Cronin, D. (2000). Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type. [New York]: Simon and Schuster.

Exposition:

Farmer Brown’s cows have a typewriter that they used to ask for electric blankets.

Conflict:

The cows refuse to give milk until the farmer gives them the blankets.

Rising Action:

The cows type a note to ask for blankets for the chickens, so no eggs either.

Climax:

The cows agree trade the typewriter in exchange for electric blankets.

Falling Action:

The Farmer agrees, and he gives the cows and chickens the blankets.

Resolution:

The cows and chickens are happy, but the ducks end up with the typewriter and ask for a diving board.

Illustrations:

The joyful illustrations from Betsy Lewin add to the fun mood of the story. I especially enjoy the pictures of the typed notes. The fun animals helped show the action and emotions of the characters.

Schulman, J. (2008). Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City. [New York]: Knopf.

Exposition:

A red tailed hawk made its way to New York’s Central Park, and eventually a female hawk joined him there.

Conflict:

The hawks had trouble building a nest in trees, and when they built a nest on a building, the people who lived there removed it.

Rising Action:

The hawks came back the next year, hatched three young hawks, and became a popular site for bird watchers and other locals. For years, the hawks continued to live and breed in the nest.

Climax:

The building residents found a way to legally remove the nest, which drew massive protests.

Falling Action:

The nesting area was rebuilt, and Pale Male and his mate continued to raise hawks there for many years.

Resolution:

Several other hawk families have been spotted around Central Park, and many believe they may be the offspring of Pale Male.

Illustrations:

The beautiful water color illustrations from Meilo So add details to the story and setting. The pictures also add to the gentle mood of the story, as well as add a frustrating tone to the conflict. These illustrations help show the unusual beauty in the story of Pale Male.

Rowling, J.K. (2007). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. [New York]: Scholastic.

Exposition:

Harry Potter, along with his friends Ron and Hermoine, must escape the Deatheater’s attempts to kill them.

Conflict:

Lord Voldemort has pursued Harry since he was a baby, and now Harry has learned of the secrets to help end the terror upon the entire Wizard community.

Rising Action:

While constantly evading Deatheaters, Harry and his friends fight loneliness, fear, and uncertainty as they search for horcruxes and try to unravel the mystery of Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort’s pasts.

Climax:

As Lord Voldemort discovers that Harry has begun destroying his tools of immortality, he wages a battle at Hogwarts to finally kill his enemy.

Falling Action:

Harry destroys the last horcrux, and sacrifices his own life to end Lord Voldemort’s reign of terror, but neither is killed at first, and they continue to battle.

Resolution:

Harry’s sacrifice offers protection to his friends, and they are soon winning the battle. Harry and Lord Voldemort duel again and finally Harry is able to fully destroy his enemy, leading to a peaceful future for the Wizard world.

Literary Qualities:

1)      J.K. Rowling is a master of foreshadowing, throughout all of her books. As you read the series, seemingly minute details resurface importantly years later through the carefully woven tale.

2)      The character development is extremely detailed and complex.

Stevens, J. (1995). Tops and Bottoms. [New York]: Harcourt.

Exposition:

Bear owned lots of land and was very wealthy, but also extremely lazy. Hare is poor, and he is looking for a way to support his family.

Conflict:

Hare makes a deal with Bear to do all of the work to farm Bear’s land and promises to split the crops, but his has to pick Top or Bottoms. Bear picks tops.

Rising Action:

First, Hare planted, watered, weeded, and harvested the crops while Bear slept. They gave him the unusable tops of the carrots, radishes, and beets.

Climax:

Next, Bear picks bottoms, but is still unhappy when Hare keeps the tops of the lettuce, broccoli, and celery.

Falling Action:

Finally, Bear decides to take the tops and bottoms, but is still upset when Hare keeps the middles of the corn.

Resolution:

Hare bought his land back, and Bear planted his own crops and decided to never bargain with Hare again.

Illustrations:

Janet Stevens has incredible illustrations to help readers understand the plot twists involving the various crops. Having a visual to see how the tops or bottoms were edible helped reinforce the text. The setting and character traits were also enhanced by the artistic details.

Angleberger, T. (2010). The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. [New York]: Amulet.

Exposition:

A group of friends compile a notebook to “scientifically” determine if Origami Yoda has magical prediction powers.

Conflict:

Tommy wants to believe in the power of Origami Yoda, even though the guy who made it and keeps him on his finger, Dwight, is a bit of a loser. Harvey doesn’t believe a bit of it.

Rising Action:

After creating his own folded origami sculpture of Yoda, Dwight randomly begins giving advice to others in school, which frequently seems to be accurate and helpful.

Climax:

When Tommy insults Dwight, he gets mad and throws Origami Yoda away. So ever doubting Harvey decides to make his own version and gives out advice. Dwight recreates his original, and Tommy must ask Sara to dance in order to find out which Origami Yoda is right.

Falling Action:

When he looks at the notebook of evidence, Tommy is still nervous to ask Sara to dance until he notices that many of his friends are dancing too.

Resolution:

Tommy finally dances with Sara, and everyone has a great time.

Literary Qualities:

1)      Great use of a notebook or journal format that even has some illustrations to help tell the story.

2)      The use of various characters’ points of view helps gain more perspectives about the events in the story. Even the pictures give additional opinions and humor.

Deedy, C. (2009). Martina the Beautiful Cockroach. [New York]: Scholastic.

Exposition:

Martina, the Beautiful Cockroach, is ready to get married, and all the women in her family offer things to help make her more beautiful.

Conflict:

Abuela suggests she pour coffee on each suitor’s shoes to help Martina choose a good husband, but Martina is unsure about it.

Rising Action:

As the suitors arrive, Martina follows Abuela’s advice, and she is shocked by the poor reactions of each potential husband.

Climax:

Just when Martina is about to give up on finding a suitable husband, she sees a very handsome mouse under her street lamp home.

Falling Action:

Although she is instantly smitten, Martina takes the cup of coffee to test Abuela’s advice.

Resolution:

When the mouse spills the coffee on Martina’s shoes they realize they are made for each other.

Illustrations:

The beautiful illustrations add much to the development of the story. Each character is developed both by the text, but even more through the detailed pictures of each one. Many details of the setting are also enhanced through the illustrations and backgrounds.

Babbit, N. (1970). Kneeknock Rise. [New York]: Scholastic.

Exposition:

Egan goes to visit his aunt in a town called Instep that is just below a mysterious mountain.

Conflict:

When he arrives in town, Egan learns about the terrible Megrimum that howls during storms and comes down to terrorize the village.

Rising Action:

Egan is awoken by a strange sound, which everyone believes is the Megrimum. This experience begins to haunt Egan’s dreams, and when Ada dares him to climb the mountain to see the beast, he decided to do it.

Climax:

Egan climbs to the top of the Kneeknock Rise to slay the Megrimum, but discovers Uncle Ott, who explains that the sounds are caused by a hot spring whistling through a cave.

Falling Action:

When Egan climbs down the mountain and explains that there is no Megrimum, only a hot spring in a cave, he is frustrated that no one wants to accept his explanation.

Resolution:

As Egan talks with the others, he begins to realize that perhaps the mystery of the Megrimum is more important than the truth.

Literary Qualities:

1)      The setting descriptions are very vibrant and distinct. Babbitt creates a mysterious mountain and an exciting fair atmosphere to propel the action.

2)      The author’s use of dialogue to add depth and perspective to the action is very useful in this story. By sharing different character’s reactions through dialogue, we learn their motivation, but overall the story is told from Egan’s perspective.