Novel Discovery :Dear Mr

Kilmer - Wh-Questions
WHAT
happened?

WHO was
WHERE did there? Or
it happen? When Who was
writing your involved?
response,
answer these
questions:

WHEN did WHY did it

it happen? happen?
 Understand the following:
Terms Meaning
Event / Incident Peristiwa
(What happened?) Peristiwa / kejadian yang berlaku di dalam
sesebuah cerita
Cause Penyebab
(Why did it happened?) Mengapa sesuatu peristiwa berlaku.
Effect Kesan
Apakah kesan-kesan kepada watak-watak yang
terlibat apabila sesuatu peristiwa berlaku.
Character Watak di dalam sesebuah cerita.
Characteristics / Qualities Perwatakan / Sifat / Kualiti seseorang watak.
/ Personalities
 We must love our family. We must be protective.
(MV) (MV)

FAMILY LOVE (T)

We must be brave. (MV)

We must be kind.
(MV)

THEMES / MORAL
VALUES / LESSONS
PATRIOTISM (T) We must be helpful.
(TEMA / NILAI MURNI / (MV)
PENGAJARAN)

FRIENDSHIP (T) We must

be brave.
We must be fair. (MV) (MV)

We must stick to our

We must be patriotic. (MV) principles to do what
is right. (MV) We must be
protective. (MV)
 (1) Richard purposely
missed shooting a buck.

(7) Richard wrote a

poem as a tribute to Mr
Kilmer. In the poem, (2) Richard wrote his
Richard likened Mr first letter to Mr Kilmer.
Kilmer to the “world”.

IMPORTANT
EVENTS
(6) Hannah declined (3) Hannah Schermer
the role of Lady Liberty.
cried at the school
Richard declined his
hallway.
part as the Doughboy.

(5) Richard told his (4) Richard was the

family and Mrs Hansen only student who
that he wrote poetry signed a sympathy card
and wrote a letter to for the Schermers.
Mr Kilmer.
 CAUSES EVENT EFFECTS

Gus, Richard’s elder brother, was upset with

Richard because Richard purposely misfired.

Richard thought that hunting was Richard’s father, Pa, was also disappointed
not important. with Richard.

1
Pa asked Richard why he purposely missed
shooting the buck.
Richard purposely missed
shooting a buck.

Richard told Pa that he had no right to kill it.

Richard could not kill animals.

Richard told Pa that he felt painful and sad to

kill an animal.

Pa told Richard not to go hunting anymore if

he did not like it.
 CAUSES
Richard learnt about Mr Kilmer
when Richard’s English teacher,
Mrs Hansen read a poem to the
class. The title of the poem was
“Trees” by Joyce Kilmer.
Mrs Hansen told the class that
Mr Kilmer was a famous poet. He
worked for “The New York
Times”.
Richard regarded Mr Kilmer as his
new hero because Mr Kilmer
loved poetry and was brave to
enlist in the army.
Richard got Mr Kilmer’s office
address.
EVENT EFFECTS
In his letter, Richard told Mr Kilmer that he wrote
poems too. However, he kept this as a secret from
everyone.
Richard asked for Mr Kilmer’s advice . He wanted to
2 know whether he should tell his secret
to everybody.
Richard wrote his first letter to
Mr Kilmer.
This was how Richard became friends with Mr
Kilmer. They always exchanged letters with each
other.
Richard always sent a poem with his letters. Mr
Kilmer would praise Richard and make suggestions
to improve the poem.
 CAUSES
Someone scrawled “Dirty Hun”
all over her book cover.
EVENT EFFECTS
Richard told some of his schoolmates about it.
3
Richard realised that his schoolmates were mean
to Hannah and her parents.
• They said that the Schermers were Huns.
Hannah Schermer cried at
the school hallway. • They said that the Schermers were unpatriotic
because they spoke German and served Hun
food at their tavern while a war was going on
against Germany.
Starting from this incident, the Schermers were
always being mistreated by some of the Turtle Lake
people.
 CAUSES EVENT EFFECTS

Mrs Hansen asked her class to

sign a card for the Schermers.
• Someone vandalised the
tavern owned by Hannah’s After school, Richard took the card from Mrs
parents. Hansen. He wanted to give the card to Hannah.
• They painted “Dirty Huns” all
over the walls.
• Mrs Hansen brought a card to
express regret for what had
4
happened.
On Richard’s way to Hannah’s home, Abner and
Richard was the only student Harry was waiting to hit him. They called Richard a
who signed a sympathy card for Hun lover. Their cruel intention was in vain as Richard fought
the Schermers. them back. They promised to leave Richard alone.
The troublemakers like Abner,
Harry, Blanche and Peggy refused
to sign the card.

Hannah accepted the card reluctantly. Later,

They warned other classmates Hannah apologised to Richard for being rude.
not to sign the card.
This was the beginning of their friendship.
• The boys were afraid Abner
and Harry would hit them.
• The girls worry that popular
girls like Peggy and Blanche
would not speak to them.
 CAUSES
Richard received a letter from Mr
Kilmer.
Mr Kilmer advised Richard
to overcome his fear.
Mr Kilmer advised Richard
to share his poetry with
people around him.
EVENT EFFECTS
Nobody was interested.
• Gus did not believe that Mr Kilmer was famous.
• Pa did not believe that Richard wrote poetry.
Richard asked whether his family members wanted
to read his poems. Nobody was interested. Richard
was sad.
5
Gus advised Richard not tell anyone he wrote
poetry. He wanted Richard to fit in with other
people . Everyone called him a Hun Lover after he
Richard told his family and Mrs
signed the card for Hannah.
Hansen that he wrote poetry.
The next day, Richard told Mrs Hansen that he
wrote poetry. He showed her Mr Kilmer’s letter.
Mrs Hansen helped Richard to choose a poem.
Richard would send the poem to Mr Kilmer.
As advised by Mrs Hansen, Richard shared Mr
Kilmer’s latest letter and his poem with the class .
• Some of his classmates, including Blanche
and Peggy, were deeply moved by his poem.
They started to respect Richard.
• Hannah suggested a different ending to Richard’s
poem.
 CAUSES
Hannah and Richard won the roles of Lady
Liberty and the Doughboy respectively
because they wrote the best essays. Mrs
Hansen asked the class to write an essay as
one of the activities for a patriotic programme
which helped sell Liberty bonds.
Hannah wrote the best essay so Mrs Hansen
asked Hannah to read it. After she read the
essay, only Richard clapped his hand.
Many students were angry with Mrs Hansen’s
decision. They regarded Hannah as an
unpatriotic German although she was an
American citizen.
Some parents complained to the principal
and demanded Mrs Hansen to choose
someone else. Mrs Hansen did not
change her mind.
Hannah told Richard that her essay started a
little war in Turtle lake. She did not want to
cause any more problems. Richard wanted to
support Hannah.
EVENT EFFECTS
Gus told Richard that all students said that he was
unpatriotic and a traitor.
Pa was disappointed when Richard declined the role
of the Doughboy.
• Pa advised Richard not to side with
the Schermers.
6 • Influenced by Abner’s father story, he thought
that the Schermers wanted the Germans to
win the war.
Hannah declined the • Richard told his father that the Schermers
role of Lady Liberty. were patriotic.
Richard declined his • They wanted the Allies to win.
part as the Doughboy. • Hannah’s brother, Otto, was an American soldier.
Hannah’s friendship with Richard became stronger.
• Hannah invited Richard to her house.
• Richard got to know Hannah’s parents.
• Richard visited the Schermers whenever he
felt lonely.
• The Schermers understood his dreams.
• Richard shared Mr Kilmer’s letters with them.
• He read his poems to them.
• During Christmas, Hannah baked cookies for Mr
Kilmer.
• Mrs Schermer knitted a scarf to cheer Mr Kilmer
up.
 CAUSES EVENT EFFECTS

The tribute was printed in the local newspaper, “The

Turtle Lake Weekly”.

Richard’s father read the poem.

Mr Kilmer was killed in the Richard was afraid that his father was going to be
war between the Allies and angry at him. His father did not like Richard writing
the Germans. poems.
7
 After reading the poem, his father told Richard
about what happened to Richard’s uncle, Roland.
Richard wrote a poem as  His father never told Richard about this story.
Mr Kilmer was Richard’s penpal. Roland was killed in a war in Cuba. His father
a tribute to Mr Kilmer.
regarded Roland as his “world”.
 His father was amazed how Richard could
use the same word in his poem.
In the poem, Richard likened
Mr Kilmer to the “world”. Richard continued writing poems about farm life
for the local newspaper.

Richard got his father’s help as he was an

experienced farmer. Every night, Richard read his
poems aloud. His father would correct or give
suggestions to improve the poems.

His father finally supported Richard’s passion in

writing poetry.