Asked by bhbhbhbhb
We had just sat down to dinner when our mother made the announcement.
I remember it was a frigid evening in January. Icicles shivered on the eaves, and the wind blew in a tantrum, curling white belts of snow through the limbs of the old oak in our backyard.
My brother, Bat, who is five years younger than I am, was dumping gravy over his potatoes, and I was scrolling through a playlist of music on my phone, when Mom said, “I’ve accepted a job offer in Everett.”
She then picked up her knife and fork and quietly cut into her chicken breast, waiting for this initial transaction of information to sink in. When neither I nor Bat responded, she went on.
“We won’t be living in Everett, of course, but in Granite Falls. It’s a small town away from the hustle and bustle of a city, and the commute isn’t bad, half an hour at the most.”
I set my phone down on the table and reached for the bowl of cranberry sauce in front of me. “Where’s Granite Falls?” I asked. I hadn’t heard of the town before and wondered if it was anywhere near Chippewa Falls, which was more than a three-hour drive from Milwaukee, where we lived and had lived all our lives.
Mom dabbed her mouth with her napkin, then gingerly folded it in half on the table. As she smoothed it down with her fingers, she answered softly, “In the Pacific Northwest, Washington.”
I glanced up in dismay. Bat dropped his fork. “Washington?” he choked, his face almost as
white as the frozen outside. “We’re mov—we’re moving to Washington?”
I snatched up my phone and quickly searched the distance between Milwaukee and Granite Falls—two thousand miles!
“Gretal, Bat, I’m sorry if this seems so sudden, but I hardly knew the certainty of it myself until today. It was an auspicious offer. I had to take it.”
Our mother, an aerospace engineer by trade, proceeded to divulge all the details of this new opportunity and, when she had finished, looked from me to Bat with her usual vacant smile. It was a smile that hadn’t reached her eyes since Dad died nearly two years ago.
“We move at the end of May,” she went on, tucking a loose strand of blond hair behind her ear. “That gives you the entire summer to get acquainted with the place before you start school.”
School. My heart sank at the word.
I’d be starting high school in the fall, and without the luxury of one familiar face or friend.
I glanced over at Bat, who no longer tackled his food with his usual ravenous appetite but stared down at his plate as if it were tainted with poison.
“Hey, it might be fun,” I said, assuming an encouraging tone. “You never know, it could be the adventure of a lifetime.”
___
Adapted from Magnus: Part 1, by Sara Rajan, ©️ by Cricket Media, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
Questions
How would this story be different if it were told from Bat’s perspective?
The story would be told from a neutral perspective with an unbiased description of events.
The story would include Bat’s inner thoughts and feelings about moving to Granite Falls.
The story would include Mom’s feelings about the move, so readers would feel more sympathetic toward her.
The story’s mood would be less suspenseful because Bat knew about the move months ago.
I remember it was a frigid evening in January. Icicles shivered on the eaves, and the wind blew in a tantrum, curling white belts of snow through the limbs of the old oak in our backyard.
My brother, Bat, who is five years younger than I am, was dumping gravy over his potatoes, and I was scrolling through a playlist of music on my phone, when Mom said, “I’ve accepted a job offer in Everett.”
She then picked up her knife and fork and quietly cut into her chicken breast, waiting for this initial transaction of information to sink in. When neither I nor Bat responded, she went on.
“We won’t be living in Everett, of course, but in Granite Falls. It’s a small town away from the hustle and bustle of a city, and the commute isn’t bad, half an hour at the most.”
I set my phone down on the table and reached for the bowl of cranberry sauce in front of me. “Where’s Granite Falls?” I asked. I hadn’t heard of the town before and wondered if it was anywhere near Chippewa Falls, which was more than a three-hour drive from Milwaukee, where we lived and had lived all our lives.
Mom dabbed her mouth with her napkin, then gingerly folded it in half on the table. As she smoothed it down with her fingers, she answered softly, “In the Pacific Northwest, Washington.”
I glanced up in dismay. Bat dropped his fork. “Washington?” he choked, his face almost as
white as the frozen outside. “We’re mov—we’re moving to Washington?”
I snatched up my phone and quickly searched the distance between Milwaukee and Granite Falls—two thousand miles!
“Gretal, Bat, I’m sorry if this seems so sudden, but I hardly knew the certainty of it myself until today. It was an auspicious offer. I had to take it.”
Our mother, an aerospace engineer by trade, proceeded to divulge all the details of this new opportunity and, when she had finished, looked from me to Bat with her usual vacant smile. It was a smile that hadn’t reached her eyes since Dad died nearly two years ago.
“We move at the end of May,” she went on, tucking a loose strand of blond hair behind her ear. “That gives you the entire summer to get acquainted with the place before you start school.”
School. My heart sank at the word.
I’d be starting high school in the fall, and without the luxury of one familiar face or friend.
I glanced over at Bat, who no longer tackled his food with his usual ravenous appetite but stared down at his plate as if it were tainted with poison.
“Hey, it might be fun,” I said, assuming an encouraging tone. “You never know, it could be the adventure of a lifetime.”
___
Adapted from Magnus: Part 1, by Sara Rajan, ©️ by Cricket Media, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
Questions
How would this story be different if it were told from Bat’s perspective?
The story would be told from a neutral perspective with an unbiased description of events.
The story would include Bat’s inner thoughts and feelings about moving to Granite Falls.
The story would include Mom’s feelings about the move, so readers would feel more sympathetic toward her.
The story’s mood would be less suspenseful because Bat knew about the move months ago.
Answers
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
The story would include Bat’s inner thoughts and feelings about moving to Granite Falls.
This is because switching to Bat’s perspective would make his reactions and emotions central to the narration, rather than Gretal’s.
This is because switching to Bat’s perspective would make his reactions and emotions central to the narration, rather than Gretal’s.
There are no human answers yet. A form for humans to post answers is coming very soon!