Many 4thand 5th grade teachers read my book Flying Solo with their students. I recentlyreceived an interesting letter from Robert Degnan, who teaches 5th grade inRhode Island. Here's what he wrote to me, in part:

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One of my reading groups is currentlydevouring your book Flying Solo. We absolutely love it! Asserendipity would have it, one of my children in that group is an extremely shytalker; certainly not a selective mute like Rachel, but she is timid and barelyaudible when communicating. Therefore, I feel at times she is almostempowered by her ability to at least speak compared to Rachel's completeinability (or lack of desire) to communicate verbally.
During group, we havebeen using a lot of text dependent questions, trying hard to state why you asthe author wrote something in the book to honor your craft and give evidence toprove it. For instance, I may ask them why you wrote the chapters fromvarying points of view or why on page 46 did you list out Mr. Fabiano's storylist instead of just writing it into a paragraph. These questions help thembecome better writers, while also respecting your hard work. Too many times,speculation tears away at the heart of a story, leaving the initial meaning orpurpose scattered about. I want my kids to see not only what they caninfer, but also what you did and why.
So, all of this isleading up to a big, overarching question I have for you—what would youconsider to be the main theme of this book? Or are there several themes thatcarry equal weight in your eyes? To be honest I am kind of stumped and I don'twant to lead them astray. It seems responsibility is a theme as they are takingresponsibility for the classroom, but at the same point in time beingirresponsible by not reporting it. Also another theme is change, as manycharacters seem to be dealing with major life changes. Or is it something alongthe lines of Independence? If you could please throw me some kind of abone here that would be greatly appreciated. :)

The questions in the last paragraph fascinated me, and really made me think.Here's how I answered his letter.

Very nice to hearfrom you, Robert. And thanks for your thoughtful questions. I'm happy to bepart of the conversation but, at the same time, I feel awkward doing so. A booklike Flying Solo really takes on it's own life after it's been published. Mostof the time I stand back and let it speak for itself.

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About the author (2008) Ralph Fletcher is the author of many well-received books for children, including the novels Fig Pudding and Flying Solo, and the picture books Twilight Comes Twice, Grandpa. On 9 August 1982, May smashed the Birch guitar, so the Flying V became the only spare. August – October 1984: The Flying V became a second back-up again as his main spare was the Guild replica. He also used Roger Taylor's Gibson Chet-Atkins Classical Electric. July 1985 – August 1986: Gibson Flying V no longer used. The rest remained the same. Ralph Fletcher, author of Flying Solo is an author I greatly admire, in all the genres in which he writes: non-fiction (A Writer's Notebook: Unlocking the Writer within You, How Writers Work: Finding a Process That Works for You, Live Writing); poetry (Relatively Speaking, A Writing Kind Of Day: Poems for Young Poets) and fiction (Spider Boy. Flying solo by Ralph J. Publication date 2000 Topics Schools - Juvenile fiction, Teachers - Juvenile fiction, Mutism, Elective - Juvenile fiction, Death.

I am notreally 'thinking theme' when I write a novel like Flying Solo.Rather, I'm trying to create a strong, engaging story with believable characters.I put those characters into a situation that tries them almost to the breakingpoint.
To me Flying Solo contains manythemes including independence, as you say, and also toleratingdifference. And responsibility: how are you going to act in thisworld? What choices will you make, and what will be the implications of thosechoices? Most of the time teachers are the ones who make all theimportant decisions in the classroom. I thought it would be intriguing to seewhat a bunch of regular kids would do if they suddenly found themselves with noadult in charge of making those choices.
I hope that helps.

Sincerely,

The 16-page Kids' Wings unit for Flying Solo will lead your students through a problem-solving experience that builds high-level thinking! The unit includes journaling for vocabulary and comprehension, character analysis, timeline, writing readers' theater scripts, point of view, multiple choice comprehension check ups, fact or opinion, flash drafts, logic puzzle, 'Leadership through Fire,' math, character building, High-flying Writing, and writing/discussion prompts. Naruto java minecraft skins.

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