Grades 5–8
60 Minutes
Narrative
VideosMac Barnett is a New York Times best-selling author of books for children whose work has been awarded two Caledcott Honors, three E.B. White Read Aloud Awards, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. His titles include The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza, Rules of the House, and Count the Monkeys.
Your students will learn the impact of a suspenseful cliffhanger and how to write one.
Students will produce a heightened, very short story that leaves readers on the edge of their seats—intentionally.
Author of books for children, Mac Barnett, demonstrates the impact of a strong cliffhanger ending. This prompt was originally a contribution to 826 National’s A Good Time to Write project, an online resource providing new writing opportunities and encouragement to young people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about A Good Time to Write here.
From Mac:
“If you don’t know how to end your story, don’t end it! Today, I want everyone to write a cliffhanger. Write as much suspense, as many exciting things, as wild a situation as you can—something that’s impossible to have your hero find their way out of—and then don’t worry about it. Create a massive problem—a huge, impossible-to-solve problem—and cut off the story at the moment of greatest suspense. That’s it.”
First, watch the video to see how Mac defines a cliffhanger. Did his definition surprise you at all?
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