Welcome to Rosebery English
You already know that reading is one of best ways to learn about people and places but have you ever thought about how reading stories can help you to grow new stories?
Below are some optional tasks to get you to start thinking about growing your own stories!
When a writer uses their knowledge of the world around them and the stories that they already know, one of the ways they can do this is through the use of allusions.
In the example from the BFG below, Roald Dahl is alluding to a famous fairytale. Can you guess which one?
“Jack is the only human bean all giants is frightened of”, the BFG said to us, “they is all absolutely terrified of jack. They is all hearing that jack is a famous giant killer”
Read the whole extract here for more clues!
Task 1: Read and analyse a story that has grown from other stories.
Read the below passage or click here for an audio version.
Answer the questions that follow: You could hand write your answers or type them up. If you can’t do a question, don’t worry, just move onto the next one.
Extract from Aru Shah
The problem with growing up around highly dangerous things is that after a while you get used to them.
For as long as she could remember, Aru had lived in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture. And she knew full well that the lamp at the end of Hall of the Gods was not to be touched.
She could mention “the lamp of destruction” the way a pirate who had tamed a sea monster could casually say, Oh, you mean ole Ralph here? But even though she was used to the lamp, she had never once lit it. That would be against the rules. The rules she went over every Saturday, when she lead the afternoon visitors’ tour.
Some folks might not like the idea of working on a weekend, but it never felt like work to Aru.
It felt like a ceremony.
Like a secret.
She would don her crisp scarlet vest with its three honeybee buttons. She would imitate her mother’s museum-curator voice, and people- this was the best part of all- would listen. Their eyes never left her face. Especially when she talked about the cursed lamp.
Sometimes she thought it was the most fascinating thing she ever discussed. A cursed lamp is a much more interesting topic than, say, a visit to the dentist. Although one could argue that both are cursed.
Aru had lived at the museum for so long, it kept no secrets from her. She had grown up reading and doing her homework beneath the giant stone elephant at the entrance. Often she’d fall asleep in the theatre and wake up just before the crackling self-guided tour recording that announced that India became independent from the British in 1947. She even regularly hid a stash of candy in the mouth of a four-hundred-year-old sea dragon statue (she’d named it Steve) in the west wing. Aru knew everything about everything in the museum. Except one thing…
The lamp. For the most part, it remained a mystery.
“It’s not quite a lamp”, her mother, renowned curator and archaeologist Dr K.P.Shah, had told her the first time she showed it to Aru. “We call it a diya.”
Aru remembered pressing her nose against the glass case, staring at the lump of clay. As far as cursed objects went, this was by far the most boring. It was shaped like a pinched hockey puck. Small markings, like bite marks, crimped the edges. And yet, for all its normal-ness, even the statues filling the Hall of the Gods seemed to lean away from the lamp, giving it a wide berth.
“Why can’t we light it?” she had asked her mother.
Her mother hadn’t met her gaze. “Sometimes light illuminates things that are better left in the dark. Besides, you never know who is watching”.
Well, Aru had watched.She’d been watching her entire life.
Every day after school she would come home, hang her back-pack from the stone elephant’s trunk, and creep toward the Hall of the Gods.
It was the museum’s most popular exhibit, filled with a hundred statues of various Hindu gods. Her mother had lined the walls with tall mirrors so visitors could see the artifacts from all angles. The mirrors were “vintage” (a word Aru had used when she traded Burton Prater a greenish penny for a whopping two dollars and half a Twix bar). Because of the tall crepe myrtles and elms standing outside the windows, the light that filtered into the Hall of the Gods always looked a little muted. Feathered, almost. As if the statues were wearing crowns of light.
Aru would stand at the entrance, her gaze resting on her favourite statues- Lord Indra, the king of the heavens, wielding a thunderbolt; Lord Krishna, playing his flutes; the Buddha, sitting with his spine straight and legs folded in meditation- before her eyes would inevitably be drawn to the diya in its glass case.
She would stand there for minutes, waiting for something...anything that would make the next day at school more interesting, or make people notice that she, Aru Shah, wasn’t just another seventh grader slouching through middle school, but someone extraordinary…
Aru was waiting for magic.
And every day she was disappointed.
Questions
Q1: Why do you think Aru felt this way? Can you find any other parts of the text that link to this feeling?
Q2: Can you think of any other stories with magical or cursed objects? Do these stories have anything in common?
Q3: The writer is alluding to a real historical event here. Use this website to find 5 facts about the partition of India https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/46428985
Q4: Later in the story, Aru lights the diya and wishes for something extraordinary. Does this wish make her happy or does she come to regret it? Make a prediction and explain your reasoning.
Task 2: Choose your own adventure and start exploring.
Choose from the three options below and start exploring!
Option 1: Explore the stories in your own family. Talk to relatives- older ones are often best for this- and gather some stories.
There are lots of websites to help you find out more about your family’s stories. Here is one to get you started https://www.thoughtco.com/fifty-questions-for-family-history-interviews-1420705
You could also conduct some genealogy research and find out more about your family tree. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/
Option 2: Explore Aru Shah and the End of Time. You could read the book or even the whole series. You could find out more about the author and her influences.
Pages 7-11 of this guide contain lots of information about the Hindu mythology that inspired the book but also SPOILERS for the story!
The writer has a great interview about the story on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptmt1DfWB98
Option 3: Explore the stories from a range of cultures about how the world was created. Creation myths are a great way to explore a range of cultures and traditions- just remember to be respectful of others’ beliefs and traditions.
There are lots to choose from so you could start with your own ideas about how the world began and build from there. It is a good way to see the connections between cultures and what makes each one distinctive or unique.
https://historycollection.co/16-incredible-ancient-creation-stories-from-around-the-world/4/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/videos/story-of-god/the-aboriginal-creation-story-4214.aspx
Task 3: Grow your own story.
Choose an option and get creative. Use at least one of the details you learned from your research.
Write about a time when your family held a celebration. The story could be real or imagined.
Describe a place in which something magical could happen OR write a short story that begins with the sentence: “Suddenly, I heard it. It was coming from the other end of the passage.”
Choose an object or animal that is important to you. Write a story (real or imagined) explaining how this animal or object came to exist using the creation myths you have explored to inspire you.
Inspired by characters in your reading, create a mythical character and tell the story of a heroic journey they go on.
Creative Writing Challenges!
In year 7 at Rosebery we like to give you lots of opportunities to write creatively. Choose one of the creative writing tasks below to have a go at, you could even do more than one if you are keen to practice your creative skills.
Option 1: Diary writing
We know that lots of you have looked at diary writing and The Diary of Anne Frank during year 6. Anne Frank wrote about her daily life and this diary helps us understand an important time in history as well as what she was like as a person.
Inspired by this, you could write a diary entry documenting your daily life and your thoughts at the moment. As well as writing this can also include pictures you have drawn or taken to document what you have been up to.
Option 2: A 26 word story challenge.
Create a 26 word story where each word starts with the next letter of the alphabet in order. Here is an example from one of the English teachers to give you an idea:
After Becky caught Dave eating four giant hamburgers in jest, Kevin launched many new otters particularly quickly round Sarah's. Theo, unusually vexed, wished Xavier yelled zanily.
Option 3: Poetry writing
Write a poem on the topic of springtime taking inspiration from the view out of your window, your garden or a walk outside. You could challenge yourself to stick to the rules of a haiku, or you can write a longer poem.
Option 4: Fairy tales
Choose a fairy story and write your own version of it. This could be by changing the setting (for example by putting the story in a different, modern setting) or by telling the story from another character’s point of view (for example telling the story of the three little pigs from the wolf’s perspective)
Option 5: Mini Sagas
A mini saga is a story told in exactly 50 words (not including your title), the 50 words must create a complete story and so needs to have a beginning, middle and ending. You could take inspiration from a title like ‘An Unexpected Event’ or ‘The Amazing Journey’ or from a picture.
An example mini saga:
School
Peter knew he was in trouble. His teacher warned him that if he was late again he was in big trouble. He ran all the way to school without stopping. When he arrived he was shocked to find the gates were locked.
Then he realised it was Saturday.
