My novel study (skellig)

Chapter 1:

1. What does the narrator discover in the shed? In the shed, the narrator discovers a boy sitting on a chest of tea bags     √

2. What happened to the previous owner of the house?     The previous owner died under the kitchen table    √

Chapter 2:

1. In your reading book, draw a SMALL sketch of the shed and label at least 5 of the things described in this chapter.

2. Why wasn’t Michael allowed in the shed? Michael was not allowed in the shed because there parents thought it was dangerous.    √

3. Read the last chapter. Why is Michael annoyed at the baby? Michael is annoyed at the baby because he is getting more attention than Michael.    √

Chapter 3:

1. Why does Michael call the doctor Doctor Death? Michael called him Doctor Death because he has grey face and black spots on his hands and he doesn't know how to smile.    √

2. What do YOU think that Michael finds in the shed? I think that Michael finds a dead person    √

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Chapters 4 and 5:

1. What are three things that have now changed in Michael’s life? Three things that have changed in Michael’s life are:

1.  He is getting less attention from since the baby came and his parents are worrying about the baby because it was born too early.    √ A great answer

2.  He has moved houses    √

3. And he has met a new girl next door     √ Are you saying that this is the most important?

Chapters 6 and 7:

1. The author mentions death several times in these chapters (eg. Page 17: ‘He sighed like he was sick to death of everything’). Why do you think he writes about these things so early in the book?

I think  he is because I think that the boy is close to death

Chapter 8:

1. Why did Michael order ’27 and 53’ from the Chinese takeaway? Michael ordered 27 and 53 because that was  what the man in the garage wanted.    √

Chapter 9:

1. What sort of person is Mina (her personality, her looks, her interests) These words describe Mina

     Personality loves nature    √

    Interests she is interested in birds    √

    Looks= she looks little    √

2. What colour is a blackbird? Do some research. A blackbird has these colours Blacks whites and red    √

3. What does this tell us about the difference between Michael and Mina?

    Mina is …. a deeper thinker than michael    √

    Michael is …. a person who rushes    √  Now you are thinking about what each character is like.

Chapters 10, 11 and 12:

1. What does Michael now notice about the blackbird? Michael now notices that the blackbird …. is on top of their shed    X No. Read carefully

2.Why is Michael so interested in shoulder blades? Michael is interested in shoulder blades because …. its the part that is sticking out    √ AHA!

Chapter 13:

1. What does Mina show Michael? Mina shows Michael a house on crowns road and it's creepy     √

2. Why do you think she shows him? Mina shows Michael a witches house     Mina trusts Michaels

Chapter 16:

1. Michael tells the person in the shed about how sick the baby is and asks him to think about her. Why does he do this?  He doest it because he thinks that he can help her get better, because Michael thinks that the guy in the shed is a angle.     √

Chapter 17:

1. How do we know that Michael and Mina are becoming friends? Because they are starting to show each other some secrets that nobody knows about.      √ Good thinking.

2. What is pneumatization?  The presence of air cavities within the bones.     √

3. What is Mina teaching Michael to do?  Listen deeper.     √ AHA!

Chapter 18:

1. Who is Arthur?    Its arthritis

2. What does Michael have to do to help the man in the shed with Arthur?  Keep moving or get a doctor

Chapters 19, 20 and 21:

1. How does Mina react to the man in the shed?   Scared and felt sorry for him

2. What is their plan?   to get him to another place so he could get better

Chapters 22, 23 and 24:

1. How does Mina feel about the man?  Worried but is sure that he is gonna get well    √

2. How do we know this?   Because she has been wanting see him and trusts he can do it.      √

3. Why does Mina apologise for being sarcastic to Michael? Because she doesn’t want him to feel bad because he has the baby to think about.    √

4. Why does Michael look out of the shutters to make sure that the world is really there? Because he thinks he is in a dream.         √

5. PREDICT: Now that you have found out what we're on Skellig’s back, what do you think he is and why is here there? I think he is some type of bird and he might have a broken wing and couldn’t fly.     √ Interesting thinking, Shukoor.

Chapter 25:

1. Why are Michael’s family so sad?    The baby is back in the glass cage    √

2. What does Michael keep hearing so that he can keep it safe?  He keeps hearing the baby’s heart beating and she is breathing.         √

Chapter 26, 27 and 28:

   √

1. What is an archaeopteryx?   A flying dinosaur

2. What does Mina think that the archaeopteryx developed into?  Because he thinks he is in a dream.         X Read the question

3. What do Coot and Leakey think of Mina?    They thinks that she has been distracting him.     √    

4. Why does Michael argue with Coot and Leakey?    Because he likes Mina and doesn’t want them to talk about her in that way.         √

5. Write down three reasons that Michael and his friends are growing apart.

i)  They don’t like Mina .         √

ii)They knocked the garage down.         √

iii)He’s not playing rugby very well.      √   

Chapter 29:

1. Explain why Michael and Mina are having such a big argument? She thinks that Michael's friends hate him    √

Chapter 30:

1. Why does Michael now need to rely on Mina if he wants to see Skellig?   Because Mina has the key to where Skellig is.    √

2. Think of TWO reasons that the author repeats ‘DANGER’ in this part of the story. Because it’s a danger story .

and something dangerous is gonna happen    √

Chapter 31:

1. How does Michael know that the baby is still alive?    Because his heart's still beating    √

2. What are the owls doing for Skellig?    They are feeding him    √

3. What was happening to Michael and Mina as they were spinning with Skellig?  They were growing wings.    √

4. PREDICT: What has happened to make Michael’s dad so upset? Mina had lied to him    √

5. PREDICT: What do you think will happen in the rest of the story? Why? Skellig is not going to die    √

Chapter 32:

1. Why does Michael say that Doctor Death would never grow wings? Because his back was Cold, Dry and pale.      √

2. What does Doctor Death tell Michael about Ernie Meyers (previous owner of the house)? He might Have seen him or known about him      √

3. Why did Michael lie to his father about his sleepwalking?  Because he thought that he wouldn’t believe him.

Chapter 33:

1. How do Coot and Leakey act differently to Michael when he goes back to school? They know about Mina and they think Michael hates them and leaky is making fun of him      √

2. Why do they do this? They are jealous of Mina      √

3. How have the things that Michael has been doing and learning out of school affected the things that he does and says in the classroom?   He has learnt heaps from Mina and shared it with the class.      √

4. Why is Michael trembling?  Because he is worried about the baby.      √ AHA!

Chapters 34 and 35:

1. What has Mina learned about Skellig while Michael was at school?  That skellig is going away      

2. PREDICT: Why do you think that Skellig wants Michael to keep coming to see him? He wants to tell him something      √

3. Mina drops the pellet from Skellig in a bowl of water. What does this tell us about him? That he is a type of animal bird thing.      √ I thought that this was interesting.

4. What do you now think that he is? Why? Because animals have pellets And that he is different to others.          √

Chapters 36, 37 and 38:

1. What are some of the things that Michael has to be happy about in his life? The baby was alright and that skellig will live.      √

2. What are some of the things that Michael has to be worried about in his life? That maybe one day the baby will have a problem and skellig may have something else he need to do.       √

3. Retell the myth of Persephone in less than 40 words.She was forced to live underground in the winter and at spring she came back and the earth and plants were welcoming her.      More is needed here, Shukoor

4. Explain why the author is writing about fledglings, spring and the myth of Persephone? Maybe because skellig came alive and the babies were waking.      √

5. Where do you think that Skellig has gone?  To welcome the lady back      ? What lady?

6. Why has he gone there?      To make her feel welcome      ? Who? Why?

7. Michael can no longer feel the heart. Why is this significant?     Because this has been the story finding out if the baby would live and the baby was in deep sleep so she didn't feel awake.       √ Good   

Chapters 39 and 40:

1. On page 142 the author wrote ‘Miles above, a great heavy bird flapped across the blue’. How is this important to the story?    Because it might take Skellig to someone        √ Interesting.

2. What is ‘over’?   When the baby as finished her operation and stop the nightmares.       √

Chapter 41:

1. What was the ‘dream’ that Michael’s mother had?   It was when Skellig went to the baby      √

2. What did Skellig do to the baby?    Helped her through the operation and made her feel and live.      √

3. How did Michael’s mother know that the baby would be all right in the operation? She believed that she would be alright and the dream she had helped her believe.         √

4. Why was Dr MacNabola so impressed with Michael?     Because he had helped his friend and ask him what to do.          √

Chapter 42:

1. What have we learned about Skellig in this chapter?    That he cared about them and the baby will live.      X What is Skellig now going to do?      √ A better answer.

Chapter 43 and 44:

1. What was the message that Skellig left for Michael and Mina? That he had healed the baby.      √

2. Why were there three feathers inside the heart?  So they would remember him one for Mina one for Michael and one for the baby.          √

Chapters 45 and 46:

1. Why did Michael put the feather under the baby’s pillow?    To help her remember him.       √

2. What made Michael’s mother catch her breath when Mina showed her the drawing? Because she might of recognised him from her dream           √