Mentor Texts:Narrative

The Bridge to Teriabithia is a great example of how the characters of the family are described.  In fact, this excerpt shows each person's own voice, own motivation, even a physical description... yet they are the minor characters.  

This is from Bud, Not Buddy and shows the setting of his world: What it is like to be six.  There is a lot of figurative language, lots of imagery.

"Drying Out" by Cynthia Rylant is a great example of a real person going through real problems. The main character is an alcoholic who has a lot of personal problems. The story is simply his character development. 

Here is the description of the barn from Charlotte's Web.   Very basic, but very profound.  It covers the five senses: what can be see, smelled, heard...;)

This is an except from Island of the Blue Dolphins.

"Stray" is a story about a family does not want a stray dog.

This is a very basic, but very complete, narrative.

In this part of Island of the Blue Dolphins, the description of slaugtered otters and the main character hunting have two very different tones. 

This narrative is about a boy who finds a sick kitten and the kitten doesnt make it.

This is actually from a student a couple years back.  The original story is his, and we used it in class as a exercise in expressing emotion.  There are two versions here: happy and angry.

"Goosebumps" is about a girl who doesn't listen to her mother's advice on a sleepover and regrets it.  On the other hand, Pet by Cynthia Rylant is a good examle of a story without a morale.

BAD EXAMPLE

Here are three texts of the same story: First person, Third person and the most fun, Second person.

Extra Worksheets

Here are three texts of the same story: First person & Third person; police reporter voice, story teller voice... Very fun!

"Something to do" is a quick story from a reading curriculum test.  I thought it was rather boring, so took the first paragraph and re-wrote it... three different times@

"Flashbacks" is the narrator telling of a memory in the the present tense.  The first draft s very baisc.  The second draft is more descriptive with figurative language.

"Something to do" revisions