Teachers’ Guide Kid Normal and the Rogue Heroes Written by Greg James and Chris Smith **These notes may be reproduced free of charge for use and study within schools, but they may not be reproduced (either in whole or in part) and offered for commercial sale** SYNOPSIS (PLOT) The second epically funny adventure starring Murph Cooper and the Super Zeroes from Greg James and Chris Smith. Not all heroes have superpowers. Don’t believe us? Well Murph Cooper is living proof. Since becoming Kid Normal, he and the Super Zeroes have been catching baddies all over the place. But being a hero is about to get a whole lot harder ... Far away in a top-secret prison, the world’s most feared supervillain has broken a thirty-year silence. His first words? ‘Bring Kid Normal to me!’ AUTHOR BACKGROUND Greg James is a familiar voice and face on radio and TV. He’s the host of BBC Radio 1’s award-winning Drivetime show and presents the UK’s Official Chart every Friday. On screen, Greg has hosted a variety of shows, most recently fronting BBC Children in Need. He is also the face of BT Sport’s cricket coverage, and in 2016 he raised over a million pounds for Sport Relief by completing five triathlons in five cities in five days. Greg has no superpowers. In his spare time he enjoys the idea of having hobbies. But in reality, he’s made all of them into work. Chris Smith is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster who delivers the news to millions of people every day as the presenter of Newsbeat on BBC Radio 1. Chris enjoyed a previous glittering literary career as the winner of the H.E. Bates Short Story Competition 1981 (under tens category) with his tale ‘Where Are the Brandy Snaps?’. Chris has no superpowers either, although he enjoys pretending his cat Mabel can fly by picking her up and running around with her. Greg and Chris first started coming up with ideas for ludicrous characters and stories together on their weekly podcast, and they haven’t stopped since. 1 www.bloomsbury.com/childrens ILLUSTRATOR BACKGROUND Illustrator Erica Salcedo studied Fine Art at the University of Castilla-La Mancha before going on to study for a masters in Graphic Design. She uses a mixture of techniques to create her illustrations – from hand-drawing to digital manipulation – and always remembers to add a pinch of humour. Wolfish Stew (Bloomsbury), written by Suzi Moore, was Erica’s first picture book. She lives in Cuenca, Spain. DISCUSSION TOPICS • Murph and his friends are superheroes, and some of them have special powers. If you were a superhero, what would you want your special power to be, and why? • The superheroes in Kid Normal help people in secret. Can you think of any ways we can help people in secret? Have you ever helped someone without them knowing? • If you could be one character from the story, who would you be, and why? • Murph does not have any special powers of his own, yet he still manages to save the day. What is it about Murph that makes him special, even without any powers? • Murph and the other Super Zeroes always use teamwork to save the day. Why is teamwork so important? Have you ever worked in a team to do something amazing? TEACHER ACTIVITIES English and Creative Writing What adventure might Murph and the Super Zeroes go on next? Write a story about it. In Kid Normal, Murph and his friends are the heroes of the story. Write a story in which you are the hero. What happens, and how do you save the day? Art Mr Flash makes a gross milkshake and drinks it every morning. Try writing your own recipe for a funny milkshake and draw what you think it would look like. Choose one scene from the book and draw a comic strip to tell the story. Imagine you’re a member of the Heroes’ Alliance. Draw the costume you might wear. Design your own ID badge by drawing a picture of yourself and writing down your name and a hidden talent. 2 www.bloomsbury.com/childrens Drama Divide the class into groups and have each group re-enact a scene from the book. Play the classic game ‘Simon Says’, but change the name to ‘Murph Says’ and get the children to act out superhero powers such as flying, super-speed or morphing into another creature. FURTHER READING Captain Underpants series By Dav Pilkey The Secret Seven series By Enid Blyton Simon Thorn series By Aimée Carter Spy Toys series By Mark Powers FURTHER READING: Books by the Same Authors Kid Normal LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AUTHORS Greg James and Chris Smith’s Kid Normal website: http://kidnormal.tumblr.com/ 3 www.bloomsbury.com/childrens .