2007 Printable Manual - Texas State Library and Archives ...

2007 Texas Reading Club Manual
The first two attempts fail, and readers get to know and like characters that exhibit
strength, wit, tenacity, and intelligence. The plot stimulates the reader’s interest in how
the main character will finally resolve the problem.
Example:
The Selkie closed her eyes and swayed in the moonlight and breathed deeply in the salt
air, unaware that a wave had carried away her sealskin, or that she was being watched.
For that evening, a fisherman cast his net into the glistening water. When he emptied the
catch into his boat, there among the cod and the kingfish was a strange and beautiful
sealskin that shone with colors of silver and grey. He held it to the moonlight and then
looked around in wonder. Then he saw a sight so enchanting and graceful that his heart
was filled with joy. The fisherman wanted nothing more than to spend his life with the
Selkie. He rowed in silence to the island and spoke to her gently, calling her his own true
love. The Selkie was astonished by his voice. She turned to put on her sealskin and dive
into the sea, and found it was not there. The fisherman climbed upon the island.
Summoning his courage, he kissed her face and asked her to stay with him forever. And
when he kissed her, the Selkie’s heart leapt with happiness. More than anything, she
wished to stay with the fisherman, yet she knew she belonged beneath the sea, and he
could not survive there.
The Selkie stayed with the fisherman and they were wed. He never told her that he had
found her sealskin. He kept it hidden for fear that she would leave him. As the years
passed, they had many children, and she loved them all. She never told them that she was
a Selkie. Yet her heart belonged to the sea. Her husband knew of her longing and
sometimes he thought about giving her the sealskin, but he could not bear the thought of
her leaving. Nor could she, for she loved her husband and children dearly. Yet on nights
when the moon was full, when the children and the fisherman were asleep, she walked
softly to the sea where she slept and dreamed of her home beneath the waves.
4. The Climax
This is the most exciting point of the story. It is the bridge between the character's
struggle to solve the problem and its final resolution.
Example:
Late one night as she walked by the sea, she came upon her husband’s boat. At that
moment she heard a Selkie voice singing to her and an irresistible longing for her Selkie
family arose within her. As she listened to the song, she heard her father’s voice say that
her sealskin was in her husband’s boat, and there she found it. Without a thought for her
human husband and children, she put on her sealskin and dove beneath the sea.
5. The Conclusion
This is a brief, satisfying ending or resolution, possibly with an element of
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