about good friends and suffering. How are good friends related to “knowledge of where you need to go.” Perhaps creating that link will make this last sentence stronger and more in line with your angle.
The Mouth With a Mind of Its Own by Patricia L. Mervine talks about a child name Matthew who is growing up and learns to speak but he can not speak properly at school because his teacher and his classmates does not understand what he is trying to say when he is speaking. Matthew has disability in speaking. For example, the author states “Let’s get to know each other,” said the teacher to the class. “Does anyone have a pet?” Matthew raised his hand “I have a dog,” he thought, but “I abbagog,” Said his mouth.” This quote means that Matthew is having trouble in speaking. Before he starts speaking, he thinks about what he is going say and in his mind he knows how say the sentence but when he speaks with his teacher, Matthew can not say the sentence properly.
Hi Aktia, I think your first and second sentence could be condensed. You’re right to focus on Matthew’s speech impediment, I just wonder if it’s too obvious of an angle. What is the book saying about speech impediments? Consider asking this question whenever you summarize a text. X is about Y, but what is it Saying about Y. That might become a more interpretive angle to work from.
The main idea of the ”Bear Feels Scared” by Karma Wilson & Jane Chapman is to illustrate that we might reach a dark place in life where we feel confused however there’s always people, meaning family and friends, that are there to support and help us find a solution. ”Wren tweets from his perch, We all must search! What about if Bear feels scared?” (pag. 15). This shows that his friends are concern about what happened to him but also they are asking themselves how he might be feeling and they continue later on, ”The friends bundle up and begin to prepare. They form a search party for their lost friend Bear” (pag. 16). This reinforces the idea that we are not alone and the people who cares about us will always gives us a hand even when we feel that there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. The overall voice of the authors in the narrative is about hope, caring about each other and supporting love ones.
Fabulous job Estefania. I only suggest doing more analysis of your examples. Maybe talking about word choice. For instance, the use of “must” emphasizes the obligation his friends feel to look for him. Of course, for a short writing exercise, we didn’t have time to do too much analysis, but for your literacy narrative maybe, opt to explore examples by investigating words, illustrations, tone.
The children’s book “Bear feels scared” by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman is about a bear who went out to the deep, dark woods by Strawberry Vale and in his process of going back home he faced a storm in which his friends had to help rescue him. While Bear was stuck in the storm his friends started to worry. They said things like “It is late” or There’s a storm!” So the friends decided to bundle up and they formed a search party to find their lost friend Bear. They were able to find Bear ten feet from his lair. All of his friends gather together to fill him with hugs and calm him as much as they can. After finding him, all of them clustered in a heap and were together through the night to help bear feel as safe as before.
Hi Yarielid,
You’ve got one part of the summary down here and that is exploring important aspects of the text. What’s missing though is an angle. You’ve told your reader about what happens in the book, but I have no sense of what you’re interested in, what you want to zoom in on, what you want to focus on. I think you have an interest in the friends based on the last couple of sentences, but you might clarify this in your first sentence. For instance, “Bear Feels Scared” illustrates the importance of friendship.
Harriet the spy is about a 11 year old girl that faces struggles in her early life due to her love for writing. From the very beginning Harriet’s parents were not supportive of her and had difficulty understanding her feelings. Harriet always had her notebook with her in which she uses to write down her observations and thoughts throughout her days. One day while playing tag Harriet loses her notebook which contains Harriet’s brutal honest opinions about her friends and peers that caused some turmoil. This causes her friends and peers to neglect and bully her at school Harriet becomes depressed and in turn starts neglecting schoolwork and going to school and instead focuses on writing in her notebook. Harriet’s parents worsen her depression by taking her notebook away and bringing her to a psychiatrist. However, this is ineffective because Harriet’s nanny Golly was Harriet’s only supporter from the beginning and was the only person she can open up to but she left due to her marriage proposal. However, even though writing has caused turmoil in her life she also uses writing to fix her mistakes and turmoil in her life.
Thanks Kemar. Your focus is on the troubles writing brings Harriet which is great! I just wonder if you might clarify the relationship Harriet’s troubles have to her parents. How is their unsupportive behavior related to her writing troubles? Once that’s clarified, this becomes a well-angled, cohesive paragraph.
Summary of mouth with a mind of its own by Patricia L. Mervine.
This text Patricia Mervine is about a student Mathew who has speech problem. The student pronounces incorrectly to what she thinks. She is even not able to say her name. Instead of Mathew she says Mah yoo. The first day of class, the teacher did not figure out her speech impairment and he tells her that she is in the wrong class. At the recess, other students come to her and ask what she likes, but sorry themselves and go away from him because they conclude that she does not speak English. Finally Mathew feels lonely and frustrated. When the teacher knew Mathew speech difficulties the following day, he provides her special class and Mathew anxiety is semi-solved.
Hi Pende. Your focus is on Matthew’s speech issue. That’s good, but do you think you might focus this summary even more. Is your interest just his speech issue? Or is it the process of the teacher finding out about this speech issue?
Also, grammatically, let’s spend some time practicing possessive/apostrophe. When you say Matthew speech difficulties or Matthew anxiety, you’re indicating the difficulties and anxiety belonged to Matthew. If this is the same, then you need to place an apostrophe and an -s- after Matthew. Matthew’s difficulties.
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In Bear is Scared, Bear, the protagonist, gets lost in the woods, experiences true terror, and is rescued by his small friends. Bear decides to go out and find food one evening, and sets off through the forest. He’s comfortable enough seeing the familiar sights in the light of day. However, when he notices it’s getting dark, he becomes anxious about being out alone. As night falls, he huddles into himself and listens as the sounds of the woods make him increasingly frightened. He is so scared, he can’t move from his spot. Meanwhile, his small friends take note of his absence and, knowing he’ll be frightened, worry he won’t make it home alone. They set off in search of him. They find him a short distance from the cave, and bring him back. Once home, they curl up and listen to his recounted misadventure, and fall asleep. In the presence of his friends, Bear finally feels safe and content.
Katarina, this is a precise summary. You’ll find when we talk about analysis that one way to enhance an “angle” is to think thematically. I was drawn to your note about “true terror.” What would this paragraph look like if your angle was, “Bear must learn how to deal with true terror.” Then, your examples would require analysis and explanation. How do you know he was terrified? Why does it matter that he was terrified? Etc.
Something to think about for our next class. Until then,
DW
The little girl has taken great care of her old dog Lulu, but she knows that it is old and ill and soon to die. They buried the dog in the backyard, but the little girl had not said her goodbyes to Lulu for a couple months because she too had been scared. She admitted “I wanted to say goodbye, but I was afraid, too.” showing her emotions toward the dog. She later got a new puppy and was able to find out that she can make room for both the new puppy and old Lulu. The way the narrator shows emotions in the reading is through the drawing and coloring, the tone and texture of the drawings express a sad mood when the little girls dog had died.
Hi Mentor, a couple of suggestions here– you start this post without identifying what the title of the text is. It’s always a good idea to give context. Additionally, your sentences feel disconnected here. I’m not sure how the sentence about her being scared is related to making room for a new puppy. I wonder if the reason for this disconnection is your main idea sentence is not focused enough. What if your angle was an interpretation of the book and not a statement of what happens.
DW
In Bear is Scared, Bear, the protagonist, gets lost in the woods and becomes frightened, but is rescued by his small friends. Bear decides to go out and find food one evening, and sets off through the forest. In the light of day, he’s comfortable with walking around. However, once he notices it’s getting dark, he becomes anxious about being out alone. As night falls, he huddles into himself and listens as the sounds of the woods make him increasingly frightened. Meanwhile, his small friends take note of his absence and, knowing he’ll be scared, worry he won’t make it home alone. They light a lamp and set off in search of him. They find him a short distance from the cave, and bring him back. Once home, they curl up and listen to his recounted misadventure, and fall asleep. In the presence of his friends, Bear finally feels safe and content.
“Bree finds a friend” is a book that explains what children normally do when they are out with their other peers. They like do the monkeys bars. Like the book said Johanna and Maude did the monkey bar. Children also like to to explore their surroundings. In the book Bree explored her surroundings to find a worm. This even made her more curious for her to explore more. She explored till she taught she had found the whole worm’s family.
Thanks Prince. You’re right, the book is about children and friendships. I wonder if your second and third sentence are too repetitive. “They like to do monkey bars” is the same as Johanna and Maude did the monkey bar. What if you combined these sentences– Johanna and Maude did the monkey bars. Then, you can reflect on the significance of this example. I’m sure you felt there was nothing more to say about such an obvious statement like “J and M do monkey bars.” but you can explain in many ways– talk about why this moment is important, talk about what this moment proves, tell the reader what about this moment is important to you.
DW
In “Bear Feels Scared”, a brown bear is able to cope with his fears with the help of his woodland friends. The bear is lost and a storm has started, which frightens the bear. Even though so close to it’s home, it can’t go on. Fortunately, the bear’s friends are worried about the bear. They fear that bear was caught in the storm and had gotten lost. As they are bear’s good friends, they search for him and comfort him so that he is not alone in the storm and bear appreciates their concern. This story tries to instill a standard for friendship when coming to terms with personal obstacles. Your friends may not always be there, but if they feel concerned for your well-being they may come to help you.
YESSS!!! Angle- check, examples-check, analysis-check check.
Wonderful work here. I wonder if you’ll use a children’s book in developing your own literacy narrative?
DW
The children’s story “Saying Goodbye to Lulu” is about a little girl coming to terms with the impending death of her beloved pet dog. The story takes you through Lulu’s last days and how she slowly loses all motor skills and senses. When offered a replacement for after Lulu dies the narrator refuses and says she would prefer Lulu as she used to be. The narrator then takes us down memory lane of all the things she and lulu used to do together. Once Lulu passes the narrator wants to say goodbye but finds it hard. Its not until her family plants a tree over Lulu’s grave that she is able to say the words that she have been holding in. She then gets a new puppy and acknowledges that though it isn’t Lulu she sill loves it the all same .
Great work here Jalysa. I especially like your angle, “coming to terms with death.” Because this is your angle, you might’ve linked all of your examples to “coming to terms.” For instance, how does a replacement dog offer her a chance to come to terms with death?
DW
“Goodbye to Lulu” is about a dog who is sick and is eventually going to died; however, in the story the little girl was close to her. In the beginning of the story the girl (daughter of the parents who were the owner) who was close to her dog. In the story the daughter would give Lulu commands and he wasn’t able to do it. For example, she use to say “Lulu go get the ball after she threw it” and he wasn’t able to do it. Lulu was so sick that he wasn’t able to do nothing for herself and participate in family activities. The little was sad and didn’t know how to react to the situation of her dog condition. As time went by the little girl was hopeful of a full recovery of the dog but, it never happen and the dog died.
Thanks Johnnie. I wonder if the angle here is the progression of Lulu’s illness. Your examples all focus on Lulu’s fatigue and weakness, so it makes sense to have an angle that highlights this. Something like Goodbye to Lulu illustrates the painful process of dying.
Grammatically, I want you to work on crafting shorter sentences. Go back to this piece for example and see if you can take some of your longer sentences and shorten them. I usually end sentences if I feel I’ve shifted focus a bit, but another reason to end a sentence is if grammatically you need to. Find out more about this here: https://english121.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2017/08/16/grammar-series-sentence-structure/
Harriet the Spy is about a little girl who spends a lot of time with a nanny called Old Golly since her parents are always busy. Through this, and her aspirations to one day become a novelist, she gets into writing her thoughts and feelings into a notebook that she keeps with her throughout school. Eventually Ole Golly gets engaged to her boyfriend and cannot be the nanny of Harriet. And after that Harriet drops her book in a game of tag and her two best friends Janie and Sport open and read the book. In the book itself there are a lot of mean things about Harriet’s two best friends which causes her two friends to feel betrayed and want to get revenge. So her two best friends or now ex-best friends get together with other kids to get revenge on Harriet. At this point Harriet is depressed because her parents cannot hang out with her, her nanny is away, and she lost her two best friends. This causes Harriet to become a bit anti social and only write in her book. This causes her grades to drop because she only cares about writing in her book. Eventually her parents notice this and cannot seem to understand why this is happening to Harriet so they take her book away so she can focus on school. This just makes the situation worse so they get Harriet to visit a psychiatrist who tells her parents to get Ole Golly to write a note to Harriet. Ole Golly sends a note to Harriet that says if her friends find her book Harriet needs to do one of two things, either apologize or lie to them. Meanwhile their were two people who assigned themselves as leaders of the club that bullies Harriet but Janie and Sport hate being bossed around so they leave the club. When Harriet goes to school, her and her parents visit the principal. Through this meeting, Harriet is appointed the school editor of the newspaper which works very well. Harriet also prints an apology to her best friends which Janie and Sport accept the apology.
Thanks Christian, you start off strong with a focus on Golly and busy parents, but then you shift focus in your second sentence by talking about her aspirations. How are her aspirations related to Golly? If you’re trying to say Golly instilled her love of writing, why not make THAT the angle? If your focus is on Golly and writing, then some of the examples here would probably go or need explanation. For instance, how does the reading of her book relate to her aspirations and Golly?
DW
Bree Finds A Friend by Mike Huber focuses on the idea of friendships when we are children. In his book, children play on the playground together while Bree was “playing by herself” (Huber 4). Essentially, Bree is seems like someone who likes to keep to herself or finds it difficult creating friendships with other children. However, once she finds a worm, a girl, Johanna, from the playground joins her and they both begin digging for more worms until they find a “whole family of worms” (Huber 9). Both Johanna and Bree’s interest in digging for worms sparks a friendship and are seen hand in hand walking into the distance. Essentially, children are curious and innocent, however, they know what their interests are. Bree was alone in the beginning but soon was joined by someone who had similar interests to her therefore they became friends. Ultimately, children know who to become friends with according to their interests.
Thanks Rebeca, three things– 1) great angle! Focusing on friendship as an idea is interesting because she does realize friendship can happen at the strangest of moments. 2) Careful of repeating “essentially.” It’s like saying “obviously.” Nothing is obvious, and unless you’re rephrasing a really complicated sentence, essentially is not needed. 3) I wonder if you’re angle is also your final sentence– “children know who to become friends with according to their interests.”
DW
In the book “saying goodbye to lulu” talked about how a little girl had dog for a long time and that his life came to an end. this shows that not all the time you going to have something. so through the book she explains the thing she used to like about him and what they did together.for example like him taking her sweater . After the day came it was hard for her to say goodbye to him cause she just cried. all she kept remembering the moments they had looking at pictures . she didn’t want no other dog. so she planted a tree to remember him and that the new dog wont replace him.
Thanks Anabel, a couple of things– look up verbs to use instead of “talked about.” A couple I can name right now are illustrated, showed, discussed, etc. Additionally, capitalize the first letter of a sentence.
Your angle is clear– it’s about a girl watching her dog die; however, I do think you might’ve picked a more specific angle. It might be in this sentence you write here: so she planted a tree to remember him and that the new dog wont replace him
What if the angle was “Saying Goodbye to Lulu” is about a girl coming to grips with moving on?
DW
“The Mouth with a Mind of it’s own” by Patricia L Morvine is about a child named Matthew who struggles with his speech. Throughout the story, we see Matthew’s thoughts on what he wants to say but when he says it, it’s misinterpreted as something else. What stood out to me was how Matthew’s problems can be related to real world problems like opinions. A person with no speech impediment can also think something but when it’s said, it can be interpreted in any way the person views it. I believe the target audience to be children who are learning how to speak and express their thoughts but the story has a deeper message that might be noticed by older readers. The message it conveys is that when our ideas are shared, there might be some who don’t see it the way you do because they might not fully understand it or they might have their own opinion on it and that’s okay. Morvine wants readers to express their ideas but also understand why it might not be interpreted the way you meant, the author wants the reader to know what they’re saying in order to understand the world around them. Throughout the story, Matthew says things that make sense to him as shown by his thoughts but he doesn’t notice how they are expressed, which leaves him confused and frustrated when no one understands.
Thanks Bryan. What a thoughtful post. I was especially moved by this sentence: The message it conveys is that when our ideas are shared, there might be some who don’t see it the way you do because they might not fully understand it or they might have their own opinion on it and that’s okay.
I wonder if that really is your angle. If it is, you might provide examples where Matthew struggles to be understood and how the book makes it clear that being misunderstood is still okay.
DW
The children’s book “Bree Finds a Friend” is about the events that occur to Bree during playtime that give way to her making a new friend. Bree is digging alone and finds a worm in which she believes that this worm is her new friend but she figures out that there is more than one way to make new friends. For example finding a worm that was nice and not harmful to her made her feel like she could be friends with the worm, but when Johanna came to help her dig she became friends with her too. The worm made Bree smile and laugh because it was tickling her hand while she held it and Johanna’s common interest in digging for more worms with Bree made her feel good that another person was doing the same as her. Johanna’s actions gave Bree the understanding that by sharing something they do together and have fun doing together they are now new friends with each other. Overall the book promotes to children that you can make different friends in more than one way.
Bree finds a friend”.
starting a friendship can be in so many different ways. At times people become friends through the funniest ways ever just like Bree. In the story “Bree finds a friend” many of the kids initially were playing with some friends they had some interest in the same things in common with. for example, Michi and Jayden were playing chase, Rita and Curtis played ice cream shop, Johana and maunde also played monkey bars whilst Bree played alone because she had no friends. so sitting alone, the idle hand found something to do which was digging the garden not knowing she would gain an interest in finding worms . It happened that Johana did not only have interest in monkey bars but also had interest in in the worms just like Bree which made them became friends.
in conclusion , we all have some differences that make us different from each other. Here, we can meet friends in ways we don’t expect. this is because friendship can develop through interest in certain things.
Thanks Israel. Here are some notes:
Bree finds a friend”.
starting a friendship can be in so many different ways. **Is this the title of your post? If not, you’re missing a subject— who is starting a friendship?
At times people become friends through the funniest ways ever just like Bree. **I agree, I think this is your angle– your main idea sentence. Also note, when you use transitional phrases like “at times” you should have a comma afterwards.
In the story “Bree finds a friend” many of the kids initially were playing with some friends they had some interest in the same things in common with. **careful of wordiness. Same things and in common with are the same thing. You need to use one of those phrases not both.
for example, Michi and Jayden were playing chase, Rita and Curtis played ice cream shop, Johana and maunde also played monkey bars whilst Bree played alone because she had no friends. **I think this is a great example until you get to Bree playing alone. How is this an example of “common things?” Might you analyze the examples of people playing together FIRST and then offer a new example of Bree playing alone and explain her meeting with a new friend to flesh out your idea about common things?
DW
“Saying Goodbye to Lulu” is about a girl who learns to cope with her feelings of a loved one (Lulu the dog) passing. Lulu was at her final stage of life and the little girl was not ready for what was to come. For example, the girl says “I wanted to say goodbye to Lulu, but all I could do was cry instead” (Corrine 18). The girl grew up with Lulu all her life and initially it was difficult for her to adjust back to life without her. Crying is the little girl’s way of letting go of her emotions as it was the only thing she knew to do. When spring came, the girl planted a cherry tree and flowers by Lulu’s grave to cherish her memories with Lulu. When the flowers grew and the tree blossomed, the little girl was finally able to say the words “Goodbye, Lulu” (Corrine 21). Coping takes time that varies for everyone, especially for a little girl.
Excellent Fathima! I appreciate your emphasis on COPING. Did you notice, your summary also teaches readers whether they should buy this book. Based on your summary, I’d say this book is great for teaching kids about grief. That’s purely because of your concise angle and support.
DW
Goodbye To Lulu is emotional children book that it show us how hard is to let go something that you have known or seen your whole life. For example, lulu was part of the family since the little girl was born it was so hard to see lulu to get old and sick but, not only that to watch her dead, lulu was more as part of the family. The little girl did not wanted another dog because when you lose someone it is hard to replace that person or thing. Not to long ago I lot loved my grandmother and she meet the world to me because I saw since I was little girl and she used to show me love and play just like Lulu used to do it with the little girl still it have been hard to see her gone but, just like the little girl at the end understood Lulu was going to be part of her forever I also, understood that my grandmother is going to be part of my Heart. We do not wanted to see our loved ones to suffer.
Thank you Reina. I appreciated the way you offer personal testimony to explain the significance of loss in the little girl’s life. That was powerful. Here’s a grammatical thing we should work on:
Goodbye To Lulu is emotional children book that it show us how hard is to let go something that you have known or seen your whole life.
Review articles. When you’re referring to a singular thing, you want to use A/AN. As in, “an emotional…book.”
Review possessive rules. If you have two nouns together, there’s a possibility one belongs to another. The Book is FOR children, therefore it is a children’s book.
Be careful with “it”. You say IT shows us, but because your subject is Goodbye to Lulu and we’re still following that train of thought, the it is not necessary and confusing. “Goodbye to Lulu is an emotional children’s book that shows us how hard…”
Remember the difference between IS and IT. IT is a subject, IS is a helping verb…
DW
The children’s book ” The Mouth with a Mind of It’s Own” by Patricia L. Mervine was about a little boy named Matthew who had a speech problem. Matthew was entering the school year and his 1st road bump was his speech problem. He starts to notice that every time he spoke, his words didn’t match what his mind was telling him. Page 2, Matthew was asked his named and instead of saying Matthew he replies “Mah-yoo”. As the story begins to heighten the teacher realizes Matthew has a speech problem. As a resolution she sends Matthew to get help from the schools speech pathologist. Week after week Matthew starts to see how to manage his mouth and how it operates. Matthew starts to realize with every letter the mouth does various movements. Matthew started getting better at the letter to mouth movements game Mrs.Hicks would throw at him. By the end of the school year Matthew had mastered moving his mouth to fix his words. Matthew can now speak exactly what he wants to say
You’ve got one part of the summary down here and that is exploring important aspects of the text. What’s missing though is an angle. You’ve told your reader about what happens in the book, but I have no sense of what you’re interested in, what you want to zoom in on, what you want to focus on. I think you have an interest in the teacher’s relationship to Matthew, but you’d want to clarify that in your first sentence.
The bear feels scared is a book based on the compassion of a group of friends concerned about the bear lost in the woods. For example, when they were all gathered in the cave worried about the storm and the bear not being home yet. They began to prepare and equip themselves to go out to the woods and find their missing friend. Also we can see how they although being just friends they treated each other like family and were willing to do as much as it was necessary to secure there friend lost in the woods. Joy came upon all of them as they went back to the cave and shared stories and slept for the rest of the night.
Great work here Saul. I think there’s a sentence missing between lost in woods and Joy came upon all of them…maybe a mention of bear’s rescue? I’d also end with a repeating of your original angle– compassion and concern. How are those ideas related to joy?
DW
Bear Feels Scared can show children that it can be scary to go out alone without the knowledge of where you need to go. The main character, who is the bear, leaves his lair at night without his friends. He explores the woods, and then gets lost. Meanwhile, he suffers harsh weather, and becomes terrified. He does not find any joy with being alone in bad weather, since “he longs for a friend” and also wails “poor me!” As a result of being lost, the bear’s friends try their best to look for him. Good friends should keep their friends out of suffering.
I’m with you until the last sentence. Before the last sentence, your focus is on bear, knowledge, and fear. GREAT! Your last sentence though presents a totally new idea about good friends and suffering. How are good friends related to “knowledge of where you need to go.” Perhaps creating that link will make this last sentence stronger and more in line with your angle.
The Mouth With a Mind of Its Own by Patricia L. Mervine talks about a child name Matthew who is growing up and learns to speak but he can not speak properly at school because his teacher and his classmates does not understand what he is trying to say when he is speaking. Matthew has disability in speaking. For example, the author states “Let’s get to know each other,” said the teacher to the class. “Does anyone have a pet?” Matthew raised his hand “I have a dog,” he thought, but “I abbagog,” Said his mouth.” This quote means that Matthew is having trouble in speaking. Before he starts speaking, he thinks about what he is going say and in his mind he knows how say the sentence but when he speaks with his teacher, Matthew can not say the sentence properly.
Hi Aktia, I think your first and second sentence could be condensed. You’re right to focus on Matthew’s speech impediment, I just wonder if it’s too obvious of an angle. What is the book saying about speech impediments? Consider asking this question whenever you summarize a text. X is about Y, but what is it Saying about Y. That might become a more interpretive angle to work from.
The main idea of the ”Bear Feels Scared” by Karma Wilson & Jane Chapman is to illustrate that we might reach a dark place in life where we feel confused however there’s always people, meaning family and friends, that are there to support and help us find a solution. ”Wren tweets from his perch, We all must search! What about if Bear feels scared?” (pag. 15). This shows that his friends are concern about what happened to him but also they are asking themselves how he might be feeling and they continue later on, ”The friends bundle up and begin to prepare. They form a search party for their lost friend Bear” (pag. 16). This reinforces the idea that we are not alone and the people who cares about us will always gives us a hand even when we feel that there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. The overall voice of the authors in the narrative is about hope, caring about each other and supporting love ones.
Fabulous job Estefania. I only suggest doing more analysis of your examples. Maybe talking about word choice. For instance, the use of “must” emphasizes the obligation his friends feel to look for him. Of course, for a short writing exercise, we didn’t have time to do too much analysis, but for your literacy narrative maybe, opt to explore examples by investigating words, illustrations, tone.
DW
The children’s book “Bear feels scared” by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman is about a bear who went out to the deep, dark woods by Strawberry Vale and in his process of going back home he faced a storm in which his friends had to help rescue him. While Bear was stuck in the storm his friends started to worry. They said things like “It is late” or There’s a storm!” So the friends decided to bundle up and they formed a search party to find their lost friend Bear. They were able to find Bear ten feet from his lair. All of his friends gather together to fill him with hugs and calm him as much as they can. After finding him, all of them clustered in a heap and were together through the night to help bear feel as safe as before.
Hi Yarielid,
You’ve got one part of the summary down here and that is exploring important aspects of the text. What’s missing though is an angle. You’ve told your reader about what happens in the book, but I have no sense of what you’re interested in, what you want to zoom in on, what you want to focus on. I think you have an interest in the friends based on the last couple of sentences, but you might clarify this in your first sentence. For instance, “Bear Feels Scared” illustrates the importance of friendship.
DW
Harriet the spy is about a 11 year old girl that faces struggles in her early life due to her love for writing. From the very beginning Harriet’s parents were not supportive of her and had difficulty understanding her feelings. Harriet always had her notebook with her in which she uses to write down her observations and thoughts throughout her days. One day while playing tag Harriet loses her notebook which contains Harriet’s brutal honest opinions about her friends and peers that caused some turmoil. This causes her friends and peers to neglect and bully her at school Harriet becomes depressed and in turn starts neglecting schoolwork and going to school and instead focuses on writing in her notebook. Harriet’s parents worsen her depression by taking her notebook away and bringing her to a psychiatrist. However, this is ineffective because Harriet’s nanny Golly was Harriet’s only supporter from the beginning and was the only person she can open up to but she left due to her marriage proposal. However, even though writing has caused turmoil in her life she also uses writing to fix her mistakes and turmoil in her life.
Thanks Kemar. Your focus is on the troubles writing brings Harriet which is great! I just wonder if you might clarify the relationship Harriet’s troubles have to her parents. How is their unsupportive behavior related to her writing troubles? Once that’s clarified, this becomes a well-angled, cohesive paragraph.
DW
Summary of mouth with a mind of its own by Patricia L. Mervine.
This text Patricia Mervine is about a student Mathew who has speech problem. The student pronounces incorrectly to what she thinks. She is even not able to say her name. Instead of Mathew she says Mah yoo. The first day of class, the teacher did not figure out her speech impairment and he tells her that she is in the wrong class. At the recess, other students come to her and ask what she likes, but sorry themselves and go away from him because they conclude that she does not speak English. Finally Mathew feels lonely and frustrated. When the teacher knew Mathew speech difficulties the following day, he provides her special class and Mathew anxiety is semi-solved.
Hi Pende. Your focus is on Matthew’s speech issue. That’s good, but do you think you might focus this summary even more. Is your interest just his speech issue? Or is it the process of the teacher finding out about this speech issue?
Also, grammatically, let’s spend some time practicing possessive/apostrophe. When you say Matthew speech difficulties or Matthew anxiety, you’re indicating the difficulties and anxiety belonged to Matthew. If this is the same, then you need to place an apostrophe and an -s- after Matthew. Matthew’s difficulties.