Have you ever wanted to share a special moment of that “once in a lifetime” experience? Maybe a time when you made that amazing homerun, or wrote a story that people still talk about, because it touches their hearts. When you write about a memory or experience, that is called a “memoir.” A memoir focuses on one specific moment. It is not chronological, like an autobiography would be, but a snippet in time.
Devin Scillian has written some memoirs of animal characters that take on personification to share an incident in their lives. You may have read them in school: Memoirs of a Hamster, Memoirs of a Tortoise, Memoirs of a Parrot, and Memoirs of a Goldfish. These fun picture books show a snippet or a slice of the life of these characters. They are charming, sweet, and share a lesson or experience. You can also write about your special memoir from the summer.
Here is a short memory story to show you an example.
The Summer of Liz
I really don’t know very much about summer creatures, especially lizards, but living in Florida this summer has given me an opportunity to bump into them often. One particular lizard grew close to my heart. His name is Liz. Why is Liz his name? Well, for one thing it is short for lizard and I honestly did not know if Liz was a girl or boy until I learned more about him.
Liz and I became friends on the patio of my backyard. We started from a simple “Hello.” He said “Hello” back as he displayed his Red-Orange Throat Fan. That is what the bright colored flare on lizards’ throats is called. Male lizards often show off their Throat Fan to get attention. And, that he did!
>p class=”null”>He was an unusual little guy. Each morning when I went outside, there he sat on my patio table waiting for me. Each evening, he sat waiting for me to tell him good-night. When I would go outside and look for him and he was not there, I would just call out, “Hey, Liz, where are you?” Liz would pop up from a plant or a piece of patio furniture. How did I know Liz was Liz and not any ordinary Brown Anole Lizard? On his left foot, he had miniature toes whereas the other lizards had long toes. Liz definitely stood out.
Liz came around each day to visit and he would fall asleep each night camouflaged on the steel grey of my patio furniture. His skin seemed to turn a pale grey as he fell asleep and would turn brown again with a diamond shaped pattern during the day. I often wondered why this particular lizard created a home on my patio. He was so brave to hang around while I talked about my day as I watered my plants. The most interesting thing about Liz was that he could identify my voice. All I know is this was a fascinating summer of Liz. And, even though lizards live approximately a year, this has been a fun summer getting to know all about a Brown Anole Lizard I named Liz.
The End
Now, it’s your turn to enjoy writing a memoir of something extraordinary about your summer. Remember, we at Magic Dragon enjoy reading your stories. Just have fun and keep writing!