The Poison in the Blood Tom Holland I Am a Dalek Gareth Roberts / Dr

Other Worlds

The Poison in the Blood I Am a Dalek Tom Holland Gareth Roberts / Dr Who

Other Worlds

Contents

Other Worlds 3

Extract from The Poison in the Blood 6

Extract from I Am a Dalek 7

Further development 9

More reading 12

Adult Literacy Core Curriculum References 14

Acknowledgement The learning materials to accompany the Quick Reads publications have been produced as part of The Vital Link’s Reading for Pleasure campaign, funded by the Department for Education and Skills and in co-operation with World Book Day. Our thanks go to the writing and editorial team of Nancy Gidley, Kay Jackaman and Moreen Mowforth.

www.vitallink.org.uk

Other Worlds

Purpose To explore the variety of ‘other worlds’ in fiction and their uses in reflecting our own.

To begin to develop an understanding of the role of myth and legend as the basis for modern story telling.

Resources Copies of I Am a Dalek Copies of The Poison in the Blood Handouts 1 and 2: Book extracts Flipchart, pens

Activity Myths, legends, fairy tales, fantasy and science fiction often present the reader with settings that are ‘human’ or familiar to act as the terms of reference for activities that most definitely are not. Each of the genres has its own conventions and purposes, but all offer readers the opportunity to project themselves into a world familiar in some ways, but which is also ‘an other world’ where different rules of behaviour and consequences apply. Humans are sometimes depicted as weak, their fate in the hands of beings or intelligences whose actions they may not be aware of, or able to influence.

The activity below can be done prior to reading the books, or after reading them in order to compare with other books or stories.

Write the following headings in columns on a flipchart sheet (you will need one sheet for each small group): type of story; characters’ appearance; speech; behaviour; physical surroundings; methods of travel; attitudes to humanity. Ask readers, in small groups, to use their knowledge of stories with main characters who are not human (from books, folklore, TV, film, magazines, etc.) and note down as much specific information as they can remember on the features of those characters under each of the headings. If you have enough groups, you might like to allocate a genre with which a group is particularly familiar, so you have more to compare.

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Activity Display the flipchart sheets. Ask readers to comment on similarities or clear differences between the different types of stories. For example, are the main characters in the stories generally completely human in physical appearance, or do they have features that mark them out as ’other worldly‘? Is their attitude to mankind benevolent? Do they adopt human behaviour/characteristics to try and hide their identities and gain acceptance, or are they just themselves and expect mankind to accept them on their own terms? Do the human beings with whom they interact fear and obey them, or try to exploit/harness their powers to meet their own ends? Are the physical settings for the stories completely supernatural, or are they a combination of the familiar with the imaginary?

Invite readers to share their personal preferences among these sorts of stories, identifying the qualities that make them like one rather than another.

Reflection I Am a Dalek and The Poison in the Blood are very different types of book, but both include heroes who are trying to defeat monsters and whose actions dictate human futures.

Ask readers to read through Handouts 1 and 2. What similarities can readers see in the two extracts, one set in the future and one in the distant past? For example, description of the ‘monsters’ (tentacles, slime, drool, noise, unusual body arrangements!); use of tools (bows, arrows, sonic screwdriver) to defeat them.

There would, however, appear to be some differences in the approach of the heroes to their task. Can readers say what these are? What hints do these give of the way in which the stories may develop? Will the Doctor happily undertake any actions necessary to destroy an enemy? Is Heracles likely to debate the pros and cons of actions? How closely do the two of them seem to be identifiable as human? Which human traits do they use which are useful or positive, and which that are destructive or negative?

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Other Worlds

Development These activities could be undertaken when readers have read either of the texts.

The Poison in the Blood introduces readers to some of the Greek myths and legends. Using a dictionary or thesaurus, readers could define the difference between a myth and a legend. They might like to research a myth or legend from their own culture and present it to the rest of group.

I Am a Dalek is one of the stories of ‘other worlds’ and their interactions with this one, which are often used to teach readers some sort of moral lesson. What lessons can readers draw from this one? For example, we may all have evil in our genes; you cannot bargain with evil; it is sometimes justified to break the rules to reward good; recognition of humanity is not a weakness.

What other kinds of stories that have been used to teach a lesson can readers share with each other– fairy tales, parables, fables? The conventions of these are sometimes followed in plots of novels about ordinary people. This could be explored through, for example, examination of the March Quick Reads publication Star Sullivan, short stories in magazines or film plots.

Other Worlds

The Poison in the Blood

EXTRACT FROM CHAPTER 6

AT FIRST THERE WAS only a single neck. It rose up high like a snake’s. It had orange and scarlet frills around its neck. Its mouth snarled open. Its teeth were razor sharp. Drool dripped from them. When the drool landed in the water, it hissed. When it landed on the mud or rushes, it burned them. The neck coiled and twisted. The head darted. The jaws were open wide. It spat poison at the boat. Iolus had to row frantically to avoid it. The boat rocked. Heracles stumbled. The water hissed and boiled where the monster’s poison splashed.

Heracles pulled back the string of his bow. He aimed. He fired. The arrow sang as it flew. It thudded into the open mouth of the monster, which bellowed in pain. Its blood was black. It spurted out in a thick flood from between the monster’s jaws. It splashed into the water. Again the water boiled.

‘You killed it!’ shouted Iolus. ‘You killed it.’

‘No,’ replied Heracles. ‘Look.’ He pointed. Iolus stared. Something seemed to be moving beneath the water. Coils, twisting and turning. ‘More snakes?’ he yelled in terror.

Heracles shook his head. He strung another arrow and gritted his teeth. ‘A hydra,’ he whispered. ‘It is a hydra. A hydra with a hundred necks.’……..

Other Worlds

I Am a Dalek

EXTRACT FROM CHAPTER 6

HE HANDED KATE GENTLY over to Rose. ‘We’ve got to get her away, far away. I’ll sort it out later. There’ll be a way. The further she gets, the safer she’ll be. What’s she called again?’

‘Kate Yates.’

‘Cruel parents and the Dalek factor. Unlucky girl. Go!’

Rose grabbed Kate round the middle and ran for the lift as fast as possible.

The Doctor returned to the Dalek casing. The green sparkles had faded.

The electronics inside were damaged by age. It was unlikely that Kate had managed to spark them into life, but it was worth making certain.

He waited, thinking over his next move. After a minute, he raised the sonic screwdriver for another check and peered inside.

A greasy green eye blinked up at him. A newly formed Dalek creature, smaller than an adult, was already stretching its slime-coated tentacles towards the connections.

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The Doctor leapt back. ‘No,’ he breathed, staggering

a little. ‘No. That’s impossible…’

He hesitated for a second. He knew he had to kill it – and kill it now. Could he?

The casing slammed shut on its hinge with a deafening clang. The tip of the eye-stalk opened, glowing a bright, healthy blue.

The sucker arm started to twitch. The base shifted, freeing itself from the earth that covered it. A croak came from the grating beneath the head. ‘Aaaaaa...’

The lights on the domed head flickered into life.

The Doctor realised that he had one option left, an option that had served him well on many occasions. He ran to the lift doors and pressed the up button desperately.

Other Worlds

Further development

Readers may like to draft a short review of I Am a Dalek, commenting on the differences between reading the story and seeing an episode of the series on television.

The ‘Other Worlds’ theme could also be used to explore the myths, legends and folklore of other cultures, including European, to see how they might have influenced our own.

Many people may say that the huge differences between economies and development means that we have ‘other worlds’ on this planet now and may have them in the same country. Readers may like to consider the following questions: 1. What, if anything, do you think is 'wrong' with this world, and how have you arrived at that/those conclusion/s? 2. What do you think would make the world a 'better' place? Their ideas could be researched, structured in note form and then presented orally to the group with supporting material from their research.

Useful websites http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ – BBC Doctor Who website

http://www.gallifreyone.com/ – Outpost Gallifrey, a popular Doctor Who fan website with over 24,000 readers daily

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology#T he_Olympian_gods – very accessible introduction to Greek mythology

http://www.greatdreams.com/myth.htm – myths and legends from around the world

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Links to individual author websites can be found with the author biographies in the file ‘Further

Approaches to Reading for Pleasure’, and with the individual book files for the relevant March Quick Reads.

Other Worlds