Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

CURRICULUM LINKS: Creative Writing, Art, D&T, Geography, PSHE/Citizenship, Philosophy, Science

Plot Synopsis Taken from Wikipedia:

The story starts when Lyra Belacqua— a supposedly orphaned 11-year-old girl residing at Jordan College, Oxford—secretly enters and hides in the forbidden 'Retiring Room' in the college, despite resistance from her dæmon, Pantalaimon — an animal-formed, shape-shifting manifestation of her soul. Hidden behind an armchair, Lyra and Pan (her daemon) see the Master of the college putting poison into wine, intending to assassinate the visiting Lord Asriel, Lyra's uncle. Lord Asriel later enters after the Master of the college has left and Lyra, having by now hidden in a wardrobe, bursts out and immediately throws the glass out of his hand. Rather than punishing her for being where she should not, he allows her to stay hidden if she will spy on the Master at his upcoming meeting. When the meeting commences, Lord Asriel shows the resident scholars and the Master pictures of the Aurora Borealis (the 'Northern Lights' of the title) and the mysterious elementary particles called Dust. Shortly after, Lord Asriel travels to the Arctic North, and Lyra continues her studies at the college.
After the meeting, the Master and the librarian discuss Lord Asriel's journey to the north and allude to another invisible and untouchable world.
When the 'Gobblers', who have become a recent urban legend, kidnap her friend Roger, a kitchen boy from the college, Lyra vows to rescue him. But instead an important visitor, a woman named Mrs. Marisa Coulter (who has already been revealed as one of the Gobblers to the reader) offers to take Lyra away from Jordan College to become her apprentice. Lyra assents, but before she leaves, the Master of the college entrusts to her (with the condition that she keep it absolutely secret) a priceless object previously given to the College by Lord Asriel: an alethiometer. Resembling a golden, many-handed pocket-watch, it can answer any question asked by a skilled user. Although presently unable to read or understand its complex symbols, Lyra takes it with her to Mrs. Coulter's flat. Soon after, Lyra becomes suspicious of Mrs. Coulter's motives when the woman's dæmon searches Lyra's room for the alethiometer.
At a cocktail party hosted by Mrs. Coulter, Lyra discovers by eavesdropping that Mrs. Coulter heads an organization known as the 'General Oblation Board' and that this board is in fact, the 'Gobblers' who have been kidnapping children. Horrified, Lyra flees Mrs. Coulter's flat during the party.
While escaping from the 'Gobblers', Lyra is rescued by the Gyptians (nomadic, canal-boat-dwelling people) who afterwards reveal that Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are Lyra's father and mother. She also learns that many children like Roger have been disappearing from among the Gyptians, and that the Gyptians are planning an expedition to the north to rescue them. During her time with the Gyptians, Lyra intuitively begins to learn how to operate the alethiometer.
On a stop in Trollesund, Lyra meets a sapient armoured bear called Iorek Byrnison. Iorek is an exiled bear prince who is paid for his work in spirits, a considerably dishonorable job for a panserbjørn. However, the villagers had taken his armour, which is comparable to a dæmon for him, binding him to his work. Lyra uses her alethiometer to aid Iorek in reclaiming his armour, thereby enlisting his aid.
After departure from Trollesund, the Gyptians and Lyra continue north to the destination of Bolvangar, where they believe the Gobblers are keeping the children. On the way, Lyra stops at a village in response to her alethiometer readings, looking for a child. She finds a boy, Tony Makarios, who had been separated from his dæmon, Ratter. Lyra then realizes that "intercision" carried out by the Gobblers is actually a process that severs the tie that binds children to their dæmons, effectively removing their soul. Tony dies within the day, and the group continues on after burning the body.
Soon after, Lyra is captured by a party of hunters who take her to an experimentation facility in Bolvangar, where she discovers that the children are being subjected to experimental intercision. Inside, she locates Roger and devises an escape plan. She is caught spying on Mrs. Coulter and a group of workers at the facility, and narrowly escapes suffering the intercision process herself; she is rescued, unfortunately, by Mrs. Coulter, who tries to take the alethiometer. Lyra escapes the clutches of Mrs. Coulter once again, leads the other children from the facility, and is rescued by Lee Scoresby in his hydrogen balloon. Iorek Byrnison and a clan of witches friendly with the Gyptians also aid in rescuing the children by fighting the guards of Bolvangar.
Having found Roger, Lyra now is determined to deliver the alethiometer to Lord Asriel, believing that he needs it for his purposes. He is imprisoned at Svalbard, the armoured bears' fortress, because the church opposes his experiments on Dust. As they travel to Svalbard, bat-like cliff ghasts attack the balloon; Lyra is thrown out but lands safely, only to be captured by the armoured bears. Upon speaking with another prisoner, Lyra remembers hearing in the Retiring Room that Iofur wants a dæmon more than anything. So, she tricks the usurping bear-king, Iofur Raknison, into fighting Iorek Byrnison, by claiming that she was Iorek's dæmon, and that if Iofur killed Iorek, then she would become Iofur's dæmon. Iorek is victorious and regains his throne. Thereafter, Lyra travels to Lord Asriel’s cabin, accompanied by Iorek and Roger.
Despite being imprisoned, Lord Asriel has become so influential that he has accumulated the necessary equipment to continue his experiments on Dust. After explaining to Lyra the nature of Dust, an emanation from another world, and the existence of parallel universes, he departs, taking Roger and much scientific equipment. Lyra pursues them, having discovered that she has indeed brought her father what he wanted, though not in the way she thought. It was not the alethiometer he needed, but Roger: the severing of the child-dæmon tie releases an enormous amount of energy, which Lord Asriel needs to complete his task. Roger dies when Lord Asriel separates him from his dæmon, and with the enormous energy released-- combined with his specialized equipment-- Lord Asriel is able to tear a hole through the sky into a parallel world. Lord Asriel offers to bring Mrs. Coulter, who had come by means of her zeppelin, with him, but she declines. Lord Asriel walks through into the new world alone. On Pan's advice, Lyra follows.

ACTIVITY IDEAS:

- Children create their own daemons based on their personalities. This website has a link to a daemon themed activity Daemons
- Compare maps of Lyra's Oxford to maps of modern day Oxford
- Children create wanted posters for the Gobblers. Teaching Ideas has a great template for this: Teaching Ideas
- Children write Lyra's diary of her time with the Gyptians.
- Watch videos of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and use these to inspire artwork. Children could create auroras on black paper using chalk or glitter. Northern Lights Time Lapse
- Research polar bears and create presentations or information leaflets about them: Polar Bears International
- Children design armour for an armoured bear.
- Teachit has a great set of resources for use with this book. You will need to sign up to the website first, but all pdf documents are free. Teachit
- This book is a great starting point for debate. Children could discuss whether or not the severing of children from their daemons is right or wrong. This could be linked with animal testing - is it cruel? Do the children agree with it or disagree with it? If you're feeling very brave and are working with older children, some carefully thought-out debate on religion could also be used.


 

Coming soon!

New posts will be coming soon.

In the meantime, are there any books that you would like to use in the classroom but can't find enough resources for?

An excellent resource site

Teaching Ideas

This is one of my first ports of call for any teaching resources. A fantastic site with some awesome ideas.

Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce

CURRICULUM LINKS: Guided Reading, Maths, History, Art, Science, Philosophy, Film Studies

Synopsis from readingmatters.co.uk:

Here's a case where just wishing very hard for something actually brings Tom what he wants - somewhere to play and someone to play with. Marooned without friends in a small flat whilst staying with his aunt and uncle, Tom's attention is arrested by the strange grandfather clock in the hall of the big house. It seems to have it's own ideas about time, especially after midnight when it is in the habit of striking thirteen! Compelled to investigate, Tom slips out of the back garden door when the rest of the house sleeps, at thirteen o'clock, and finds himself in a magical summer garden in full bloom, instead of the back yard with dustbins.
Nervously at first, Tom explores. Four children live in this house with the magnificent garden: three boys and a girl. Unfortunately for Tom, who would have liked to play with James, only the girl, Hatty, seems able to see him - and she thinks he is a ghost. Indeed Tom does rather behave like a ghost because he is quite able to walk through walls and doors, and leaves no footprints or shadow. But the pair make the best of it and they have wonderful, absorbing games, climbing trees and hiding in special places. Only the gardener, Abel, seems to pay any regard to Hattie's strange, solitary games, and if he can see anything at all he says nothing and hangs on to his Bible.
But something strange is happening to time even in this fantastic garden, because even though Tom goes to play with Hattie every night, she seems to be growing up fast. And as Hattie grows up Tom seems to her to be growing fainter. But there is one last adventure left to them, and that involves a pair of skating boots, a secret hiding place, and the two of them wearing the same pair of boots at the same time. Nice trick!
This is a lovely, enjoyable book. Extremely well-written, the plot works right down to the very last detail.

ACTIVITY IDEAS:

- Primary Resources has a great set of guided reading questions for this book: TMG Primary Resources
- Film Education have a good resource to study the film alongside the book: TMG Film Education
- The book could be read during a topic on Victorian Britain.
- Children could create their own garden in school and use this as an opportunity to find out about how plants grow
- Look at the garden art of painters such as Claude Monet and try to paint in this style.
- Use the book as a stimulus for philosophy discussions about time and friendship.
- Use the children's knowledge of telling the time to explore how time is different in the book. You could also get the children to research how clocks work.
- Once you have read the story, go back and put each Hatty in chronological order.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S Lewis

CURRICULUM LINKS: Creative Writing, Drama, PSHE/Citizenship, Philosophy, History, RE, Art

Wikipedia Synopsis
The story begins in 1940 during World War II, when four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie, are evacuated from London to escape the Blitz. They are sent to live with Professor Digory Kirke, who lives in a country house in the English countryside.
While the four children are exploring the house, Lucy looks into a wardrobe and discovers a portal to a mysterious world called Narnia, in which she meets a faun named Tumnus who takes her to tea in his home. He confesses he planned to report her to the tyrannical White Witch but has thought better of it. Upon returning to our world, Lucy's siblings do not believe her story about Narnia. Her spiteful older brother Edmund enters the wardrobe and meets the White Witch, who befriends him and offers him magical Turkish delight that enchants him. She encourages him to bring his siblings to her in Narnia, with the promise that he shall rule over them. Edmund meets Lucy in Narnia and returns to England with her, but after returning to our world he denies to Susan and Peter that there is anything behind the wardrobe.
Eventually all four of the children enter Narnia together while hiding in the wardrobe. They meet Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, who invite them to dinner. The beavers recount a prophecy that the witch's power will fail when two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve fill the four thrones at Cair Paravel. The beavers tell of the true king of Narnia — a great lion called Aslan — who has been absent for many years but is now "on the move again".
Edmund sneaks away to the White Witch. Her castle is filled with stone statues; enemies whom she petrified. The beavers realize where Edmund has gone and abandon their home, leading the children to join Aslan. As they travel, they notice that the snow is melting, indicating that the White Witch's spell is breaking. A visit by Father Christmas confirms this.
The children and the Beavers meet with Aslan and his army. Peter engages in his first battle, killing a wolf who threatens Susan.
The Witch approaches to speak with Aslan, insisting that according to "deep magic from the dawn of time" she has the right to execute Edmund as a traitor. Aslan speaks with her privately and persuades her to renounce her claim on Edmund's life. That evening, Aslan secretly leaves the camp, but is followed by Lucy and Susan. Aslan has bargained to exchange his own life for Edmund's. The Witch ties Aslan to the Stone Table and then kills him with a knife. The following morning Aslan is restored to life; for unbeknownst to the witch, "deeper magic from before the dawn of time" allows someone who willingly dies in the place of another to be returned to life.
Aslan allows Lucy and Susan to ride on his back as he travels to the Witch's castle, where he breathes upon the statues and restores them to life. Peter and Edmund lead the Narnian army in a battle against the White Witch's army, and Aslan arrives with the former statues as reinforcements. The Narnians rout the evil army, and Aslan kills the Witch.
The Pevensie children are named kings and queens of Narnia. On a hunt several years later, they rediscover the lamp post, walk through the wardrobe, and end up right back in the mansion just moments after they had entered the wardrobe.

ACTIVITY IDEAS:
- Creative Writing: 'If my wardrobe were a portal into another world, it would take me to...'
- Research the evacuation of children from major cities in World War II
- Create pictures using paint, chalk or oil pastels of the scene that awaits the children when they first enter Narnia through the wardrobe.
- As a sensory activity, let the children taste turkish delight and have them think of adjectives to describe its taste, smell, appearance and texture.
- Drama: create freeze-frames of the animals in the palace that have been turned to stone. Encourage children to think of what the animals would have been thinking at the moment they were turned into stone by the witch.
- Discuss/Debate: Should Edmund be forgiven for betraying Aslan and his siblings? What does it mean to forgive and to be forgiven?
- Draw comparisons between the book and stories from the Bible that tell the life of Jesus (there are many parallels and it is claimed that C. S. Lewis based the book on the story of Jesus' death and resurrection).
- Watch the film adaptation of the book. Use this to draw comparisons between the two mediums and to write film reviews.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

CURRICULUM LINKS: English, Creative Writing, History, Music, Drama, PSHE/Philosophy

Synopsis from Sparknotes.com
O liver Twist is born in a workhouse in 1830s England. His mother, whose name no one knows, is found on the street and dies just after Oliver’s birth. Oliver spends the first nine years of his life in a badly run home for young orphans and then is transferred to a workhouse for adults. After the other boys bully Oliver into asking for more gruel at the end of a meal, Mr. Bumble, the parish beadle, offers five pounds to anyone who will take the boy away from the workhouse. Oliver narrowly escapes being apprenticed to a brutish chimney sweep and is eventually apprenticed to a local undertaker, Mr. Sowerberry. When the undertaker’s other apprentice, Noah Claypole, makes disparaging comments about Oliver’s mother, Oliver attacks him and incurs the Sowerberrys’ wrath. Desperate, Oliver runs away at dawn and travels Outside London, Oliver, starved and exhausted, meets Jack Dawkins, a boy his own age. Jack offers him shelter in the London house of his benefactor, Fagin. It turns out that Fagin is a career criminal who trains orphan boys to pick pockets for him. After a few days of training, Oliver is sent on a pickpocketing mission with two other boys. When he sees them swipe a handkerchief from an elderly gentleman, Oliver is horrified and runs off. He is caught but narrowly escapes being convicted of the theft. Mr. Brownlow, the man whose handkerchief was stolen, takes the feverish Oliver to his home and nurses him back to health. Mr. Brownlow is struck by Oliver’s resemblance to a portrait of a young woman that hangs in his house. Oliver thrives in Mr. Brownlow’s home, but two young adults in Fagin’s gang, Bill Sikes and his lover Nancy, capture Oliver and return him to Fagin.
Fagin sends Oliver to assist Sikes in a burglary. Oliver is shot by a servant of the house and, after Sikes escapes, is taken in by the women who live there, Mrs. Maylie and her beautiful adopted niece Rose. They grow fond of Oliver, and he spends an idyllic summer with them in the countryside. But Fagin and a mysterious man named Monks are set on recapturing Oliver. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Oliver’s mother left behind a gold locket when she died. Monks obtains and destroys that locket. When the Maylies come to London, Nancy meets secretly with Rose and informs her of Fagin’s designs, but a member of Fagin’s gang overhears the conversation. When word of Nancy’s disclosure reaches Sikes, he brutally murders Nancy and flees London. Pursued by his guilty conscience and an angry mob, he inadvertently hangs himself while trying to escape.
Mr. Brownlow, with whom the Maylies have reunited Oliver, confronts Monks and wrings the truth about Oliver’s parentage from him. It is revealed that Monks is Oliver’s half brother. Their father, Mr. Leeford, was unhappily married to a wealthy woman and had an affair with Oliver’s mother, Agnes Fleming. Monks has been pursuing Oliver all along in the hopes of ensuring that his half-brother is deprived of his share of the family inheritance. Mr. Brownlow forces Monks to sign over Oliver’s share to Oliver. Moreover, it is discovered that Rose is Agnes’s younger sister, hence Oliver’s aunt. Fagin is hung for his crimes. Finally, Mr. Brownlow adopts Oliver, and they and the Maylies retire to a blissful existence in the countryside.
toward London.

ACTIVITY IDEAS:

- This is an excellent book to read when studying Victorian Britain. The book provides lots of information about child labour, the workhouse and London in Victorian times.
- Create character profiles from the book. This link will take you to an excellent drama resource for exploring the characters of the book: Collaborative Learning Oliver Twist
- Draw comparisons of how different characters treat Oliver throughout the book and link this to the attitudes towards children at that time.
- Research the life of Charles Dickens: Charles Dickens Wiki
- Teachit have a great set of resources for studying the novel. (You need to sign up to this site for free before being able to download the pdf documents.) Teachit Oliver Twist Resources
- Watch the film adaptation and draw comparisons with the book. This could also be used to write a film review and to inspire dramatisations of scenes from the story.
- Watch the musical adaptation of Oliver Twist, again this could be used to draw comparisons with the book and to write film reviews. This could also be used as a starting point to learn the songs from the musical.
- Debate: Is it ever right to steal? What if someone is stealing for you?

Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl

CURRICULUM LINKS: Literacy, Creative Writing, Drama, Art, PSHE/Citizenship, Design Technology

A hilarious collection of some rather gruesome fairy tales which were supposedly written in the bath! Children love hearing these grisly adaptations of well-known traditional tales.

TEACHING IDEAS:
- Use during a literacy unit on traditional tales to draw comparisons.
- Use extracts from the poems to identify poetic techniques, such as: rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, simile and metaphor.
- Puffin Books Revolting Rhymes Roald Dahl Day Link
- Children write their own version of a traditional tale in the style of Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes.
- Look at the art work of Quentin Blake, who illustrates many of Dahl's books. Children create illustrations for their own versions of a traitional tale in the style of Quentin Blake or create a picture of themselves in Blake's style.
- Use 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' to start a discussion about stealing and whether it is ever right to steal. Lines such as 'Had I had the chance I wouldn't fail/ To clap young Goldilocks in jail.' and 'I say again, how would you feel/ If you had made this lovely meal/ And some delinquent little tot/ Broke in and gobbled up the lot?' are great for getting the children thinking about whether Goldilocks should receive a punishment.
- To extend the previous idea, set up a drama activity, such as conscience alley, hot seating or enacting a trial for Goldilocks.
- Use 'The Three Little Pigs' to inspire a Design Technology project to design and build the perfect safe house for little pigs.