The Knight at Dawn

 “He picked up his notebook. He looked at the list he’d made before going to bed.

found tree house in woods

found lots of books in it

pointed to Pteranodon picture in book

made a wish went to time of dinosaurs.”

Osborne uses the list format to summarize Jack and Annie’s adventures in Dinosaurs Before Dark. This strategy quickly reviews what happened in the first book while also demonstrating Jack’s meticulous, academic personality. The third grader likes to break things down into tidy facts, even when he’s describing an extraordinary experience like traveling back to the “time of dinosaurs.” In a connection to one of the story’s major themes, Learning Through the Excitement of Discovery, the boy is reviewing these notes early in the morning because he can’t sleep due to the excitement he feels over his recent adventure.

“Jack looked out his window at the dark gray sky. It was almost dawn. He sighed. ‘Okay. Go get dressed. I’ll meet you at the back door. Be quiet.’ 

‘Yay!’ Annie whispered. She tiptoed away as quietly as a mouse.”

The visual imagery of the “dark gray sky” and the narrator’s observation that it’s “almost dawn” paint a picture of the scene. These details also foreshadow the dashing knight’s imminent appearance through their connection to the story’s title, The Knight at Dawn. The simile that describes Annie tiptoeing “as quietly as a mouse” emphasizes that the usually boisterous girl is making a concerted effort to be stealthy following Jack’s request.