The Language Inside 30 Prompts--Day 1
April is National Poetry Month in the U.S., and for the month of April, I am posting 30 poetry prompts from my verse novel The Language Inside. Some of the prompts relate to poems referenced in the book, such as poems that the main character Emma reads to the patient Zena in the long-term care facility. Other prompts derive from poems that Emma, Zena or her friend Samnang draft and share during the story.
The Language Inside 30 Prompts: Day 1 In several pages of Chapter 4, Emma lists the destruction she found at her friend Madoka's grandparents' home in Miyagi Prefecture after the March 11, 2011 tsunami. Here is an excerpt:
a car stood on its nose between the kitchen wall and a neighbor’s wall
another had bashed down a shed and four were crumpled against a broken utility pole
the garden was littered with splintered chairs, a drum shredded mats, plastic crates, clothes a urinal and dresser drawers
trees crusted with mud were hung with trash tangled in string and weighted with dead fish
Prompt Day 1: Create a list poem of detailed description to tell a story or reveal an emotion. More prompts from The Language InsideThe full reader's guide to The Language Inside--A Discussion, Reading and Activity Guide for Teachers and Readers--with these and other prompts, discussion questions and activities is HERE.
About The Language Inside
Emma Karas was raised in Japan; it's the country she calls home. But when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, Emma's family moves to a town outside Lowell, Massachusetts to stay with her grandmother while her mom undergoes treatment. Emma feels out of place in the United States, begins to have migraines, and longs to be back in Japan. At her grandmother's urging, she volunteers in a long-term care center to help Zena, a patient with locked-in syndrome, write down her poems. There, Emma meets Samnang, another volunteer, who assists elderly Cambodian refugees. Weekly visits to the care center, Zena's poems, dance and noodle soup bring Emma and Samnang closer, until Emma must make a painful choice: stay in Massachusetts, or return early to Japan. The Language Inside is a verse novel rich in language both spoken and unspoken that crosses boundaries to create a story layered with love, loss, movement and words. (Delacorte/Random House)
YALSA 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults Notable Books for a Global Society 2014 Bank Street Best Books of the Year 2014 Notable Books for the Language Arts 2014 A Librarians' Choices 2013 Book
The Language Inside 30 Prompts: Day 1 In several pages of Chapter 4, Emma lists the destruction she found at her friend Madoka's grandparents' home in Miyagi Prefecture after the March 11, 2011 tsunami. Here is an excerpt: a car stood on its nose between the kitchen wall and a neighbor’s wall
another had bashed down a shed and four were crumpled against a broken utility pole
the garden was littered with splintered chairs, a drum shredded mats, plastic crates, clothes a urinal and dresser drawers
trees crusted with mud were hung with trash tangled in string and weighted with dead fish
Prompt Day 1: Create a list poem of detailed description to tell a story or reveal an emotion. More prompts from The Language InsideThe full reader's guide to The Language Inside--A Discussion, Reading and Activity Guide for Teachers and Readers--with these and other prompts, discussion questions and activities is HERE.
About The Language Inside
Emma Karas was raised in Japan; it's the country she calls home. But when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, Emma's family moves to a town outside Lowell, Massachusetts to stay with her grandmother while her mom undergoes treatment. Emma feels out of place in the United States, begins to have migraines, and longs to be back in Japan. At her grandmother's urging, she volunteers in a long-term care center to help Zena, a patient with locked-in syndrome, write down her poems. There, Emma meets Samnang, another volunteer, who assists elderly Cambodian refugees. Weekly visits to the care center, Zena's poems, dance and noodle soup bring Emma and Samnang closer, until Emma must make a painful choice: stay in Massachusetts, or return early to Japan. The Language Inside is a verse novel rich in language both spoken and unspoken that crosses boundaries to create a story layered with love, loss, movement and words. (Delacorte/Random House)YALSA 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults Notable Books for a Global Society 2014 Bank Street Best Books of the Year 2014 Notable Books for the Language Arts 2014 A Librarians' Choices 2013 Book
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