Focus on Genre, continued

Character: Practice Together

Now read the rest of the story aloud with your class. As you read, listen for the ways the writer characterizes Isabella. After you read, make a Character Description Chart for Isabella.

Isabella managed to get the door open. She grabbed the spray bottle of cleaner she always kept in her car. She blasted the creature with cleaner. At each squirt, the Blob grew smaller and weaker. In a few minutes, it was just a lifeless puddle. Isabella stood up and smiled. Then she wiped the puddle away with an old towel.

Setting: How It Works

Setting is the time and place in which the story happens. In most stories, the setting is one place and one time. Longer fiction may happen in several places and times.

See how the writer uses the elements of setting in “The Night Walker.”

The swamp smelled rotten in the night air. Isabella wrinkled her nose. She poked a stick at the piles of green slime in the water. Suddenly, a patch of slime rose up. It was the Blob!

The time and place

A normal thing to find in that place

Setting: Practice Together

Now read a different version of this story aloud with your class. As you read, listen for details about the setting. After you read, complete the activities below the passage.

The city smelled clean after the evening rain. Isabella made her way through the crowd of people. As she crossed the street, she accidentally stepped in a puddle. Suddenly, something rose from the water. It was the Blob!

Work with a partner to answer these questions.

  • 1. Describe the time and place in the second version.

  • 2. Compare the different settings in these two versions of the story.

  • 3. Predict how the plot of the second version would be different from the first plot.