The characters in Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook write lots of funny poems. Download this pdf to discover how to write your own humorous poetry:
How to Write a Funny Poem by Mary Amato
Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook by Mary Amato
Vocabulary List
Directions: Fill in the definitions for the following terms.
Professional (p.3)
Nonchalant (p.20)
Forensics (p.30)
Cosmetics (p.32)
Seizure (p.39)
Tread (p.41)
Damaging (p.45)
Sleuthing (p.46)
Neglecting (p.50)
Verified (p.67)
Spectrum (p.68)
Doorjamb (p.94)
Flourish (p.99)
Alibi (p.116)
Precision (117)
Bonus
Using the context of Mary Amato’s book, come up with definitions for the following neologisms (made-up words):
Luminiferous (p.33)
Slobberjaws (p.79)
Create your own neologism and its definition:
When I do workshops on revision, I often share an example from a draft and a revision to illustrate how I work. At the request of teachers, I have created pdf pages that you can download and print (or project onto your classroom screen) to share with students.
Example of Editing and Revising The Naked Mole-Rat Letters
Example of Revising from Invisible Lines
Example of Editing and Revising Snarf Attack, Underfoodle, and the Secret of Life
Example of Editing and Revising Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook
Listen to Mary Amato sing one of the songs from her Riot Brother series and talk about how she writes her Riot Brother books.
Teachers and librarians, if your school blocks youtube you can view this on teachertube.
Bookmarks for you to download. Print on cardstock, cut, and share.
When it comes to writing, some kids have a hard time getting started. In this article (first published in the Arizona Reading Association Journal), you can read my suggestions.
In Invisible Lines, Trevor Musgrove makes a spore print. If you’d like to try it, read on.
Mushrooms release spores, which are tiny, round, reproductive bodies, which you can literally “capture” in a print. Take a mushroom and gently remove the stem—you don’t want to damage the mushroom, but you do want to make sure the thin veil of flesh covering the gills is open so that the gills are exposed. Put the mushroom gill-side down on a piece of paper and cover with a glass. Wait 24 hours, lift off the glass, and carefully pick up the mushroom. You should see the spores released in a pattern.
Spore Print from MAW Fair
If the spores are white, you won’t see them on white paper and should try placing a new mushroom on a piece of black paper. Some people make spore prints on half black/half white paper to cover either possibility.
Grocery store mushrooms do not work well because they aren’t fresh. Your best bet is to pick a mushroom in the wild, one in which the veil has already begun to open or has opened. You should wash your hands after handling the mushroom, but don’t worry about toxicity exposure…mushrooms that are poisonous to eat are okay to handle with appropriate caution.
If you want to keep your print, make sure to spray it with fixative.
Some people are allergic to mushroom spores, so be appropriately cautious and don’t sniff the spores. –Mary Amato