The Tale of Despereaux. By Kate DiCamillo. Dictation passages

Transcription

1 By Kate DiCamillo Dictation passages

2 Week One This story begins within the walls of a castle with the birth of a mouse. A small mouse. The last mouse born to his parents and the only one of his litter to be born alive. (Chapter one)

3 Week One Week One Opening Lines:: This story begins within the walls of a castle with the birth of a mouse. A small mouse. The last mouse born to his parents and the only one of his litter to be born alive. (Chapter one) Why this passage:: The opening sets the stage for Despereaux as special, which is the crux of the plot. What to note:: The opening paragraph in the book itself shows the first three words in all caps: THIS STORY BEGINS. The reason for this punctuation choice is stylistic. Many books open with a drop cap (a first letter that is larger than the font size that takes up the first couple of lines in height) or even just a single word in all caps. In addition to this stylistic choice of punctuation, the writer makes use of sentence fragments in the opening paragraph. Can you identify them? A small mouse. The last mouse born to his parents and the only one of his litter to be born alive. Fragments often lack active verbs (like in the first example above). The second sentence is a fragment because it comes as an extension of the previous fragment and is lacking a more defined subject. To make it a complete sentence, it would need to be written in the following way: The smallest mouse was the last mouse born to his parents and the only one of his litter to be born alive. The subject reference is implied in the fragment, but not overtly stated. The t in castle is silent and it s helpful to point it out to kids before they have to write it in dictation Julie Bogart - Brave Writer

4 Week One How to teach the passage:: This is a short passage that would benefit from being copywork before dictation. Be sure if you use it for dictation, that you pause decidedly at the end of the fragments so that it s clear that a period goes there. You may need to prompt your younger children to remind them Julie Bogart - Brave Writer

5 Week Two That night, in the small, dark hut that she shared with Uncle and the sheep, Mig tried to speak of what she had seen. Uncle? she said. Eh? I saw some human stars today. How s that? I saw them all glittering and glowing, and there was a little princess wearing her own crown and riding on a little white, tippy-toed horse. (Chapter 27)

6 Week Two Week Two Dialog:: That night, in the small, dark hut that she shared with Uncle and the sheep, Mig tried to speak of what she had seen. Uncle? she said. Eh? I saw some human stars today. How s that? I saw them all glittering and glowing, and there was a little princess wearing her own crown and riding on a little white, tippy-toed horse. (Chapter 27) Why this passage:: Dialog is a skill to be cultivated once per month, at least. This dialog trades speakers without any attributive tags (without the he said, she said following). What to note:: The speakers are identified in the opening sentence. Mig is with her uncle in a dark hut. No one else is mentioned in this part of the story. Therefore, in the dialog that follows, it can be safely assumed that the conversation is between Mig and her uncle, only. She refers to him in her first comment and so we are led to understand that the responder is the uncle himself. This is an important feature to understand about dialog. The goal of dialog in novels is to advance the plot quickly. Dialog also acts as a relief from prose, which can feel tedious after awhile. Dialog gets the story moving again suddenly characters are talking, they are explaining and creating bonds or having conflict. The dialog advances the story and the enjoyment of the character relationships. As a result, dialog is best when we know who the speakers are and don t have to rely on the clutter of the writer informing us which speaker is saying what. If it s clear Julie Bogart - Brave Writer

7 Week Two that a two-person dialog is going back and forth, the writer can approximate the experience of a real conversation by letting you hear the conversation unfettered. That s the genius of the punctuation! The reader can relax knowing that each indentation means a new speaker, and that the speakers alternate down the page without even mentioning their names! One other thing: in the book itself, the opening paragraph isn t indented and the first two words are all caps (stylistic choice of the publisher). For our purposes, this is a paragraph and should be written with an indentation and without the all caps. How to teach the passage:: Have your child read the passage aloud. If you have two children who are of reading age, you can have them read the dialog back and forth to each other, obeying the punctuation. Or, conversely, you can be one of the speakers and trade with your child. Experience how the dialog punctuation cues which person to speak! That s the power of punctuation it tells the reader how to read, what the meaning of the words on the page is. There are two words that are more conversational than standard English. Note the word Eh. This is more of a grunt than a word, right? It also indicates age as most young people don t say eh in response to their names being called. Older people, however, are known to grunt in response and that is the case here. Secondly, the use of tippy-toed is delightful! We say tippy-toes to describe what it is to stand on the tips of one s toes, either in dance or to reach the highest shelf. To describe a horse as tippy-toed draws on that familiar expression. How might a horse be tippy-toed? What might that look like? Would the horse clop? Or might the horse prance? Explore how the word tippy-toed shapes how you imagine the horse. Learn to spell it and hyphenate it in advance of dictation Julie Bogart - Brave Writer

8 Week Three Do you know what it means to be empathetic? I will tell you: It means that when you are being forcibly taken to a dungeon, when you have a large knife pointed at your back, when you are trying to be brave, you are able, still, to think for a moment of the person who is holding that knife. You are able to think: Oh, poor Mig, she wants to be a princess so badly and she thinks that this is the way. Poor, poor Mig. What must it be like to want something so desperately? That, reader, is empathy. (Chapter 38)

9 Week Three Week Three Empathy:: Do you know what it means to be empathetic? I will tell you: It means that when you are being forcibly taken to a dungeon, when you have a large knife pointed at your back, when you are trying to be brave, you are able, still, to think for a moment of the person who is holding that knife. You are able to think: Oh, poor Mig, she wants to be a princess so badly and she thinks that this is the way. Poor, poor Mig. What must it be like to want something so desperately? That, reader, is empathy. (Chapter 38) Why this passage:: Such a fascinating look at empathy and how to help a child understand it! What to note:: DiCamillo likes to address the reader in this book. Some authors do that. They let you know they are telling a story and occasionally consult with you about what you are to understand or how you are to interpret events. This reader aside style of writing is quite popular with books that have a medieval theme (for some reason). Books set in modern times don t take this approach ver often. It may be that the idea of narrating a tale is part of the cultural habit of the Middle Ages and the narrator is as much of a character as the characters in the story (think about Chaucer s Canterbury Tales, for the archetype of this genre). In addition to this choice to address the reader is the need to convey moral truth. DiCamillo chooses here to educate her young readers in a value system that she expects them capable of appreciating. Empathy is a sophisticated expression Julie Bogart - Brave Writer

10 Week Three of othering (that is, the ability to get outside of self and imagine life from a different perspective). This skill is critical to good writing, as it is the basis for rhetorical analysis, particularly in the years of academic writing. It is also a good skill for relationships. This passage also includes dialog that isn t real dialog. In fact, it is labeled a thinking process. The writer gives the reader an idea of the kind of thinking that demonstrates empathy. See if your child can tell the difference between dialog that is quoting a conversation and the dialog-style thinking that DiCamillo uses here. How to teach the passage:: This is a long passage and perhaps far too long for the youngest of writers. It s perfectly fine to only write the first paragraph or to select the dialog-as-thought paragraph for copywork or dictation. Simply read the whole passage and discuss the idea of empathy as DiCamillo presents it. Think about times you ve been empathetic or your child has. Talk about when it s important to be empathetic. There are also some challenging spelling terms in this passage: empathetic forcibly dungeon knife princess desperately These words can be put on note cards, if that helps, for dictation work. There s a use of a colon that follows I will tell you. This colon serves to flag the content that follows as the explanation. What follows is a lengthy sentence, punctuated by commas to bracket each of the conditions that will eventually culminate in the choice to empathize. This scheme of listing multiples with commas has a way of creating a writing crescendo that is, the reader is feeling this massive build-up to a mini-climax where the writer gives the reader a pay-off (the result of the build-up). Try reading it aloud, fast, without taking a breath. That s a bit how it s supposed to feel when reading it like this list of conditions is enormous and so the thought that there would still be some part of the princess left over to consider Mig from the inside is astounding and admirable Julie Bogart - Brave Writer

11 Week Four I would like it very much if you thought of me as a mouse, telling you a story, this story, with the whole of my heart, whispering it in your ear in order to save myself from the darkness, and to save you from the darkness, too. Stories are light, Gregory the jailer told Despereaux. (Coda)

12 Week Four Week Four Coda:: I would like it very much if you thought of me as a mouse, telling you a story, this story, with the whole of my heart, whispering it in your ear in order to save myself from the darkness, and to save you from the darkness, too. Stories are light, Gregory the jailer told Despereaux. (Coda) Why this passage:: This portion of the coda expresses DiCamillo s primary objective in telling her tale. It also suggests a metaphorical application of darkness and light. What to note:: DiCamillo loves to use a plethora of commas to string together a set of experiences. The darkness is a metaphorical darkness. What is it? Darkness is associated with the loss of vision, deeds that are evil, things that are hidden, and night. Darkness, therefore, has become associated with a lack of knowledge or insight. The light by contrast exposes that which is hidden, it reveals, illuminates, and gives sight. Metaphorically, light brings insight and knowledge. When Gregory the jailer tells Despereaux that stories are light, he is affirming the metaphorical significance of light. How might stories be similar to light? They reveal, give insight, knowledge and truth. They bring illumination and revelation. How to teach this passage: This passage has two indentations. The first paragraph is one long sentence. There is a new indentation because the next sentence is a quote. Remember that dialog usually beings a new paragraph. Gregory and Despereaux are proper nouns and need capitalization Julie Bogart - Brave Writer

13 Literary Element Literary Element Character:: It may seem obvious that your children would know what it means to talk about characters in a book or movie, but let s explore the literary element of character a little more deeply, especially since this particular novel puts a lot of emphasis on the difference between multiple characters and tells the story from a variety of character viewpoints. Character is the chief tool a story-teller uses to convey a narrative. Each character in a story fills a role that advances the plot and enhances the enjoyment of the story-line. The primary character is usually the one that tells the tale (first person point of view I ) or about whom the tale is told (third person point of view He or She ). Characters are most frequently human, but they can be animals, aliens and inanimate objects as well (depending on the story). In, the chief character is a mouse with big floppy ears. He s really a human in disguise as he takes on challenges and moral choices that a human would be likely to accept. The story opens with a mouse family who converse with one another and share aspirations and disappointments. In this tale, then, the primary characters of the first book (the novel is divided into books) are animals a family of mice, who behave remarkably like humans but with a few clear animal traits. When animals are treated like human beings (with morals, the ability to speak, the capacity for reason, with desires and regrets, delivering consequences and rewards, using their paws like hands or standing on their hind legs walking around), we call that literary element personification. Most Disney animated films are filled with non-human characters who display human characteristics. See if your kids can name some of their most beloved. Lady and the Tramp, The Fox and the Hound, Bambi, Lion King, and The Aristocats are stories that are told through the viewpoint of the animals primarily. Humans make appearances, but they are secondary characters and in the case of Lady and the Tramp, we are never even privy to the faces of the humans (the viewpoint is based on an animal s field of vision; since they live near to the ground, we are treated to legs, and car wheels, and skirt hems rather than seeing all the way up to heads!) Julie Bogart - Brave Writer

14 Literary Element There are other films, though, where the animals act like humans but they are secondary characters. Can you think of some? Mulan uses a dragon and cricket as sidekicks to Mulan. The Little Mermaid relies on a crab and seagull for two of Ariel s best friends. Jungle Book creates relationships between animals and humans (Mogli, the boy, is best friends with a bear, is threatened by a snake and is stalked by a talking tiger). Sword and the Stone features Archimedes, the owl, as a wise side-kick to Merlin. Cinderella features talking and singing (and sewing!) mice. Some purely human stories are retold with animals: Robin Hood, and Oliver and Company are two examples. What might be the goal of recreating these story lines using animals? A few of the possibilities are: The characters can display a wider variety of interesting characteristics (drawing on both human and animal qualities); The animals-as-humans are strangely accessible to children (we love our pets and somehow the animal primary characters carry a kind of accessibility to children that adult humans do not); Animators enjoy playing with animals when they do their drawings! Toy Story and Beauty and the Beast use inanimate objects as characters. Think about a lampstand (Lumiere) as a character with a personality (who is friends with a clock!) and the fact that Woody, who seems like a person, is actually a toy with a pull-string! In, the writer uses animals to tell a kind of fable (a fable is a story with a moral told through animals as the primary characters). DiCamillo taps into the literary habit of associating animal tales (in this case, an epic tale told with a medieval flare) with morals-of-the-story. Throughout the tale, DiCamillo reminds the reader of the objective of the story (to bring light into the darkness). Even her Coda at the end asks the reader to see her as a mouse telling the tale. Why might she do that? Perhaps it s because we ve come to trust the mouse (Despereaux) and she knows that children can better receive her message through an unassuming mouse s voice than that of an all-knowing adult. Each of the books in relates a part of the moral narrative through a different point of view. We read the story through the viewpoint of a mouse, then a rat, and then a human. The princess is also given some portion of the tale as well Julie Bogart - Brave Writer

15 Literary Element When crafting a story, it s important to consider how the reader will bond to the main character and then how the reader will organize a set of relationships within the story in his or her mind to help the story make sense. Usually there are several sorts of characters that fall into the following categories. (You can share the names of the character types with your children, but don t expect them to retain them all at their young ages just expose them to these terms and start to use them yourself when you watch movies together or read books.) Protagonist: That s the main character that has a problem to overcome. (You know the protagonist because you care about what happens to him or her. Usually the protagonist is the main character you root for.) A heroic protagonist usually has a quest and must conquer evil to succeed. Antagonist: That s the secondary character that wants to stop the protagonist from getting what he or she wants. (You know the antagonist because your pulse races and you resent, fear, dislike or hate this character. Usually the antagonist is the villain.) Static Characters: A static character serves the purpose of filling a role in the plot that doesn t require him or her to change. (Static characters hold space they are the butlers, kings who bow their heads, clerics who hear prayers, neighbors who say hello, storekeepers who sell wares You know a static character by the fact that the character doesn t change and you aren t invested in what happens to him or her, usually.) Round Characters: A round character is multi-dimensional and usually undergoes a significant change in the story line (good protagonists are round characters). A round character has the capacity to surprise you because there are competing impulses within the character. For instance, you might discover that your main character is not all good or that your main character is both kind and selfish. That s what makes a good round character complexity. Flat Characters: A flat character is predictably good or bad, predictably funny or solemn. You don t see substantial change and the character gets what he or she deserves (either for good or ill). Static characters often provide comic relief or offer the reader a break (the reader doesn t have to work hard to understand the character s thought processes or reasoning because they are obvious and consistent). Flat characters are rarely protagonists and when they are, the story is usually considered poorly crafted. So can you figure out what kind of characters are in this novel? Think about each character and see if you can find the protagonist and the antagonist. Are there flat or Julie Bogart - Brave Writer

16 Writing Exercise static characters (these terms can be interchangeable)? Do you think Despereaux is a round character? What qualities show you that he is complex? How does he change? What about Chiaroscuro and Mig Sow? Make a list of the qualities that each of these characters has and see which definitions they fit above. Don t worry about being right. Simply have the conversation. Then watch a Disney film or two and apply the same questions to the characters in your favorite films. Writing Exercise Creating Animal Characters:: It s fun to write in an animal s viewpoint. Kids do it naturally. One way to ensure that the children don t merely call the main character a dog but there is no evidence that the dog is in fact, a dog (apart from the name or label) is to help your kids spend time observing the pet s natural habits of behavior before writing. (If you don t have a pet, see if you can observe a relative s or a friend s pet; or alternatively, pick a zoo animal and spend some time at a zoo, or watch an animal by DVD or online video.) So if you have a pet (cat, dog, rat, bunny, snake, goldfish, ferret, hamster ), use that pet as a model for creating an animal character. Give your child a clipboard and take notes while you observe your animal in the following settings: 1) How does this animal eat? Pay attention to the mouth (types of chewing, slobber, careful eating without slobber, noises, whether the food goes down in tiny bits or big gulps). 2) How does the animal self-clean? (Licking self, rubbing body against the ground or furniture, rolling in the mud, putting shavings over his/her body, being licked by a friend pet.) 3) How does the pet sleep? (In a coil, turning around in a circle until he or she settles, snuggling in a blanket or shavings, on top of another pet, upside down, in a tube, on the couch, in front of a fire.) 4) How does the pet walk? (Think about whether the body bounces, sways, trots, waddles, slithers, slides, sneaks. Ask yourself whether the walk clicks or is silent.) 5) How does your animal convey affection? (Does it slide against your leg, rubbing its body next to you? Does it jump up and down on you? Does it snuggle in your hand? Sleep on your lap? Rest in your pocket?) Julie Bogart - Brave Writer

17 Writing Exercise 6) What does your animal do to scratch an itch? Once you have a list of characteristic habits, you are a long way toward crafting a believable animal character. The next step is to think about a story that your animal can inhabit. You might pick a historical event and then put your character in the role of that figure. For instance, you might create George Washington as a dog. Pick his crossing of the Delaware and write about it using your dog as the character of George. Or, you might choose to retell a story you love. For instance, perhaps you will tell the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder s Christmas on the prairie and make Laura into your kitty cat. How might that story unfold? Or you can rewrite a fairytale with all animals: Cinderella as a bunny and her prince charming as a ferret (if you have both these pets to observe). Finally, you might make up a story that uses your pet as the primary character. That s perfectly fine too! Once you know what story you want to tell, it s your turn to tell it while including animal characteristics. If your George Washington the dog is crossing the Delaware, might he stand with his tail pointed straight out and his chest puffed up at the front of the boat? Might he pant and whine when he sees the shore? Include the dogcharacteristics you jotted down to give maximum animal-characteristics as you allow the pet to personify the character you intend to create. If you re daring, you can include multiple animal characters. Just be sure that you include some of their animal traits (you don t only want them to be animals in name only). Enjoy! Julie Bogart - Brave Writer