Kids Deconstruct Anthony Browne's "Voices in the Park"

2nd Session
Creative Writing Class for Kids
Saturday, April 18, 2015

We read. We wrote. We chatted. We listened. We laughed. We fought. We cried. We made peace.

Lucas was very firm about making peace. No matter what the problem was, his Ninja warriors and generals must make peace in the end. 

Our second session last Saturday, April 18, 2015 was more than just a creative writing class. It was a lesson on empathy with the different voices in Anthony Browne's park and most of all, with the different voices of the children in the class.

We began our session with a 10-minute sustained silent reading. It was Kat who chose to read Voices in the Park. Afterwards, she chose the last frame as her favorite picture and WOW sentence.

"When I got home I put the flower in some water, and made Dad a nice cup of cocoa."  

(Note: If you haven't read Voices in the Park, do find a copy.)

Kat definitely doesn't know about last frames. She made an instinctive choice. I asked her why she liked the last frame. She told me, "Well, it was really nice of Charles to give Smudge a flower. And it was nice of Smudge to put the flower in some water and to make cocoa for her Dad."

I  asked again, "What does the flower symbolize?" I was afraid that symbolize was too big a word. 

But Kat repeated the word and said, "I think the flower symbolizes that there will be another flower." 

I stopped asking questions by saying, "So there's hope."

And Kat said nonchalantly, "Ah-huh."

Charles, the third voice in the story, is a lonely boy gorilla. He's the son of the first voice, a domineering Mrs. Gorilla. Smudge is a happy girl gorilla. The fourth voice, she's the daughter of Mr. Gorilla, the second voice.

To check on whether the kids were getting the hang of the story, I asked why the title of the book is Voices in the Park. 

"Whose is the first voice?" I prompted. Lucas promptly said, "Mrs. Gorilla!" And Kat said, "The second voice is Mr. Gorilla."

"So why is the title Voices in the Park?"

Sam said, "It shows the different sides of the story."

I'll tell you about our crying episode next time.