Sequels

Does your child have a favorite story? Encourage them to write a sequel.

Your children may find it difficult to put down a favorite book, having become quite attached to the characters. You can suggest sequels the author may have written, but if there are none, encourage your children to write one of their own. They may each want to write their own sequels, or collaborate on one sequel.

Besides giving your children a little more time with the characters, writing a sequel will reveal their insights into the characters and challenge tehm to imagine the plot's most logical extenstions. Perhaps the children will want to skip a generation, imagining an aging character or the character's offspring. For example, although Charlotte dies at the end of Charlotte's Web, she leaves a sac of eggs. What will become of them? Can the children imagine Fern as a grown woman?

Have the authors of the sequel read it aloud. Perhaps they would like to make a finished copy. Staple the pages together and cover the spine with cloth tape, then place the sequel alongside the original book on the shelf.