Sometimes, class, if you’re creating a story and you get stuck, just say the word suddenly and you won’t have any trouble continuing at all.”Īlong the way, she empowers her classmates – and her teacher – to become storytellers, too. “I’ve explained before,” she said, “about the word suddenly. Gooney Bird walked down Park Street, and turned the corner onto Walnut Street, and when she was halfway down Walnut Street, halfway to school, suddenly… She also instructs that adding “suddenly” makes any story more exciting. Gooney Bird talks about secondary characters, the need for suspense, the best way to deliver a story – with some costume or prop elements, but without overdoing it. She came from a town named China and the flying carpet was a rolled-up rug that flew out the back window of their car.įor schools that are focusing on writing, Gooney Bird Greene is a master class with so many opportunities to learn how to make writing better.

So, when she says that she came from China on a flying carpet, she means it. She dresses in her own way – pajama pants with cowgirl boots, tutus and bright green pants, sparkly diamond earrings and knee socks. More than that, though, she is a natural storyteller and all of her stories are “absolutely true,” in spite of them sounding fantastical. I want a desk right smack in the middle of the room, because I like to be right smack in the middle of everything.” And thus we are introduced to Lois Lowry’s unforgettable Gooney Bird, the star of a series of six books. My name is Gooney Bird Greene – that’s Greene with a silent ‘e’ at the end – and I just moved here from China.

Pigeon’s second grade classroom announcing, “I’m your new student.

Lois lowry gooney bird series