Mirette in the High Wire – Story Elements Plus Persistence

Using the picture book Mirette on the High Wire to teach story elements and persistence

Story elements and persistence – two great lessons for the beginning of the school year.  In the Language Arts classroom,  introducing or reviewing basic story elements is a longstanding favorite activity for starting off the year’s literature studies.  And the quality of persistence is a good one to demonstrate to kids at this season when it’s time to settle down and hit the books once again!

Mirette on the High Wire, by Emily Arnold McCully, is a great picture book for demonstrating both of these lessons.  (and a fun story that kids will enjoy as well!)

It is the story of Mirette, a young girl who grows up in a Paris boardinghouse where performers often take lodging.  When a wire walker named Bellini arrives and sets up a practice wire across the courtyard, Mirette can only think of one thing – walking on the wire herself!  She practices and practices and begins to learn to walk on the wire before she finds out Bellini’s secret – that he had become afraid of the high wire and no longer performs.  In order to not disappoint Mirette, Bellini decides to try one more performance, but freezes at the last minute.  Mirette saves the day by walking out on the wire to meet him.

Story Elements

Mirette is a good story for a beginning of the year introduction to the basic story elements of plot, characterization, and setting.  With the high wire and a young protagonist who saves the day, there is plenty of suspense, and students should be able to easily map out the plot.  Both Mirette, the main character, and Bellini, an important minor character, have interesting character traits that should lend themselves to a good introduction to characterization. And the setting, “One hundred years ago in Paris,” is one that students should enjoy learning about.  The illustrations are full of interesting details, but also bright and colorful, making this book a good choice for a teacher read-aloud to the whole class.

Persistence

Mirette is also a good story for teaching persistence, a character quality that many teachers like to spend a little time on at the beginning of the school year.  The first time Mirette tried walking on the wire, she fell off, but she didn’t give up.  After ten tries, she could balance for a few seconds.  Then, she began to get up two hours early each morning to practice before doing her chores. After much more practice, she could finally walk the length of a wire.  But practice wasn’t  finished yet;  Bellini had Mirette keep practicing until she could cross dozens of times without falling before he began teaching her to be a real performer.

This story and its illustrations are beautifully done.  Students will enjoy listening to Mirette on the High Wire and examining the pictures – a good beginning for a discussion of its story elements and the character qualities that Mirette displays.

Related Resources

Story Elements ppt     Story Elements Worksheet Set

Linked with Story Sunday at Elizabeth-Elle Lifelong Learning and with Reading Toward the Stars for Book Talk Thursday.

Story Sunday   


2 responses to “Mirette in the High Wire – Story Elements Plus Persistence”

  1. Elizabeth says:

    Great post! Thanks for linking up.

  2. Andrea says:

    Thanks for linking up again this week! I used this story with my fourth graders many years ago. You are absolutely right ~ it is great for teaching story elements!