{"id":6168,"date":"2016-09-20T16:26:19","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T23:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/kids\/?p=6168"},"modified":"2016-12-06T19:41:56","modified_gmt":"2016-12-07T03:41:56","slug":"a-pig-parade-is-a-terrible-idea-creative-writing-for-beginning-readers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/kids\/2016\/a-pig-parade-is-a-terrible-idea-creative-writing-for-beginning-readers\/","title":{"rendered":"A Pig Parade is a Terrible Idea: Creative Writing for Beginning Readers"},"content":{"rendered":"

This month’s Creative Writing for Beginning Reader’s workshop (for ages 5-8) was inspired by the book A Pig Parade is a Terrible Idea<\/a> by Michael Ian Black and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. <\/p>\n

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It’s a hilarious picture book that is all about contrasting the bright, shiny parade in the narrator’s imagination:<\/p>\n

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…with reality.<\/p>\n

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It’s also a great springboard for talking about the real habits or lifestyles of pigs! I thought we could make our own books about why parades featuring other animals would be an equally bad idea. At the end of the book, it is suggested that a Panda Parade would be better, and when I read that to my daughter she said, “Now I want to read the Panda Parade! Can you get it for me?” I laughed and said it didn’t exist, but that she could write it!<\/p>\n

So that’s what we did!<\/p>\n

I usually try to make a “sample” book to give kids an idea of what a possible finished book could look like.<\/p>\n

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On the day of our workshop, I put out all kinds of animal books and after reading the kids A Pig Parade Is a Terrible Idea<\/em>, we did some brainstorming together about some other kinds of animals and the problems they would cause for a parade:<\/p>\n

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After we generated some good, funny ideas, the kids set to work writing their own books. For illustrations, I gave them printed out images of animals like puppies, kitties, gorillas, tigers, hippos, alligators, and pandas. I used both cartoony images and realistic images, and encouraged the kids to use that contrast just like Kevin Hawkes did:<\/p>\n

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They were excited to share their finished books:<\/p>\n

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A few kids read their books aloud and I videotaped:<\/p>\n