Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	Lightland
	Author:	McCutchen, H. L.
	Date Published:	2002
	Genre:	Fantasy
	Grade Level:	6 - 7
	Booktalker:	Sam Marsh

Booktalk:
Lottie Cook remembered everything it seemed. All the way back to the cold metal of the crib in the hospital. Her mother died the minute Lottie was born. She gathered the stories and the memories about the mother she never knew and kept them safe for her father. She was a miniature storyteller by the time she was three or four. When she was six, the cherry tree that her mother had planted, the cherry tree that she loved, was hit and split by lightning. Her father carved her a box from the Cherry Tree for a present for her first day of school. He called it a StoryBox, where she could keep little bits and pieces of every story she needed to remember. But, Lottie was mad at her father, even though he loved her unconditionally. She was mad because he was making her go to school, and because he had cut down the cherry tree rather than try to save it. He just wanted Lottie to try the StoryBox. But Lottie didn't...or so she thought...until she was 11. When school started, Lottie refused to wear anything but pajamas to school. Then, there was Lewis. Lewis was Lottie's best friend. No one had ever heard Lewis utter a word. Except for Lottie. Lewis wouldn't talk to anyone but Lottie. Lewis' dad had disappeared when Lewis was three. Which was the age at which he began talking to Lottie. So, Lewis, who wouldn't talk, and Lottie, who would only wear pajamas to school, went to school together. By fifth grade, their quirks had ceased to be of interest. Everyone had gotten used to them. Had Lewis started talking or Lottie worn regular clothes to school, it would have been a major event. But, it just didn't happen. Oh, and Lewis always, always slept with his eyes open. No one but Lottie, by watching his fact, could tell he was asleep. And, Lewis could wake at a moment's notice and be alert and aware of what was going on. No one but Lottie ever caught on to the fact that Lewis slept through much of class. Both Lewis and Lottie had skipped kindergarten by writing, behind their parent's collective backs, and essay to the kindergarten teacher explaining why they didn't need to go to kindergarten. They were bright children who could read at three, and write at four. The teacher had been embarrassed and offended and phoned their parents to tell them that her class was full. They never knew what the two had done. Neither Lewis nor Lottie excelled at school. They simply did enough to get by. Then, in sixth grade, when they were 11, the school hired a new teacher. She was French. Ms. d'Avignon. She was different than any teacher they had ever had. She challenged the class to write an essay on everything they knew. She wasn't disconcerted by Lewis not talking. She was sure that his class mates would make enough noise to compensate. Instead, she intended to focus on his strengths--music, math and science. Lewis smiled at a teacher for the first time. For Lottie, whose grades were either mediocre except when they were superlative, she expected the most insightful essay in the class. She did not expect it to be done over lunch hour...which was when Lottie had planned on doing it. She expected sixth grade to be fascinating for Lottie. "I loved school today," Lottie told her father. He nearly choked. But, when he asked Lottie to tell him a story later that night . . . Lottie's mind went blank. She couldn't remember any stories. She'd forgotten!! While Lottie cried and cried, her father searched all around the strange rooms they had built onto the house over the years until he found the StoryBox. The StoryBox that Lottie had never used. "Try it," he said with a smile as he left her room. Lottie collapsed on the bed. But, then she heard something rustling in the box. It must have been trapped. She opened the box to let it out and a bird; sort of the size of a crow, only all the colors of the rainbow flew out. Then it spied Lottie. "There you are . . . I've waited years . . . " and it took her finger in its beak and pulled her close to the box . . . and they went . . . into the box. And into LightLand where the memories dwelt.