TEACHING FANTASY FOR STAGE 4: using the Dragonkeeper series and Rowan of the Bukshah Mel Dixon, Loreto Kirribilli he following activities are designed to develop Fantastic Worlds: Part 1 — a love of reading and writing as well as close T understanding of texts. Learning About Fantasy Stage 4 Outcomes specifically addressed in this unit !e word fantasy and its adjective fantastic mean a include: product of the imagination. Fantasy is a popular genre with young and old. It captures the imagination, taking • Outcome 1: a student responds to and composes texts the reader to other worlds. Everyday kids with everyday for understanding and interpretation, critical analysis lives suddenly find their lives are transformed by their and pleasure (1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, 1.11, 1.15, contact with magic. Harry Potter escapes from his 1.16, 1.17, 1.20). horrible life through a railway platform to a school of • Outcome 2: a student uses a range of processes for magic, Lucy escapes through a wardrobe in the country responding to and composing texts (2.13, 2.14, 2.15). to the land of the wicked witch, and, during a high fever, • Outcome 6: a student draws on experience, Dorothy escapes from Kansas over the yellow brick road information and ideas to imaginatively and to see the Wizard of Oz. interpretively respond to and compose texts (6.2, 6.3, !ey each have different experiences but essentially they 6.4, 6.6, 6.7, 6.10). learn the same lesson. !ey learn about their strengths and they learn to grow up. Language modes: reading and writing, with listening !e following is addressed directly to the student. and speaking in the delivery of a book talk. The conventions of the genre Assessment: paragraph writing; wide reading log; book talk; creative writing. !e pattern usually goes like this: • there’s a hero Texts : wide reading of fantasy books; ’s • there’s a villain Dragonkeeper series; Emily Rodda’s Rowan of the • there’s a giver Bukshah . • there’s a wizard • there’s a false hero who lies to the real hero Concept: !e earliest texts with which young children engage are fantasy texts. !ey occupy an important role • there’s a quest with hardships to overcome in many cultures and give great pleasure. !is unit taps • there’s a princess who is the reward. into the pleasure of the text and creating texts while In this unit you will come across many fantasy texts, developing an understanding of analysis. !e aim of the written and visual. Each text will be different but there unit is to make students aware of generic conventions will be elements that are common. You will learn to see while inviting close readings and then allowing them to the patterns (conventions) and then you should try to create their own stories. !e Dragonkeeper exercises are apply these patterns and compose your own fantasy. used to encourage creative writing. !e questions and Every genre has its own identity or set of conventions exercises in Rowan of the Bukshah can be adapted to about characters, setting, plot and themes. War has to other texts. have heroes and soldiers with the good guys winning, !e unit is divided into four sections: comedy has to have a fool who fixes things up and • Part 1: the conventions of the genre makes everyone happy, science fiction has to have the science professor and the global disaster that is averted • Part 2: close reading of a fantasy book ( Rowan of the just in time. !ey have their own settings and their own Bukshah by Emily Rodda) storylines. • Part 3: wide reading Fantasy is just the same. As you have already seen, it • Part 4: creative writing using Carole Wilkinson’s has typical characters, typical plots and typical settings. Dragonkeeper trilogy. As well as this, there is a way that language is used that immediately shows a book is a fantasy.

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Fantastic characters Fantastic plots Have you ever noticed that a fantasy seems to have the Just like any story the fantasy story has an: same sort of characters? !ere’s always: • orientation a hero • • complication a wise man • • climax a companion • • resolution. • a monster or villain A sample storyline • a princess. 1. We are introduced to the character in his/her !e hero isn’t always carrying a sword and looking for setting, orientation . danger. Usually: 2. But there is a problem to be overcome, a • he’s a boy complication. !e hero and his whole way of life will • he’s not too tough be destroyed unless s/he embarks on a mission to • he’s running away from something save his/her world. • he’s forced to go through an adventure he never 3. S/he is frightened but is encouraged by the wise wanted person who arrives in time to tell her/his fortune and gives the girl/boy a gift to help her/him and • He represents goodness and innocence. often sends her/him off with a riddle. Very rarely is he a girl. Can you think of a book where the 4. A companion volunteers to accompany the hero, hero is a girl? trusting her/him. !e wise man can be a woman. Usually she’s old, 5. On her/his way, the hero will overcome many trials usually she has magic powers, usually she gives a gift (climax then new complication ) until s/he wins. to the hero, usually she sees into the future, usually she 6. Eventually the hero is faced with the monster, has knowledge and wisdom. She can appear scary but conquers the monster, climax . whatever the appearance, she is good. 7. S/he returns to a calm life without the presence of !e companion is a good friend who stands by the hero. evil and often with a new partner/wife, resolution . He or she is often sensible and gives good advice, he or she follows and supports the hero whatever the occasion, Fantastic values and attitudes he or she can get into trouble and be saved by the hero, Most fantasies are about growing up but also but most importantly he or she shows the fear that the investigate: hero has to hide. • good versus evil !e monster can be a horrible dragon or just a person past versus present who is evil and monstrous. Whatever the case, the • monster has powers and has lots of helpers and spies. • old versus young Just when the hero feels safe a trap is laid by the monster. • physical strength versus weakness !e hero needs all his/her ingenuity to be saved and to conquer the monster. • thoughtfulness versus impetuosity • knowledge versus ignorance !e princess always waits for the hero. She is passive where he is active. She waits for him to do the rescuing. • giving versus taking. She is usually a higher rank than him and he has to prove Draw three columns. Place these oppositions in a his worth to gain her love. box each and tick which you think fantasies usually Fantastic heroes value and which they don’t. Explain your choices with reference to a fantasy book you know. !e story is usually told from the point of view of the hero. As we read we are positioned to share her/his Fantastic places and maps feelings and even when s/he has a fall we still believe in !e fantasy author often includes a map. !e author her/him. !roughout his/her trials we wait for her/him wants to make the fantastic country real and uses the to win. No-one else’s point of view is important. All other map to prove this. !e hero’s quest can be traced on this silent voices are except those supporting the hero. map. Find maps from fantasy texts. mETAphor • Issue 1, 2008 19 TEACHING FANTASY FOR STAGE 4: using the Dragonkeeper series and Rowan of the Bukshah

Fantastic gifts Fantastic riddles Another element of fantasy novels is the gift. Gifts are !e riddle of the sphinx: what walks on all fours in the always important in our everyday lives. We receive morning, two legs in the day and three legs at night? them gratefully, realising that the gift is a sign that we Even in ancient times riddles had magic powers. A person are special in some way. Sometimes a gift like a ring or who could solve a riddle was important. a watch may be passed down generations of families showing the bond between family members. !ese gifts !e answer to this riddle was man: because he crawls as serve to remind us of the giver and create a link between a baby, walks upright as an adult and uses a walking stick the giver and the receiver. as an old man. To understand this riddle you also need to understand that morning, midday and night refer to In a fantasy, the hero receives a gift or gifts early on and different ages. !ey are metaphors. usually has no idea why or how to use this gift. !e reader realises, however, when the hero receives the gift that this Riddles often depend on metaphorical meaning to be will be important. We also realise that the hero is important uncovered; they prove the hero’s intelligence. because the person giving the gift is usually someone who Now that you know the conventions of the genre, try to has power in the community. !e gift indicates a transfer of find them in fantasy books you read and films you see, power from one person to another. As the story progresses, using the Wide Reading worksheet below. the gift also becomes significant because through using the gift the hero learns something important about her/himself Part 2 — Close Reading of a or moves further in the quest. Fantasty Book: Novel Study, Fantastic portals Rowan of the Bukshah Heroes aren’t always in the land of their adventure at Introductions to novels are always important. In the beginning of their story. Sometimes they get there the introduction the author sets up what is to come, through unexpected means. A mirror, a dream, a chook establishes a sense of character and introduces a shed, a street, a book or even a seemingly impenetrable complication. wall will become magic portals (entrance ways ) and suddenly open up. !e hero becomes ejected into a world !is text, despite being part of a series where readers of the imagination. may already know the characters, still does this. !e book starts with these paragraphs: Read the following extract from !e Lion, the witch and !e village of Rowan huddled, freezing, in a silent the wardrobe to see how the portal is entered. !en find world of white. Deep snow blanketed the valley. other passages portals in books and films where a portal !e Mountain brooded against the grey sky like a vast is used. ice sculpture capped with cloud. She immediately stepped into the wardrobe and got Never had there been a winter like this. Never had the in among the coats and rubbed her face against them, snow fallen so thickly. Never had the cold been so bitter. leaving the door open, of course, because she knew it was foolish to shut oneself into any wardrobe. Soon And never had it lasted so long. she went further in and found that there was a second row of coats hanging up behind the first one ... Connotations Next moment she found that what was rubbing Most words have a dictionary meaning ( denotation ) and against her face and hands was no longer soft fur but associated meanings or feelings which the word suggests something hard and rough and even prickly. “Why (connotation ). Connotations are different from people it is just like branches of trees,” exclaimed Lucy. And to people. For example, for someone who has lived in a then she saw that there was a light ahead of her; not cold climate, snow is familiar and fun, but for someone a few inches away where the back of the wardrobe without the experience snow is very unknown. ought to have been, but a long way off. Something 1. What do you think of when you think of winter? cold and soft was falling on her. A moment later she found that she was standing in the middle of a 2. Match the seasons with the appropriate feelings (eg wood at night-time with snow under her feet and harshness, gloom, sorrow, hope, new life, death, snowflakes falling through her hair. youth, joy, reawakening etc).

20 English Teachers’ Association of NSW TEACHING FANTASY FOR STAGE 4: using the Dragonkeeper series and Rowan of the Bukshah

Season Feelings Winter Spring Summer Autumn

3. What emotions are associated with the winter in the without giving away too much. passage above? Another feature of the introduction that you will notice 4. What words suggest that this is not usual? in most good writing is the way the landscape takes on a 5. What is the effect of the repetition of the word never? personality and reflects the mood of the people. 6. What object looms above the town suggesting its 7. What memory of the past do the Rin people have? power? 8. How can they learn about the past? What things do When you get on further in the book you realise that we use to see our past? there is an evil presence in the mountain called the When you study a novel you look at the following ice creepers. !e introduction hints at these creatures features of the text:

Setting Where and when is the text located? How does the setting affect the characters and the way they view the world? Character Who is the book about? What type of personality does this person have? What attitude does this person have to the rest of the world? What type of personality does the book value? Plot What is the story about (events)? What happens in the Orientation (introduction) phase? What Complication (problem to be solved) occurs? What is the Climax (high point of the action)? What is the Resolution (the solution)? Please note that there will often be more than one complication, climax and resolution. Values and What is the author’s message about the way we should live our lives (this can also be attitudes called the theme)? What beliefs about people is the author promoting? What does the author seem to say we should value in life? Genre, style A genre is a type of story such as a crime story or an adventure. Most books follow a techniques genre but some writers play around with the genre and change our expectations. In a romance, for example, we expect the girl to get the boy in the end but a writer can play a trick on us and the boy doesn’t end up with anyone. In an adventure the hero should win but maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he’s a girl! !e style of writing includes this discussion of the genre but also close work on the words and sentences used. Does the author use a lot of dialogue? Is the book in first (I — about myself) or third person (He/She/It — about other people)? Does the author use dialogue? Does the author use description? Does the author use formal, colloquial or slang words?

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As you read your novel be aware of these elements of • the medallion hanging heavy as a great stone novel study. • that was a human voice floating on waves of deathly Plot cold • the heat caught him like a web of invisible fire Orientation: what type of town and people are we introduced to? • his heart was like a block of ice Complication: the first complication is the cold weather. • every word she spoke fuelled her companions As a result the characters react differently illustrating • his heart thumping like a drum something about themselves. • white boughs laced over their heads How does each of the characters (Lann, Neel, Rowan, • teeth like shards of ice. Norris, Shaaran, Sheba) react to the crisis of the cold? Personification A further complication is the reaction to the silks: Sometimes, creative writers use personification for • What are the silks? an effect. Personification is giving an object or animal • Find two opposing attitudes to the silks expressed by properties that are human, that is, making a thing or an the characters (copy the exact words the characters animal into a person ( person ification), eg a sulky dawn say about the silks). was breaking. • What other disagreements take place in the early Sulky is a feeling or personality of humans so to say the chapters? dawn is sulky is to use personification Style and techniques Look at these examples and try to explain why they are personification. Write the same idea without it being Remember that one of the elements of studying a text is personification. to look at the style of writing or techniques used by the writer. !is exercise will help you to understand Emily eg !e flame will eat the air means the flame will use up Rodda’s writing style. all the air Similes and Metaphors • !e moaning wind had dropped means ______!ere are many ways of making your writing more • !e mountain's heart means ______creative. Two ways that add to the effect are similes and • !e land was awakening means ______metaphors. Similes and metaphors are used in many Exercises other types of writing — advertising and poetry as well as novels — because they are such creative ways of 1. Working in groups, try to find two examples of describing places, people events and feelings. similes, metaphors and personification other than those above. A simile is a comparison made from one thing to another 2. Now that you have seen all these examples, write a using like or as ... as , eg !e mountain brooded against paragraph about the use of creative language in your the grey sky like a vast ice sculpture . novel. !is comparison draws our attention to the appearance of Remember a paragraph has three parts: the mountain. We can visualise the scene more effectively • the introductory sentence or topic sentence — which because of the simile tells us what the paragraph is about A metaphor is a comparison made without using like or • the body — which explains further and offers as . !e thing being described takes on the properties of examples from the text to support or prove the the thing it is compared to, eg Deep snow blanketed the statements made valley. • a close that ties up the paragraph. In this metaphor the snow takes on the properties of a A good paragraph will also have strong connecting words blanket which covers everything. linking the ideas between sentences. Next to the following write an S (simile) or an M Use this topic sentence: (metaphor): One element of Emily Rodda’s style in Rowan of the • her claw-like hands Bukshah is her use of creative language. • the freezing air rushed in to his lungs like a knife

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What other elements of writing do you note in the book? Binary oppositions • Is it first or third person? When we read texts we are often aware of binary oppositions . !ese are groups that we accept as opposites • Does it have much dialogue? in our society, for example, male and female, strong and • Is it formal, colloquial or slang? weak, clever and ignorant. !ese binary oppositions are • Can you see any other features of the style? part of our understanding and beliefs about the world. (Consider closely Rowan's reaction to each event and We know they are opposites but we often see that they poem.) can exist together. Values and attitudes How do these opposites work in the book? • good and evil In any text the author gives us a message about what attitudes s/he values. !is message is transmitted • strength and weakness through the characters and their actions, and through • thoughtfulness and impetuosity. the words of the text. You usually need to read between What other binary opposites does the book explore? the lines to understand the message. In Rowan of the Bukshah some of the values that Emily Values Rodda is exploring include: Look at these opposites and circle which you think is • courage the most important in your book. !ere may not be one exact answer so be prepared to defend your decision. • the past • physical strength versus intelligence • leadership • males versus females • gifts • the past versus the present • fear • good versus evil • thinking. • the young versus the old !is doesn’t mean that this is all the book is about. !ere • dreams/imagination versus reality are always many values that a book taps into. • spring versus winter Courage • dark versus light What does the book say about courage? • impetuosity versus thoughtfulness To explore this question you need to locate the sections • creativity versus practicality. in the book that are about courage or that reveal courage. Look up pages 20, 89, 115–117 and 119 to find Do you agree with the author? the relevant passages and decide what each quote says about courage. The journey As Rowan and his companions progress on their journey, Which of these statements about courage would the they encounter many obstacles which they overcome. book support? Write true or false according to the book — be able to support your answer with reference to the How does the group overcome each of these obstacles? book. • Ice creepers attack the village of Rin in the shed • Courage comes from having a weapon. (pp. 62–64). • Courage comes as you grow older. • !e group thinks that they are being attacked and attack each other (pp. 101–04). • !ere are many different forms of courage. • Norris gives up and won't go on any further • True courage is facing your enemy. (pp. 116–17). • True courage is knowing when you are licked and • Star-shaped creatures suck their energy (pp. 146–53). giving up. • !ey get ready to sacrifice someone to the mountain Leadership (Chapter 22). What is the book saying about leadership and leaders? • !ey find the nest of the ice creepers (Chapter 20). Look up pages 94 and 138. Compare this to the trials of Hercules. mETAphor • Issue 1, 2008 23 TEACHING FANTASY FOR STAGE 4: using the Dragonkeeper series and Rowan of the Bukshah

Finding meaning in a text Find evidence in the book of the ways he solved Through characters’ words problems. In any text, the characters will often say something that is 2. Shaaran and Norris because they represented “the a message to all of us about what we should believe in. two halves of the people of Rin”. Find other references to the two halves of the Rin people. Zeel says: “ ... life itself is a riddle ... and as we journey through it we must all solve the puzzle for ourselves.” 3. Rowan also realises that the dreams he had were not Read p. 204. about the future but the past and that they “were only treading in their footsteps”. What is the book Find some more statements by characters that reveal therefore saying about the past? their inner beliefs. 4. !ere is also a message about the environment and The final message why this tragedy befell the people of Rin. What was it !e final chapter is always important. It offers a that allowed the evil of the ice creepers to take over? resolution, which in turn offers a message about the real !ink about our environment in . What meaning of the text. In Chapter 24, Rowan carries down do people do to control the environment that has from the mountain the important things: the boxes of negative effects? silks that “carried a knowledge” and the bones of the three warriors, showing respect for the brave who perished for Part 3 — Wide Reading their people. Choose a fantasy book to read. As you read or after you !e characters discuss what happened on the mountain finish, answer these questions in full sentences. and realise that each person had a role to play: Use these notes as the basis for a booktalk to the 1. Rowan realises that he was a dreamer who had “much class about how well your novel follows or rejects the practice in thinking of new ways to solve problems”. conventions (accepted patterns) of fantasy.

Features of the genre Exercises of fantasy novels Maps If there is a map in your book: • copy the map from the book you are reading • as you read, trace the pathway of the hero • when you finish, look closely at the map and determine whether you have been given enough information • was the map accurate according to your reading of the text? If there is no map: • as you read, list the features of landscape and the directions followed by the hero • construct a map which could be placed at the beginning of the book. • then follow the pathway of the hero on your map. Gift • List the gifts in the book, with a description of each gift. • Explain how and when each gift was used. Monsters • Does your book have monsters or an enemy? • Find a description of the monsters or enemies and their powers. • How does the hero overcome the monster or enemy? Hero • Find and copy the description of your hero. • What skills does your hero have? • Is s/he a thinker or a doer?

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Wise person • Is there a wise person in your book? • Find a description of the wise person. • How does this wise person help? Portals • Is there a portal into another world in your book? • Find a passage that describes the portal. • Where does the portal take us to? Dreams • What is the role of dreams in your book? Good versus evil • Is your book about good and evil? • Which side triumphs? • Why does this side triumph? • What is the author saying we value in society? Look at the attributes of the winner.

Part 4 — Writing Fantasy: • personality — is your dragon good or evil? Creative Writing Using Carole • diet. Draw your dragon and label it. Draw a map of where the Wilkinson’s Dragonkeeper series dragon lives. Present your dragon to the class. Carole Wilkinson is the writer of the popular After you have read the books : complete all the listed Dragonkeeper series. !ese books ( Dragonkeeper, Garden sections above and draw and label the dragon Danzi (in of the purple dragon, ) are set in ancient !e dragonkeeper ) or Kai (in !e Garden of the purple , which was ruled by emperors. Ping, an orphan, dragon ) or any of the dragons in Dragon moon . is the helper of the dragonkeeper, who is a cruel man. She starts to understand what the dragon is saying and Activity 2: Research on dragons this begins a communication that takes her on exciting Individual activity: Carole Wilkinson began her interest adventures as she learns more and more about dragons. in dragons when she was asked to research dragons !e trilogy is accompanied by !e dragon companion: an for a film. Imagine you have been asked to conduct encyclopedia . !is book is a compilation of the research research for a film that is being made about dragons. !e Carole Wilkinson undertook to write her trilogy. It filmmaker wants to be as realistic as possible. Find five opens with a timeline of stories from around the world facts about dragons, using at least two different sites on about dragons. After the maps and her introduction, the internet. Write up your report, making sure you show alphabetical entries follow. !ese include outlines of the details of web sites you have used in a bibliography. stories about dragons and labelled pictures of different Note : when you use a web site you don’t just copy the web dragons such as the Iranian dragon and the British address, you need to: dragon. • write the title of the site Writing about dragons: pre-reading • write the author and the date it was written and post-reading activities • add the web site address Activity 1: Creating a dragon (visualising) • add the following statement: ‘accessed on ...’ (the date Work in groups to create your own dragon. You will need you looked it up). to consider the following: Add some advice to the filmmaker on how these facts • type — give it a name could be used in a film. • appearance After you have read the book: list five useful facts for • habitat (where it lives) creating a film from this book. • special powers Activity 3: Bringing up a dragon • what is it frightened of? Group work: imagine that you were a dragonkeeper, mETAphor • Issue 1, 2008 25 TEACHING FANTASY FOR STAGE 4: using the Dragonkeeper series and Rowan of the Bukshah given a baby dragon egg that hatched. You need Activity 5: Guessing a story using quotes instructions for the upbringing of the dragon. Remember, Individual or group: Carole Wilkinson starts each baby dragons can be a little cheeky. !ey are still learning chapter with a quote from the chapter to give you an idea how to find and control their powers. Write a list of 10 of what will follow. rules for bringing up dragons. You will need to consider feeding, sleeping, playing and learning. You want to bring Use the quotes listed below (from Garden of the purple up a well-behaved dragon. dragon ) to guess what happens in the story. Fill in the details from your imagination. Present your list to the class. • Ping preferred to look to the south where the After you have read the book, Garden of the purple mountain peaks were smaller and softer and didn’t dragon: write a set of rules that would have helped Ping. bring back memories she would rather forget. Activity 4: Writing a story about dragons using • “You can shape-change!” !e little dragon blinked his chapter headings bog green eyes at her and squawked again. Group or individual: the following list is of the chapter • Whatever it was, it was alive — and heading straight headings from Dragonkeeper , the first book in the series. for Ping. Use the headings of each chapter to make up a story • Something floated to the surface. Something purple, about a dragon: spiky and lifeless. • !e edge of the empire • She was sure she wasn’t alone. She crept forward. !en she heard a faint scraping sound. • An evil night • When she came to a rocky outcrop, she crouched • !e imperial banquet beneath a boulder, holding Kai’s jaws shut. • Escape • “Dragons can stay underwater for weeks,” she told • Fear of flying Hua, as she peered uneasily through the weed. “I don’t • Beyond the gate of experience know how they do it. !ey must be able to breathe water like fish do.” • Combing and counting • His mouth twisted into an ugly grimace, exposing • !e city of eternal peace stained and chipped teeth. Ping realised it was • Old friends supposed to be a smile. • Magic at midnight • “We caught the dragon sorceress,” one of them boasted. “She tried to cast spells on us. Did you hear • Offerings what happened to our captain?” • A dark cloud • Ping could just make out a dim figure inside. It was • A stitch in time a woman. Her head was bent low. She was sobbing • Swift passage softly. • In the shadow of Fire Mountain • !e punishment for stealing an imperial dragon is death, Your Imperial Majesty,” he said, “Is it your wish • Lost and found that the prisoner be executed?” • Strength and weakness • “You didn’t trust me to care for the dragon, Ping?” It • Chance meeting was the Emperor who spoke this time. Ping felt her cheeks burn. • Another imperial banquet • “How dare you burst unannounced into the Emperor’s • !e garden of secluded harmony presence!” he said. • Halfway to heaven • “It would be nice to go beyond the walls,” said a voice • Blood on Tai Shan behind her. Ping turned around. It was the Princess. • Ocean • “Kai!” she called out, her heart gripped with fear. “Where are you?” • Perhaps there is no end. • “You have exceptional freedom here at Ming Yang Share your stories with others. Lodge, Ping. But it seems you are determined to try After you have read the book: see how similar/different my patience by sneaking into the few places you are your story is to the novel. forbidden to enter.”

26 English Teachers’ Association of NSW TEACHING FANTASY FOR STAGE 4: using the Dragonkeeper series and Rowan of the Bukshah

• “!e necromancer,” she whispered. “He’s somewhere • She became aware of a faint sound. It was like the near. I can feel him.” “I know,” the Emperor said with highest notes of a flute played on a far mountain. Each a smile. note was so full of sadness and pain it made her heart ache. • “It’s too cold for you to be sitting outside, if you’re feeling unwell,” Ping said. “Out here as the day dawns • She curled up, trying to shut out the ugly blackened is the only time I get a few minutes alone.” world and her failure. • “A girl?” Mr Yu sneered. “How can the Imperial • !e necromancer raised the knife above her. !e Dragonkeeper be a girl?” “Who can explain the ways blade shone in the moonlight. of Heaven?” said Dong Fang Suo. • “In the second year of Emperor Wu a new • She scanned the rock surfaces, but there was no ledge Dragonkeeper will appear. She will be shunned but wide enough for anyone to conceal themselves on the she is the true Dragonkeeper.” cliffs. Using the quotes above, what kind of personality does • !e ravine was as silent as it had been before the rock Ping have? Support your answer with direct reference to fall. No birds were singing. !ere was no wind. a quote. • When Ping opened her eyes, it was daylight. She Find out what a necromancer is and the derivation of the didn’t know where she was. word. • “Have you really seen a dragon?” Liang said. Ping After you have read the book: see how similar/different glanced over her shoulder to make sure no-one else your story is to the novel. could hear. She smiled down at the boy. Worksheet • !ose who do not leave their beds are not always safe. Do not fear the dangers of the path. Use the following worksheet to make notes for your own story.

Feature of the genre Description Where will you set your book? Is there a wise person in your book? What is the hero like? Will you have a magic portal? Are there any special gifts which help the hero of the book? Does the hero have a quest? Does the book have a map for you to follow? What monsters/enemies does the hero face? Does the hero have significant dreams? Is there a message about good and evil?

THINK about your orientation, complication, climax and resolution, and plan your story. Now: WRITE your own story using these ideas.

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