1. Introduction Format HOOK BACKGROUND – 1-2 sentences for each story
“Holocaust” and overall theme of both stories
BACKGROUND – 1-2 sentences for each story
Story titles and author names
Succinct but thorough summaries that sum up the story from beginning to end
THESIS
Lists 3 claims you will discuss in body paragraphs. Similarities between:
Antagonists
Crowd responses
Mood
Victims chosen

2. A review Claim Evidence Reasoning
CER Essay Structure
A review
Claim
Evidence
Reasoning

3. Formatting Quotes
In “The Hangman,” the titular Hangman is described as “cruel,” as “monstrous,” and as wearing a “cloak” (Ogden). In Terrible Things, Little Rabbit asks, “‘But why are they taking them away?’” (Bunting). In Terrible Things, Bunting writes, “Little Rabbit turned to Big Rabbit and asked, ‘But why are they taking them away?’ He looked at Big Rabbit with pleading eyes.”

4. A CER Paragraph
In both stories, the Big Bad Wolf represents evil as he tries to trick each protagonist into letting him eat them. In “Little Red Riding Hood,” he first tricks Red by talking to her in the woods and pretending to have only innocent intentions. He asks her, “‘And where does your grandmother live?” (Grimm 5). When he says this, he is trying to win her trust by taking an interest in her and hides his true desire to kill and eat her. Similarly, in “The Three Little Pigs,” the Wolf tries to convince each pig to let him into his house. Grimm writes, “And the Big Bad Wolf went to the door and said, ‘I am only here to visit you. Please let me in’”(15). This, of course, is untrue; he merely wants to gain entry so that he can eat the pigs. The Big Bad Wolf, the antagonist in both texts, is clearly an evil figure who intends to cause harm to the kind, innocent protagonists. Both of these stories teach children not to trust strangers, even if they try to act as though they have only good intentions.

5. Watch Your Words
When writing about a non-fiction (make-believe) story, you should write about the events of the story in present tense.
Ex: The Wolf tries to trick Red, and she willingly tells him her plans.
Tie your ideas together with words that express the relationship between statements.
Ex: Similarly, on the other hand, however, subsequently, as a consequence, etc.
Watch out for repetition/redundancy. Express your claims using different words in your thesis and your body paragraphs.

6. In both stories, the Big Bad Wolf represents evil as he tries to trick each protagonist into letting him eat them. In “Little Red Riding Hood,” he first tricks Red by talking to her in the woods and pretending to have only innocent intentions. He asks her, “‘And where does your grandmother live?” (Grimm 5). When he says this, he is trying to win her trust by taking an interest in her and hides his true desire to kill and eat her. Later, when he has already eaten her grandmother, he wears the grandmother’s clothing and sleeps in her bed, even trying to speak in a high- pitched grandmotherly voice in order to trick Red into coming closer to him so he can eat her (Grimm 7). He is deceitful and uses his lies to try to lure Red into a trap. Similarly, in “The Three Little Pigs,” the Wolf tries to convince each pig to let him into his house. Grimm writes, “And the Big Bad Wolf went to the door and said, ‘I am only here to visit you. Please let me in’”(15). This, of course, is untrue; he merely wants to gain entry so that he can eat the pigs. The Big Bad Wolf, the antagonist in both texts, is clearly an evil figure who intends to cause harm to the kind, innocent protagonists. Both of these stories teach children not to trust strangers, even if they try to act as though they have only good intentions.

7. Common Corrections
Thesis should include 1) antagonist 2) mood 3) victims 4) responses
In both texts, the antagonist…, the bystanders respond..., and the victims are chosen based on...
Do not remind reader they are reading an essay. Let them focus on content, not the structure
“This quote shows that…”
“This paragraph will explain how the antagonist...”
“This essay will compare two texts...”
Set up/give contexts for quotes. Who said it to whom?
“Little Rabbit asks Big Rabbit…”
“Ogden writes...”
Repeats
“The mood is dark and gloomy. Similarly, in Terrible Things, the mood is gloomy, sad, and dark.”
Vague (things, something, stuff, everything, everyone, they, he)
Don’t leave out the Holocaust
Each paragraph should end with a connection between (antagonists/mood/victims/responses) and the Holocaust
Leave YOU out of it!
This makes me think of…
When I read this quote, I imagine...
You should always be nice to people and should never judge them by their cover

8. How to set up quotes
The mood is dark. “Terrible,” “shadows,” “smell.” This proves the mood is dark.
The mood is dark. Bunting uses words like “terrible nets,” “terrible shadows,” and “terrible smell” to reinforce a feeling of dread and horror.
The narrator says, “And we breathed again for another’s grief / at the Hangman’s hand was our relief” (Ogden).
In Terrible Things, Big Rabbit says, “Don’t worry about it. At least it’s not us they’re taking” (Bunting).
Bunting writes, “They heard the sound of their terrible feet.”