You are familiar with topic sentences, how they come at the beginning of paragraphs and tell readers what the paragraph is all about.
But what if the topic sentence came at the end of the paragraph? And what if that paragraph described something from a story?
Here’s part of a paragraph from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Notice the topic sentence at the end of the description:
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Everyone has stuff they don’t like doing or stuff that creeps them out.
That’s true for Howie Mandel, comedian and former host of the TV show Deal or No Deal. He hates shaking hands with people because of all the germs he can get from one handshake. Now he uses a fist bump.
“I do it because it just uses the outside of my hand. I can do it and still hold a sandwich. But when I get home,
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Some people believe they’re boring. They have no story to tell. They’ve done nothing interesting.
But a wise man named Ryter thinks they’re wrong.
In Rodman Philbrick’s The Last Book in the Universe, old man Ryter is talking to the young teen Spaz, the main character. Here’s what Ryter says to him:
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Dr. Seuss’s real name is Theodor Seuss Geisel, and he’s the author of The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Horton Hears a Who, and many other books.
A commemorative postage stamp, which you see here, was issued by the United States in 2004 on the anniversary of his 100th birthday.
And now, more than a quarter of a century after his death, Dr. Seuss was published again! The complete manuscript and sketches for What Pet Should I Get? was found in an old box and was published in 2015. It became a #1 New York Times Bestseller!
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`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
What?!
That’s the first verse of the poem “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll. You can read the whole crazy poem by clicking here.
Surprisingly, if you read the whole poem, you really can tell what is going on, despite all the new words.
Lewis Carroll, author of the Alice in Wonderland stories, enjoyed making up words, as you can tell by his poem. In fact, one of the words he concocted for this poem is a word we still use today:
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Have you ever read any books about Amelia Bedelia, the young housemaid who takes everything literally?
When Amelia Bedelia is instructed to pitch a tent, she throws the tent into the woods! When she bakes a sponge cake, she uses real sponges, according to publisher HarperCollins Children’s.
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Cities like Dubuque, Iowa, are banning sledding in their city parks.
Why? Is sledding dangerous?
Recently in the United States, more than 20,000 children were hurt while sledding, according to a report on NPR. But they also report that about 82,000 kids are hurt each year on trampolines, and over 275,000 children have accidents on bicycles.
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In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, let’s get to know King’s most famous speech a little better.
To hear the audio and read the transcript of “I Have a Dream,” click here. To view the speech on YouTube, click here.
This moving speech was originally given August 28, 1963, in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C. As Martin Luther King spoke of freedom for all Americans, regardless of their color, the statue of the Great Emancipator Abraham Lincoln was seated behind him. This gave even more meaning to King’s powerful speech.
Which part of the Christmas account do you like the best?
Is it the Annunciation where an angel announces to Mary that she will have a child?
Is it the long journey to Bethlehem with no inn available when Mary and Joseph arrive?
Could it be when the angels burst into the night sky and sing to shepherds? Or perhaps when those exotic kings find the real King as a baby and then fool Herod to make their get-away?
Many of our Christmas carols highlight one part of the Christmas story. For instance, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” focuses on the night Jesus was born.
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That first Christmas.
It’s easy to forget all the noise, confusion, exhaustion, rejection, and fear Mary and Joseph experienced. Though our nativity sets look peaceful and serene, I imagine things would have looked very different had we been there to observe those world-changing events.
Whom do you most identify with when you read the Christmas accounts in Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2:40? That is, when you read the Bible accounts, which person do you feel closest to? Which one has some similarities to your life? Or think of this: Which person do you wish you could have been?
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