Layering

Tiger Rising, by Kate DiCamillo, (Candlewick Press) a children's book, is top-notch to read if you want to learn about layering, that is, having elements that weave through the story, giving it depth. See how she uses Blake's Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright to enhance the magic of this story about a boy who was whalloped by his father for crying at his mother's funeral, the grief that he kept in unopened suitcases of the mind, causing a rash so severe on his legs that the principal barred him from school. Read how this boy, with the help of a girl named Sistine, as in the Sistine Chapel, heals his heart through friendship and love.