Storm in the Night

By: Mary Stolz

Illistrated by: Pat Cummings

Grade 4

 

                Have you ever been scared of a thunder storm? I know I have and so has Grandpa, Thomas and Thomas’ beloved cat Ringo. In the Realistic Fiction story Storm In The Night by Mary Stolz we get a glimpse into a night when a big storm hit, and all the lights went out. What is there to do when the lights go out? Grandpa decides to tell stories of when he was a young boy.

                This story starts off during a huge storm that has knocked the power out at grandpa and Thomas’ house. They are deciding what there is to do when you have no electricity; it was dark and they knew it was still too early to go to bed. Grandpa wanted to tell Thomas stories from when he was a boy. Thomas thought grandpa was too old to have ever been a boy. He decides to listen any ways and grandpa starts off by answering questions of how he looked when he was Thomas’ age.

                Grandpa always told Thomas stories and Thomas loved to listen. This particular story that grandpa decided to tell during the storm was about his dog and how much his dog hated storms. We found out that grandpa needed to hide under the furniture with his dog to ensure the dog wasn’t to be more scared then he always was. He remembered a time when there was a huge storm after his dog went outside. Grandpa went and his under his bed once the storm had started only to remember his dog was still outside.

                He raced around the house trying to find his parents; he had forgotten that they went out for a while. As soon as he raced outside to find his beloved dog who was so scared of storms a large black figured approached him. It was his neighbor carrying his dog. He knew that when they were together his dog and him they were less scared. When the story was finished the story had stopped and Thomas realized that if his grandfather and cat were not with him during the storm he may have been frightened just like his grandfather and his dog.

                In my opinion this is an amazing book for students. The way it is written uses a lot of descriptive writing which makes the story come to life. This book teaches the students new and more interesting and creative ways to write. This will help them realize how interesting their writing can become if they were to write as Mary Stolz did. Also the pictures in this book can tell the story for themselves. These are very detailed and they follow the story beautifully also ensuring the story comes to life. The story is so realistic and students will be able to relate and feel this can happen to them. This can be a great book or students to do self to text connection due to the reality of this.  

                As a teacher I would use this book to help show new ways of writing. The amount of descriptive writing is so amazing it will open new doors for my students. I would read this book aloud to my students and while I read I would ask them to name the types of writing being used for example simile for example “Thunder like mountains blowing up.” Another way I would utilize this book would be in what sense is being used in “Thunder like mountains blowing up.” They would say we are using our sense of hearing, if we were in the story we would be hearing the thunder. This story is a story almost all children would love to listen to.

                Connections to Ma ELA Frameworks 4^th Grade

 

RL 7. Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.

        

RL 8a. Locate and analyze examples of similes and metaphors in stories, poems, folktales, and plays and explain how these literary devices enrich the text.*

 

W 3a. Write stories, poems, and scripts that use foreshadowing, similes, and/or metaphors.*