Teach Primary Issue 18.7

60 | www.teachwire.net Solo, our main protagonist, must grapple with the impact of his parent’s decisions, while learning that sometimes grownups have fewer answers than children do. Alongside their public shaming, he must learn to navigate family, school, and a budding friendship. Morag, embattled by failing mental health and media intrusion, is driven into hiding, leaving Solo to deal with problems that even adults scarcely know how to solve. The story follows Solo and Morag as they transition from one normal to another, experiencing the good and the bad of the systems and community around them. There are unexpected kindnesses, thoughtful gestures, funny moments, and occasional missteps and oversights by the people surrounding Solo. Ultimately, the same systems and community come to their aid and help clear the path forwards with humour and care. While the story oscillates between serious and funny, there is plenty of nerve-wracking action. My personal key to create a nerve-wracking scene is to establish a character’s comfort zone, then write the exact opposite. Solo’s comfort zone is any situation where he is alone, not being perceived. He hates being looked at and speaking in public, often flushing bright red when simply answering a question in class. What better than a ceremonial role in a grand church wedding, then, to illustrate Solo’s nerves and provide an opportunity for character growth? TP T he Boy in the Suit is a middle-grade novel which follows ten-year-old Solo Walker and his complicated mum, Morag, as they struggle through the cost-of-living crisis. As a means to survive, the duo sneak uninvited into strangers’ funerals, seeking food, warmth, and somewhere to be. The title refers to the ill-fitting, second-hand suit Solo must wear to blend into the funeral crowd. Naturally, the pair are eventually caught gate-crashing, and their already precarious world is tipped on its side. The Boy in the Suit by James Fox WAGOLL The Boy in the Suit (£7.99, Scholastic) is out now. Teacher notes Creating a nerve-wracking scene, KS2 resource pack The idea of an event so nerve-wracking it has us feeling sick is perhaps familiar to many of us. Sometimes, the fear is justified by the challenge of the situation; sometimes, the emotion is created entirely in our own minds, but is felt strongly, nonetheless. Conveying the latter situation in fiction is easier with a first-person narrator, because their (possibly irrational) experience is what they describe, not the objective reality, and the feelings swirling through their whole body can be described in vivid personal detail. This resource pack, linked with the Teach Primary article by the author himself, will help you guide KS2 children through the process of analysing the crucial, emotional scene from the final chapter of James Fox’s deeply moving novel The Boy in the Suit (his debut book!) in which the traumatised narrator, Solo, helps his father’s fiancée walk up the aisle to be married. The resources will support the understanding of techniques children then select, in order to create their own nerve-jangling event, described by a first-person narrator. This process will enhance broader study of the whole novel, or simply increase enjoyment of it as a class story – it is a truly moving tale that will stimulate a great deal of thought and discussion. Alternatively, the extract may be used in isolation, as a means for teaching advanced authorial techniques; doing so may intrigue children and make them seek out the novel for themselves. Teachers’ notes are included here with suggestions of how you might use these resources with your class. 1 How writers can create a nerve-wracking scene Tense, nerve-jangling episodes are not unusual in fiction, as they contribute to gripping drama. Sometimes, such a scene may be genuinely dangerous or threatening, such as going into an exam, a challenging sporting event, or event into battle. Other times, the stress may be entirely internal. In the last chapter of James Fox’s deeply moving The Boy in the Suit , young Solo must accompany his father’s bride-to-be (Imelda) into church and up the aisle at their wedding; this would be a point of internal stress for many, but it is particularly so for Solo, due to the events of the novel. James Fox has Solo as narrator, so we can experience his exact feelings. The omniscience of a third-person narrator can provide objectivity, but it is the subjectivity of Solo’s emotional turmoil that makes this scene so intense and effective. Techniques a writer could use to help us experience a nerve-wracking scene: First, decide on the event. It should be obviously tense, but not actually threatening, like a wedding procession. It could be something like moving to a new area/starting a new school, or going up on stage to collect an award. Next, create the first-person narrator. Theirs is the voice that will describe the scene, so think about why this event is so important – and therefore nerve-wracking – for them. Why are they so tense about something that isn’t really threatening, dangerous or even challenging? Are they fearful of the fact that people will be looking at them? What has happened to them before this point, to make them this way? 1 DOWNLOAD RESOURCES AT Download your FREE, exclusive teaching pack to help you explore both this extract and the rest of the book with your class. tinyurl.com/ tp- BoyInTheSuit The Boy in the Suit by James Fox Chapter 56, pages 366–367 Outside the church I start to feel sick. The car ride was too bouncy, the bells are ringing too loud, and I can’t even hear myself think. Suddenly I’m n t sure I can do this. Imelda is standing behind me in her long, white fairy-tale wedding dress, and all around me are bridesmaids in puffy pink dresses and strange people I’ve never seen before. The bridesmaids are Imelda’s nieces, and they keep looking at me funny. 1 FIVE TIPS ON HOW TO WRITE A NERVE-WRACKING SCENE REVERSE YOUR CHARACTER’S COMFORT ZONES Get to know your character’s safe space, then flip it upside down. If they love staying indoors, put them on a mountain during a storm. If they typically avoid the spotlight, put them on stage with a mic and a hostile audience. AMP UP THE SENSES Nervousness comes with distinct bodily sensations. Describe what your character is experiencing through sight, sound, touch, and smell. Hone in on body parts that may betray nervousness: a churning stomach, trembling hands, a rapid pulse. USE RHETORICAL QUESTIONS Express doubt and concern by using rhetorical questions in thought and dialogue. Will it be okay? What’s going to happen? When will it be over? Answer these questions in the action. CHOOSE AN IMPOSING SETTING Certain settings have anxiety built in. Choose one with an element of risk, danger, grandeur or tension to it. Describe it in detail and make it seem alien. DESCRIBE THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO Have your character ruminate on their biggest fear. Is it fainting? Falling over? Describe their most dreaded outcomes in detail to create a vivid sense of anxiety. Peer inside the mind of the author, and help pupils understand how to write a nerve-wracking scene