Tone
Tone
is the author’s attitude toward the writing (his characters, the situation) and the readers. A work of writing can have more than one tone. An example of tone could be both serious and humorous. Tone is set by the setting, choice of vocabulary and other details.
Words That Describe Tone
Amused
Humorous
Confused
Pessimistic - doubtful that something will happen
Angry
Informal - casual; the way you speak to a friend
Playful
Cheerful
Ironic - the opposite of what you expect
Pompous - bragging
Horror
Light
Sad
Clear - easy to understand
Matter-of-fact
Serious
Formal - Like a report
Resigned - Giving up
Suspicious
Gloomy
Optimistic - positive; the author thinks something good will happen
Witty - clever and funny
Use the list of tone words to help you answer the questions on each page of this book.
BE SURE TO PRINT OUT YOUR ANSWER SHEET WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED!!!
If you finish early, read your novel.
Selection*
To be chosen
left or right
one to the showers
one to the barracks
one to die
one to waste away.
Pass angry dogs
amid the ruse
massed together
clutching children
walking the trail
to selection.
One to the left
one to the right
one to the showers
one to the barracks
one to die
one to waste away.
Selection
is the mere motion
one to the left
one to the right
one selected to die
one selected to live.
One to die
one to live
no hope for either
no choice in selection.
*Selection was what happened when the Jews arrived at the concentration camp. The Nazis decided if each person was healthy enough to stay and work at the camp. If the Nazis felt the person was too old, too young, too weak, or too sick, the prisoner was sent to somewher in the camp to be killed.
Yellow Star
I know little of being a Jew—
haven’t studied the *Talmud and don’t acknowledge *Passover—
but I’m herded with the others
and know by the yellow star that
I am a Jew.
* a religious book studied by Jewish people
* a religious holiday
It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.
Anne Frank
Untitled
The story is being told
Is anyone listening?
The message is respect and love
Has anyone ever heard?
The lesson is tolerance
Will Humanity ever learn it?
The survivors are the teachers
How many didn't survive?
How many stories will never be told?
How many messages have been lost throughout the years?
I am listening
I am learning
I will pass the lesson on.
By Susan Walker, Culver Girls Academy, Culver, IN
I am a 6th grader at Millburn Middle School. My Mom bought me your book and we both read it. My grandma came from Denmark in 1940. I have heard about the Holocaust, but your book inspired me to write a poem.
I thought you might want to read it.
Four Perfect Pebbles
Lying on the ground
Four Perfect Pebbles
No one knows where they are bound
Four Perfect Pebbles
Sister, brother, husband, wife
Four Perfect Pebbles
Each represents a life
Four Perfect Pebbles
Running far away
Four Perfect Pebbles
Where can they stay
But for Four Perfect Pebbles
Not all is lost
For now comes the end
Of this horrible Holocaust
Now, tell about the noel you are reading. Explain the tone of the novel, and provide at least three examples.