Part One:
- Abirached, Z., & Gauvin, E. (2007). A game for swallows: To die, to leave, to return. Minneapolis, MN: Graphic Universe.
- I feel that this book is impactful as Early as 7th grade and I would use this book to represent how the graphics and setting of a story can make a huge impact on the reader. The setting in this novel is as much of a living organism that can change and grow just as much as the main character. I found this critique to be insightful, “While this thought-provoking memoir educates American readers on this foreign war, it also encourages them to appreciate their own freedom, safety, and comforts and to build their own communities. One night can change a lifetime.” –Foreword Magazine
Part Two:
ii. I was crying by page 26. The idea of living in a warzone and having to crawl through rubble and bombed buildings to get to my grandmother’s house was very stark and disturbing. The pictures in this graphic novel allow the reader to experience the feeling of being trapped and left behind.
iii. I felt a connection between this book, the Diary of Anne Frank and CS Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. They all depict the children’s point of view of looking at the world around them during war. The starkness of the bombed buildings, the idea of being shut in to be safe, and the need to have human connection during terrible times resonates in all three stories.
Part Three:
The setting was a major character in this book. Being a graphic novel, allows the reader to see and feel what the environment imposed on its reader. I read this book, curled up with my 9 year old son and my 11 year old daughter to see their reaction as well. I liked this book because the characters and setting are so opposite. The setting is the antagonist and the children are the protagonist. The face of the enemy isn’t a social or political party, but a faceless very fierce and harsh opponent. The only reference to the enemy is “the sniper.” Because the author doesn’t make this book a religious fight, every reader can relate to the children living in a foyer.
Part Four:
Lesson Sketch:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
I think the first thing we are going to do is label the parts of the story with a graphic organizer:
1.
Then we are going to create our own story
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- Writing prompt: Think of a time when you were scared. Where were you? Who was with you? What was it that made you afraid? How did you overcome the event or how did this event end?
- Then we will place our own story in the graphic organizer:
As a class we will analyze how setting shapes the characters or the plot. Remember the old ad libs activities. For an activity we will play with an adlib platform, where we write silly stories that change just by changing the setting and some of the adjectives that we use. Over a series of days we will also create a comic strip depicting the story we have written in our graphic organizer. I want the students to understand that setting can be just as important in a story as the conflict.
Resource #1
Create your own silly story on this interactive worksite. Its an electric Ad lib maker
http://www.sundhagen.com/babbooks/adlib.cgi
Another resource is storyjumper. com where students can make their own books.
steampunkkid 