Thursday, July 31, 2008

Figures of Speech - Writing Prompt

Repetition is a common figure of speech, most often employed in picture books. But repetition is more than repeating a word several times in a book, it can and should have a pattern. An older type of picture book called a "read-around" book, used repetition to provide a sense of symmetry and some interaction with the child reader. In the read-around book, the title of the book was the first and last words of the book. A favorite of mine, Just Ben, by Joan Bowden, out-of-print and probably from the 1970's is an example, where the writer begins and ends the story with the words "Just Ben." The child began the story by reading the cover, continued reading to the back of the book, then flipped the book back to its cover to complete the story by reading the words, "Just Ben" from the title page - hence the term "read-around."


For this prompt, try to write a 500-800 word "read around" picture book or short story that begins and ends with the title. A list of suggested titles is below (or make up your own):

TItle List:
There is No Place Like a Zoo
The Best Place Is My Place
It's Only Me.
How About That!
Ellen Is My Best Friend.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Another good read-around was "The House On Main Street" by Arnold Shapiro. Sometimes comes up on ebay or alibris