Developing Artistic Writing.pdf - Brevard Public Schools

Flashback
Definition: Breaks the present action of the story to reveal an event from an earlier time. It
provides background information to help the reader understand the story, and flashback often
contributes to the mood, characters, theme, or setting of the story.
Mentor Text:
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
She put a shell to her ear and remembered going to the beach by tram long ago and how hot she
had felt in her button-up boots.
My Ol’ Man by Patricia Polacco
Whenever I get quiet and still inside and wish I was little again, all I have to do is think about my
summers in Michigan. When I do this, it isn’t now anymore, it is then again.
Our Tree Named Steve by Alan Zweibel
I remember there was one tree, however, that the three of you couldn’t stop staring at. Adam
thought it was crying. Lindsay said it looked nervous, and Sari, who was only two years old,
couldn’t pronounce the word tree, and called it Steve.
Other Mentor Texts:
My Mama Had a Dancing Heart by Libba Moore Gray
One Small Bead by Byrd Baylor
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman
In My Own Backyard by Judi Kurjian
Why the Chicken Crossed the Road by David MacAulay
Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco
The House on Maple Street by Bonnie Pryor
The Wreck of the Zephyr by Chris Van Allsburg
Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst
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