Thanksgiving is a terrific time to connect with friends and family across the miles. But it's also a perfect time to help young writers creatively communicate thankfullness. Visit our Pinterest page and let the writing begin:
Telephones come in all shapes and sizes.
Imagine a telephone.
Now, imagine a telephone made of cardboard.
Imagine someone trying to make a call, but the only telephone is a telephone of cardboard.
Does this person realize that the telephone is made out of cardboard? Does s/he want it to be made out of cardboard, instead of being fully functional? Why? Does the narrator know why this person is using a cardboard phone? Or is s/he just as confused as the reader? Or, what if the character in the story or poem happens upon the phone, picks up the receiver on a whim, and the cardboard telephone actually works? Who is on the other end? Is that person using a cardboard telephone too, or a standard phone?
Imagine the possibilities and then craft your ideas into a story or poem.
Example:
The Girl with The Cardboard Phone
There is a girl who talks on a cardboard phone
every day during recess.
Past the thwacking of jump rope
on cement, past the many grabbing hands
at the monkey bars, below the cracked tube
of the playground slide,
you’ll find her clutching the cardboard receiver,
stroking the thin fringe of its ripped edge
with a white finger. We used to wonder
what secret messages were being passed
into the thick brown strip, soggy with dew
and wet leaves, and whether
anyone was replying. We wondered
until one day, we wandered by and caught these words:
“I love you too”— accompanied by a smile
like a warm cup of tea on the greyest day.
-Constance