Under the Lemon Moon
Picture Book Read Aloud
book summary
I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised when I read this book for the first time. I chose it off the shelf for the inviting image on the front cover, but the story inside the covers quickly became one of my new favorites!
The story takes place in the Mexican countryside, where Rosalinda is started growing her own lemon tree in the backyard. One night she hears noises in the backyard, so she takes her pet hen and goes to investigate. She finds a man taking the lemons off of her tree and putting them into a sack. When the man sees her, he takes off running. Rosalinda is understandably upset and can’t understand why someone would steal from her lemon tree.
With the morning light, Rosalinda discovers that there is not a single lemon left on her tree. She is heartbroken because she loved her lemon tree almost as much as she loved her pet hen, Blanca. To make matters worse, the leaves on her lemon tree turn yellow, and she is worried the tree is sick. Rosalinda seeks help for her tree from others in the neighborhood, but nothing was working. She decides to speak to her wise Abuela. Her Abuela suggests that she light a candle for the tree, and maybe the candle will summons La Anciana, a wise old spirit known for her powers to make things grow.
On her way back home, Rosalinda stops at the market and see the man who took her lemons. He was sitting in front of a stand selling lemons. How Rosalinda responds to the man who took all of her lemons is a beautiful example of generosity and forgiveness.
suggested teaching point
Under the Lemon Moon is a great example to model for students the structure of narrative texts. On page 9-10, focus students’ attention on the purpose of the middle of narrative text.
A narrative text is structured with a beginning, middle, and end. In many narrative stories, one or more new characters is introduced in the middle of the stories. These new characters often help move toward solutions to the problems. Watch over the next few pages to see which new characters are introduced. Think about how each character’s interaction with Rosalinda helps move her closer to solving her problem.
In addition to introducing new characters, the middle of the story is often when the setting changes one or more times. In this story, the setting, or scene, changes each time Rosalinda meets a new character. Each time the scene changes is a new chance for the main character to work toward solving the problem.
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