Illustrated by M. Sarah Klise Avon, N. Y., 1998

SUMMARY: "When a fifth grade class gets involved with their school's intent to replace a leaking drinking fountain, the project soon takes on a comical life of its own." From MSBA 1999-2000 Annotated Reading List.

LEVEL: Grades 4-6 - humorous fiction

Quickie booktalk by Margy Soule, May 1999. "Told through drawings, letters, memos, and news clippings, the funny melodrama is complete with bad guys, Sally Mander and Dee Eel, who try to hide their sinister business lies from a group of fifth graders. The class' creative teacher responds to the ideas and visions of Florence Waters, who they hope will design a fountain for their school that can include all their dreams. (Show pages 40 and 83.)" Page 40 shows 3 student sketches of such a fountain, and page 83 shows how the school faculty fantasizes such a fountain.

Note: These activities are designed to incorporate the development of information literacy (including technological literacy) and higher level thinking skills within a Language Arts setting. They are not meant to be used as-is, but modified in relation to the maturities and skills of the students and the goals of the librarian and teacher.

1. Dry Creek Water Company, Dry Creek Middle School, and the Dry Creek Swimming Pool all use 'letterheads' - stationery that includes their name, a graphic and a motto, among other information. Collect at least 5 other examples of company letterheads in a folder. Examine them and list what other information may be included in a letterhead. Share your collection and list within a small group and discuss with the group the 'style' or 'image' that one of each of your collections seems to project. Now create an imaginary company and write a paragraph about that company. Then design a letterhead for that company that reflects the paragraph you have written.

Use technology when helpful, such as a desktop publisher, scanner, camera, programs of free art, copy machine. Share that letterhead with your group or your class, and responding to the resulting dialogue and/or checked assessments, modify your letterhead. Include in your presentation a clear, sequential description of how you developed the letterhead. (After analyzing the three letterheads in the book, a class could develop a set of criteria for a well-designed letterhead, which could be used by the audience to measure individual student creations.)

2. The story-starter for this book consists of the first steps taken to repair a broken piece of machinery. And very soon you realize that the story is getting more and more complex, confusing, funny, and out of hand. Imagine a piano with squeaky pedals, or a woodstove with a broken door as a story-starter. Create the first three or four communications for such a story, so that the reader will realize that the situation is getting complicated, hilarious, and out of control. If you prefer an object other than a piano or a woodstove, get your idea okayed.

3. a. Florence Waters says on page 3 that "I don't have a phone. Hate the silly things." This, and the fact that the story is presented in a printed format, resulted in only written communications. List them. Can you think of some text formats that the authors didn't use but that could have had a place in the story? Describe the formats and how they could have been used.

3. b. Imagine, when you opened this book, you found only a tape cassette. And when you began listening to it on a tape player you found you were hearing a story made up entirely of aural communications, or communications that you can hear. How many aural formats can you list? (Hint .... ever hear of a singing telegram, or a recorded Christmas 'card'?)

Collate your list with others in a small group. Together devise a storyline that lends itself to total presentation via a tape cassette. What advantages do you anticipate using aural mediums. What problems? Flesh out the first chapter of your story and design how to implement it using specific aural mediums. Create a tape of the first chapter. Share your product AND how you dealt with the problems and challenges of "only aural".

3. c. Use a slide projector with sound or a computer application to create a short story using only pictures and sound. Use the same outline as in 3. b.

The following activities were originally published in "Maine Entry".

4. Lily and Paddy, Minnie, Tad, Shelly and Gil are all 5th graders whose letters are included in Regarding the Fountain. It is clear that they are using a computer's word processor, changing the font and letter size to reflect their own personal "style." Identify the font each of them uses. What kind of personality do you think each might suggest? Together with what each student says in his/her letters, further describe what you think each personality is like.

Now study the pictures they include with their letters, looking for more clues, and expand your description of each student. Try out a number of fonts in order to choose one that you feel suits your own "style." Write a paragraph in that font explaining why it seems to reflect "you".

5. Regarding the Fountain seems like a rambling, lighthearted comedy. However, there are a number of serious situations going on at the same time. With a small group, identify a development other than the fountain, such as the relationship between the principal and his secretary. What is happening here? Follow the developments, and how it is resolved by the end of the book. Write a clear description or outline of the situation you chose, and share with other groups who have chosen different situations.

6. Imagine you are a student in Sam N.'s fifth grade. Write a description of your classroom 'climate'. Collect detailed information about what students study, what their responsibilities are, what decisions they may make, how their day goes. Use this information to generalize about the year. What are N's fifth graders expected to know and be able to do by the end of the school year? (Be sure to use all the visual clues in the book as well as the text.)

Compare this with your classroom, details about what you study, your responsibilities and decisions you make or share in. What are the major similarities? Differences? Describe one aspect of Sam's classroom that you would like to see implemented in your class.

7. There are MANY fiction books written as facsimiles of written communications. Some of them are in the form of journals or diaries. Others are entirely of letters by one person. Some letter books are composed of back-and-forth letters between two people. Some novels include excerpts from imagined letters or diaries or poetry or lists. A few books are composed primarily of a variety of written formats, such as Regarding the Fountain. Some examples:

Avi. Nothing But the Truth. Orchard Books, 1991. "A student's conflict with a teacher gets blown out of proportion as more people become involved." (See Maine Sampler III.) Includes speeches, transcripts, announcements.

Ahlberg, Janet & Allan. The Jolly Postman. Little Brown & Co., 1986. Tucked into actual envelopes, traditional fairy tale characters receive clever, relevant communications, including advertising flyers, invitations, summonses.

Cleary, Beverly. Dear Mr. Henshaw. Dell, 1983. An interesting mix of diary entries and letters, begun as a school writing exercise to an author.

Klise, Kate. Letters from Camp. Avon, 1999. "Sent to Camp Happy Harmon to learn how to get along with each other, pairs of brothers and sisters chronicle in letters home how they come to suspect the intentions of the singing family running the camp." From bn.com (Barnes & Noble). This book is composed of letters, memos, shopping receipts, post-it notes, newspaper articles, and menus.

Slepian, Jan. The Broccoli Tapes. Philomel, 1989. A sixth grader communicates with her class via tape cassettes during her stay in Hawaii.

Zindel, Paul. My Darling, My Hamburger. Harper, 1969. Some narrative, but lots of letters, notes, dance notices inserted in this teenage 'needs' story.

Use one of these books, or another that is composed primarily of facsimiles of written communication, and design an activity for yourself. Conference with your Teacher/Librarian before you begin the activity.

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by Audrey Conant, Information Literacy Chair
Maine Association of School Librarians

Additional "Fountain" activities may be found in MASL's Maine Entry, Winter 2000 issue.

Note: For an insightful article about book characters who are authors see Abigail Garthwait's "Helping to Make Reading-Writing Connections: Young Adult Characters and their Authors Talk about the Craft of Writing." NERA Journal. 29 (2), 1993.

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