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STAGE: 2 & 3

UARL FOCUS LINKS

This book presents clear narrative conventions, and opportunities to describe how narratives set up expectations using familiar, real and imagined characters, situations and phrases. It presents the same story twice, once through ancestoral retelling, then the children rewrite it after learning the truth. A great tool for looking at literary tools used for narratives and adapting them for different perspectives.

DISCUSSION POINTS:

Does the author change the narrative conventions in the retelling?

How does perspective influence this book?

BLURB:

A beautiful picture book about bravery and friendship, about the power of story and how changing the stories can change how we see and accept others.

Two children live in a cold village. Everyone in their town knows that the evil dragon is the reason for the cold. All the books tell the same story. When a particularly bad storm starts to build, Freya and Sylas set off to find the dragon and save their village. What they find is a surprise and their kindness and bravery might be what really saves their town.

This book has such a beautiful underpinning story of acceptance, but also of rewriting the story of acceptance and friendship. It points to the way so many of our stories spread the stories of evil, difference and strangeness. The two children in this book show that through kindness, bravery and being open to new stories, that we can learn the truth about others and become a far more accepting world (Madison's Library).

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STAGE: 2

UARL FOCUS LINKS

This book offers teachers clear narrative features and has a great example for a lead and ending and the use of speech. The book offers an opportunity to identify connections between own experiences, while describing the interplay of plot, character and setting.
DISCUSSION POINTS:

What are your thoughts on how the author starts and finishes this story?

Which narrative element stands out the most in this story?

What aspets of this story do you relate to?

BLURB:
Lily and Salma are best friends. They like doing all the same things, and they always eat lunch together. Lily eats peanut butter and Salma eats hummus--but what's that between friends? It turns out, a lot. Before they know it, a food fight breaks out. Can Lily and Salma put aside their differences? Or will a sandwich come between them?

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STAGE: 2 & 3

UARL FOCUS LINKS

While this text touches on several textual concepts (eg character, theme, imagery & perspective), it presents a well structured narrative that provides teachers with a great writing prompt for 'Suri, what can you see?'. It also contrasts settings, which would be a great focus for the text.

DISCUSSION POINTS:

Choose a series of pages that students can examine in order to describe the story’s setting: identify and consider the sentences that describe the setting IN the castle. Identify and consider the sentences OUTSIDE the castle (Suris' imagination).

How has the illustator supported the author in conveying the differences in these settings?

Does the written narrative tell us the entire story? What role do the illustrations play in this narrative (tone and mood, context).

The author has decided to use illustrations and limted written descriptions so you can infer what is happening. Why would she do this?

BLURB:

It is a particularly powerful and moving story. It speaks volumes and yet is gentle and quiet in conveying a message of hope and beauty in times of pain and loss.
The use of colour is this book is as equally powerful as the delicate words. The colours start much like they are on the front cover, muted with plenty of purple tones. The majority of the pages use these tones, but as the story unfolds, bright colours are introduced until you have magnificent, full colour spreads. On some pages the text is separated on side panels and some pages simply don’t need words at all.

This book is incredibly topical, with the impact of war, separation of families and refugees so prominent in today’s society, and yet it could easily be set 100 years ago, such is the timeless quality of both the story and illustrations. Other themes include being different, loneliness, friendship, and the power of stories.

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STAGES 2 & 3

UARL FOCUS LINKS

This text is an example of a quest story – a hero’s journey. Because the story has been reduced to less than 600 words the “bones” of the story are quite exposed – and because the bones are exposed, the skeleton or framework or structure of the story is more obvious than in a longer and more complex work. This provides an easy access model for teaching narrative structure – in particular, quest stories.

DISCUSSION POINTS

Ask students to identify narrative elements in specific sentences, eg first page - character & setting & complication.

How does the author build tension as she travels through the forest? - list the events, identify some of the language devices used:

Alliteration: “… A dizzily, dangerously, dreadfully deep ravine …”

Similes: “… as tall as the forest trees and as wide as the river boulders …”

Onomatopoeia: “… Ker-plunk, splash, thunk …”

Strong verbs: trudged / squeezed / skittered / toppled / squelched etc.

Juicy vocab: carnivorous plants / venomous snakes / ravine / menacing / bristly /googly etc.

Repetition

BLURB

Beware the deep, dark forest! You should never, ever go in there... Rosie has always followed this rule until the day her pup Tinky goes missing in the woods. So Rosie decides to trek into this dangerous, muddy place. But there are many obstacles along the way - including a huge grey wolf, a ravine of lava and a ferocious troll! Can Rosie find the courage to overcome these dangers and save Tinky?

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EN2-UARL-01

Describe how narratives set up expectations using familiar, real and imagined characters, situations and phrases.

Describe how narrative conventions engage the reader.

EN3-UARL-01

Describe how narrative conventions engage the reader through models of behaviour, and apply narrative conventions when creating texts.

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EN2-UARL-01

Describe the interplay of plot, character and setting in different types of narratives

Describe how narrative conventions engage the reader

EN3-UARL-02

Describe how narrative conventions engage the reader through models of behaviour, and apply narrative conventions when creating texts

Supporting textual concepts: theme, imagery, character, perspective

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EN2-UARL-01

Describe how narratives set up expectations using familiar, real and imagined characters, situations and phrases

EN3-UARL-01

Describe how narrative conventions engage the reader through models of behaviour, and apply narrative conventions when creating texts.

Describe how patterns in narratives set up expectations and notice when those patterns are subverted

Supporting textual concepts - Theme, characterisation

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STAGE 2 & 3

UARL FOCUS LINKS

This text provides a sci-fi narrative that provides teachers with exploration for how similar representations are used when creating texts, such as characters, settings and situations.

DISCUSSION POINTS:

Use the pages with a full picture sequences to jointly compose a narrative text to describe what is happening.

Which key features of a narrative aren't focused on heavily (eg characters are not heavily described/ relies on pictures for idea of setting etc)?

Can we clearly see the structural elements in this story (orientation, complication, a series of events that attempt to resolve the complication, and resolution)?

BLURB

Heather wants more than anything to go to outer space, where the stars sparkle with magic and wonder. When a UFO lands behind her house and she meets a friendly alien, it seems that all of her dreams have come true. But soon her new friend has to return home. Will the spaceship ever come back for her? And if it does, is Heather ready to leave everything on Earth behind?

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EN2-UARL-01

Describe the interplayof plot, character and setting in different types of narratives.

Describe how narratives set up expectations using familiar, real and imagined characters, situations and phrases

EN3-UARL-01

Describe how narrative conventions engage the reader through models of behaviour, and apply narrative conventions when creating texts.

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EN2-UARL-01

Describe the interplay of plot, character and setting in different types of narratives.

Describe connections between own or shared expriences and those depicted in narratives.

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UARL FOCUS LINKS

DISCUSSION POINTS:

BLURB: