Shrinklits

(Handout)

Take any piece of Literature and condense!

Instruct students to summarize a story focusing on key events, climaxes, and conflicts.

Take the summary and summarize again, all the while still capturing the essence of the story.

Take the condensed summary and create a rhyming poem.  Encourage creativity by adding humor, sarcasm, etc.

Here are some examples:

The Raven

     By Hannah wong

Midnight napping

Hear faint tapping

Lenore in mind

Darkness I find

In came Raven

Misbehavin’

At my door

Forevermore  

The Black Cat

      By Caroline Flood

Once Loved cat

Hates it now

Gouged the eye out

Killed it, “ow!”

House burns down

Cat is there

With white marks

On its hair

Takes in cat

Don’t know why

Then decides

Cat must die

Tires to kill it

With an axe

Misses and

Wife he hacks

Buries her

In the wall

With the cat

That’s not all

Police find out

What he did

The darn cat

Told where she hid