Christopher William Hill Learning Resources - Creative activities based on Osbert the Avenger

CFE Level 2 (Ages 8-11)

Christopher
William Hill
Learning Resources
Creative activities based on
Osbert the Avenger

Resources created by Carolyn Sharp, Librarian,
Learning Resource Service, Falkirk Council

About Christopher William Hill and Osbert the
Avenger
  Christopher William Hill’s Tales from Schwartzgarten series is a delightfully
  grisly and humorous romp through the city of Schwartzgarten, where
  incident and intrigue are never far away. Osbert the Avenger is the first in
  the four-part series and follows the tale of Osbert Brinkhoff, a precocious
  boy who becomes determined to dish out justice when his family and
  friends suffer at the hands of Schwartzgarten’s most powerful people. For
  fans of Dahl and Lemony Snicket, Schwartzgarten should definitely be the
  next stop on their reading journey.

  Christopher William Hill is a renowned playwright and novelist and is a
  previous winner of the Peter Tinniswood Award and a BBC Radio and
  Music Award. He has written a number of successful plays for children,
  including 2009’s Heartbreak Beautiful which has been performed in the
  National Theatre and more recently in Sao Paulo. His favourite authors as
  a child included Edward Gorey, whose eerie and sinister style are echoed
  in Hill’s writing for children. He has a fondness for writing about oddballs
  and anti-heroes, saying, “Show me a character who likes rainbows and
  magical unicorns and I will show you a bucket to be sick into.”1

About this resource
  This resource has been written to support the Scottish Friendly Children’s
  Book Tour with Christopher William Hill. However, the resource has been
  designed so you can use it at any point to engage classes and book
  groups with Osbert the Avenger.

  To find out more about the Tour and how to apply for upcoming tours,
  please visit http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/teachers-
  librarians/scottish-friendly-childrens-book-tour

                                                                                  1 www.young
                                                                                  writers.co.uk/gu
                                                                                  est-author-
                                                                                  interviews.php?
                                                                                  page_id=christo
                                                                                  pher%20william
                                                                                  %20hill, 16 April
                                                                                  2015

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Activities
  Research Harry Houdini
  LIT 2-14a, LIT 2-25a
  Mr. Rudulfus’ escapology act is famous throughout Schwartzgarten,
  although it achieves infamy after his gruesome end. Ask your pupils to
  research the life and amazing escapology tricks of Harry Houdini – this
  site is packed with information: www.thegreatharryhoudini.com. After this,
  ask them to present what they’ve learned in a new text. You could ask
  them to recreate one of his famous tricks as a comic strip or even a drama
  script.

  Write some obituaries
  Eng 2-27a, LIT 2-28a
  The teachers from the Institute are feared throughout Schwartzgarten, but
  after the Principal’s demise the town newspapers will be free to write some
  truthful obituaries! Ask your pupils to write the obituaries of one of the
  teachers. They should include physical descriptions, significant
  biographical information, details of their grisly deaths and what other
  people thought of them (some quotes from pupils or townspeople would
  be fitting!).

  Unlikely heroes
  LIT 2-25a, Eng 2-31a
  Osbert doesn’t fit the mould of the traditional hero: firstly he doesn’t look
  the way we expect a hero to look, and secondly his actions are hardly
  virtuous! Discuss with your pupils what we might expect a typical hero to
  look like, drawing on their experience from novels, comics and films. How
  is Osbert different? Challenge your pupils to come up with their own
  unlikely heroes – they can use the following prompt questions for ideas:
  l   What does your character look like?
  l   How do they act?
  l   Why would they be considered an unlikely hero? Is it because of either
      one of the previous points?
  l   What prompted them to become a hero? Did something bad happen
      to them, like Osbert?
  l   What acts of heroism do they carry out?
  l   What equipment and costumes do they make use of?
  After they have come up with their characters, they can produce a story or
  comic strip about one of their characters’ heroic deeds.

  Find out about your town’s past
  LIT 2-25a, Tch 2-04a, SOC 2-01a
  Schwartzgarten has a colourful past! Ask your pupils to find out about the
  history of their home town. You can invite local experts in to speak and

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take journeys to some local points of interest. Your pupils could compile
their research into a custom Google Map.

It’s easy to make your own customised Google map: you need to create a
Google account, so you can set up one account for the whole class to use
to ensure privacy. Find out how to create a Google account here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUnv8JdxF24 And find out how to make
custom maps here:
www.google.co.uk/earth/outreach/tutorials/custommaps.html

The whole class can collaborate on a Google Map at the same time and
each person can save as they make changes.

Write Mr. Rudulfus’ diary
Eng 2-31a, Eng 2-19a
The story is mostly explored from Osbert’s point of view, so why not get
your pupils to explore events from Mr. Rudulfus’ perspective? To make
sure they capture Rudulfus’ character accurately, ask them to mind map
all the aspects of his character first. After this, get them to write a series of
diary entries leading up to the day of Rudulfus’ spectacular demise. The
entries could begin the day before the death of Professor Ingelbrod,
showing Rudulfus in his normal state of mind, and then chart his
increasing panic and scheming as he tries to outwit Osbert (all the while
being terrorised by ravens).

Raven mad
LIT 2-14a, SCN 2-01a
To Mr. Rudulfus, ravens are just pests. But ravens, and the crow family to
which they belong, are fascinating birds demonstrating remarkable
intelligence. If you want to use this as a springboard for a project about
ravens and other British birds, the following resources may be useful:
l   A National Geographic video talking about the intelligence of ravens:
    bit.ly/NatGeoRavens
l   The BBC’s collection of videos on birds: bit.ly/BBCLearningBirds
If you’d like to go down a different angle, you could do a project about
animals renowned for their acute intelligence. Here are a few useful
starting points:
l   Bottlenose Dolphin facts: ngkids.co.uk/animals/dolphins
l   A BBC Earth video showing dolphins learning:
    bit.ly/BBCEarthDolphins
l   Another BBC Earth video showing how parrots are capable of much
    more than simply hearing and repeating: bit.ly/BBCEarthParrots
l   Elephants’ ability to solve problems is shown in this video:
    bit.ly/DiscoveryElephants

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If you and your pupils loved Osbert the
Avenger...
  Why not try some of the grisly reads on this list:
  scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/10-grisly-reads-for-8-11s

  You could check out this list of books with horrible teachers:
  scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/7-nasty-teachers-8-11

  Or if you liked the kindly Mr. Lomm, try this list:
  scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/6-nice-teachers-8-11

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