Take notes on these rules for Summarizing a Fictional Narrative:
- Write it in your own words.
- As you begin to summarize any book or story, begin by telling the title, author, and what it is generally about.
- Tell the story in the same order as it is told in the story or book (unless another order would make the chail of events clearer).
- Your summary should be about one-third or less the length of the original.
- It will contain only the most important ideas and events -- especially those that will effect following sections of the story.
- Clearly indicate which characters are involved and where it is happening.
- Explain the conflict (problem).
- As appropriate, include attempts the main character or characters make to solve the problem.
- Do not include your personal opinions. No personal opinions.
Notice in the following example how helpful it is to use transition words.
Example of a narrative summary for "The Hare and the Tortoise" adapted from http://teachersites.schoolworld.com/webpages/Hultenius/writing.cfm?subpage=1212177
You can read the whole story at http://childhoodreading.com/?p=3
You can read the whole story at http://childhoodreading.com/?p=3
Narrative Summary
The Hare and the
Tortoise
The story "The Hare and the Tortoise," one of Aesop's Fables, is about a race between a hare and a tortoise.
The main setting of the story is a road. In the beginning the hare was bragging about how fast he was, but the tortoise said that the hare could be beaten. The hare challenged the tortoise to try it, and the tortoise accepted the challenge. During the race, the hare took naps and stopped to eat because he thought he could easily win. Only when the tortoise was very close to the finish line did the hare hurry up to pass him. However, the tortoise just barely beat the hare. In the end, the tortoise won the race because he just keep going and didn’t give up while the hare was lazy.
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