There are great books that take one moment in a person's or character's life and expands that moment into an entire story. Donald Crews, author ofShortcut is a master of this, as is Mem Fox, author of Hattie and the Fox.
In Shortcut, Donald Crews is able to take an autobiographical moment, walking back to his grandmother's house (aka Big Mama) after dark with his siblings, and turn it into a suspenseful, interesting story that uses color and the Doppler Effect. The narrator and his siblings are walking home and decide to take a shortcut by walking along the train tracks. They know that no passenger trains are scheduled on the tracks, but the freight trains do not follow a schedule and could come at any time. They carefully listen and take their chances. The narrator describes the brambles that are possibly filled with snakes that are beside the train tracks. The illustrations get darker and darker as time passes. At first, the children and their brightly colored shirts are visible, but they become darker and shadow-ier.
You can probably guess what happens: A train comes along the tracks before the kids get to the cutoff to Big Mama's house. They dive into the ditch and listen as the loud, long freight train goes by just feet away. The illustrations are magnificent: you cannot see the children at this point, just the loud train going by as the sky continues to darken. At the end of the story, it is so dark outside that you can barely see the siblings on the page. They learned their lesson about taking chances with the train.
Shortcut finds its magic in those illustrations and in the one small decision that creates danger for the kids. I loaned my copy of the book to a teacher at some point and did not get it back, but check it out somewhere. It is also inspirational for students when writing. This book takes place over about 10-20 minutes from the time they decide to take the shortcut to the time they get to Big Mama's House. It's a great mentor text for personal narratives.
Hattie and the Fox is a similar story in that it takes one small moment and stretches it into an interesting story. Mem Fox, the author, has her main character, Hattie the hen, narrating something she sees in the bushes. First, Hattie sees a nose, then she sees a nose and two eyes. As Hattie relays this information to the rest of the animals, the Goose, the Pig, the Horse, the Cow, and the Sheep, they all ignore her. This leads Hattie to get more and more agitated with her body as this Fox gets closer and closer. Julie Vivas, the illustrator, clearly shows Hattie's fear as the fox gets closer and closer, then on the next page she shows the other animals relaxed and having fun, not worried at all about Hattie and her information. When she finally yells, "It's a fox! It's a fox!" the other animals FINALLY get it and most are frightened. Hattie, for her part, flies into a tree that might give her protection, but the other animals freak out. Only the cow keeps his wits about him and is able to scare the fox away.
Both stories end with the characters rendered speechless. In Shortcut, it says, "We walked home without a word. We didn't tell Big Mama. We didn't tell Mama. We didn't tell anyone." In Hattie and the Fox, it says, "And they were all so surprised that none of them said anything for a very long time." That quality of fear replaced by a combination of feelings is interesting. Humans and fictional animals are generally social, but the relief plus the processing of what might have been often renders us quiet or speechless. It's interesting to try to talk to kids about why this might happen to these characters.