Last week, I described how I decided to look at the role
of the Moon in animals’ lives through the lens of gratitude. That was an
important first step in creating Thank You,
Moon, but I still needed a text structure, and that’s often the
biggest challenge for me.
Nearly all narrative nonfiction has a sequence text
structure, but with expository nonfiction, the sky is the limit. In school,
students typically learn five
nonfiction text structures. Besides sequence, there’s compare and contrast,
problem and solution, cause and effect, and description.
Many children’s books use one of these five
structures. Q&A
and list text structures are also common. But sometimes authors use an innovative structure
that’s topic specific.
Initially, I was hoping to use a sequence text
structure that followed the phases of the lunar cycle, but it turns out that
animal activity is largely dependent on either the Full Moon or the New Moon
with very little in between.
Then I thought of a sequence text structure that
followed the seasons or even the months of the year. Perhaps I could use the
monthly moon names, such as the Harvest Moon in September and the Strawberry
Moon in June. But that approach didn’t work either.
Eventually, I decided to use a compare and contrast structure with
animal pairs grouped by survival activities, such as finding food, avoiding predators,
and raising a family. Once I had that plan in place, I began to write, but I
still needed to figure out how to begin and end the book. I’ll talk more about
that next week.
