Don't be 'Chicken'
“Chicken” is a short story written by Kathy Stinson, an award-winning author for young people, which magnificently deals with adolescents' first sexual experiences and pregnancy in such a realistic way that teenagers will easily be able to identify with.
The plot revolves around two teenagers, a girl and the new guy from B.C. Bram, that are painting a church basement alone and he proposes her to play 'Chicken'. The game consists of a challenge, in which one of them puts a finger on the other person’s forehead and moves it down and the first one to say ‘stop’ is the chicken. Although the girl knew that he has just been a daddy and that her mother had warned her that being alone with a boy like Bram was asking for it, she accepted. The open ending is what makes this story even more attractive.
I am convinced that this story is a powerful tool to work with our students, because the topics are of their interest and at the same time, we will give them (and perhaps ourself) the possibility to do away with taboos. Moreover, Stinson's writing style catches the attention of any reluctant young reader. You can not miss it!
Hi girls! Nice review! I think that in this sentence, "The game consists of a challenge, in which one of them puts a finger on the other person’s forehead and moves it down and the first one to say ‘stop’ is the chicken." you should remove the comma. Remember that we should never put a comma in front of a defining relative clause. Just that!
ReplyDeleteThank you Amilcar. I always have the same problem!
ReplyDeleteHello Rosario. When I read the sentence: Although the knew that he has just been a daddy and that her mother had warned her that being alone with a boy like Bram was asking for it, she accepted. I feel that the sentence after the comma is kind of short. Remember the End-Weight principle. If the end is too short the sentence is imbalance.
ReplyDeleteI agree... the although clause is too long for being at the beginning. It would be better to organize the information in a different way.
DeleteAs regards the same clause, I feel that there are too many "thats" all together and it may be confusing while reading it. Perhaps, I would organize all that information in different sentences in order to avoid both the length and the repetition.
DeleteYou are right, I could have also omitted some of them! Thanks for tour comments!
DeleteHi girls. I think that there is a problem with tense in the second paragraph. You start describing the plot using the present, and then you jump to the past. When narrating, we tend to use the present. So stick to one tense and you will avoid tense "tangles".
ReplyDeleteHi girls! After reading the first sentence in the second paragraph, I´m not sure if that "and" is the best choice to connect both clauses. Maybe, we can show that the actions are interelated if we connect them with "when", meaning that the first situation was "interrupted" or finished due to the second one.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I liked very much the title (it´s very compelling) and some words like adjectives and adverbs you´ve chosen to "decorate" your review. I think that they make it more attractive.
DeleteHey girls!, I think that the first sentence from the last paragraph is too long. Maybe, you can split it and make two sentences. You can still use "at the same time" as a conector.
ReplyDelete