Wednesday, September 23, 2009

A Crush



My seventh graders and I read "The Crush" by Cynthia Rylant. For some reason, we didn't read this story last year. And now, we've found a treasure. Cynthia Rylant creates such wonderful characters who captivated our imagination. We loved the gentle spirit of Ernie, the Mentally Disabled man who has a crush on Delores. Delores captivated my imagination with her tattoo of a coyote and the gentle mustache on her upper lip. Students giggled at the thought of a woman with a mustache, and I did too.

I told them about a childhood memory of the yellow church and a little old lady with a real mustache standing outside. I'd stare at her through the backseat window of my mom's car and wonder about her mustache. Then, I laughed and told them that if she looked up, she probably would have seen me with my nose pierced to the window making a flat face.

This story was the kind of story that made us sigh... And love the characters... And sigh at the beauty of life. How lucky we are that writers like Cynthia Rylant open our eyes to these stories.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

My students and I just finished reading, "A Crush" and I shared your photo story with them. This was great! My plan is to have my students create a photo story for the books they are reading on their own. Do you have any other samples using photo story with books? Thanks for sharing!

Me said...

I wish I did. I find whatever I can on Youtube. I did one of the Cremation of Sam McGee and The Highway Man. I'll try to load those for you.

Our students don't have access to making photo stories in school.

After reading The Call of the Wild, I will let them choose that option along with the usual suspects of collages, scrapbooks, and drawings to do at home over Christmas.

I think there will be a couple of kids who will choose that option and bring it in on a flash drive. Then, I can show it on my smartboard.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing! Your have some great ideas!

Me said...

I just added "The Cremation of Sam McGee." I can't find "The Highway Man."

I see a re-make in my future!