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Edwinstree Middle School

Reading Journal

Name:

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Weekly Guide

Come into school prepared to discuss your

reading

Cool Chilli: Essential Reading

Week

1

Week

2

Week

3

Week

4

Week

5

Week

6

Chapters

1, 2 & 3

Chapters

4 & 7

Chapters

15 & 20

Chapters

22 & 24

Chapters

31 & 37

Chapters

41, 42 &

46

Medium Chilli

Week

1

Week

2

Week

3

Week

4

Week

5

Week

6

Chapters

1-8

Chapters

9-16

Chapters

17-25

Chapters

26-34

Chapters

35-42

Chapters

43-46

Hot Chilli: Also read and then compare

another novel written by David Almond

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Further ideas to choose from

Cool Chilli including

essential learning

Medium Chilli Hot Chilli

Answer the questions

for each chapter

Write your own

questions

(Use The Reading

Detective in the

Linking Literacy

Passport)

Use PEA to answer

questions

Write a summary of

chapters 1, 22 and 46

As you read, make

predictions

Fully consider a

character and create

a written character

portrait

Collect new words

and find their

meanings

Write sentences for

new words you have

found

Use new words in

your own writing

As you read, make

notes about symbols

and motifs

(see below)

Research to add

information about

the symbols and

motifs

Explore the symbols

and motifs in another

novel

Use evidence from

the first few

chapters to draw a

picture of the garage

both

inside and outside.

Label with quotes.

Draw Skellig based on

evidence from a

chosen chapter

Write a book review

Find three facts out

about

David Almond

Write a fact file

about David Almond

Write a biography

about David Almond

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Whilst reading, make notes about Michael.

How does he change? Include Page numbers.

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Whilst reading, make notes about Mina.

Explore her ideas about school.

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Whilst reading, make notes about Skellig.

Track your thought. What do you think he is?

Why is he there? What will he do?

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Date

Read

Summary and Questions

1 Write a summary

2 •Michael went into the garage Sunday morning.

•Michael’s mother was worried about Michael exploring the garage

before it was deemed safe.

•Michael felt annoyed about the whole situation and a bit left out.

Find adjectives used to describe the garage.

3 •We learn that all the work doing up the house and garden was put

on hold because of the arrival of the baby.

•Michael remembered back to his old house on Random Road and

of his old friends Leakey and Coot.

•Doctor Death arrived.

•Michael waited a few minutes before going back into the garage.

•The protagonist tells us about the creature in the shed.

List verbs you can find in this chapter. Pick the most interesting

or exciting.

4 •Michael couldn’t sleep that night. He kept seeing the image of

the creature.

•He tried to convince himself that he didn’t see anything at all.

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•Michael got up and went into the baby’s room

Put together a short prayer (at least four lines long) that you

could say for a very sick baby.

5 •Michael questioned when the garage would be cleared.

•His mum was taking the baby to the hospital for more check- ups.

•We learned that Michael stayed at his old school at Kenny Street

High to be with his friends Leakey and Coot.

•Michael continued to try to convince himself that it has all been a

dream.

Why do you think Michael didn’t tell anyone about what he had

seen?

6 •Dad was working on cleaning the house.

•Michael went back into the garage thinking he wouldn’t see “him”

again but he did.

Find a simile.

7 •Michael spoke to “him”

•He asked for an aspirin

•Michael tells him that they are going to clear the garage out.

•He asked for “27 and 53” and told Michael to go away.

•A girl was standing at the top of the wall into the back lane. She

introduced herself as Mina.

Can you predict what ‘27 and 53’ might be?

8 •Michael ordered “27 and 53”.

•He put the left overs in the outside bin.

How is dad described?

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9 •Michael saw Mina sitting in a tree with a book and a pencil.

•She talks about birds

•She tells Michael that she would like to see his baby sister

The book describes Mina’s eyes as ones that “you think can see

right through you.” What does this mean?

10 •Michael began dreaming about birds, the baby and Mina.

•He took a jar of aspirin from the bathroom and brought it to the

garage with the left over 27 and 53.

•Michael dreamt that his bed was a nest.

Michael has a very weird dream at the beginning of this chapter.

What could the dream be trying to tell him?

11 •Michael went to school

•Leakey was getting on to Michael about being so bad at football

but it was because he was so tired from staying up all night.

•Michael told the man on the bus that there was a man in the

garage

Why do you think Michael chose to tell the man on the bus about

the thing in his garage?

12 •Michael comes home to find Doctor Death in his house.

•His mother is upset that the baby has to go back into the

hospital and blames it on the house being dirty and derelict.

•Michael asked his mam “What are shoulder blades for?” She told

him “They say that shoulder blades are where your wings were

when you were an angel”.

•They drove mum and baby to the hospital.

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This chapter talks about angels. Draw your idea of how a modern-

day angel might look.

13 •Michael went out to Mina and told her the baby is back in

hospital.

•She took him to Crow Road where he first met Whisper the cat.

•They watch the owls.

Use your imagination and the description in this chapter to draw

your impression of Mina’s secret attic.

14 •Michael didn’t go to school.

•He helped his dad clean up around the house

•Michael went into the garage and said “You can’t just sit there!

You can’t just sit like you’re waiting to die”.

•Michael and his dad went to visit the hospital and the baby was in

the glass case again, covered in tubes.

•Dad got Michael 27 and 53 on the way home.

Give three reasons why Michael should have stayed at home and

three for why he should have gone to school.

15 •Michael finds out that Mina is home-schooled •

She tells him her motto “How can a bird that is born for joy/ Sit

in a cage and sing?”

•Michael shows her how to make a hoot noise.

•He tells her he has something to show her.

•His dad called him for his 27 and 53.

What do you think Mina’s family motto means?

“How can a bird that is born for joy/Sit in a case and sing?”

16 •Michael asked Skellig how he knew about 27 and 53.

•Michael told Skellig that the baby was in hospital.

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•He told Skellig he wanted to bring someone to see him.

•Skellig doesn’t want him to bring anyone.

•Michael asked Skellig to think about her sister getting better in

hospital.

•Michael and Mina made “hooting” sounds to each other.

Predict what ‘he’ is and how ‘he’ ended up living in the garage of

Michael’s new home.

17 •Michael goes to school while Mina sits on her front lawn drawing.

•She tells him to listen until he heard the chicks in the nest.

•Michael asks Mina if she heard him hooting last night.

•She tells him she can’t be certain because she dreams.

Why do you think dreams are mentioned again?

18 •Michael got to hold the baby in the hospital. She was still in the

glass case but the wires and tubes weren’t in her.

•Michael asks a woman how to help someone with arthritis.

•She tells him she swears by cod liver oil and a positive mind.

•Michael asks Doctor MacNabola who makes a joke about needles

and saving but tells him that remaining active is the most

important thing to do.

The paragraph in the middle of page 53 is very descriptive. Use

this and your imagination to draw your idea of the hospital ward.

19 •Michael goes to find Mina, who is in her house modelling with clay.

•She goes for a walk with Michael.

If you could create something from clay, what would it be? Why?

20 •Michael took Mina in to see Skellig.

•He told Mina he was “nobody”

•Mina said “You must let us help you” to Skellig. He said “Do what

you want”

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Do you think Skellig wants help? What is your evidence?

21 •Michael and Mina make a plan to hoot to each other at dawn so

that they can carry out the plan.

•Michael whispers to himself “He won’t die”

Do you think Skellig will survive? Why?

22 Write a summary

23 •Mrs. Dando dropped homework to Michael.

•Mina began writing a diary about herself, Michael and Skellig.

This chapter talks about what should and shouldn’t be taught in

schools. Write 3 things you think should be taught.

24 •Mina tells Michael the house is her grandfathers who died last

year.

•They went in looking for Skellig but he had moved from where

they had left him.

•Mina tried to make him more comfortable but when she took off

his jacket she found wings.

•Skellig begged them to let him sleep and let him go home.

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This chapter reveals a little more about who/what Skellig is. Why

do you think Skellig came to be in the garage?

25 •Michael’s sister had the wires and tubes stuck in her again.

•Michael tried to listen to her breathing.

•On the way home Michael’s dad struggled to hold back the tears.

•Michael touched his heart and felt the baby’s beating beside his

own.

What do you think it means when Michael felt the baby’s heart

beating?

26 •Leakey and Coot saw Mina for the first time.

If Mina’s suggestions are correct what kind of evolving creatures

might we see around the planet?

27 •Leakey and Coot said its Minas fault that Michael is not doing

well at football.

•They tease Michael until he got up and grabbed him by the scruff

of the neck.

Find five powerful verbs.

28 •After Coot kicked the ball at the garage Michael’s dad nailed

boards across the door and wrote “DANGER” across them.

•Michal tells the boys about Mina being home schooled and thinks

about her visiting Skellig alone.

There is a lot of dialogue in this chapter. Using your knowledge of

play scripts...change the conversations on page 84 into a short

play (remember the stage directions).

29 •Mina and Michael have an argument about Leakey and Coot.

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•Michael says she has no idea about what “ordinary” people do.

Find an example of a rhyming couplet in this chapter.

30 •Michael dreamed that Skellig pulled the tubes and wires from his

sister and that they were both strong again.

•Michael and Mina made up.

This is a very descriptive chapter which includes lots of great

imagery. Which line/s do you like best? Why?

31 •They went back to visit Skellig in the house.

•They saw the owls feeding Skellig and noticed how much stronger

he seemed

•They stood in a circle.

•Michael “felt the feathers and delicate bones rising from my own

shoulders, and I was lifted from the floor with Skellig and Mina”

(p111)

•Dad was out shouting for Michael.

•He said he was dreaming and sleepwalking.

Find four powerful verbs. Write a boring synonym for it.

32 •Doctor Death asked Michael about his “sleepwalking”.

•Michael asked about Ernie Myers and if he ever “saw” things.

•Dr. Death told him that he should go back to school.

Michael tells a lie to most of the people he cares about, in this

chapter. Why do you think he does this? Do you think this lie was

a good idea? Is it ever acceptable to tell a lie?

33 •Michael went back to school.

•He played the best he ever had.

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•Michael got a phone call at school from his dad. He told him that

something wasn’t right and that he had to go to Minas after

school, because he had to go to the hospital.

Write a thought bubble for Michael’s feelings at this time.

34 •Mina told Michael she went to see Skellig on her own today and

that he told her that he would be leaving soon and that Michael

must keep coming to see him.

This chapter mentions that Skellig might be going away. Where

do you think he might be going?

35 •Michael waited for his dad in Minas and began drawing.

•His dad rang and told him that they are planning on operating the

next day on her heart.

Use the internet or a book to find out about the heart. You could

draw a picture.

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36 •Mina and Michael sit outside waiting on dad to return. They

discuss what it means that “Skellig eats living things and makes

pellets like the owls.”

This chapter talks about the kinds of dreams the fledglings

(young birds) might have. What dream might a pet dog, cat,

hamster or goldfish have?

37 •Michael and his dad argue about him going to school.

•Mina asks Michael to help her with the fledgling that have fallen

out of the nest.

•Dad tells Michael that everything will be fine and that he needs

to just keep believing.

The characters swear in this chapter. Why do you think the

author chooses to use this language at this point?

38 Mina’s mother tells them about Persephone.

•Mina and Michael go to visit Skellig but he wasn’t there.

•Michael said his heart stopped and he fainted.

Find out about the Persephone myth.

39 •Michael came to but said he can only feel his heart, not the

baby’s.

•They think Skellig has left forever.

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Use your imagination to come up with a different explanation of

why Michael can’t feel the second heartbeat anymore. What

could have happened, if the baby hasn’t died?

40 Mrs. Dando came to give Michael work and he told her that she

was having an operation today.

•Dad pulled up and the chapter ended with him saying “It’s over

son”

Why do you think the author ends this chapter with dad saying,

“It’s over, son.”? What is the author trying to make the reader

think or feel?

41 •Michael was wrong. She wasn’t dead.

•They try to think of a name

•Mum tells them of a dream she had about a man who came into

the hospital and picked the baby up (p150)

•Michael asked Dr. MacNabola “Can love help a person to get

better?”

•Michael gets 27 and 53 on the way home.

Everyone in the family is struggling to find an appropriate name

for the baby. Can you help? Suggest a name for Michael’s sister

and your reason for choosing that name.

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42 •Michael told Mina to feel his chest to see if she could feel “her

(the baby’s) heart beating right in there beside my own?”

•Skellig came back. He told Mina and Michael they were a “pair of

angels”

•Michael said you went to visit my sister. “You made her strong”

•Skellig said “it was her that gave strength to me” Skellig told

them he was “Something like you, something like a beast,

something like a bird, something like an angel”

•Skellig thanked them “for giving me my life again”

•Mina and Michael knew he was going to leave.

On page 131 Michael asks Skellig what he is. Skellig’s reply is not

clear, “Something like you, something like a beast, something like a

bird, something like an angel.” Was this what you expected?

Explain your thoughts.

43 •Michael went back to school and was the best at football.

Michael seems like a new boy in this chapter. Leakey says Michael

has, “been miles and miles away.” He hasn’t really been far away,

so what is the author trying to tell the reader about the way

Michael has been acting?

44 •They worked on the house

•The baby got stronger

•Michael and Mina went to the attic on more time.

•They saw “Thank you. S carved on the wood and three white

feathers”

This chapter suggests that someone else might find Skellig once

he leaves Michael and Mina. Write a brief plan for the next book.

Include ideas about characters, setting, plot and ending.

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45 •The builders came to knock the garage

•Michael whispered goodbye to Skellig when he saw the dust,

rubble and take away trays.

We don’t learn a lot about how Michael is feeling when the garage

is destroyed. How do you think he will be feeling?

46 Write a summary

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As you read, make notes about symbols and motifs

You could research further to add ideas about these.

Symbol or

motif

Page Notes – What might this mean?

Birds

(including owls)

The colour

black

Arthritis

Bones and

arthritis

Archaeopteryx

Pomegranates

Persephone

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Barn Owls

Of the five species of owl which breed in Britain the barn owl is becoming much

less common generally - and in some places, rare. According to the Barn Owl

Trust there are certainly less than 4,000 pairs of barn owls living in the British

Isles. This is fewer than half the number resident here just fifty years ago

although great efforts are now being made to protect the species.

In appearance the barn owl is very distinctive. It has a body length of up to

36cm (14") and has handsome buff-coloured plumage mottled with grey on the

upper parts of the body and wings. The heart-shaped head and the underparts

of the barn owl are white. The eyes are large and, as with all owls, the head can

be turned 180 to permit the bird to look directly backwards.

Breeding may start as early as February or March, with up to seven eggs being

laid in a clutch depending on the availability of food. The eggs hatch in about

four weeks, during which time the male feeds the female on the nest. Baby owls

can fly by the time they are ten weeks old.

The barn owl is, or was, a typical farm-dweller, roosting as its name implies in

the timbers of old barns and outbuildings. The species also roosts in church

towers, lofts and hollow trees, especially elm.

The decline of the barn owl and the increasing threat to its future survival can

be traced to several causes. Probably the most serious problem for the species

is finding a suitable nesting site, as many of the old type barn buildings have

been replaced by modern structures which do not offer the same opportunities

for nesting. Modern churches too leave a great deal to be desired from the

owl's point of view, while the elm tree so favoured by barn owls is itself a

threatened species thanks to Dutch Elm disease. 2013 was not a good year for

barn owls. Nesting occupancy was 43% below average and brood sizes no higher

than normal, but 2014 was a very good year, and the number of nesting pairs

was 16% above average.

Owls are birds of prey, so it is always possible that creatures they eat may

have been poisoned by agricultural chemicals of one kind or another. This may

not kill the adult owl, but it can result in dead embryos in the eggs.

In the Victorian era, gamekeepers killed barn owls in order to protect young

game birds such as pheasant. The fact that the barn owls play an important role

in the countryside by killing rats, mice and other vermin was overlooked at that

time.

Although the barn owl is widely distributed throughout the British Isles it is

nowhere common and appears to be declining steadily in numbers.

Some barn owls are illegally taken and sold to collectors even though the

species is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

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Egg collectors too are a serious threat. They raid barn owls' nests and steal

eggs either for their own collection or to sell to others. The taking of eggs is

also against the Law, so it must be hoped that those caught stealing or

possessing barn owl eggs will be dealt with severely, as this might deter other

egg thieves.

Owls are susceptible to disturbance of any kind, especially in the breeding

season (February - May) when it could result in the loss of the young.

Low flying can prove a hazard to the barn owl (and motorists too) especially if it

chooses to swoop at low level across a busy road.

If we are to keep this handsome owl as a resident species every effort must be

made to protect it both now and in the future.

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The Schoolboy – William Blake

I love to rise in a summer morn,

When the birds sing on every tree;

The distant huntsman winds his horn,

And the skylark sings with me:

O what sweet company!

But to go to school in a summer morn, -

O it drives all joy away!

Under a cruel eye outworn,

The little ones spend the day

In sighing and dismay.

Ah then at times I drooping sit,

And spend many an anxious hour;

Nor in my book can I take delight,

Nor sit in learning's bower,

Worn through with the dreary shower.

How can the bird that is born for joy

Sit in a cage and sing?

How can a child, when fears annoy,

But droop his tender wing,

And forget his youthful spring!

O father and mother if buds are nipped,

And blossoms blown away;

And if the tender plants are stripped

Of their joy in the springing day,

By sorrow and care's dismay, -

How shall the summer arise in joy,

Or the summer fruits appear?

Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy,

Or bless the mellowing year,

When the blasts of winter appear?

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