Monday, August 29, 2011

In My House

In my house...a library. In the library...bookshelves. On one bookshelf...a wooden box. Inside the wooden box...a heart-shaped bracelet. On the heart-shaped bracelet...the name Lucille. In the name Lucille...the memories of a beloved grandmother.

After reading Marianne Dubuc's picture book In Front of My House, my mind has been composing shorter versions like the one above in a form similar to the book's text. Each prepositional phrase begins with the object that ended the last one. Once inside the house, the reader is transported under the bed, into a book of fairy tales, through some tales, into outer space, inside a whale's belly, to a zoo, and eventually back to that house on a little hill.

I love the simple illustrations! I love the way the text flows from some random and some sensible things to others. I love thinking about things in my own world and how I can bring them in a circular fashion as Ms. Dubuc does in her book. I look forward to sharing it with kids...and encouraging them to write something like she did.

5 comments:

  1. Love this, would be great to do with kids.

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  2. This sounds a little like The House in the Night. Is it similar?

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  3. I thought the same thing, Joyce! And I agree, Sharon, what a great creative writing exercise for kids.

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  4. If the children have as much success playing with this as you did we will have many wonderful new writers.

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  5. The book is so much deeper than The House in the Night and yet easier for me to follow in some ways. When I use it at school, I will post some results!

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