Marshfield Dreams
by Ralph Fletcher
In Marshfield Dreams, Fletcher describes his early years growing up in a large family in Marshfield. This book a similar feel to Fletcher's Fig Pudding, but this book is a memoir and not a work of fiction.
If you working on personal narrative or memoir with your studtents this book is awesome. It is filled with stories that demonstrate the keys aspects of the idea trait: exploded moments, precise details, dialogue, and thought shots. It covers every other trait as well, but I'm currently focusing on ideas in my classroom, so that's what I noticed.
You could choose to read the entire book to your class or just pick and choose a few stories. The book does blend together as a whole, but the majority of the stories could stand alone also.
Me and My Dragon
by David Biedrzycki
In Me and My Dragon, a young boy describes what would happen if he had a pet dragon.
This story is a list of what the boy imagines doing with his dragon. I could see using this book as an inspiration for writing at any time of the year or after my students complete their animal research project. Students could list what they would do with their animal. I would ask them to explode one moment in their story (see Falcon by Tim Jessell for an example).
Published: 2011
Locations: Public library
Falcon
by Tim Jesssell
In Falcon, a young boy imagines he is a falcon. He lists a lot of his actions but really blows up the final moment of the story.
After reading this story, I would ask my students to imagine they are an animal. They could list a few actions but would need to explode one moment just like Tim Jessell did.
Published: 2012
Location: Public Library
