CHARACTER SKETCH MRS. CREEL, 7 TH LA

HOOK The purpose of the hook is to GRAB the reader’s attention. It is typically 1-3 sentences long. Make them INTERESTED in your writing by providing: A interesting fact/statistic Quote Short story Example: Walt Disney, a world-renowned entrepreneur, is the father of entertainment television. What type of hook is this?

LINK When writing a Character Sketch, remember that you have to entertain and educate your reader. Provide BACKGROUND INFORMATION on your subject (in this case, Rosa Parks). A household name, Disney’s vision gave us classic animated characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Pluto. The first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered in Los Angeles in the middle of the Great Depression producing an unimaginable $1,499 million. What does this teach us about Walt Disney? How does this information help us know a little bit about him?

THESIS This is the backbone of the essay. It is a one sentence summary of your entire narrative. Although Walt Disney started from humble beginnings, his legendary vision, tenacity, and creativity are the characteristics, which allowed him to shaped the entertainment industry. What is the topic of this essay? What will the three body paragraphs be about?

PUT IT ALL TOGETHER: Walt Disney, a world-renowned entrepreneur, is the father of entertainment television. A household name, Disney’s vision gave us classic animated characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Pluto. The first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered in Los Angeles in the middle of the Great Depression producing an unimaginable $1,499 million. Although Walt Disney started from humble beginnings, his legendary vision, tenacity, and creativity are the characteristics, which allowed him to shaped the entertainment industry.

BODY PARAGRAPHS Transition-when appropriate- (moves the reader from thought to thought) Topic sentence (what will the paragraph be about?) Examples, details, textual evidence, stories

EXAMPLE: “Disney was a dreamer and a doer…while the rest of us were talking about the future, he built it. The things he taught us at Disneyland about street planning, crowd improvement, comfort humanity, etc., will influence builders, architects, and urban planners for the next century” (American author, Ray Bradbury). Dreaming of a place where children and parents could explore and play, Disneyland opened it’s doors on July 17,1955, in California. Previously orchards of orange fields, Disney purchased 160 acres of land and built mountains, castles, waterfalls, rivers, rides and more. After such a huge success, Disney began dreaming of a “sister park” on the East Coast. In 1964, Disney began looking at land to purchase in Florida because of its year round warm temperature. Although he did not live to see it even begin, Disney World, even larger and more innovative than Disneyland is an empire dedicated to Walt Disney’s dream of entertaining and inspiring families everywhere. Where do you see textual evidence? What was the main idea of the paragraph?

CONCLUSION Transition Restate your topic. What were your main points? What sense or feeling did you leave the reader with? Sad? Happy? Courageous? Inspiration?

EXAMPLE: In conclusion, it all began with Mickey Mouse. “He popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.” It is often out of tragedy, rejection, or overwhelming circumstances that inspiration and courage are born. His classic stories, Alice and Wonderland (1950), Peter Pan (1953), Treasure Island (1950), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), and 101 Dalmatations (1961), to name a few, shaped whole generations. Walt Disney, a self-made man, never lost himself in all the success that came his way. “His business was happiness.”