Compare Across Texts

Compare Themes

“Old Music Finds New Voices,” “Making Faces,” and “Wings” tell about how people communicate with expressions of art. Compare the themes in these texts.

Photograph of the title pages from the unit’s three selections

How It Works

Collect and Organize Ideas Work with a group. Think about the author’s messages, or themes, for each selection. Remember that selections often have more than one theme. Collect your ideas in a chart.

Comparison Chart
Old Music Finds New VoicesMaking FacesWings
People express themselves through playing music.People express themselves through making and wearing masks.People express themselves with their unique abilities.

Practice Together

Study and Explain Choose one theme from each selection. Then write a comparison paragraph. First, write a sentence that tells how all the themes are similar or related. Then tell how each is unique, or different from the others. Here is a comparison paragraph for one set of themes.

“Old Music Finds New Voices,” “Making Faces,” and “Wings” all tell how people express themselves. In “Old Music Finds New Voices,” people tell stories with music. People in “Making Faces” wear masks to act out stories. In “Wings,” a boy expresses himself by flying.

Try It!

Write a comparison paragraph about another set of themes you collected. You may want to use this frame to help you express your comparison.

One theme of the three selections is _____. In “Old Music Finds New Voices,” _____.

In “Making Faces,” _____. In “Wings,” _____.

Academic Vocabulary

  • • communicate (ku-myū-nu-kāt) verb When you communicate, you share information.