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"Light is precious and it might as
well be in stories. I am a jailer and you are a tiny mouse whispering stories in my ear. Tell me a story, tell
more. Bring light to us all. We all could use some light. Tell me the best story you can think of.
Light is precious, stories are precious. I would like some brightness. We need light. Stories are like magic.
Stories remind me of bright flares or sunlight. Stories are the drizzley goodness of our souls." --Christopher
"A sun peeking out of a cloud. A war going on. A truce between each enemy. Darkness being
shattered by light. Light conquering dark. A monster getting beaten by you. A war turning into peace.
A great shadow coming to an end. A dinosaur becoming an animal. A mouse facing darkness. A small thing
with a big quest. A princess forgiving a rat. A king with joy. A great joy awakening. Evil has stopped.
A friendship beginning. A rescue at darkness. A crown showing light. A great day coming after a bad day." --Aaron
| We LOVED this book! |
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What is a quickwrite?
"Quickwrite
directions: When I finish reading, write as quickly as you can for three minutes without stopping. Write whatever comes
to mind, but do not stop. Simply put your thoughts on paper. There are no rules, just don't stop. Go."
After completing our read-aloud, The Tale of Despereaux,
I chose a short piece of writing from the book, read it aloud, and asked students to do a quickwrite in
response to the book. Quickwrites were developed by Linda Rief. The purpose is to help students develop fluency and confidence
in their writing. In quickwrites students are asked to respond to a piece of writing. The results of this simple
exercise are astounding. Consider the following examples, written by the students of Room 41:
QUICKWRITES:
"Kindness
and forgiveness are stronger than hatred and fury."
--Tristan
"Stories are light and Despereaux is faith within the dark or light of Princess Pea (she has a story to retrieve).
No matter how broken she is, she puts herself back in place like you might have. "Happily ever after" were her last
words to say. Every story has light. Light is precious." --Trayna
"Why is her heart full of
dark? What happened to Peas's crown? Is the crown on Mig's head still? How old is Despereaux? Why
didn't Mig kill all the rats? Why did the rats want to eat mice? How old is the Pea and Mig? How long was
the rope that held the locket? Why did the rats torture people? Why did the jailer want a story?" --Max
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