Margin Notes

What I Was Reading:

Mo Willems’ The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too! is a children’s book that tells the simple narrative of a pigeon who gets increasingly angry because those around him are constantly telling him what to do.

What Moves I Notice the Writer Making:

• Using only speech bubbles to tell a story.
• Emphasizing words by bolding and capitalizing letters.
• Using different coloured texts, such as using red for the word ‘angry’ to grab attention.
• Employing a variety of punctuation such as exclamation points.
• Using body language to better express the intended message and emotion.

Possibilities for Writers:

• When the message is being shown by illustration, such as in graphic novels and picture books, the illustration becomes the message. Explore body language and how posture and movement express emotion and intent, and ensure illustrations match the dialogue.
• Have students find an existing text (their own or someone else’s) or write a new one, and pinpoint the words that they believe are important or best express what the writer is intending to get across. Explore ways to emphasize those words, such as using colours, different fonts, and bolding words.
• Explore a variety of punctuation. Would an exclamation point or a semicolon work better than a period?

Guest writer Sylvie is a Bachelor of Education student at UNB hoping to become an English Language Arts teacher for a high school in or near her hometown. When not doing schoolwork she can be found with her partner, Samuel, enjoying a film (probably
horror), a cup of something hot (probably coffee), and/or whichever pet is closest
(probably Samuel’s doodles).