Making a Book Your Own
The great Russian novelist, Vladimir Nabokov, gave a series of Lectures on Literature. Nabokov believed that when a person reads a work of fiction, they have to encounter that work of fiction on its own terms, and treat it as if it were a work of actual history. Without doing so, he did not believe that a person could be a great reader. His notes on Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park demonstrates his commitment to this idea. His annotations to the book are filled with maps of where the action took place, calculations of the dates of key events, sketches of barouches and of the rooms of Mansfield. The art of reading involves such a commitment to the work. It is about diving into a book and treating it as a vital and important work out of which the reader is desperate to extract the maximum. Storyboard That’s plot diagram and narrative arc was designed with this philosophy in mind. It is the perfect tool for teaching the art of reading to young readers.
Source: JHU Press
StoryBoard That’s plot diagram template was developed to help the reader to mark the key moments in a story. Good readers understand the importance of visual tools to bring a story to life. The template visually represents the narrative arc that defines every story. It is a tool to cement the underlying structure of the story in the mind. A good reader is a good rereader, because, in order to truly understand a book, you have to dive into it time and time again. The narrative arc helps the reader to understand the various pieces of the story, from the basic elements of the beginning; middle and end; to the richer elements of the story, known as “The Six parts of a Story”: Exposition, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action and Resolution.
Source: Storyboard That
By developing these tools, students are taught the art of reading and rereading. In the philosophy of all great readers, they encounter a work of fiction in a serious way, breaking down their narrative components, and analyzing the meaning of the text. Students develop a natural affinity for picking out the important themes in a story, smelling out the direction in which an author is going, summarizing what a book is about, and absorbing the style of a book.
Reading is not a passive act. It demands thought, and a continual return to that book. Storyboard That’s plot diagram tool is a way of enriching the reading process and building good reading habits. Mortimer Adler advised readers to ask fourmain questions:
- What is it about?
- What are the main ideas and arguments of the book?
- Is the book wholly or partially true?
- What is the significance of the book?
Storyboard That allies with the reader in exploring a book and answering these four fundamental questions. It helps readers establish their “ownership” over a book, and immerse themselves in its ideas. When reading is done the Storyboard That way, it is enriching, enjoyable, and provides the basis for a lifetime of great reading habits.