An article about growing plants from seeds is probably full of information. For this reason, it’s considered an informational text. Throughout middle school, you’ll read many examples of informational text―and not just in your language arts classes. If your science, social studies, and math classes use textbooks or online lessons, you’ll be reading information throughout the day, every day you’re in school.
There’s one type of text that is almost always reserved for language arts class, though: literature. Literature is a category of writing that does more than provide information, although it may do that too. Works of literature―stories, poems, plays, and essays―are written to entertain readers and to help them understand more about themselves and about life in general.
Before the invention of writing―and before most people learned to write, literature was more like storytelling. Families sat around a fire in their living rooms and told stories that had been told for generations. Storytelling was a major source of entertainment for both children and adults.
Stories that are shared out loud are still around, of course. This story about some very special watermelon seeds has been passed down through generations of families in Uzbekistan, a country in Asia. Click the audio play button to listen to the story. If you like, click the Read Me button to read along.
Question
When parents and grandparents in Uzbekistan tell the story of the stork and the watermelon seeds to their children, what do they expect them to learn from it?
