McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XIX · Part 3: Ballads, battles and Abou Ben Adhem

25. How to Tell Bad News

Goal: Your child reads a comic dialogue with two voices and explains why it is funny.

⏱ About 25 minutes · 6 steps

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You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook and pencil

What's in the book

A short comic dialogue, with no author named, between Mr. H. and his steward, who tells his news backward: the small loss first, and the disasters that caused it after.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Before you read

    This is a dialogue, like a little play. Mr. H. comes home, and his steward (the man who manages his house and land) tells him the news. Decide who reads which part.

  2. Read aloud

    Read it as a play. Mr. H. grows more alarmed with each answer; the steward stays calm.

    Steward. Bad enough, your honor; the magpie's dead.

    Then read it again, switching parts.

  3. Talk about it

    SayWhat is the first piece of bad news? What is the last?

    SayWhy is it funny that the steward starts with the magpie?

    SayWhat would have been a better way to tell the news?

    SayWhich line made you laugh?

  4. Tell it back

    Your child retells the chain of disasters in the right order, from what happened first to what happened last.

  5. Act it out

    Perform the dialogue for someone else in the family, with expression.

  6. Write (optional)

    Write a short dialogue of your own in which someone tells bad news backward.

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