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The word “libretto” comes from the Italian word
libro
, meaning “book.”
The libretto is the words to the opera. A librettist is the person who writes the libretto. The composer
writes music to fit the libretto, or sometimes the libretto is written to fit the music. For
Second Nature
the composer and the librettist are the same person!
The following words are found in the libretto of
Second Nature
. Can you use them to help
complete the story below?
•
banished
(
verb
): being forced to leave as punishment
•
civilization
(
noun
): all the societies of the world
•
epic
(
adjective
): very great and impressive
•
extinct
(
adjective
): no longer exists
•
forbidden
(
verb
): to say that something is not allowed
•
habitat
(
noun
): the place or type of place where a plant or animal lives or grows
•
species
(
noun
): a group of living things with common traits or qualities
•
synthetic
(
adjective
): something made by chemicals to imitate something from nature
•
virtual
(
adjective
): doesn’t physically exist, but computer software makes it look like it does
Liberate your
Inner Librettist!
In the not-so-distant future, humans have damaged Earth’s climate so badly that
people and animals must live indoors all the time. Many
__noun__
of animals have
become
__adjective__
and no longer roam wild like they once did. A small group
of humans have built a
__noun__
to protect them from the outside world. Everything
inside is a
__adjective__
copy of what was once found in nature. Elder Constance has
__verb__
everyone from leaving, and Jake and Lydia are sad they will never see the
natural world.
A talking ape—a bonobo—appears and tells Jake and Lydia how wonderful nature
was before humans neglected it and ruined the planet. They begin to dream of how
different the natural world must be from theirs where
__adjective__
trees are made out
of plastic. Bonobo shows Jake and Lydia a real tree he has kept secret from the adults.
Lydia and Jake are so excited that they decide to go on an
__adjective__
adventure
into the unknown world outside the gates.
Elder Constance suddenly appears and says the children have endangered all of
__noun__
and must be
__verb__
forever! But she changes her mind and decides to
punish them by making them stay in their homes for an entire year. Lydia and Jake’s
parents defy Elder Constance and open the gates so the children can begin their
journey into the world waiting outside.
What happens next is up to you! What do you think Jake and Lydia find outside the gates?