Friday Reconnect - Finishing Rump

By Oliver Perry & Chloe Grant, Read to Them Staff

This week we’re closing out our friend Rump’s tale. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed these past four weeks reading Rump by Liesl Shurtliff with you. We dreamed up new fairy tale, and learned a whole lot about magic during this read.

As we leave Rump, or should we say Rumpelstiltskin, and Red on The Mountain, we’re filled with thought. What name did Rump give the mountain? Where will Rump and Red go from here? While we may never know for sure, we’ve learned to use our imagination to fill in the blanks. One thing we have been imagining a lot recently is the journey Rump goes on throughout this book. That’s why we’ve decided to finish up our reading by using our imaginations to envision his path. Like we’ve said before, there are no pictures in this book, but by using the rich language of the text we’re able to create the images in our minds. In an effort to bring that vision to life, we encourage you all to make your own map of the kingdom Rump lives in. To get your creative juices flowing, check out the video below from staff member Chloe from a previous read. Once you finish your map, show it off and describe it on the Flipgrid.

We’d love to hear from you with your thoughts on our program. Whether that be a book review, a general blurb of your overall experience, what you’d like to see more of, or anything else - you can have that discussion with other readers on the Flipgrid page!

Here are a handful of writing prompts for you to enjoy:

• ‘Rumpel’ means being ‘trapped in magic forever’. Have you ever felt trapped in a situation, like there was no way you could get out of it? What happened? Why did you feel trapped? And how did you finally break free

• Rump is his own stiltskin. It turns out the magic is inside of him. Do you think there’s a little bit of magic inside of you? Is everyone magic? What do you think it means to be ‘magic’ when talking about yourself?

• Rump names the Mountain at the end of the book. Give a name to a couple of places/objects that are important to you, and explain why you chose them. Some examples could be: your house, a family car, a bike, an article of clothing, shoes, a chair, etc.

• Our winner of the Fairy Tale Writing Contest wrote about creativity. Take some time to express your creativity on paper. What makes you feel creative? What magic can you find within your creativity?

• Now that you’ve finished Rump, what messages are you taking away from it? What has it taught you?

That's it from us and Rump by Lisel Shurtliff. In the meantime - keep reading, stay safe, and be kind!