4.7 Scrutinizing, Not Skipping, Descriptions

CONNECTION Talking about books with Will He remembers things I don’t because I skipped a lot. Sometimes I would even get confused reading and have to go back to reread a bunch…I was missing a lot of important info! Now I read and notice the parts that Will would pay attention to. I also learned that descriptive parts in Historical Fiction are clues to learning about the time period!

TEACHING POINT Today I want to teach you that readers better imagine the world of their books by slowing down to soak up details when the plot slows into descriptive moments.

TEACHING Listen to the following passage, paying attention to clues to a character’s life.

TEACHING We looked out from behind a big tree and saw that a big wind or even two or three big wolves huffing and puffing real hard could blow Hooperville into the next county. It was a bunch of huts and shacks throwed together out of pieces of boxes and wood and cloth. The Amoses’ shed would’ve looked like a real fancy house here. Right near our tree was the big fire that had been lighting up the sky. It looked like a hundred people were sitting around it, watching things burn or waiting for the food cooking in three big pts set up in the fire. There were two littler fires burning in Hooperville. One had a pot that was big enough to boil a whole person in it. A man was stirring things in the pot with a big stick and when he raised the stick up he’d pull some britches or a shirt out and pass it over to a white man who was hanging the clothes on a line to dry. There was a mountain of clothes on the ground next to him waiting on their turn. The other fire in Hooperville was real small. It was off to the side, by itself. There were five white people sitting at this fire, two kids, a man, and a woman holding a little wrapped-up baby. The baby sounded like all those new sick babies at the Home, it coughed like it was a half-dead little animal.

TEACHING What does this descriptive passage tell us about what it was like to live in this time period? How does it help us get a sense of the time period? Think to yourself: Can you recall a time you came to a new place, like Bud coming to the Hooverville? Pretend you and the person next to you are walking into a new place where you don’t know anyone? What are you doing with your hands? What are you talking about? Start acting out the scene with your partner. I’m going to read some more. What are you learning about the characters from picturing the setting, imagining how people are reacting to the setting?

TEACHING On the other side of the room Herman E. Calloway was sitting at a table with Mr. Jimmy and a woman. Steady Eddie pointed at the only empty table, one that had a sign saying RESERVED NBC on top of it, and said, “That’s where we’re at, over there, Bud. NBC stands for ‘Nobody but Calloway,’ Mr. C. changes the name of the band so much that no one can keep up with the new names so they call us NBC so’s they don’t have to change the sign.” Before I could sit down with them Mr. Jimmy saw us and said, “Here they are,” and pointed at me and waved for me to come over for their table. Shucks, I’d rather sit with the band than with Herman E. Calloway, it would be hard to have a good time eating if you looked up and saw him every time you took a bite.

TEACHING What are you learning about the band and Mr. Calloway from the way they are reacting to the setting? Turn and talk.

LINK The author could have skipped this entirely or written it differently. Instead, they did it this way. They did it on purpose! Look at Mrs. Murtaugh’s website. Dive into the setting. We will use our new familiarity with the setting to help us find the passages that really dive into description in our books.

MIDWORKSHOP Find a passage in your book that shows your character interacting with the setting. What is the purpose? How are the characters responding to changes in their world?

SHARE Work with your book club to mine your selected scenes to see things and think things!