Twilight Comes Twice

 by Ralph Fletcher

 Illustrated by Kate Kiesler

Ralph Fletcher’s free verse allows the reader to journey with a girl and her dog as they discover the beauty, the activities, the similarities of dawn and dusk.

Book Talk

In Twilight Comes Twice, Ralph Fletcher beautifully describes the natural similarities between dawn and dusk.

One of my favorite lines opens the story and sets the stage of the rhythm of the book:

“Twice each day 

a crack opens 

between night and day. 

Twice twilight 

slips through that crack.”

Kate Kiesler’s illustrations help to  guide the reader through the flowing, descriptive free verse as we follow a girl and her dog discovering the many activities that transpire when that crack between night and day briefly opens up.

At dusk, they watch as the colors of the sky deepen, change and darken. Mosquitos, bats, fireflies wake up;  kids finish up their Little League game, and adults come home. Crows gather in a tree to ‘gossip’ and fisherman try for the last catch of the day.

At dawn, many of the opposite activities begin to greet a new day: the crows return, the spiders wake up, boys gather to fish, the baseball diamond shines in the morning dew waiting for the day's game.

My husband’s favorite line is from the book’s final page:

“As you set your table for breakfast,

dawn sets its own table,

with light that ushers in 

a brand new day.”

Suggested Uses as A Mentor Text

Genre:  Free Verse / Poetry

Writing Workshop Genre: Poetry

Reading Workshop strategies: Visualizing, Connecting

Grammar:  Using descriptive words

Ralph Fletcher’s website: http://ralphfletcher.com/

Ralph Fletcher’s blog: http://livethewritinglife.blogspot.com/