A companion book is one that explores the range of
small and big ideas that inspire readers.
The Hunger Games Companion includes chapters like:
• The Hunger Games Trilogy: Surviving the End of the
World
• Weapons: How Tributes Survive
• Medicines and Poisons: Simple and Complex
• Survival Instincts and Strategies: Does Katniss Know
what she’s Doing?
This is much like what you’ve been doing lately! The
writing you are doing could become a companion
book to the book you’re reading!
THE COMPANION BOOK
THERE ARE MORE COMPANION BOOKS TO
MANY POPULAR TV SHOWS, MOVIES, AND
BOOKS.
TO GET READY TO PLAN THE COMPANION
BOOK, WE’LL BE WORKING ON
EXPLAINING THINKING
EXPLAIN BIG IDEAS
SO THAT OTHERS
CAN GRASP YOUR
THINKING
YOU HAVE GOOD IDEAS WHEN YOU
TALK ABOUT YOUR WRITING
Unfortunately,
those ideas don’t
often get captured
on the page
IT’S TIME TO GO A STEP FURTHER.
You must ask questions! THINK:
“What
“What
kind of writing am I making?”
do I know about how to do that kind of
writing well?”
Here’s the notebook entry for
Matilda. What ideas do you
think Maggie might be
developing here?
Looking at this page, we don’t really
know this writer’s BIG THINKING yet.
Clearly, the writer has a hunch, but
what is it?!
The writer needs to do some extended
writing and to do that, she first needs
to think:
“What is my big idea here?”
And
“How can I use freewriting to explain
my idea so that it is clear to my
readers?”
Explain Your Thinking
1. Study one of your responses to reading,
remembering as much of your original thinking as
possible.
2. Ask, “Did I make that thinking clear on the page?”
3. If you didn’t, ask, “What new thinking is this work
leading me to?” and write as if you are explaining
your thinking to someone.
4. Expect your thinking to develop as you write
Open your Writing Journals!
Remember that when you write about reading, you should expect that
you will come to new ideas. As you write, be sure that your thinking
and big ideas are explained and developed. Writers can use
freewriting to explain their big ideas so that others can grasp their
thinking.
Partner A: Explain your thinking to Partner 2. Push
yourself to say a whole paragraph of thought!
THEN SWITCH!
Now record explanation! Quick!
REMEMBER:
• Include evidence to support ideas!
• Analyze that evidence and come up with your own ideas!
Ways to Analyze Evidence
•
•
•
•
•
This shows….because…
It is important to notice…
__________ means____________, therefore ____________
This is significant because …
Even though… (the character)…
Ways to Analyze
Evidence
• This shows….because…
• It is important to notice…
• __________ means ____________,
therefore ____________
• This is significant because …
• Even though… (the character)…
Ways to Cite Evidence
from a Text
• After a detail
Early in the first book in the Hunger
Games series, we learn that most citizens
don’t own weapons, but if they did, they
would probably poach for their food
(Collins 5).
• After a quotation
Katniss, the narrator, says that “even
though trespassing in the woods is illegal
and poaching carries the severest of
penalties, more people would risk it if
they had weapons”(Collins 5).
GOAL: ADD EVIDENCE TO YOUR WRITING! CITE IT!!