Ralph Fletcher wrote Marshfield Dreams to share with students my age about his thoughts on his years growing up. I'm eleven years old and there were a few connections I made to Ralph Fletcher's stories.
In the vignette "Baseball", Ralph mentions he likes the Boston Red Sox "even though they weren't very good." (Fletcher 2005 p. 109) I'm not a fan of Boston but my grandmother is. Everyone in my family is a Yankee fan; except for my mom...she doesn't like baseball at all. My grandmother and I have spent many hours sitting together and watching Boston play. We would have the chance to talk to each other and I know I can trust her with my secrets. Boston doesn't win as many games as the Yankees, but I wouldn't miss out on spending time with my grandmother.
In the vignette "Last Kiss", the author states "I guess they drift away from each other." (Fletcher 2005 p. 84) In my family, we are getting ready to have my brother, Mike, leave for Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He's enlisted in the U.S. Army. My mom has explained to me what his job will be when he is gone. But I see the news on TV at night. I know Mike might have to fight. I hope he will be safe and that we never drift apart like the author did with his father.
The short stories we had to read made me think about things. Sometimes when I read I don't always like the stories but these ones are easy for kids like me to understand. I feel writers should try to relate to students like me, so that I won't be bored.
Nice post, Matthew! You made excellent connections to the topics in Fletcher's narratives, which is great. However, in this post, I wanted you just to focus on the writing elements--as opposed to the topics themselves. I wanted you to to do this so you would have two concrete writing models to use as you continue to develop your personal narratives on your own topics this week. However, your personal connections were well written and I can clearly tell that you learned from Fletcher's writing. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Matt. It is good that you could connect with the story. Your connections are vivid and i can tell you enjoyed the story. Although i think you could of included a little more of his writing style other than connections. But your post is great and it really tells the reader you had a good time reading and relating to the book.
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