Book inspiration assignment

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 1

Reading

We are going to read a book for English soon. This LessonUp lesson is meant to give you some inspiration about books and its authors. 

Part 1: Beetle boy

The first part of this assignment is about the book Beetle Boy by M.G. Leonard.

Grab your headset and watch this introduction of the book Beetle Boy by the author, M.G. Leonard.

Read why M.G. Leonard has written Beetle Boy:

'Ever since I was little I’ve been frightened of creepy-crawlies. Then I found out that beetles can be pretty, brightly coloured, even gold. Others are as strong as the Incredible Hulk. Some shoot acid out of their butts, and all beetles have wings! My fear had stopped me from seeing how fantastic beetles were, and so I decided to write an adventure with the beetles as the good guys.'

Biography” M.G. Leonard

Read “biography” and “a note from the author” about M.G. Leonard by clicking here.

Now answer the following questions about M.G. Leonard, please.

First, answer 5 questions about her biography on the next slides.

1. Into how many languages has the book Beetle Boy been translated?

2. What is M.G. Leonard writing on now?

3. Where does the author live?

4. In which industry did she work before she started writing?

5. What did she train for after she left this industry?

Now answer the following questions about M.G. Leonard, please.

Now, answer 3 questions about "Note from the author" on the next slides.

6. What does Maya love?

7. What does she think is important?

8. What does she say about beetles?

Read this abstract about Beetle Boy

When Darkus's dad disappears from a locked room in the Natural History Museum, everyone's desperate to discover what happened. However, when no clues are found, the police and the newspapers rapidly lose interest and Darkus is left to solve the mystery. Luckily, he has some very special friends to help him. This is a detective story with a twist: Darkus's quest to find his dad is supported not only by his two best friends – Bertolt and Virginia – but also his new pet beetle, Baxter. And Baxter is no ordinary beetle. Baxter is huge (the size of a hamster), has the intelligence of a human, and several hundred friends hiding next door just waiting for the call to action.

Chapter 1 of Beetle Boy

Read chapter 1: The Mysterious Disappearance of Bartholomew Cuttle of Beetle Boy by clicking on this link, please.

After reading this chapter, there will be nine questions to answer about this. You will find the questions on the next slides.

1. What was Dr Bartholomew Cuttle’s job at the Natural History Museum?

1. University professor
2. Director of Science
3. Detective inspector
4. Security guard

2. According to the police report, on what date had Dr Cuttle gone missing?

3. More than anything else, Darkus knew his dad was not the kind of father who would abandon his 13-year-old son. Which word is closest in meaning to abandon?

1. disappoint
2. desert
3. frighten
4. kidnap

4. Dr Bartholomew Cuttle was the kind of man who ...
Pick two.

1. Always lost his keys.
2. Would abandon his 13-year-old son.
3. Didn't pick his son up from school.
4. Never took an umbrella on rainy days.

5. The police report stated that the 27th of September had been an unremarkable Tuesday. Which word is closest in meaning to unremarkable? Pick one.

1. strange
2. miserable
3. exciting
4. ordinary

kitchen

living room

bathroom

Match the room with the correct colour.

pink

orange

midnight-blue

Would you like to read the rest of the book Beetle Boy? Why? Explain what you like or don’t like about it.

Time left?

Draw your own beetle. What does your beetle look like? What special powers does your beetle have? Where does it live? Take a picture of your rawing and send it in at the next slide, please.

Upload a picture of your beetle drawing here, please.

Part 2: other books & writers

Check out the list with book suggestions for year 1.

You can find the list in the "jaarbijlage" in SomToday.

Write down a couple of authors (writers) and/or titles that you think you will like.

Find information

Find information about (at least) one of the authors. On an English site, so your information should be in English!!! 

If you need help: use the name of the author and the term “children’s books” in Google (or see slide 37 for tips).

Write down at least 3 interesting facts about the writer.  For example: Where does he/she live, what did he/she study, what are his/her interests/hobbies, a list of the books he/she has written, or other funny facts. You can type your answers in the next slide.

Type in the information about your writer here, please.

Now find information about (at least) one of your writer's books. Write down 3 interesting facts about one of this writer’s books.

You can type the information you found in the next slide, please.

Type in the information about the book here, please.

Upload a picture of the writer and one of his/her books here, please.

Helpful tips for searching information

Does the writer have his/her own website? Start searching there. If not, you can often find information on the site of the publisher (uitgeverij) or the English Wikipedia site.

If you don’t know which writer to choose, choose one of the six links on the next slide.

Helpful tips

- Rick Riordan

- Roald Dahl

- David Walliams

- Peter Bunzl

- Lucy Strange

- Alice Oseman

Homework

Finish this LessonUp lesson in which you find information about an author and a book of choice and note this information down on slides ....