Today, I’m using a comprehension strategy to get to know a book character by writing a found poem. I’m taking words and snippets off the page and writing a character poem about Basil Cannonfield from Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. In a classroom, this can help students remember characters; in the adult world of reading where we read books with so many different characters, a journal of character notes comes in handy to keep them all straight.
Basil Cannonfield
street performer
tips welcome
soulful, folksy voice
Chalice regular
total-body singer
teacher-turned-musician
poor either way
girlfriend Katrina breadwinner
in his thirties
tousled, shoulder length hair
scraggly beard
attempted mustache
sister’s caregiver
robbed by her ex
eccentric or genius?
both: definitely both
Common Threads 