2.2.9 TSWS Ch 9/10 Content

​2.2.9 The Sky We Shared Chapters 9 and 10

By Lori Kirchner

Engage

Waaaay back before internet times, people had to rely on letters to communicate with each other. Today, we call it snail mail because it takes much more time than an e-mail, text, or instant message.

​During World War II, the United States used a special system called V-mail, which stands for Victory Mail.

Instead of sending letters directly through the military postal service, V-mail (Victory Mail) letters were first checked for sensitive information, then photographed and transferred to film.

Once they arrived at their destination, the letters were printed back onto paper and delivered. This process helped reduce the costs and logistical challenges of sending letters during the war.

​So far in The Sky We Shared, you have seen Tamiko write letters to her ancestors. Even though they do not get sent anywhere, she sees letter writing as a way of sharing her thoughts with others. She also sends and receives letters from Kyo while he is away. In today's reading, Nellie gets a letter from Pa.

Waiting for a letter or any type of information can create a feeling of anticipation or tension. Continue on to the next page to learn about how authors create tension in their writing.

Open Ended

How does waiting for a letter, especially during wartime, create anticipation?

How might communication, like v-mail or snail mail, have been significant for soldiers and their families?

Building Suspense

Suspense is a tense feeling you get as you await something with either uncertainty or excitement, like waiting for a letter.

Depending on the situation, suspense can spark emotions of apprehension or even anxiety.

Think of a TV show or movie that kept you on the edge of your seat because you wanted to know what would happen.

Multiple Select

What was it about that particular television show or movie that helped build the suspense? *Select all that apply!

• 
  The background music suddenly cut off, creating a tense atmosphere with sudden silence.

• 
  There was creepy music in the background.

• There was a sound of the character's heart beating and/or breathing.

• 
  The lighting changed drastically.

TV shows and movies can use visual cues like dark lighting, eerie music, or sound effects like someone's beating heart to help build tension. Unlike TV shows and movies, authors do not have the benefit of creating suspense through images or sound. They have to create suspense through their writing.

Let's review ways that authors create suspense!

Think about a character that you relate to or really like. Now, think of that character in a dangerous situation. Authors may create likable characters to ensure that you will feel suspense when the character is put into a stressful or difficult situation.

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Creating Characters You Care For

Creating suspense continued...

Point of view is the perspective from which the story is told. By using a limited point of view, an author may show you only certain events and details depending on who is telling the story. This may create gaps, leading to a building of suspense in that you are unsure what is happening "behind the scenes."

Limited POV

Elimination of details may help create suspense in that there are things left unknown. For example, if someone conspicuously avoids the third floor of their house and forbids others to enter it, it creates suspense about the third floor.

Leaving Out Details

Suspense continued...

If you have ever bought a second book in a series or watched a movie or show sequel because you were desperate to find out what happens to the main characters, you have experienced a successful cliffhanger. A cliffhanger is a plot device used to keep an audience or a reader anxious to find out what happens next, often through an unresolved situation. Cliffhangers are an abrupt ending to a building conflict or climax, leaving the audience or reader feeling as if they themselves are left hanging.

Cliffhangers

Settings are often just seen as the backdrop of the story, but they can be used to create suspense, both subtly and not so subtly. Look at the details closely. A "dark and stormy night" is not the only way an author can build suspense.

Using Suspenseful Locations

​Take a look at these images. How does each one make you feel? Which one creates more suspense?

​Forest 1 may make you feel calm or happy because of its brightness. Forest 2 may make you feel fearful or lonely because of the darkness

Mood is the feeling the reader gets while reading a story. It can be created through imagery, foreshadowing, or word choice.

Open Ended

Write a detailed sentence about forest 2 that can show the mood of the picture.

Multiple Select

In this chapter, Nellie and her family receive a letter from Pa. Why might getting a letter from a loved one during the war be considered suspenseful?

• 
  War is unpredictable, and the letter could have good or bad news.

• 
  The letters often contain clues or hints about the enemy's movements.

• 
  Letters may not come often, so you are not sure when one will arrive.

• 
  It is the only form of communication people have, so waiting for one is difficult.

Chapter 9 Highlights

Letters-
The letters in The Sky We Shared act as a lifeline for both Nellie and Tamiko. They are the only form of communication they have with their loved ones.

Pa tries to make Nellie and her mother feel hopeful about the future instead of creating anxiousness surrounding what might be going wrong with the war.

Letters also create a sense of underlying tension in Nellie's life because she is always waiting for one and they are never sure when it will arrive or what it will say.

Chapter 9 Highlights

Nellie's Mother-
We learn more about Nellie's mother in chapter 9. We know she works in a post office now, but this passage reveals to the reader how much her mother loves her father, that the stresses of war have aged her, and that she seems resigned and defeated.

Nellie has a hard time relating to her mother and feels resentment toward her because she is not as present now that her father is away. In a way, Nellie feels as if the war has also taken her mother away from her.

Chapter 9 Highlights

Mood-
This passage creates a mood of longing and loneliness through its reflective tone and imagery. Nellie's thoughts on wishing stars and the gods watching over people evoke a sense of hopefulness, yet her wishes reveal deeply personal and emotional struggles—Nellie wants her father to return, to mend a broken friendship, and her mother to show her that she cares.

The mention of the night sky as a constant companion emphasizes isolation because she feels alone with her father being gone and her relationship with Joey strained. The sky is all she has. The crying coyote at the end reinforces the feeling of solitude. The overall mood is wistful and melancholic.

Chapter 10 Highlights

Inferences

Suspense

Chapter 10 Highlights

Mood/Fig. Lang

Foreshadowing

Multiple Select

What passages contribute to an ominous and gloomy mood, despite Tamiko's excitement?

• She smirks and we trudge on, down the one road that sprouts into many streets, until we're in the heart of the city (68).

• 
  She puts out her palm to catch the first raindrops. "Just in time, too" (68).

• 
  The rain falls in cold, sharp snaps (68).

​Wrap Up!