Teacher Thoughts…
Dip into this story to experience a powerful punch of rich, descriptive language. You’ll quickly tuck it into your “go-to” stack of mentor texts to love throughout the elementary grades.
Kids who need models for how to weave description and figurative language into their writing will be inspired by phrases such as:
- “I slipped into the darkness, like icing melting down a hot cake,”
- “The bear smelled like old sock, cinnamon and adventure.”
- “Light began to nibble at the edge of the windows.”
Fantastic action verbs like flutters, scurries, scampers, and rumbled pepper the pages.
Words with multiple meanings, such as rise– related to the moon, bread, and the cat waking up provide opportunities to discuss the subtle nuances of language.
Mystery readers will quickly notice that genre’s lingo, and readers unfamiliar with it will have a positive first exposure.
Lastly, the illustrations are charming and there are ample interesting details that provide rich lessons in how authors rely on pictures to convey meaning.
Kids said…
- This book is a mystery– I hope Muffin will solve more cases and write about them!
- Look at the pages at the very beginning and at the end– do you see what happened?!?
- This author used a LOT of description and comparisons that used the word “like.” I can do that in my writing, too.
- The pictures tell so much of this story; they were my favorite part and I give this 5 out of 5 stars.
- Read it again!
Also love The Bear Ate Your Sandwich by Julia Sarcone-Roach.