CRAIG SAVOYE

TEXTUAL STORYELLING

 

       This  lesson plan is designed for K-4 teachers who would like to discuss Rematch in depth with their students after reading the book to them. My goal is to give teachers a discussion roadmap (prompts / student answers) that covers two broad areas:

• storytelling itself; how Rematch is structured as narrative

• character education; the lessons Rematch teaches

 

       Clearly the same discussion guide will not work optimally for both Kindergartners and fourth graders. The following is designed to increase in sophistication as it moves along. I would suggest teachers thus link age group with how deep into the discussion guide they take their students. In other words, first grade teachers might limit discussion to a page or two (20 minutes) while fourth grade teachers might extend the discussion to 45 minutes and work their way through the whole guide. 

       That said, it is difficult to maintain the “escalating sophistication” strategy uniformly throughout. There may be a few things towards the end a first grade teacher could use. Thus my bottom-line advice is to cut-and-paste to your own document and edit for any number of purposes: length/time; content (covering only those things you want to cover); wording (to match your teaching/speaking style; to match vocabulary to age group); even additional examples, of your own choosing, of storytelling principles similar to the ones I include from Finding Nemo. 

 

       After reading Rematch to your students, or prior to doing so, tell them you want to discuss How To Tell A Story and that you’ll be using Rematch as an example.

        Keep Rematch projected on a screen and move through the pages as the Discussion Guide dictates.

 

TEACHER ‘SCRIPT’

● When you write a story, one of the first things you start with is the hero, also known as the protagonist. Who is the hero of

       Rematch?  [TAZ]

● Most stories are built around a central problem the hero tries to solve. What is the big problem in Rematch that needs

       solving?  [THERE ISN’T ENOUGH GRASS IN THE MEADOW FOR BOTH TURTLES AND RABBITS]

●  How do Big Foot and First Shell, the leaders of the rabbits and turtles, propose to solve the problem?  [A REMATCH OF THE

       GREAT RACE; WINNING SPECIES GETS THE MEADOW, THE LOSER MUST MOVE AWAY]

●  Okay, let’s step back a moment. Tell me...what makes a car go? What makes it run? [THE ENGINE]

●  What usually makes a story “go”—its engine, so to speak—is the hero’s “motivation” to solve the central problem

         —What that means is, the story moves forward based on want the hero wants; what he or she is trying to get, or achieve. That means Rematch is driven by what Taz wants. What does Taz want?  [TO WIN THE RACE]

         —Super! But a good story goes deeper than that. A good story gives the hero a reason for wanting to solve the problem of the story. That's what I mean by "motivation." It's true in Rematch. Yes, Taz wants to win the race, but…WHY?   [BECAUSE

         HIS GRANDFATHER LOST THE GREAT RACE]

●  Yes! But we can go even deeper than that! Taz thinks if he wins he can do…what? [CLEAR HIS FAMILY’S NAME]

●  The book says Taz’s family name is mud. Taz is embarrassed by his grandfather losing the Great Race and wants to make up for that--change how people think about his family. Knowing why Taz wants to win the Rematch gets us, the reader, more involved in the story and leads us to cheer for him. It’s called making a story personal. If Rematch was about a race between strangers we didn’t know, it could be interesting, but when you get to know Taz, and why he wants to win the race so badly, it makes the story more interesting; it almost makes us part of the story. 

         —For example, in the movie Finding Nemo, an adult fish goes looking for Nemo who is caught by fishermen and taken away. Is Nemo any old neighborhood fish the adult just happens to know? [NO!]

         —The “adult” is Nemo’s…? [FATHER]. That’s making it personal. Of course the father is going to try extra hard to find Nemo…it’s his son…and that makes the movie more interesting to us who are watching. We are rooting for the father to find his son. In a way we become the father looking for Nemo or Nemo wanting to get home. 

●  One more point in this regard. Storytellers often talk about the outer story and the inner story.

         —What is the outer story in Rematch? [THE RACE, AND TAZ (AND JUDO) COMPETING IN THE RACE].

         —The inner story has several parts. It’s about:

                * Taz being embarrassed his grandfather lost the race and wanting to set a new course record to clear his family’s

                   name.

                * Taz being a bit selfish and needing to get better about learning to share

                * Taz not being able to figure out how to make his innovative ideas actually work in real life

         —Oftentimes in good books or movies, at the end, it’s really the inner story that is more important than the outer story.

         —The outer story is there to help us see how the hero reacts to, and grows from, the challenge. The outer story is like

             the shell of an egg. It's really important, but the little chick inside the shell is more important. 

         —Remember outer and inner story: we’ll talk more about them as we go along.

●  Sometimes we can better understand the hero—who he or she is, what they want, and what they are thinking—if they have a “sidekick.” That person is also called a "foil."

         —Who is Batman’s sidekick? [ROBIN] 

         —Who is Taz’s foil, or sidekick? [JUDO]

         —The sidekick helps us understand the hero, and what he or she is thinking, by the conversations they have and how

                   they interact with each other.

 

SET-UP (CHARACTERS)

●  Okay…How many quarters are in a dollar? [FOUR]

●  Usually the first quarter—the first one-fourth—of a story, a movie or a book, is called the “set-up.” It’s where you set-up the story that will follow in the other three-fourths. The means in Rematch, the story should be completely set-up by page 7.

●  Set-up includes introducing the main characters. In the first few pages of Rematch do we meet the main characters? [YES]

●  Who are they? [TAZ & JUDO]

●  Who are the other main characters in the book? [FIRST SHELL, DULLES, and BIG FOOT]

●  When do we meet Taz and Judo? [IMMEDIATELY; FIRST PAGE] Usually in a story you meet the hero on the first page

●  When do we meet First Shell and Dulles? [PAGES 5&6]

●  When do we meet Big Foot? [PAGE 7]  So...all of the main characters are introduced by page 7.

●  Again, the set-up, the first quarter of the book, is background, we get to know the characters and their relationship to each other, but the set-up also introduces the "outer" story, what the book will be about. And what is Rematch about? [A RACE]

●  Do we find out there will be a race in the first 7 pages of Rematch? [YES]

●  We also need to understand, in the set-up, how the characters interact. By the time Robbie runs away, what do we already know about Taz and Judo? They are…what? [FRIENDS]

●  In the set-up we also learn what kind of “people”—or rabbits—the main characters are. After seeing Taz figure out how to beat the trap and get the lettuce, how would you describe him?

         —[Pretty DARING]. Instead of hiding from Robbie, a large human, he goes out and matches wits with him. Taz defeats

         the trap and gets the lettuce. [He's also SMART]. He came up with a plan to use a potato to knock the box out of the

         way and get the lettuce.

●  But nobody's perfect, right? So the hero is never perfect. We all need to learn lessons and grow, so oftentimes telling stories is really telling about how people grow. There's one thing about Taz we learn in the first four pages that maybe isn't so nice. It's something he needs to learn to be better about. I mentioned it already.  ...Here's a hint:  It happens right after he and Judo get the lettuce and Robbie runs off. ...Another hint: it involves the geese.  [REMEMBER, THE GEESE HELPED TAZ BUT HE DECIDED NOT TO SHARE THE LETTUCE WITH THEM, HE SAID 'IT'S EVERYONE FOR THEMSELVES IN THIS WORLD'] That's also part of the set-up. When we see something about the hero that isn't nice, we kind of wonder if, during the story, they will learn to be better...a better person or rabbit. Keep in mind that when we see that Taz doesn't share, it doesn't mean he's a bad person, it just means there's a part of him that needs to learn to be better.

●  What about Judo? How would you describe him? [CAUTIOUS; ‘SHY’ (reticent) ‘FRAIDY CAT]

         —We don’t know too much about Judo yet but we know he hangs back a bit instead of jumping into things like Taz does.

         —But isn’t it also fair to say Judo is thoughtful? Why so?  [BECAUSE IT IS JUDO THAT ASKS TAZ IF HE SHOULD LEAVE LETTUCE FOR THE GEESE]  So it’s clear Judo thinks about others.

         —That is also an example of what we talked about a few minutes ago—the role the sidekick plays. By Judo asking Taz about leaving lettuce for the geese, we, the reader of the story, learn that Taz can be a bit selfish. A fancy way of saying that is "Judo, as sidekick, helps reveal Taz's character."

●  In most books or movies, whatever happens in the story is a very big moment in the life of the hero and the other characters.

         —For instance, in Finding Nemo, Nemo getting taken away by fishermen is the biggest thing ever for Nemo and his dad.

         —Is the Rematch a big deal in Taz’s life? [YES]  The last time such a race was run was many years ago. So this might actually be the most important moment in Taz’s entire life. Remember this, and let’s just see if the race changes him and if he grows up by the end.

 

SET-UP (STORY ITSELF)

[Teachers: you may want to write answers on the board and  toggle among the six illustrations in the “Robbie sequence” in order to show them the image that goes with their answer]

●  Let’s keep talking about set-up for a few more minutes. A writer doesn’t just introduce characters—the people  (or rabbits or turtles)—in the set-up, the writer also sets-up the story itself.

         —For instance, what are all the things Taz uses to propel himself to record-setting victory a little later in the story?

                [SKATEBOARD, POTATO GUN, CARDBOARD BOX, AIRPLANE]

         —If the writer is doing his or her job right we should see all of those items in the first one-fourth of the book; in the....

               [SET-UP]

●  Let's see how this works in the book. Let's go all the way to the third-to-last illustration in the book. Take a look at Taz way up in the corner, on a boat, sailing upriver. What is the boat made of?  [IT'S A HUBCAP FROM A CAR TIRE] Taz is coming back from the lettuce field far away; where would he get a hubcap from?]  ....Hint: Remember we are talking about set-up; the hubcap was set-up. When? How?  ...Another Hint: It involves Robbie [ON PAGE 4, IN THE LEFT ILLUSTRATION, ROBBIE THROWS A HUBCAP AT THE GEESE. IN THE RIGHT ILLUSTRATION IT HAS LANDED IN THE WATER AND IS FLOATING

DOWNSTREAM. SO WHEN TAZ RETURNS AT THE END OF THE STORY ON A HUBCAP BOAT, IT IS NOT A COINCIDENCE; WE KNOW TAZ COULD HAVE FOUND THE HUBCAP DOWNSTREAM BECAUSE WE SAW IT FLOAT DOWNSTREAM.

●  Here's another example from that third-to-last page illustration. What is Taz using as an oar, and what is he using as a mast to hold up the lettuce leaf sail? ...Hint: both are the same thing. [Yes, DRUMSTICKS] 

         —Do you remember when the drumsticks were set-up? Where did we see them before?  [THEY’RE STICKING OUT OF

                 ROBBIE’S BACK POCKET IN ILLUSTRATION #1, AND ONE HOLDS UP THE TRAP IN ILLUSTRATION #2. THEN JUDO

                 GIVES THEM TO TAZ TO ROW THE CARDBOARD BOX DOWNSTREAM. WHEN TAZ ABANDONS THE BOX, THE

                 DRUMSTICKs FLOAT DOWNSTREAM]  See how that works? By "setting up" the drumsticks, when we see Taz

                 floating upstream in a lettuce leaf sailboat with a drumstick oar and drumstick mast, we are not surprised,

                 because we saw them float downstream before. 

●  Remember, we're still talking about set-up; all the things that have to happen in the first one-quarter of the book, the first 7 pages in Rematch. 

           —Who else do we have to meet?  [THE TURTLES AND THE RABBITS WHO SHARE THE MEADOW]  And we have to meet a particular turtle, don't we? Who? [WE HAVE TO MEET THE TURTLE TAZ WILL RACE AGAINST; DULLES. PLUS WE MEET FIRST SHELL, THE LEADER OF THE TURTLES.]

●  Remember how we learned about Taz's character. We learned some good things: he is Daring and Smart. And we also learned he is a little selfish.  What do we learn about Dulles in the set-up? [Yes, he is DULL]; but what's a good quality he has? [HE'S STEADY]

●  Something else is being set-up on pages 4-5...what is it?  ...Hint: we will see it again, later in the story [THE TURTLES' HOME; WE SEE IT AGAIN AT THE END WHEN TAZ ARRIVES IN HIS LETTUCE SAIL SAILBOAT]

●  There are two more important people we need to meet before the set-up is complete  Who are they?  [BIG FOOT AND MR. CHOAK, TAZ’S FATHER]

●  Remember, we said a story means more if we know why a character wants something so badly...his or her motivation. This is where we learn Taz’s Grandfather lost the Great Race, and so we understand why Taz wants to win the Rematch so badly. That's an important part of the set-up; we need to learn that before the race starts. 

●  Look at the two illustrations on page 8. We already know Taz is a risk-taker, a daredevil. But there is something else about Taz we need to know: he is an innovator.

         —Using the potato to knock over the trap and get the lettuce shows us he is  innovative; that means he thinks up new ideas...new and better ways of doing things.

         —These two illustrations show how he is always thinking up new things and trying new things, while the daredevil part of him puts those new ideas into action.  What part of the rest of the story does digging for carrots and trying to drive the tractor set-up? [USING ROBBIE’S TOYS AND GEAR DURING THE REMATCH TO TRY AND BREAK THE COURSE RECORD]  When we see Taz start to use Robbie’s equipment we aren’t surprised because we know from these two illustrations it is the kind of thing Taz would do. That’s "set-up."

         —Ah, but these illustrations set-up something else, too. When Taz tries these things, what happens? [THEY DON’T WORK  / THEY FAIL ] We learn that the other rabbits make fun of Taz because his innovations never seem to work. This is another part of his....? [MOTIVATION] He is motivated to show the other rabbits he has good ideas and can build things that will help his rabbit community. 

 

REVIEW OF SET-UP

●  Let’s review for just a moment. Remember all the things a storyteller is trying to do in the set-up of a story.

         —Introduce the characters.  Who are the main characters in Rematch?

                     [TAZ, JUDO and DULLES] Secondary?  [BIG FOOT, FIRST SHELL, MISTER CHOAK AND TURLEENY.]

         —Have we now met all of those characters? [YES]

         —We also begin to understand what the characters are like. For instance, do we already know what Taz is like? [YES] We

                   know he’s a bit of a daredevil but also an innovative thinker, but his schemes never quite work out.  Do we also

                   know what Judo is like?  [YES]  He's a little unsure of himself

         —In the set-up we also begin to understand how characters relate to one another.

                   —For instance, Taz and Judo are…? [FRIENDS]. 

                   —What about Taz and Mr. Choak? [FATHER-AND-SON]  

                   —Who is Big Foot?  [LEADER OF THE RABBITS]

         —We said that the story becomes particularly interesting if the hero has a personal reason for solving the main

                 challenge in the story. What is the main challenge and what is the personal reason motivating Taz?  [MAIN

                 CHALLENGE IS RUNNING OUT OF GRASS; PERSONAL REASON: CLEAR HIS FAMILY’S NAME]

●   The set-up is finished and the "real story" can begin

 

MAIN NARRATIVE

●  What’s the main story about again? [THE RACE]

●  So here we go: the real start of Rematch, after the set-up, is the actual start of the race, on page 8 and 9.

Taz and Dulles are lined up. The potato gun fires, starting the race (the outer story). They’re off. And Taz goes the wrong way.

●  Let’s talk about that. We said Taz wants badly to win because his grandfather lost the Great Race; Taz wants to make up for that and clear his family's name. But he doesn't think just running and winning will accomplish that. He thinks he has to win in spectacular fashion to erase the spectacular failure of the grandfather. So...what is Taz's goal? [SET A NEW COURSE RECORD] That's important to keep in mind because it the reason -- the motivation behind everything we see him do. 

●  In most stories, the main part of it—the middle of the story—is where the hero is trying to get something, trying to get to something, or trying to solve a problem or overcome a challenge.  We know what that means in Rematch: Taz wants to win the race. But in the main part of most stories obstacles are placed in the path of the hero to block him or her from achieving or reaching the goal. 

         — In Finding Nemo, what are some of the obstacles that get in the way of the father finding Nemo? [SHARKS; JELLYFISH]

         —In Rematch, the obstacles are put in Taz's path by accident. Who causes most of the accidents? [JUDO]

         —What is the first problem Taz runs into when the race starts?  [ONLY ONE FIRECRACKER IS LIT, SO THE SKATEBOARD

             GOES OFF COURSE, HITS DULLES, FLIES UP IN THE AIR, LANDS IN THE CREEK]

         —What is the second problem Taz runs into?...the second 'obstacle' to his success. [THE SPUD GUN THAT WAS GOING

             TO FIRE TAZ TO THE FINISH LINE IS KNOCKED OVER AND TAZ FLIES OFF THE WRONG WAY]

         —Poor Judo. He seems to be to blame for everything.

●  Remember, I said in a good story the hero grows and changes because of what he or she goes through. Overcoming obstacles makes them better. But that is often true of other characters in a story, too. Remember that about Judo for later.

●  In most stories,  as the middle part of the story ends, the hero reaches a low point. He/she has tried everything to solve the main “problem” and they feel defeated by all the obstacles thrown in their path. They’re down and out.  When does that happen to Taz? When does he reach his low point? [WHEN THE CARDBOARD BOX TRAP SINKS]

●  So Taz could have given up then. Just quit. What would’ve happened if he quit? [LOST THE RACE, RABBITS HAVE TO LEAVE THE MEADOW, FAMILY NAME STILL MUD]

         —But what does Taz say, right out loud? [I’M NOT GOING TO QUIT, and MY SCHEMES ARE NOT CRAZY] He believes in

             himself.

         —Just then he sees something. What does he see? [THE MODEL AIRPLANE]

         —And he gets an…? [IDEA. TO FLY THE PLANE TO VICTORY]

         —What are the two important lessons here? [NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER QUIT; and NEVER STOP THINKING...never give up on the idea that ideas themselves can help you figure out how to get out of a jam.]

 

RESOLUTION

●  A story is often told in three parts. Remember, we talked about the set-up of a story. Then there is the middle of the story. The third part, the end, is sometimes called the resolution, meaning, the hero has to resolve, or work-out, the main problem of the story. It doesn’t just fix itself.

●  Okay, now Judo is flying the model airplane with Taz aboard: he gets it up into the air, but instead of flying it over the bridge to the finish line, he flies it right at himself!  The plane almost knocks him over. But he’s able to fly it through the covered bridge and then avoid some more trees and steer it up to a safe height, or altitude. And then a remarkable thing happens, involving Judo. What is it? [HE GETS THE PLANE UNDER CONTROL. HE’S FLYING IT!]

         —Remember, we said in a good story characters change and grow. Judo couldn’t do anything right. Tell me again all the things he did wrong… [LIT ONLY ONE FIRECRACKER ON THE SKATEBOARD...KICKED OVER THE SPUD GUN...TOLD TAZ TO ROW THE BOX TO VICTORY BUT IT SANK...ALMOST CRASHED THE MODEL AIRPLANE]

         —But it turns out Judo shares a quality with Taz. Maybe he even learned it from Taz. Judo never…[QUITS].  That’s right, he may be a bit awkward, but Judo never quit trying to help out and he finally learned how to fly the model airplane and got Taz close to the finish line.

●   Then what happens? [THE MODEL AIRPLANE FLIES BEYOND THE RANGE OF THE CONTROLLER]

         —That’s not Judo’s fault; it’s just something that happened.

         —So along comes who again, to save Taz? [THE CANADIAN GEESE]

●   And they do save him. They save his life: the plane falls to the ground and crashes while Taz is holding onto the geese’s legs with his ears. But there are several problems. What are they? [TAZ IS TOO HEAVY; GEESE FLYING INTO EACH OTHER; TAZ IS LOSING HIS GRIP]

         —Let’s discuss why this is the most important moment in the story. We talked about how a character, like Taz, should grow in a story. What did we say was a shortcoming of Taz, something he needed to learn to be better about? ….hint: he didn’t share the lettuce with the Canadian Geese.  [SELFISH]

         —Oftentimes in a story the hero faces a “dilemma.” It usually means a hero has a decision to make, yet none of his choices are very good. But he has to choose one. 

         —What are Taz’s two choices as he is flying through the air? [HE CAN HANG ON OR LET GO]

         —What happens if he hangs on? [HE MIGHT WIN THE RACE, BUT HE MIGHT ALSO DRAG THE GEESE TO THE GROUND AND HURT THEM]

         —What happens if he lets go? [HE’LL PROBABLY LOSE THE RACE AND MAY HURT HIMSELF, BUT HE WILL SAVE THE GEESE FROM BEING HURT]

         —How does Taz solve the dilemma? [LET’S GO]

         —That’s unselfish! but in a bigger way than simply sharing. The important thing is, Taz is thinking about someone besides himself. He’s thinking about the safety of the geese—his friends—who just saved his life. He puts their lives ahead of the race itself. So we see Taz has gotten better as a person—or rabbit!

●  Then Taz gets lucky. When he hits the ground he curls up in a ball, rolls to the finish line, and the race ends in a…? [TIE]

         —No one loses in a tie, but nobody wins either. What does a tie mean for the turtles and the rabbits?   [NO ONE KNOWS WHO GETS THE MEADOW AND WHO HAS TO LEAVE]

         —Remember, that’s the central problem in the story. That’s why the race was run—to decide who gets the meadow. So the central problem hasn’t been fixed. Everyone looks at Big Foot & First Shell, but they don’t know what to do either

         —Then what happens? Taz gets an…? [IDEA] Which is? [GET LETTUCE FROM THE FIELD BEYOND THE DARK FOREST]

         —See how we’re back to a central “theme” of the story?: Ideas Solve Problems.

[Note to Teachers: project the illustration where Taz is hanging by his ears from the geese’s legs and students will see the lettuce field in the background]

●  Here’s an important question: after the race ends in a tie, why does Taz go into the Ominous Dark Forest? It’s scary. No one ever goes in it.  [TO GET LETTUCE]

          —Yes, but....so now it’s not a scary forest? Why isn't it scary anymore?  [BECAUSE WE/TAZ SAW PAST IT. WE/HE KNOWS THE FOREST ENDS SOON AND THE LETTUCE FIELD BEGINS.]

          —Do you see how the forest is only scary when it’s unknown? Now it’s “known.” Ignorance, not knowing things, is scary. The lettuce field was always there, waiting to be discovered, but everyone was scared of going into the Dark Forest because they didn’t know what was in it or past it. Once Taz knew what was there, his knowledge destroyed the fear.

          —Can you see the lettuce field at the top of this illustration?  Yes, Taz is “lucky” to see it, but that’s a key lesson here too: we create our own luck. Taz is only up in the sky—he only gets a chance to see the field—because he’s innovative and brave. Good things happen to people who are innovative, brave, keep trying, and don't quit. And what a result! The lettuce field helps feed all of the turtles and rabbits and solves the main problem of the story.

        —We looked at the illustration earlier where Taz was sailing upriver to meet with all the gathered rabbits and turtles. Let's think about that again. This is kind of a hard question, but what does the sailboat say about Taz?  [IT REINFORCES HIS CHARACTER. WE ALREADY KNOW TAZ LIKES TO BUILD CONTRAPTIONS, SO HERE HE IS, AT THE END OF THE STORY, SAILING UPSTREAM IN A LETTUCE LEAF CONTRAPTION BOAT. ITS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF HOW ALL THE PARTS OF THE STORY COME

TOGETHER.  We talked about how a hero grows in a story, gets better. At the start of the story, none of Taz's contraptions worked. The other rabbits made fun of them. But now he's coming back, with lettuce to feed bother rabbits and turtles, on a contraption that works! So we see that Taz dreaming about doing great things, and trying to do great things, pays off in the end: he does do a great thing.

●  Here’s a big word for you: catharsis. It means when you release bad feelings so the good can rush in. What was the part of Taz that wasn't so good? [SELFISH] And when do we see him get rid of that selfishness once and for all and share? [WHEN HE SHARES THE LETTUCE WITH THE GEESE] That moment of sharing is a catharsis for Taz.

         —I want to make sure you understand why that is so important. When Taz let’s go of the geese’s ears, he probably saved them from being pulled down to the ground and injured. It’s nice Taz did that, but the geese had just saved his life—rescuing him from the falling model airplane. Taz was just “returning the favor,” just paying them back.

         —But when the geese rescued Taz they weren’t “returning a favor.” They weren’t paying him back. They took  “initiative.” They decided on their own to act. They decided to do the right thing and rescue Taz.

         —So now, with plenty of lettuce for all, Taz needs to….what?…[THANK the geese. DO THE RIGHT THING. TAKE THE INITIATIVE]

          —See how that is the last piece of the puzzle, so to speak? The last thing that has to happen in the story? Taz has grown up. He faced a dilemma and made the right choice: not to be selfish. But we need to see that. He can’t just think it. It has to be expressed in action. And when he does—when he shares the lettuce with the geese—we know for sure Taz is a better person, that all the things he went through in the story have caused him to grow up. And we feel good.

 

SUMMARY

●  Let me summarize a few things:

         —Remember we talked about the inner and outer story. Remember I said the inner story often ends up being more important than the outer story? Can you see how that is true with Rematch?  What happened in the "outer story?" [TAZ TIED THE RACE].  By the end, when they are all riding the tractor past the lettuce field and dancing on the flatbed, the race itself is almost a distant memory. It’s not the most important thing. The most important thing is Taz growing up, which led him to a solution to the food shortage. And Taz growing up is the inner story. 

 

●  We’re just about done, but I can’t end without mentioning one last lesson.

         —What is the main lesson of the original story? [STEADY WINS THE PRIZE.]    

         —It’s important to remember that Dulles is not some sort of bad guy—not at all. Steady ties in this story, rather than wins the prize. But steady is a good thing.

         —We need to admire Dulles too because he also never…what? [QUIT]

         —Taz didn’t quit, Judo didn’t quit, and Dulles never quit.

         —The story is not saying slow and steady is bad. It’s not saying that at all. But it is saying that it’s even better if you don’t just go along with everyone else. If you have the courage to go in a different direction, and be true to yourself, wonderful things can happen. In fact, things can happen that are way better than what you planned. Taz just wanted to win the race and feed the rabbits. But by taking chances and being who he is, he stumbled on a way to feed everyone.

 

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