Friday Reconnect: Finishing Trumpet

By Oliver Perry, Read to Them Staff

Happy Friday friends! Today we complete our read of The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White! Can you believe it? Is it safe to say that we get a happy ending? What did you think of the way the story wrapped up? Consider how Louis ends the story. What do you think of his final comments about the earth, about music, and his perspective on life? Did you like it? Do you agree or disagree with him? Talk about it and let us know!

Extra, extra! We’ve got an exciting new activity to end our read with a bang! Read all about it! Today we’re going to take a (newspaper) page out of The Trumpet of the Swan and make our own mock news story. First, name your newspaper! It can be anything you want. Then, you need to come up with your story idea. It should be about your read, but that means anything that you enjoyed about the last three weeks. Your favorite character? Favorite scene? Was it getting to read with someone every night? Was it the activities? You choose! You’ll then craft an eye-catching headline, like the ones from the book. For example: One Swan Goes on a Crazy Journey or Best Reading Event Yet. Once you’ve chosen your story and your headline, finally you get to go full journalist mode and write a little blurb. You can write as much or as little as you want, but remember to be creative and descriptive.

To end this read the right way, we’ve got a handful of writing prompts for get you writing!

• If you had one million dollars, what would you do with it? Would you spend it all? On what and why? Would you save some? How much? Would you give some to anybody? Who and why? Would you donate any money?

• If you were a newspaper journalist, what kind of stories would you want to write about? Would you write about crimes? Would you write about nature and animals? What about music? Write about what your life would be like if you were a journalist in this field.

• Write about a time you went to the zoo. When was it? Who did you go with? What animals did you see? Which was your favorite? If you could open your own zoo, which animals would you have? What would you name your zoo?

• Write an extra chapter to this story. It can be from the perspective of any of the characters. Who will you choose? Louis? Sam Beaver? Serena? The cob? What happens in your added chapter? What are the characters doing now? Where are they? Be creative in your writing!

• What was your favorite part about the last three weeks reading The Trumpet of the Swan? Write about your favorite characters, scenes from the book, and anything else about the book you enjoyed. What about outside the book? Activities? Reading yourself, or being read to? This is your space to reflect on the last three weeks!

And that’s it from us. We are so proud of everyone for reading The Trumpet of the Swan, and you should be proud too! Celebrate your accomplishment, and in the meantime, be kind, keep reading, and we will see all of you very soon.