We Have a Dull-Emma

by Jenny Alvarado

Jenny Alvarado’s We Have a Dull-Emma is identified as an easy reader, but no synopsis or interior text was provided, so its characters and plot cannot be reliably summarized here. Its title invites readers to investigate a possible play on the word “dilemma”; confirm that interpretation and add a plot summary after reading the book.

Big Idea

Readers and writers can investigate how word choice, sound, illustrations, and pauses shape a story’s meaning and reading pace. The unusual wording of this book’s title provides a concrete starting point for exploring those choices.

Discussion Questions

1.What did you think “Dull-Emma” meant before reading, and how did the story change or confirm your thinking?
2.What situation matters most to the characters, and which words or pictures help you understand why?
3.Where did you want to read quickly, and where did you want to slow down? What caused that change?
4.How do the illustrations help you understand something that the words do not explain directly?
5.Why might the author have chosen “We Have a Dull-Emma” as the title? What other title would you suggest, and what would it emphasize?

Lesson Plan

⏱ 40 minutes📦 A copy of the book, folded paper, pencils, crayons, chart paper, markers; optional sticky notes

Learning Goals

Identify an important story moment using evidence from words or illustrations.
Explain how a word choice, illustration, or punctuation mark affects meaning or reading pace.
Create two brief retellings of the same event with different pacing choices.
Read or perform a short text with purposeful expression and pauses.

Activity Steps

1.Read the title aloud and invite predictions about “Dull-Emma.” Read the book, then revisit the predictions using evidence rather than assuming the title’s meaning.
2.Choose one brief, important event from the actual story. Discuss who is involved, what happens, and what the illustrations reveal.
3.Model a quick retelling using one or two short sentences. Then model a slower version that adds an observed detail, a character reaction supported by the book, or a deliberate pause.
4.Have students fold paper into two panels labeled “Quick” and “Slow.” Students write, dictate, or draw both versions of the selected event.
5.Partners perform their versions and explain which choices changed the pace. Encourage listeners to identify a specific word, detail, or pause.
6.Close with an evidence check: distinguish details taken from the book from details students invented for their adaptations.

Standards Connections

ELA: CCSS RL.1.1 — Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
ELA: CCSS RL.1.3 — Describe characters, settings, and major events using key details.
ELA: CCSS RL.1.7 — Use illustrations and details to describe characters, settings, or events.
ELA: CCSS W.1.3 — Write narratives with sequenced events, details, temporal words, and closure; apply this through a brief story-moment retelling.
ELA: CCSS SL.1.1 — Participate in collaborative conversations with peers and adults.

Pace-Write-Read Study with Pace-Write It!

Begin the Pace-Write-Read study with the book’s exact title: We Have a Dull-Emma. Say it naturally, then try a brief pause before “Dull-Emma.” Ask students what they hear and what meanings they anticipate. The spelling may suggest wordplay with “dilemma,” but treat that as a prediction to test against the story, not an established plot fact. This opening shows young writers that even a title can influence anticipation, emphasis, and reading speed. After reading, use the actual pages to investigate how the story moves. Students can mark a moment that feels quick and another that invites a pause, then identify the words, pictures, layout, or punctuation responsible. Because the interior text and illustrations were not provided for this package, the guidance below offers book-directed investigations rather than claims that particular techniques appear. The central workshop routine is to notice an observable choice, try that choice in writing, and read the result aloud to hear its effect.

Element	How to notice or teach it in the novel
Pacing	Compare two moments in We Have a Dull-Emma that students experience at different speeds. Ask whether sentence length, action, illustration detail, or a pause produces the difference.
Plot	After reading, chart the actual beginning, central situation, and ending. Investigate whether the situation explains the unusual title, citing a specific event.
Prosody	Read “We Have a Dull-Emma” with different stresses and pauses. Then practice expressive reading on a short passage, matching the delivery to its meaning.
Word	Examine the spelling and hyphen in “Dull-Emma.” Compare its sound with “dilemma,” and use the story to determine whether that connection is meaningful.
Concept	Ask students to name an idea the story develops and support it with an event. Do not assign a theme such as problem-solving or friendship unless the text supports it.
Voice & Worldview	Find wording that suggests a particular attitude toward the story’s situation. Ask how the telling makes readers feel, and separate the narrator’s attitude from a character’s.
Point of View	Notice the title’s “We,” then check who tells the story inside the book. Discuss whether the title’s speaker and the narrator appear to be the same.
Setting & Place	Identify the setting through actual words and pictures. Ask how the location affects what the characters can do and how quickly events unfold.
Original Characters	List the characters actually introduced and one distinctive action or trait for each. Do not assume that “Emma” names a character solely because it appears within the title.
Dialogue	If the book includes dialogue, compare reading a short exchange with reading its surrounding narration. If it does not, students can invent a clearly labeled dialogue adaptation of an actual event.
Details	Choose one small detail from a page that changes students’ understanding. Test how including or omitting that detail affects a retelling’s clarity and pace.
Descriptions	Look for description in the text and illustrations, noting which medium supplies it. Add one evidence-based descriptive detail to a retelling and listen for the resulting slowdown.
Firsts	Study the first story page after the title: what does the reader learn first? Ask how a different opening detail might change curiosity or understanding.
Immediacy & Engagement	Identify the first moment students feel drawn into the story. Compare that moment’s appeal with the curiosity generated by “Dull-Emma” in the title.
Story Scenes, Summaries & Structures	Find a moment shown through action or interaction and, if present, a passage that compresses events. Retell the same moment both ways to compare their pacing.
Tension / Suspense / Surprise	Pause where the actual story leaves an outcome uncertain, if such a moment exists. Ask what readers know, what they still wonder, and how the uncertainty encourages continued reading.
Flashback, Flash-Forward, Cliffhanger	Check whether the story shifts time or delays an answer; these techniques may be absent. If absent, demonstrate an optional adaptation and clearly distinguish it from Alvarado’s structure.
Page Turns and Chapter Breaks	Examine what readers know immediately before and after a page turn. Discuss chapter breaks only if this edition has chapters.
Pace & Creativity	Use an actual event from the book to test two creative arrangements of the same information. Ask which version gives the reader more time to notice or anticipate.
Play	Explore the title through speaking, clapping, and arranging its words on cards. Discuss how playful spelling can invite interpretation while sometimes requiring clarification.
Performance	Have partners perform a short passage using two different deliveries. Compare which performance best fits the characters’ actions and the textual evidence.
Personality	Choose an actual character action that reveals personality. Try conveying that trait in a retelling through action rather than adding an unsupported label.
Humor	Ask whether students find the title or any story moment funny, and why. Investigate any mismatch, sound play, or unexpected outcome they identify without assuming the entire book is humorous.
Pause	Test a pause before “Dull-Emma” when reading the title. Then find a story moment where a pause helps listeners understand, anticipate, or reflect.
Poetry / Poetic Devices	Listen for rhyme, alliteration, sound play, or other patterned language in the actual text. Use the title’s unusual sound-and-spelling relationship as a starting investigation, not proof that the book is poetry.
Repetition	Check whether any word, phrase, image, or situation recurs. If repetition is present, ask whether its meaning or effect changes across appearances.
Rhythm	Speak the title at a natural pace and tap its beats. Compare that rhythm with a short passage, noticing where the reading flows or hesitates.
Punctuation	Notice the hyphen in “Dull-Emma” and discuss how it joins the title’s parts visually. Inspect punctuation inside the book and test how it guides phrasing without assuming every mark requires a fixed-length pause.
Questions	Turn the title into a reader question: “What is a Dull-Emma?” Track when the story answers that question, changes it, or leaves room for interpretation.
Compare-Contrast	Compare students’ title predictions with what the book actually presents. Use a two-column chart to distinguish supported similarities from revised assumptions.
Objects	Identify an object that matters in the words or illustrations, if one does. Explain its role in an event before adding it to an illustrated retelling.
Threes	Look for three actions, attempts, phrases, or visual groupings, but do not impose a pattern the book lacks. Students may try a three-part adaptation and compare it with the original sequence.
Lists	Check whether the story contains a list or a sequence that reads like one. Compare reading its items continuously with separating them by deliberate pauses.
White Space & Negative Space	Inspect space around the text and within the illustrations. Ask whether a less crowded area directs attention or invites a longer look.
Art & Graphics	Select a page where the illustrations contribute information beyond the words. Explain how that contribution affects the time readers spend on the page.
Interactives & Gamification	Create a teacher-added “prediction detective” game in which students match title predictions to story evidence. Do not present the game as a built-in feature of the book.
Placement	Notice where text and important visual information sit on an actual page. Ask what students notice first and how that order shapes their experience.
Form	Examine the book’s actual sentence lengths, page organization, and visual supports rather than assuming a uniform easy-reader format. Discuss how those choices support reading and storytelling.
Dummy	Make a miniature folded-book dummy of one actual event, placing its setup, action, and outcome on separate pages. Test whether changing the page divisions changes anticipation.
Passion	Ask students which moment or language choice they most want to share with another reader. Use that interest to guide an expressive retelling without making claims about the author’s personal intentions.

Pace-Write It!

20-minute task: “Title, Moment, Reveal.” Use this after the class has read the book. Minutes 0–3: reread “We Have a Dull-Emma” and explain its connection to the story using evidence; revise initial predictions if needed. Minutes 3–6: choose one actual event that helps readers understand the title and identify its participants and outcome. Minutes 6–13: students fold paper into three panels and draw or write the event’s setup, action, and outcome, keeping the outcome in the final panel. Minutes 13–17: partners reveal one panel at a time and read aloud, trying a deliberate pause before the last panel. Minutes 17–20: discuss how the delayed reveal changed the pace and whether it preserved the event’s meaning. Emerging writers may dictate captions or use drawings; if the title’s connection remains ambiguous, label interpretations as possibilities rather than facts.

Classroom Activities

One Moment, Two Speeds

After reading the book, students select an actual story moment and create two illustrated retellings: one that moves quickly and one that slows down. They experiment with short sentences, added details, punctuation, and pauses, then read both versions aloud. This package is provisionally designed for grades K–2; because the book’s text was not supplied, teachers should verify all story connections using their copy.

One Moment, Two Speeds

Create a free account to reveal this guide

Your free account includes one complete guide download — the full teacher’s guide, discussion questions, classroom activities, and the Pace-Write-Read writing workshop.

Create Free Account Sign in

Discussion questions PWR workshop PDF download