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About Me
- connie
- La Vernia, Texas, United States
- I am a single mom, of two pre-teens (1 boy/1 girl). I'm a university education major and substitute teacher. I enjoy an active life with my kids. We roller skate, hike, swim, watch movies, read, and play with our pets. We are collectively working to help save our wildlife and our planet. My kids are my world.
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ReplyDeleteChapter One: “Sam”
ReplyDeleteThe book “The Trumpet of the Swan” opens in a wilderness setting where a young boy named Sam Beaver is camping with his father in western Canada. Sam is 11 yrs. old and enjoys exploring in the woods where he practices walking like an Indian, silently moving through the woods! On this day Sam, using his compass, finds a lonely pond, which is home for a pair of Trumpeter Swans! The female was sitting on a nest of eggs.
Chapter Two: “The Pond”
This chapter is a look back to a time just before the first chapter. Before Sam comes along and finds the swans, spring comes to the pond and melts the ice and snow of the long winter! A pair of Trumpeter swans arrives at the small pond and after looking it over; the female begins to build a nest. The large nest in built on the tip of a little sandy peninsula that extends into the pond. “An ideal location”, the male swan says.
Chapter Three: “A Visitor”
The female swan begins to lay eggs in the new nest. One day as she sits in the nest, she sees a boy sitting on a log, watching them. The male swan, called a cob, is furious since they deliberately choose this pond because it was deep in the wild and private! The boy is Sam. The female swan lays five eggs. One day the female swan stepped away from the nest to drink and eat. While cleaning herself, a fox attempts to kill her! As the fox prepares to attack, a stick flies through the air and hits the fox on the nose, driving it away! It was Sam to the rescue.
Chapter Four: “The Cygnets”
The eggs being to hatch! The cob, in excitement of being a father, becomes poetic and makes up verses overusing the term ‘swanlike”, i.e. “I glide swanlike…” His wife tells him that, “of course you do” and ask, “How else would you glide?” to which the cob decides to do more gliding and less talking! The five baby swans, cygnets, begin to hatch. Sam watches them from a distance. Later the whole family of swans go from a swim. The cob leads them to Sam and shows them off. All the cygnets greet Sam except for one who tries but makes no sound.
Chapter Five: “Louis”
The cob and his wife discuss the cygnet that makes no sounds. The cygnet’s name is Louis. One morning, the cob takes Louis out on the pond away from the others and asks him to beep or burble but no sound came out! The cob then seeks to encourage his son, Louis to persevere over his handicap and the importance of a good attitude – “swans must be cheerful, not sad; graceful, not awkward; brave, not cowardly”. Louis’ father also commits to helping him find his voice by getting him a trumpet.
Chapter Six: “Off To Montana”
Summer ends on the pond and the cob announces that it is time for the family to leave and fly to Montana. The cygnets learn to fly after watching the cob explain and demonstrate. The swans leave the next afternoon, flying south to the Red Rock Lakes in the mountains of Montana. As they fly south, they pass over the cabin where Sam is staying. He hears them and watches the swan family as they grow smaller in the distance.
Chapter Seven: “School Days”
At Red Rock Lake, Louis resolves that if he is defective in one respect, he will try and develop himself along other lines. Louis decides to learn to read and write. He them sets out to find Sam which he miraculously does without Internet searches or GPS! Sam’s father calls the game warden and he agrees that Louis can stay with Sam. Sam takes Louis to school where he introduces him to Mrs. Hammerbotham, the first grade teacher. Mrs. Hammerbotham is finally convinced that Louis is bright enough to stay in her class when he spells “CATASTROPHE”. Louis’ strategy for spelling the word is to take one letter at a time and view it as no harder then a short word – a great learning point! Sam then goes to his fifth grade class, taught by Ms. Annie Snug. Louis learns to spell and read.
So a swan can learn? That is cool.
ReplyDeleteI really like this blog.
DeleteWe are reading Trumpet of the Swan in my fourth grade reading class and the children are enjoying it. I read over your blog with them as a review after they have read their chapters to support their comprehension aft taking quizzes. Thank you for sharing this.
ReplyDelete