Mentor Sentence Monday: Missing May

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Cynthia Rylant’s Missing May, won the Newbery Award for 1993. Her words flow together so easily and there is a lovely rhythm to her sentences. The following paragraph is a description of the house of Uncle Ob and Aunt May. The opening sentence of this paragraph (page 5) would be perfect for kids to imitate and would also be a great model for a hook.

Home was, still is, a rusty old trailer stuck on the face of a mountain in Deep Water, in the heart of Fayette County. It looked to me, the first time, like a toy that God had been playing with and accidentally dropped out of heaven. Down and down and down it came and landed, thunk, on this mountain, sort of cockeyed and shaky and grateful to be all in one piece. Well sort of one piece.

I generated the following paragraph using Rylant’s words as my model:

Home was, still is, a sprawling brick ranch pushed back from the road, half-way down Parker Street. It looked to me, the first time, like mismatched shoe boxes pushed together to form an “L” . I figured it had been added on to at least three different times, given that each of the three sections of the house had slightly different kinds of bricks. 

Mentor Sentence Monday: More Cynthia Rylant

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One of my favorite books by Cynthia Rylant is An Angel for Solomon Singer. I love the unapologetic way she weaves the story of a lonely man’s life. Her words are simple and direct and beautiful. Several places in the book Rylant describes her character by what he doesn’t have or doesn’t like which is a technique that kids can imitate and will quickly change up the flow of their writing and add voice to their pieces. It is also a way of describing that young writers can use when writing across genres and in all content areas.

The following sentences are Cynthia Rylant’s:

His room had no balcony (he dreamed of beautiful balconies). It had no fireplace (and he knew he would think better sitting before a fireplace). It had no porch swing for napping and no picture for watching the birds.

The following are sentences I generated using Rylant’s words as inspiration:

Her office had no window (she dreamed of the warmth of natural light). It had no way to control the temperature (and she knew she would think better without shivering). It had no filing cabinet and no bookcase for all of her books. 

Mentor Sentence Monday: Cynthia Rylant

Word cloud created using text from
When I Was Young in the
Mountains by Cynthia Rylant.

Cynthia Rylant’s books are swimming with wonderful craft perfect for teaching kids to write compound and complex sentences with commas. Her book, When I Was Young in the Mountains is chock full.

Rylant’s words:

When I was young in the mountains, we walked across the cow pasture and through the woods, carrying our towels. The swimming hole was dark and muddy, and we sometimes saw snakes, but we jumped in anyway.

I generated the following sentences using Rylant’s words as the pattern:

When I was young in Green Valley, we rode our banana seat bikes across the railroad tracks and through the back alleys, carrying our towels around our necks. The city pool was crowded, and sometimes little kids peed in the shallow end, but we jumped in anyway.