Since the beginning of the school year, each
Monday, I’ve been posting about the
importance of understanding the key elements of finely-crafted expository
nonfiction and helping students identify those features as they read and
include them as they write.
For the first few weeks, I focused on the
pre-writing process. Then, I turned my attention to text characteristics and
discussed text format, text scaffolding, text density, and text structure. You
can scroll down to read those posts.
Today, I’m going to take a fresh look at voice.
Like text structure, it’s a topic I’ve discussed many times before on this
blog.
“the personality of the writing” or “how the writing makes the reader feel,”
but then Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park helped me to see voice—in both fiction
and nonfiction—in a whole new way.
definition:
voice
= word choice + rhythm
simple way:
= punctuation + sentence length
Why do I love this definition so much? Because it
has the built-in benefit of showing writers how they can control voice. After
all, it’s easy enough to play around with word choice, punctuation, and
sentence length.
When I first posted
about Linda Sue’s definition last March, I focused on writing samples with a lyrical voice, so
today, I wanted to provide a broader range of examples.
In Itch!
Everything You Didn’t Want to Know About What Makes You Scratch, author Anita
Sanchez
carefully crafted text in which all three of these elements are working in harmony to create a humorous,
conversational voice that perfectly reflects
her topic and approach.
combinations like “freak out” and “unwanted company” and including the
alliterative phrases “head for a habitat” as well as the exclamation point at
the end of the first sentence, Sanchez crafts text that delights as well as
informs. Even though all four sentences are about the same length, the author
has varied the sentence structure to make the passage fast paced.
Now consider the
opening lines of Giant Squid by
Candace Fleming, which has a more intriguing, mysterious voice:
This text may occupy twelve lines, but it is
a single sentence. By breaking it up, the author carefully controls both the
rhythm and the pacing. The alliteration, sensory details, and repetition create
a mood of magic and mystery that hooks readers and makes them want to turn the
page and keep on reading.
As I was writing Seashells: More than a Home, I wanted readers to experience a sense of awe
as they discovered all amazing ways sea creatures use their shells, so my goal
was to craft a soft, wondrous voice.
Since “seashells” has
built in alliteration, I included other “s” words whenever possible. The phrase
“Spiraled or spiky, round or ridged” has two examples of alliteration as well
as opposition and repetition of a technique, which makes the text pleasing to
the human ear. The simile “like treasures from a secret world beneath the
waves” adds to this piece’s sense of wonder. To slow the reader down and make
the writing seem soothing and comforting, many of the sentences are long and
have multiple phrases set off by commas.
By understanding the
components of voice, young nonfiction writers can craft engaging text that
reflects their thoughts and feelings about a topic.
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2 Responses
Good word choices and phrases used. Are any of these written in third person?
They are all third person. Itch has a bit if second person direct address mixed in.