Stardust

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Storytelling in Faerie”

In this activity, students will choose one of the micro-stories in the text and expand it into a full short story.

Consider the role of storytelling in the novel through an examination of its micro-stories. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• “They’ll undoubtedly disagree with you, like the fishwife who disagreed with her young man over a mermaid. And that could be heard from Garamond to Stormhold.” (Chapter 4)
• “In Berinhed’s Forest Tristran outfaced one of the great, tawny eagles, who would have carried them both back to its nest to feed its young and was afraid of nothing at all, save fire.” (Chapter 8)
• “[Tristran] was valiant in battle, though his left hand was scarred and of little use, and a cunning strategist; he led his people to victory against the Northern Goblins when they closed the passes to travelers.” (Epilogue)

These are select examples only; feel free to mine the novel for inspiration.

Draft a micro-story into a complete, 2- to 3-page tale with real-time action, characters, a plotline, dialogue, and details. Remember to make clear other story elements like setting and point of view.

Utilize peer editing and peer critique circles in the revision process.

Edit and publish your story and share a select passage with the class. Discuss the ways in which the characters and actions in the created tales reflect or connect with direct and indirect characterization and plot in the novel.

Teaching Suggestion: Encourage students to look at the broader world of Faerie and who the characters of Stardust were prior to, and became after, the events of the novel. Students may incorporate original characters and settings of their own imagination to complement those presented in the text.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students uncomfortable with writing may choose a visual comic-book-style narrative or embrace the concept of oral traditional storytelling by presenting a dramatic monologue recounting events. This can be scripted or improvised.