Literary Slump

     As a recently retired English (language arts) teacher, I am in a literary slump.  One of the units I enjoyed teaching my 7th graders was literary devices.  By this time of the year, we would have covered characterization, point-of-view, plot, conflict, imagery,  flashback, foreshadowing,  dialogue, and setting.  We would have discussed static and dynamic characters, cause/effect relationship,rising action, climax, resolution,  and the significance of the terms stated and implied.
     Oh, how I miss my colorful illustrations.  They would have completed reading their first novel by now, and have been encouraged to submit their book reviews on time.  Of course, I would already have demonstrated the perfect book review for them by showing a power point of my report on Masculine Strength, a novel about how a father struggles to raise five sons on his own after the death of his beloved wife.  At the end of my presentation, after illustrating how I covered all of the literary devices we studied in my report, I would proudly let them know that the author of the novel was not A. Michael White, but yours truly.  I always enjoyed their expressions of awe and excitement when they realized I had written the novel.  It seemed to please them that their teacher was teaching them about literary devices from such a pragmatic vantage point.