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The Monster At The End Of This Book
The Monster At The End Of This Book by Jon Stone and Michael Smolin (1971) is possibly the most successful of the Little Golden Books published starring Sesame Street characters.
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Fiction by Alice Munro, Nuanced Infidelity Short Story Analysis
“Fiction” is a short story by Alice Munro (2009). From the title itself we might expect it to be metafictional. Sure enough, there are constant reminders to consider the role of fiction in our lives. I will tell you everything, and if I don’t tell you it means I don’t trust you or I have […]
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The Really Ugly Duckling by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith Analysis
Earlier this month I wrote a post on Teaching Kids How To Structure A Story. Earlier this week I looked closely at Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen’s Sam and Dave Dig A Hole to show how this classic story structure can be turned upside down, ironically. Today ‘s story is The Really Ugly Duckling. The Stinky Cheese Man […]
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What is a heterotopia?
I have previously written about utopias, snail under the leaf settings, idylls and dystopias. I thought I had -topias covered. Then I came across the word heterotopia. What’s that, now? Foucault uses the term “heterotopia” to describe spaces that have more layers of meaning or relationships to other places than immediately meet the eye. In […]
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The River Between Us by Richard Peck
The River Between Us is a middle grade novel by American writer Richard Peck.
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Storytelling Notes On A Series Of Unfortunate Events (2017)
Daniel Handler wrote the teleplay (as well as the books) to the Netflix adaptation of A Series Of Unfortunate Events. The author’s voice and politics come through loud and clear.
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The Great Fusilli Courage The Cowardly Dog
STORY STRUCTURE OF THE GREAT FUSILLI The Great Fusilli is the last Courage story of season one and it is fitting that the creators have made a work of metafiction — in other words, the audience is reminded that they are watching a TV show. WEAKNESS/NEED Courage: That it’s up to him to save the […]
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King Ramses’ Curse Courage The Cowardly Dog
In the “King Ramses’ Curse” episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog we have three plagues — since storytelling loves The Rule Of Three — and the plagues comprise a mixture of ancient and comically modern curses. This horror comedy for children takes inspiration from ancient holy texts such as found in the Bible and in the […]
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This Book Just Ate My Dog by Richard Byrne (2014) Analysis
This Book Just Ate My Dog is a great example of both. Part way through the story the reader is yanked out of it, reminded in no uncertain terms that this thing they’re holding… yeah, it’s a book. It’s a physical object. **SPOILER ALERT** The dog disappears into the gutter. I have seen little kids find […]
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Lampshading in storytelling. What is that?
“Lampshading” is one of my favourite and least favourite writer tricks: It’s where you acknowledge a shortcoming in your plot through some dialogue, usually jokey, as a way of winking at the audience and moving on.