Extract 6

My Family and Other

Animals

Vocabulary

• Smooth: soft

• As dark as velvet: very dark

• Ripple: small wave

• Dimly: not very brightly or clearly

• Outlined: to show or mark the edge of something.

• Wine-red

• Bloody-red

• Fretted battlement: a short wall decorated with patterns

• Flakes of soot: little pieces of a black powder made mainly of carbon which is produced when coal, wood, etc. is burnt

• Hooting : to make a load noise.

Expressions:

• As dark as velvet

• Was dimly outlined by a faint reddish glow in the sky

• Nest of stars

• A silver bubble

• The moon rose higher and higher

• Hooting in astonishment

• As silently as flakes of soot

Analysis:

• Tone: relaxing

• Atmosphere: calmed

• Theme: the rising of the moon

• Vocabulary: it is very descriptive. It uses

compound adjectives to describe colours.

It also uses images and it appeals to the

senses. In addition, uses metaphors to

describe images.

Summary:

• This extract starts with the sea being very

calmed and suddenly a little glow appears,

it was the moon. And then describes how

the moon rises and reflects in the sea. The

owls appeared flying above the sea in

astonishment, watching the moon while

rised. In the end, the stars appeared and

created an amizing effect.

Corfu Island

• Corfu is a Greek island in

the Ionian Sea. It is the

second largest of

the Ionian Islands.

• The old town, having grown within fortifications, where every metre of ground was precious, is a labyrinth of narrow streets paved with cobblestones, sometimes tortuous but colourful and clean.

• Corfu contains a few very important remains of antiquity.

• Corfu Town is famous for its Italianate architecture. Also notable are

the Venetian-Roman style City Hall, the Old and New castles.

Characters• Gerry Durrell: author and narrator of the novel. In the

story he is a kid who likes all from nature, and insects.

• Margo Durrell: she is the girl of the four kids. She, as a

tipical adolescent, likes make up, clothes, diets,

having a good skin.

• Lesly Durrell: he likes guns, and hunting animals, and

also likes reading books about guns.

• Larry Durrell: he is the oldest of all the kids. He loves

literature, and reading lots of books.

• Mom: she is the only adult in the family. She loves all

about cooking and gardening.

Gerald Durrell

• Gerald "Gerry" Malcolm Durrell, OBE (January

7, 1925 – January 30, 1995) was

a naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author

and television presenter. He founded what is now

called the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and

the Jersey Zoo (now renamed Durrell Wildlife) on

the Channel Island of Jersey in 1958, but is

perhaps best remembered for writing a number of

books based on his life as an animal collector

and enthusiast. He was the brother of the

novelist Lawrence Durrell.

This project was done by:

• Greta Matienzo

• Maria Paula Tear

• Agustina Subirá

• Lucila Lafuente

• Victoria Nielsen

• Pilar Olaizola