In this chapter, the authors mention that it is very important for teachers to not only have differentiated lesson plans but also know how writing skills build upon each other. They used the study of trickster tales to help examine how writing skills build.
They started by explaining that there are four features that all stories have in common: sequentiality (story event occur in a sequence), particularity (they are about something in particular), intentional states (the character’s actions are motivated by their intentions), and canonicity and breach (their is a problem). After explaining these four parts, the authors went in to when students can realistically be expected to understand and demonstrate these four parts. In discussing this, the authors give examples of where the average child should be every two years starting with age four.
Age 4: Children tell “happily ever after” stories that focus on social scripts and show a sequence of events (sequentiality). This happens more because of a recall of events rather than what the child makes up himself.
Age 6: The child understand that a story is a sequence of events, that includes a problem and a resolution to the problem, and that the character’s intentions motivate their actions. In other words, they have a basic understanding of all four features.
Age 8: The stories become increasingly more complex, as do the characters’ intentions. More delays to the resolution are introduced, which means that the stories become longer and more interesting. Characters also show a wider range of emotions throughout the story (happy to mad to sad to happy).
Age 10: Stories include all of the above mentioned features, but they include a greater variety of subplots.
Age 12: By this age, the average child will “create characters with mental states and traits that are long-term, enduring across time and situations” (pg 58).
After giving these descriptions of what children are capable of at each age level, the authors then briefly described the theory behind their information, and then went right into the teaching strategies that they used with introducing trickster tales, including when they introduced certain conjunctions to help make the story more cohesive.
I identified with some of the examples that they used in order to explain certain concepts when writing the stories. In particular, I loved the Jack-in-the-Box and tug-of-war ideas. I think that that was a very solid example of a concept that is hard to understand.
this has nothing to do with this post… but i wasn’t sure where to put it! i sent you an email about that blog link. let me know if you don’t get it!
however, this DOES have something to do with your post!
i also wrote about the jack in the box and tug of war ideas! 
i especially like the jack in the box idea and i believe it would make “tension” easier for students to understand 