Reflections on the Teche

Slice of Life Challenge Day 16

I have been doing the Slice of Life Challenge with my students for the last two weeks. It has been so heartwarming to watch them rush in to class and beg to be able to use the computer to write their slices. This is what writing class should be like every day.

This week we had a special visitor to our blog, Sharon Creech. If you don’t know who Sharon Creech is, then you don’t spend any time reading middle grade fiction: Walk Two Moons, Heartbeat, Bloomability, Love that Dog, Love that Cat, and more. In my classroom, I have a Sharon Creech bucket of books. My 5th grade student, Brooklyn, chose to read Bloomability.

When Brooklyn was reading Bloomability, she was writing reader responses. It was fun to read about Dinnie’s adventures and Brooklyn’s thinking about the book. She finished it over the weekend. She told me she wouldn’t put it down until she finished. She almost walked into a wall reading the book. Here is part of her Slice of Life post when she finished the book.

No, no, no it has not ended. I have not just finished the book. This was an amazing book titled Bloomability by Sharon Creech. It gave you a feeling that no matter how shy, scared, worried, or nervous you are, you can bloom. As I was reading the last few words my words were “No, stop, another page will appear, and this is not over.” I felt as if as soon as I read them, I would depart all of the characters, or as if they were stranded there in the story, in that intense moment, or as if the rest of their lives are mysteries, and they are going on and living it without us knowing.

Have you ever felt this way when you finished a book, as if the character lives on?

Then this quote appeared on the Two Writing Teachers blog: “I love the way that each book — any book — is its own journey. You open it, and off you go. You are changed in some way, large or small, by having traveled with those characters.”
― Sharon Creech

So I posted this prompt for my students, “Has a character ever stayed with you even after you finished the book?”

This week, Brooklyn responded to that prompt. “My favorite character in a book was probably Dinnie. She was the main character in the book Bloomability by Sharon Creech. Dinnie helped me notice that to be able to have an adventure and opportunities I had to expand my bubble or maybe even pop it. I had to open up to the world and adapt to changes.”

I read Brooklyn’s post the same evening I got an email from Sharon Creech’s blog, Words We Say. So I took a chance and made a comment on her blog post directing her to Brooklyn’s Slice of Life post. Guess what? Sharon Creech responded! I couldn’t wait to tell Brooklyn. I even got teary-eyed when I told her.

She was so excited that her next blog post was this:

OMG!!! Sharon Creech had commented on my post about my favorite character. I owe it all to Mrs. Simon. She is my favorite author. I recommend all of Sharon Creech’s books, especially Bloomability.

To see Brooklyn’s Slice of Life blog, click here. If you comment, I cannot guarantee you will get the reaction that Sharon Creech did, but Brooklyn will appreciate it nonetheless.