Summer Term Reading
Rattle his bones
Over the stones
It’s only a pauper
Who nobody owns
TRADITIONAL NURSERY RHYME
Week Five - 18th May - 22nd May
Monday 18th May and Tuesday 19th May
This is the week! Today and tomorrow I would like you to read and/or listen to the final chapter of The Graveyard Book.
What do you think? Is it a good ending?Is there another way that it could have ended?
Week Four - 11th May - 15th May
Wednesday 13th May
The lights of the restaurant were bright, brighter than Bod was comfortable with.
Read from this sentence to the end of Chapter Seven. In this scene, we get two further hints about Silas' true identity. What are they? (Clue: Traditionally vampires have no reflection.) What do we find out about Miss Lupesco? What was the purpose of the Honour Guard?
Tuesday 12th May
The Sleer accidentally helped Bod - but Bod took a terrible risk in using it in this way. What do you think the risks were and to whom?
What do you think could have happened if it hadn't worked out the way Bod had planned?
Write down all the possibilities you can think of.
Monday 11th May
Reread the second half of the chapter, from where Bod is in the Graveyard, escaping from the man Jacks. Draw a map of the graveyard to show where each Jack meets his end. Make sure you label it carefully to include the major landmarks of the graveyard, such as the Egyptian walk, the Ghoul gate and the Mausoleum, then explain what happened at each one. When you have finished you could either scan and upload your work to Purple Mash, or take a photo and upload it to Purple Mash.
Week Three - 4th May to 8th May
Thursday 7th May
Go to p110 of the pdf version of the book and reread the conversation Bod has with the Sleer. Find the details in this conversation that Bod uses later in the chapter to fight the man Jack.
Tuesday and Wednesday 5th and 6th April
Monday 4th May
You are going to read Chapter 6 and then find the evidence that confirms what we know about Silas. You will need to read right to the end of the chapter. Write down each piece of evidence, cleverly hidden by Nail Gaiman. You will have to use your skills of inference.
Week Two - 27th April - 1st May
Friday 1st May
Today we are going to read the interlude. You are going to look up in a dictionary or online, the meanings of the words Interlude and Convocation, This chapter is not a real chapter. Think about why it is called Interlude and think about its purpose.
What information does it give us?
How does it relate to the story of Harry Potter?
Who do you think the men gathered at the convocation might be?
Has there been a previous mention of San Francisco already in this book? (It's famous for its bridge - that's a clue!)
Thursday 30th April
For those of you who are up to date with our story, I have attached some of the clues to Silas' true identity. If you are not up to date yet, don't open the link until you are!
Today we are going to think about the idea of a community. You will need to look back over the chapters we have read so far to think about these questions.
- How would you describe the graveyard community? Are there rules? Leaders? Is there any fighting or arguing?
- In what ways does it "take a graveyard" to raise Bod? What do the different members of the graveyard community contribute to Bod's upbringing?
- How does Bod's upbringing compare to yours? Do you think you were raised by your community? If so, aside from your parents, who helped raise you?
- Which community does Bod fit into better, the living or the dead?
- Why won’t most of the people in the graveyard talk to Liza?
- If you met a child who looked, smelled, and acted like Bod on the street, what would you think of him?
Wednesday 29th April
Today I would like you to go back through each chapter and make a list of all the descriptions we are given of Silas. This should include the way he moves, his appearance and any other details about him - the facial expressions, body language and things he says to Bod. Start thinking about what this tells us about him. You may already have your own suspicions!
Tuesday 28th April
Monday 27th April
Read the extract identified below, then download the task, which relates only to that particular part of the text.
Week One - 20th April - 24th April
Friday 24th April
Like much of Gaiman's work, The Graveyard Book manages to fuse elements of humour, horror, fantasy, and mystery into a single story.
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Find examples of these elements in the story so far and explain how they work together.
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How might the story read differently if one or more of these elements were removed?
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Although very different in lots of ways, this book's protagonist, Bod, has several things in common with characters in other quest types stories we have identified. Can you compare him with Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter and complete the table attached, to present your ideas?