Ask students where their favorite quiet place is. Have them close their eyes and imagine what the place looks like, feels like, sounds like, and smells like. Have students make a picture in their minds of the quiet places the boy experiences throughout the book.

At the end of each page the author says a _____________ can be your quiet place. But... Have students predict other places that the boy might travel to.

The book is written in poem form and uses commas to help with phrasing.

• Model eclipse: “Until someone calls you to clean your room. Then...” “But if the desert is a bit too dry...”

The author uses a lot of similes and metaphors to compare things and as a reader your intonation helps to reinforce these comparisons. Model how to read with good expression and with feeling.

• Pg. 7 – “Blue jays scream warnings, and wind sings in the leaves.” 
• Pg. 13 – “the water is so calm it looks like a mirror

• Pull out interesting words in the text such as: shrieking, mossy, galloping, plops, admiring, and discover.
• Have students use the examples of interesting words and write their own “quiet” place that they would want to go to.