Independent Reading Assignment: Elements of Suspense
Check in #1 - due 12/2 (min. 4 entries)
Example/s from Independent
Reading Book
“Words from the text” (Author’s last
name page).
Foreshadowing “ More smell now. Bad. Brian turned again
A hint to an event that to glance at the pilot who had both hands
will happen later in the on his stomach and was grimacing in pain,
story. reaching for the left shoulder again as
Brian watched. “Don’t know, kid…” The
pilot’s words were a hiss, barely audible.
“Bad aches here. Bad aches. Though it was
something I ate but…”(Paulsen p. 9)
“She reached over the back of the seat and
brought up a paper sack. “I got something
for you, for the trip.” Brian took the sack
and opened the top. Inside there was a
hatchet, the kind with a steel handle and a
rubber handgrip. The head was in a stout
leather case that had a brass-riveted belt
loop.” (Paulsen p. 8)
Characterization ‘ He was thirteen and….’
The distinctive nature, ‘ Now Brian sat, looking out the window
features, speech, or with the roar thundering through his ears,
actions of a character and tried to catalog what had led up to his
in a story. taking this flight.
Divorce.’ (Paulsen p. 1-2)
Author’s Craft: Why is this
significant? How does it help
create suspense in your IR
book?
-It is significant because it is a
foreshadowing that there is something
wrong with the pilot during flying and
something(something bad) is gonna
happen indeed.
- The pilot is a really important person
while flying. Especially when there are
only two people: the pilot and a 13 year old
boy in the plane. So it creates suspense
because if something gets wrong with the
pilot, Brian would be in danger. He doesn't
know anything about driving a plane and
he might crash! That way, I got really
thrilled in this part.
The fact that his mother gave him a hatchet
as a going away gift foreshadows that
Brian is going to need it for a basic tool to
survive in the woods.
This is significant because it tells that
Brian will be in a situation that needs the
hatchet. It helped me create suspense
because it was really interesting that his
mother, who wouldn’t have even imagined
that Brian would desperately need a
hatchet in the woods, gave a hatchet as a
gift!
- This is significant because it has a lot of
information about the main character,
Brian. It lets the readers know what
situation now Brian is in, and what his
characteristic is like.
-I can guess that he is a quiet boy who
likes to think for himself at the phrase,
‘looking out of the window’. Also, it seems
that he has a broken heart about his
 Independent Reading Assignment: Elements of Suspense

parents. And that way, it creates curiosity

and suspense about what will happen to
this boy.

Setting “The rocky ridge was rounded and seemed
Time and place of the to be of some kind of sandstone with bits
story. of darker stone layered and stuck into it.
Directly across the lake from it, at the
inside corner of the L, was a mound of
sticks and mud rising up out of the water a
good eight or ten feet.” (Paulsen p. 38)
-It is significant because it shows the place
where Brian crashed. It shows how tough
the place is and how difficult Brian would
be in that place. Above all, setting is where
the story takes place, so it is very
important.
-This helps create suspense because it is a
new place to Brian and he is alone, cannot
do anything and the only thing he has to do
right now is to ‘survive’. So to speak, it is
a survival, suspense story.

Pacing
How fast or slow the
plot moves along.

Repetition Divorce. -It emphasizes the situation that the main

Repeating words, It was an ugly word. character is going through. This is
phrases, situations. : significant because it is the reason why
: Brian is on the plane, heading to his
Divorce. father’s house. And by the way,
Secrets. something’s gonna happen. ‘Divore of
: Brian’s parents is the first beginning of this
: suspense story.
Divorce. - It creates suspense in the story because
The secret. repetition means something important.
: Also, it creates a suspense and thrilling
: mood. In this case, the phrase that was
 Independent Reading Assignment: Elements of Suspense

Divorce. repeated was short and strong, ‘divorce.’,

The secret. so I felt more somewhat nervous.
Fights.
Split
(Paulsen p.2 - p.5)

Ambiguity
Makes the readers
unsure.

Imagery “Everything was green, so green it went
Sensory details used to into him. The forest was largely made up
create experience. of pines and spruce, with stands of some
low brush smeared here and there and thick
grass and some other kind of very small
brush all over.” (Paulsen p. 36)
As Brian begins to come out of his stupor
out of the class, he takes a lot of time to
notice every aspect of his surroundings.
This part was really descriptive that I felt
like I was in that place Brian was, which
created suspense. And it is significant
because Brian notices things all around
him specifically for the first time. It is
quite emotional, too.

“He waved his hands at Brian, made
gestures in front of his face as if he were
scratching something, and he worked to
make a word with his mouth but at first
Brian could not see it. Then his lips made a
mmmmm shape but no sound.”
(Paulsen p. 78)
This passage details the happenings of
Brian’s dream, in which his father attempts
to tell him how to successfully make a fire.
Detailed accounts of the way his father’s
lips move, the gesture he makes, and the
expression on his face allow readers to
picture the dream as if themselves were
having it along with Brian. These are the
reasons why it helps make suspense. The
reason why it is significant is because it
shows Brian’s dream.

Mood
The emotional
response that the
writer wishes to create “Treasure. Unbelievable riches. He could This part shows the happy, delighted,
 Independent Reading Assignment: Elements of Suspense
in the reader. not believe the contents of the survival
pack. The night before he was so numb
with exhaustion he couldn’t do anything
but sleep. All day in the water had tried
him so much that, in the end, he had fallen
asleep sitting against his shelter wall,
obvious even to the mosquitos, to the
night, to anything. But with false gray
dawn he had awakened, instantly, and
began to dig in the pack-to find amazing,
wonderful things.” (Paulsen p.171)
Situational Irony
Something happening
that is not expected.
Dramatic Irony “A fish jumped. Not a large fish, but it
When the reader knows made a big splash near the beaver, and as if
something but the by a signal there were suddenly little slops
character doesn’t. all over the sides of the lake-along the
shore-as fish began jumping. Hundreds of
them, jumping and slapping the water.
Brian watched them for a time, still in a
half-daze,still not thinking well. The
scenery was very pretty, he thought.
(Paulsen p.38)
Verbal Irony
A statement in which the
speaker’s words are
incongruous with the
speaker’s intent
Point of View “ Brian Robeson stared out the window of
The perspective from the small plane at the endless green
which an author tells a northern wilderness below ”
story. (Paulsen p. 1)
bright mood when Brian found a survival
pack looking around the plane.
It is important because it helps create
suspense, ‘so what will happen next to
Brian?’. He became able to do many things
with the kit and it made me curious, which
creates suspense. Also, it is significant
because this part is the change of mood.
The mood had been dark and gloomy,
dangerous but from this part, the mood
changes hopefully that now Brian got safe.
It is ironic that the plane was what crashed
and put Brian into this terrible situation in
the first place, but in the end turns out to be
the thing that saves him when he retrieves
the survival pack from it. The plane nearly
brought death, but it also brings life.
During his first few days in the forest,
Brian repeatedly notices fish jump in the
lake. This is an example of dramatic irony,
because Brian does not realize yet that he
can use these fish as a source of food, even
though some readers know it.
It is significant because later he gets to
catch a fish with a spear, bow, and arrow.
So it helps create suspense because he
doesn’t know what we know, and he is just
so tired and exhausted. I was so sorry
about that while reading..
- This is significant because it lets readers
know that the person who is telling this
story is an outer existence and tells the
thoughts or feelings of the
characters(omniscient point of view).
- It helped me create suspense in this book
because I could know all the things Brian
 Independent Reading Assignment: Elements of Suspense
was doing specifically and feel the scary
emotion he felt at the scene.
**Help your lexile GROW! Keep track of new vocabulary here.
New Word Excerpt from book with page citation
“Words from the text” (Author’s last name
page).
1. ridge “ He started dragging sticks up from the
lake and pulling long dead branches down
from the hill, never getting out of sight of
the water and the ridge ” (p.61)
2. rear “ The doorway was about three feet, and
when he went in he found himself in a
room almost fifteen feet long and eight to
ten feet deep, with the rock wall sloping
down at the rear ” (p.61)
3. knobs “ On the dashboard in front of him Brian
saw the dials, switches, meters, knobs,
levers, cranks, lights, handles that were
wiggling and flickering, all indicating
nothing that he understood and the pilot
seemed the same way. ” (p.3)
4. abdomen “His whole abdomen was torn with great
rolling jolts of pain, pain that doubled him
in the darkness of the little shelter, put him
over and face down in the sand to moan
again and again: “Mother, mother,
mother…” ” (p.63)
5. porcupine “It was not unlike the sound of the
porcupine, something slithering and being
dragged across the sand, but when he
looked out the door opening it was too dark
to see anything.” (p.92)
6. bulge “He looked down at his stomach and saw
that it was still caved in - did not bulge out
as it would have with two hamburgers and
a freezy slush.” (p.108)
Definition
산등성이, 능선
1) a elevated body part or structure
2) a range of hill or mountains
3) an elongate crest or a linear series of
crests
뒤, 후방
The back part of something, especially a
building or vehicle
손잡이
1) a handle or a door or drawer shaped like
a ball
2) a rounded button for adjusting or
controlling a machine
복부
The part of the body of a vertebrate
containing the digestive organs ; the belly
In humans and other mammals, it is
bounded by the diaphragm and the pelvis.
호저(고슴도치)
A large rodent with defensive spines or
quills on the body and tail.
부풀다
A rounded swelling or protuberance that
distorts a flat surface.
 Independent Reading Assignment: Elements of Suspense
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