Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 05/15/2020 In this complement to How to Read a Story (2015), Messner offers an easy 10-step guide to writing a story. As in the first book, Siegel’s cartoon-like watercolors not only provide examples for each step but also create a story line of their own. In “Step 1: Search for an Idea,” for example, a girl with brown skin walks through the park, looking for ideas, which appear in thought bubbles. Her story takes off after she chooses an aquarium setting, a mermaid main character, and a sea monster hatching in a city aquarium as a problem. The girl’s idea possibilities and accompanying illustrations become more elaborate and adventurous as she plans, adds more details to, illustrates, and revises the story, and finally shares it with others. More visuals, in the form of childish artwork and written text, simulate the girl’s efforts alongside the guide’s ongoing steps and illustrations. These writing basics will be a welcome addition to literacy centers and for students who struggle with the question of what to write about. - Copyright 2020 Booklist.