FLYING HORSES by Judith Clarke CHARACTER CASSIE Describe Cassie in 20 words or less:

What do each of the following quotes tell us about Cassie?  “Just closing the door didn’t make her feel safe enough.”

 “Cassie had longed for a tattoo.”

 “She was too – careful.”

 “Cassie had never got found out, not one single time.”

 “Why can’t you be more like Cassie? She’s never given us a moment’s trouble.”

 “You just had to be careful, that was all, and keep your secret to yourself.” MAL Describe Mal in 20 words or less:

What do each of the following quotes tell us about Mal?  “ Just like a gorilla, Cassie thought. A big old gorilla swinging homeward through the treetops, paw over leathery paw.”

 “ He’d get the girl pregnant – somehow – and then ask Dad for the clinic loan. Forget about the clinic (forget about the condoms) Mal would bring the baby home. ‘Hey, Mum! Look!’”

 “Cassie’s voice when she said ‘thank you’. It had sounded so grown up. Like a lady’s voice, almost like a – woman’s.”

THEME Describe the Theme in 20 words or less:

How do the following quotes link to the theme?  “Just closing the door didn’t make her feel safe enough.”

 “ Her voice! Cassie’s voice when she’d said ‘thank you.’ It sounded so grown up, like a lady’s voice, almost like a – woman’s.” YELLOW BRICK ROAD by Witi Ihimaera CHARACTER MATIU Describe Matiu in 20 words or less:

What do each of the following quotes tell us about Matiu?  “I can’t wait to see all the sparkling green towers.”

 “Lots of Pakeha’s in Wellington. Not like in Waituhi. Makes me scared to think about it.”

 “We’ll be rich as anything because Wellington is where the money is.”

 “Boy, these are the dearest lollies I’ve ever brought.”

 “Follow the yellow brick road, follow, follow, follow, follow.”

 “If we ever want to, will we be able to find our way back?” SETTING Describe the setting of the car and State Highway 2 between Hastings and Wellington in 20 words or less:

How do the following quotes link to the setting?  “Your car’s bloody dangerous loaded like that.”

 “I lean back in the seat and burrow under the blanket. It is getting cold and there is a draught coming through a hole in our car.”

THEME Describe the theme in 20 words or less:

How do the following quotes link to the theme(s)?  “Emerald City … we’re almost there.”

 “You Maori’s are all the same. Dumb bloody horis.”

 “I want to feel sure myself everyting will turn out all right. It will won’t it?” TOMORROW, WHEN THE WAR BEGAN by John Marsden CHARACTER ELLIE Describe Ellie in 20 words or less:

What do the following quotes tell us about Ellie?  “It all began…Writing down is important to us; terribly, terribly important…”

 “ Recording what we have done, in words, on paper, it’s got to be our way of telling ourselves that we mean something, that we matter.”

 “It was hard for me to believe that I, plain old Ellie, nothing special about me, middle of the road in every way, had probably killed three people.”

 “Had I killed out of love of my friends, as part of a noble crusade to rescue friends and family and keep our land free? Or had I killed because I valued my life above that of the others?”

 “I didn’t want to be Rambo, just me: just Ellie.”

 “I guess true courage is when you’re really scared by you still do it.” HOMER Describe Homer in 20 words or less:

What do the following quotes tell us about Homer?  “Homer always seemed to be in trouble. One of his favourite little amusements was to wait until the workmen fixing the leaks or guttering had gone into the roof, waiting until they were safely up there then pinch their ladders so they couldn’t get down.”

 “‘Let’s go home,’ Homer said, ‘to Hell.’”

 “Homer came backing out of the garage in a large olive-green Mercedes. Lee laughed. ‘Homer hasn’t changed.’ ‘Yes he has.’”

 That was Homer’s genius. He combined action with thought, and he planned ahead.”

 “ Homer had an ability to put himself into the minds of the soldiers, to think their thoughts and to see through their eyes. Imagination, I suppose it’s called.”

 “We were starting to recognise Homer’s leadership…he didn’t seem to notice…as though he had it all worked out.”

SETTING Describe ‘Hell’ in 20 words or less: What do the following quotes tell us about Hell?  “We kept standing and looking for a while, as if staring at the tumbled rocks would cause a path to appear, as if this were Narnia or somewhere.”

 “The bridge was old but beautifully built.”

 “’This is pretty nice for Hell,’ Fi said.”

 “Thick bush met us in every direction.”

 “Hell was all to do with people. Maybe Hell was people!”

THEME Describe the Theme in 20 words or less:

What does the following quote tell us about the theme?  “You said it. You said the big one. We believed we were safe. That was the big fantasy… we’ll never feel safe again and so it’s bye-bye innocence.”

 This war’s been forced on us, and I haven’t got the guts to be a conscientious objector. I just hope we can avoid doing too much that’s filthy and foul and rotten.”

JUNO Directed by Jason Reitman CHARACTER

JUNO Describe Juno in 20 words or less:

What do the following quotes tell us about Juno? Vanessa Loring: Your parents are probably wondering where you are. Juno MacGuff: Nah... I mean, I'm already pregnant, so what other kind of shenanigans could I get into?

Juno MacGuff: Yeah, I'm a legend. You know, they call me the cautionary whale.

Mac MacGuff: I thought you were the kind of girl who knew when to say when. Juno MacGuff: I don't know what kind of girl I am.

Juno MacGuff: As far as boyfriends go, Paulie Bleeker is totally boss. He is the cheese to my macaroni. And, I know that people are supposed to fall in love before they reproduce, but... I guess normalcy isn't really our style. THEME: Family

Describe the theme in 20 words or less:

What do the following quotes tell us about varieties of family and our theme? Juno MacGuff: I want Mark and Vanessa to be surprised and if you tell me I'll just, like, ruin everything. Ultrasound Technician: Are Mark and Vanessa your friends at school? Juno MacGuff: No, no, no. They're the adoptive parents. Ultrasound Technician: Oh, well thank goodness for that! Bren: What's that supposed to mean? Ultrasound Technician: I just see a lot of teenage mothers come through here and it's obviously a poisonous environment to raise a baby in. Juno MacGuff: How do you know I'm so poisonous? What if these adoptive parents turn out to be, like, evil molesters? Leah: Or, like, stage parents. Bren: They could be utterly negligent. Maybe they'll do a far shittier job of raising a kid than my dumbass step- daughter would. Have you considered that? Ultrasound Technician: I guess not. Bren: What is your job title exactly? Ultrasound Technician: I'm an ultrasound technician, ma'am. Bren: Well, I'm a nail technician and I think we both ought to just stick to what we know. Ultrasound Technician: Excuse me? Bren: Oh, you think you're so special because you get to play Picture Pages up there? Well, my five year old daughter could do that and let me tell you, she's not the brightest bulb in the tanning bed. So why don't you go back to night school in Mantino and learn a real trade. Juno MacGuff: Bren! You's a dick! I love it!

Mark Loring: So... Let's talk about how we're going to do this thing. Juno MacGuff: What do you mean? Don't I just have the thing? Squeeze it on out and hand it over? Gerta Rauss: Mark and Vanessa are willing to negotiate an open adoption... Mac MacGuff: What do you mean? Juno MacGuff: Wait... No! I mean, can't we just, like, kick this old school? Like, I have the baby, put it in a basket and send it your way, like, Moses and the reeds? Mark Loring: Technically, that would be kicking it Old Testament Juno MacGuff: I could like, have this baby and give it to someone who like totally needs it. Leah: You should look in the PennySaver. Juno MacGuff: They have ads for parents? Leah: Yeah! 'Desperately Seeking Spawn.'

Juno MacGuff: Oh, *wicked* pic in the PennySaver, by the way. Super classy - not like those people with the fake woods in the background. Honestly who do they think they're fooling? Vanessa Loring: You found us in the PennySaver?

Vanessa Loring: How do I look? Bren: Like a new mom. Scared shitless.

Bren: When you move out I'm getting two Weimaraners! Juno MacGuff: WHOA DREAM BIG! Bren: Oh, go fly a kite!

Juno MacGuff: Oh, and she inexplicably mails me a cactus every Valentine's Day. And I'm like, "Thanks a heap coyote ugly. This cactus-gram stings even worse than your abandonment."

Juno MacGuff: I need to know that it's possible that two people can stay happy together forever.

Juno MacGuff: [showing ultrasound photo] It's a baby. It's your baby. It kinda looks like it's waving, you know, like it's saying, "Hey Vanessa, will you be my mom?" Juno MacGuff: Yeah I came as soon as I got that ultrasound goo off my pelvis. It was crazy actually, my step-mom verbally abused the ultrasound tech and we got escorted off the premises.

Juno MacGuff: I never realize how much I like being home unless I've been somewhere really different for a while.

Vanessa Loring: I'm just saying that this is - this is something that's never gonna happen. You know -Your shirt is stupid. Grow up. If I have to wait for you to become Kurt Cobain, I'm never gonna be a mother. Mark Loring: I never said I'd be a good father.