I wish we'd been able to use all the wonderful writing that the children produced. Without the need to keep to strict historical accuracy, they created a surreal but endearing view of 1915 life from their 21st century viewpoint. We had to omit so much of this material just to keep the narrative going, but it seems a pity not to use them, so here are some of them on the blog instead.
I couldn't use Ryan's thoughts about the promoter because MABEL is the promoter of the flea circus, and so there is no room for the sinister sounding Mr. Lionel McRowan....
"Lionel McRowan was a stiff guy. He was black, with a bad attitude. He wore messy clothes. He put the posters up and asked if anyone would like to audition to be a circus animal. He got security guards. And he got audiences. They had to pay ten pounds per person."
This is how I imagine Lionel McRowan. Nasty!
Another bit we couldn't use was how Calie got Mabel to the coast, to get the boat to France.
"When Mabel left her house she didn't have any money so she couldn't get a taxi or anything that you had to pay for. Luckily for her, her fleas could talk so she told her fleas to talk to a horse and got a horse to take her to the coast."
And so one did. Just as well that there is sometimes a stray horse wandering around the road with nothing much to do
Great imaginations, and maybe they could write another book. Her adventures later, and the nice horse helps in some way when Mr. McRowan tries to shut down the flea circus. You never know where it could lead!
ReplyDeleteI love that first bit. It flows nicely. Good creativity these children are showing.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read it Jenny. Those kids must be so proud of themselves. You and Vanessa are very special to be able to make them feel that about themselves.
ReplyDeleteI love the youngster horse. Where did you find him? :)
I do like the bit about the fleas asking the stray horse for travel. And a good sinister writing above to boot. Ah, some times the things one has to cut for the sake of the story are so good but alas...
ReplyDeleteLike both the rough Mr. McRowen and the nice helpful horse. Hearing that Mr. McRowen got security guards kind of stopped me short. As I kid I would have known nothing at all about security guards. I doubt many places had them. A few mills, etc. had night watchmen. Oh how the world has changed.
ReplyDeleteDarla