Potomac's eighth grade English students read and discuss The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. The book is a series of short vignettes that together capture the characters, setting, and stories of a particular neighborhood in Chicago. The vignettes are written from the perspective of a fictional narrator and are based loosely on Cisneros's own experiences as well as those of her students. Some of the vignettes are humorous or action-packed; some are heart-wrenching or shocking. All are deliberate in their use of figurative language, poetic elements, grammar conventions, and pacing.

Each eighth grader composed at least one vignette for inclusion in this digital collection. They wrote in the style of Sandra Cisneros, as they interpreted it based on their notes and our class discussions, yet they set it in a time and place of their own choosing. While some of these vignettes are based on the author's personal experience, many of them are purely fiction, an imagining of characters and circumstances that seemed ripe for this assignment. Students also used this assignment to experiment with new vocabulary words and techniques involving punctuation and sentence structure.

We encourage you to leave comments below vignettes that strike you in some way. Please keep your comments positive and specific; this is not the place for critiques or suggestions. Enjoy the creativity and vibrancy of these students' literary efforts.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

The Pond

Turkey, pumpkin, pie, mashed potatoes- and mud? My cousins and I took an adventure down a trail to a pond not too far from my backyard, expecting a repeat of previous canoeing adventures. Due to the previous drought, instead of a pond we found dried up mud. Being a 10 year old boy, Luke dove straight into the sea of mud screaming “I bet I can go in the farthest!” The deep, thick mud was no match for Luke.

His legs became helplessly frozen in the “quick mud”. Jack, being the oldest, dove into Luke to try to save him. Jack picked Luke up onto his back and set out of what seemed like a death trap. As he was almost out, Jack lost his balance and he and Luke toppled back into the grip of the mud.

Maddie and I attempted to save Jack and Luke. As soon as we stepped into the mud, we were knee deep in binding brown stickiness. Maddie came up with what was a brilliant idea at the time. She stepped out of her completely stuck boots, and instead wore just her thin socks in the cold mud. Following her lead, the quest to save Jack and Luke had not lost hope. 

While this happened, 12 year old Natalie was being very helpful and was sitting on the bank crying. As Maddie and I made our way over to Jack and Luke, we felt like we were conquering a jungle. Maddie stepped out of her frozen boots and took a leap towards them, pulling them to safety.

It seemed as if the evil mud had been defeated. Tired, bewildered, and with our nice Thanksgiving clothes covered in mud we trudged back to our house just in time for Thanksgiving dinner- with one great story to tell.

~ Blaire M.

5 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 8, 2015 at 9:24 AM

    Based on a true story!

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 9, 2015 at 8:37 AM

    Simply an exquisite piece of literature!

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 9, 2015 at 10:23 AM

    This was a very intriguing story that kept me on my feet. Very well done Blaire McGavin!

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  4. AnonymousJanuary 9, 2015 at 12:52 PM

    Fantastic! You are such a soldier, living through the story and being able to tell it!

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  5. AnonymousJanuary 9, 2015 at 12:55 PM

    Hocwdid you possibly save them. I thought they were gonners

    ReplyDelete

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