Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	The Great Good Thing
	Author:	Townley, Roderick
	Date Published:	2001
	Genre:	Fantasy
	Grade Level:	6 - 7
	Booktalker:	Sam Marsh

Booktalk:
“Rawwwwwk! Reader! Reader!” Came the cry. “Book open! Open! Book Open!” Sylvie sprang to her feet in excitement. How far was she? Could she get there in time? She had to get all the way to page 3! It had been years since the book had been opened. A dust coated the leaves, and the green woods had started to gray. The King, her father, had taken to playing cards, and the wolves had stopped lurking. But now!! The book was opening. Sylvie broke one of the cardinal rules and glanced up to the face of an enormous child peering down on her. She had the first lines…”Father, I cannot marry Prince Riggeloff...” and on to the top of page four where a gob of strawberry jam hurtled from the sky and landed just two words in front of her. The boy wasn’t even listening, just eating. “Dumb story,” he blurted and closed the book and, apparently tossed it, for everyone went spinning around and then bumped to a stop at an angle. The backup lights flickered on, and Sylvie went in search of…well, of something. It wasn’t too long this time before they heard the warning again. ”Book open!” Sylvie woke from her dream in a panic and arrived late to the scene, gasping out her opening remarks. But, this reader was different, and after finding the pages with the jam, carefully wiped it off and continued reading. All the way through the book. It was one of their best performances ever! Then, the reader turned back to the front of the book and started reading it again. She only stopped when her mother told her to go to bed and turn out the lights. She left the book open on the stand beside her bed. That night, Sylvie saw a land beyond the confines of the forests of the book. She saw a figure being chased. The fleeing figure was the reader. Sylvie was seeing the dreams of the reader. She had to help. Sylvie entered the dreams of the reader. It would change the lives of everyone in the book forever.