Dear Mr Kilmer by Anne Schraff

(Notes)
 WHAT
happened?

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

WHEN did it WHY did 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
We must be fair. (MV) brave. (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, Richard (2) Richard wrote his first
likened Mr Kilmer to the letter to Mr Kilmer.
“world”.

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

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

family and Mrs Hansen student who signed a
that he wrote poetry and sympathy card for the
wrote a letter to Mr Schermers.
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 with
not important. 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 • They said that the Schermers were unpatriotic
school hallway.
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 4
express regret for what had
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
the Schermers. Richard fought them back. They promised to leave
The troublemakers like Abner,
Harry, Blanche and Peggy refused Richard alone.
to sign the card.

They warned other classmates Hannah accepted the card reluctantly. Later,
not to sign the card. Hannah apologised to Richard for being rude.
• The boys were afraid Abner This was the beginning of their friendship.
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.
• Influenced by Abner’s father story, he thought
6 that the Schermers wanted the Germans to win
the war.
Hannah declined the • Richard told his father that the Schermers were
role of Lady Liberty. 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 war Richard was afraid that his father was going to be
between the Allies and the angry at him. His father did not like Richard writing
Germans. poems.
7
 After reading the poem, his father told Richard
about what happened to Richard’s uncle, Roland.
Richard wrote a poem as a  His father never told Richard about this story.
Mr Kilmer was Richard’s penpal.
tribute to Mr Kilmer.  Roland was killed in a war in Cuba. His father
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.