Theme/Summary

Which of the following might be a theme of a story?

• overcoming fear

• a brave young girl pretends to be a man

• some people are afraid of heights

• "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too."

Which of the following would not be considered a theme?

• the pain of love

• the pressure of traditions

• a soldier coming home from World War I

• survival

The theme of a story is its________.

• main character

• lesson, moral, or message

• basic plot

• most memorable sentence or phrase

What is a summary?

• Retells the main events of the story in a shorter version.

• Tells the people in the story.

• Tells where the story takes place.

• Tells us the theme of the story.

What does SOMEBODY stand for?

• Who is the story about and where are they?

• Why did the plot change?

• Where did they try to fix the problem?

• What is the solution?

What does WANTED stand for?

• What did the main character need?

• What did the author want?

• What did the main character want?

• What did the author need?

What does the word BUT stand for?

• Explain how the story ended.

• Why does the main character change their mind?

• Explain how the story began.

• Explain how the main character did not get what they wanted.

What does the THEN stand for?

• How did the character try and fix the problem?

• How did the characters meet?

• How did the characters get home?

• What is the setting?

What does the SO stand for?

• What is the setting?

• How did the story begin?

• What happened in the middle?

• How did the story end?

True or False: In a summary you should include all of the main details from the text.

• True

• False