Midsummer Knight by Gregory Rogers is an illustrated story. Another words, there aren't any words, just pictures. One might wonder why I would include a book with no words to a reading list. The reason is because this book is an incredible resource for letting the kids become the authors. It beneficial for both reading and writing lessons. The main character in Midsummer Knight is a big, cuddly, brown bear. Bear is shown riding in a little wooden boat flowing lazily down a calm river until, BAM! He crashes into land. Being curious, Bear gets out of the boat and wanders into the woods where he discovers a bee hive in a tree. As expected from a big, hungry bear he sticks his hand in to retrieve some honey. But the bees weren't too happy about that. They chase him until he reaches a huge tree with a door on it. Bear goes in the door, down a long hall, and comes out a door on the other end. He finds himself in magical woods where everything, trees, flowers, animals, are humongous. Then a giant bird snatches him up and drops him in her nest. Bear falls out and is saved in the nick of time by a fairy boy. The fairy takes Bear to the fairy village and on to the fairy Kingdom to meet the king and queen. But the king and queen are missing! Come to find out they've been betrayed by one of their own men and the knights. The king, queen, fairies, and Bear devise a plan to get the kingdom back. There is a huge battle, and in the end Bear captures the traitor. The king then knights Bear and gives him a medallion. After all the excitement the fairy boy brings Bear back to the big tree with the door on it. They hug goodbye and Bear goes home with a giant smile as he looks upon his gold medallion.
Midsummer Knight allows for a creative and fun writing opportunity. The students can use the pictures and their imaginations to write the story in their own words. First, they must decide on character names, plot, and descriptions of the settings. Then they can begin to write the story, complete with dialogue. Students who do well artistically can make a whole new illustrated story by drawing pictures. Also, the children can put on a dramatic production to reenact the story of Midsummer Knight.
The pictures in the book are adorable, and will catch the eyes of children. The illustrations make it easy to understand exactly what is going on in the story. This lesson could be done with any grade from kindergarten through fifth. Of course younger students will not be writing a full story to accompany the pictures in the book, but the lesson can be adjusted for any age group.
