2ND - 5TH GRADE

Robert Dorfman, hero of the "Robert" series of chapter books about a well-meaning third grader who always manages to get into a pickle, is introduced by Barbara reading the opening chapter of OH, NO, IT'S ROBERT, the first book. This draws the children into the character and the story. A discussion follows about where ideas for stories come from. Barbara tells the story of the funny incident on which an important scene in the first Robert story - and the whole series - is based, as it's that scene that reveals just who Robert is. The talk continues with how a writer takes real life happenings and people and turns them into fiction. After the discussion, Barbara reads the actual scene in which shed used the real life incident she told them about, transformed to a school setting.

The children love hearing about the people among Barbara's family and friends who have become the fictional characters in her stories. They enjoy hearing anecdotes about where the ideas for each story come from, some from real children who have suggested them to the author. The children learn how an author decides what will happen next when writing a story, showing the necessity for outlines, and the importance of revision, or "re-seeing," which is an exciting part of writing any book. The children relate to Robert, because he struggles, as they do, in their everyday lives, to deal with getting good grades, staying out of trouble, annoying siblings, peer pressure, bullies and misunderstandings.

Robert tries hard, but is not necessarily a top performer in anything. In talking about Robert, his family, his school, his teacher and classmates, children see that there are lots of different ways to be successful, and that everybody is good at something.

We go through an exercise in which the children come up with an interesting character. Then, using the "What if...?" method ("What if the character does....this?") to generate ideas, they contribute ideas to plotting a story.