Teach-Primary-Issue-19.3

60 | www.teachwire.net I grew up loving Indiana Jones , Back to the Future , and Dr Who . I also enjoyed history at school, and all of this has contributed to me eventually imagining that there are special doors that can open into the time in which they were made. I call them Time Doors. Of course, not anyone can open a Time Door. Only a Time Key can spot one and will be able to open it. In my Time Keys series, only young people with a musical gift are capable of being Time Keys. It’s a fact that children usually have superior hearing to adults. This is important, because it is music that opens a Time Door. The Time Key can tune into the frequency of a Time Door and play the music required to open it. In Hunt for the Golden Scarab , my heroes open a Time Door back to Ancient Egypt, because they are searching for the lost heart scarab of Nefertiti. The story takes the reader from the present to 1922, when Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb, and then all the way back to 1331 BCE. In each book of the Time Keys series, our musical heroes will open a portal into the past and have an adventure. Every story will have at least one powerful portal. I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about portal stories, how and why they work, my own door lore, and the function the portal plays in the narrative. H ave you ever seen a door that seems to resonate with power, as if it would open into another world? I spot them all over the place. Odd, small, shabby doors, with peeling paint and a rusty lock, are as appealing to my imagination as grand doors with ornate carvings. Books started my fascination with doors, namely The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. A door is thing of mystery. You never know what or who is going to be on the other side... Hunt for the Golden Scarab, by MG Leonard WAGOLL Hunt for the Golden Scarab , byMG Leonard, ill. Manuel Šumberac (£7.99, Macmillan Children’s Books), is out now Who/ what/ where Suggestions Language ideas to adapt • Where / when do they end up? • How do they react? • What do they say to themselves? • Don’t state the location: describe what the character sees (hears/smells). It must be surprisingly different – note the changes, referring to what’s no longer there as well as what is. • If they speak, keep it very short – show shock/ surprise • Verbs show behaviour: His eyes flew open in shock. He scrambled… peeping… • Past perfect describes what has happened: the metal door had opened…footprints had vanished… • Detailed descriptions through noun phrases and prepositions describe what the character sees. • How will they know they aren’t alone? • What will the new character be doing? • Hear a noise; see a figure. React urgently. • Add mystery in the way they are described – not threatening, in order to contrast with threat that has been left behind. • Use a combination of urgent verbs and expanded nouns for detail. Describe the new person doing something unthreatening: A noise …made him spin around… a flickering candle…in its glow…was a man with his head in his hands. Cover and illustrations © Manuel Šumberac 2 Use prepositions and prepositional phrases to describe the physical environment: behind him, in front of him, out of him, above it...; on the rough-hewn stone floor, at the feet of a …Placing things visually is vital in a transition scene like this. Prepositions and related phrases may be used as – or as part of – fronted adverbials: In his head… With his back and hands flat against the metal door … Starting with the adverbial contributes to scene-setting here. Further detail can be given with expanded noun phrases to convey a great deal of information concisely. Remember to expand with prepositions after nouns, as well as adjectives before nouns: the keyboard of his piano back home…the opening phrase of Chopin’s piano piece…a flickering candle in a lantern…an enormous stone box … Use modal verbs to show how the main character is thinking about the future: He’d never see his mum again; as if it could reach through time … Contracting a would after a name or pronoun helps the writing feel more natural and even urgent, without taking away the power of the word. Using a tiny bit of speech can show the character’s state of mind. When Sim asks, “ What? ” it is more of an exclamation than a question, and it is much more realistic than something longer, like, “What on earth is going on? Where am I?” Use a broader range of conjunctions, including words that aren’t exclusively used as conjunctions – as, until, except – to link clauses in less conventional ways, as this is far from a conventional situation! Cover and illustrations © Manuel Šumberac 3 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-portal Exploring writers’ techniques Reread the extract from Hunt for the Golden Scarab by MG Leonard. Using the ‘How writers can describe a transition through a portal’ poster, annotate the text to show the ways in which Leonard has shown us not just the process of transition, but also Sim’s mental state before and after it. Sim closed his eyes. This was it. The Council had found him. He’d never see his mum again. In his head, he stepped the A played by the tuning fork down to an F, humming the harmonizing note so that his skull buzzed with it. F was the first note of the ‘Raindrop’ Prelude. With his back and hands flat against the metal door, Sim imagined the keyboard of his piano back home and played the opening phrase of Chopin’s piano piece, as if it could reach through time and summon his mum. He let the music fill him up until he was brimming with it. Until it radiated out of him like golden sunlight. Until he felt he was no longer physical but pure music and he was falling backwards. Cover and illustrations © Manuel Šumberac 1 FIVE TIPS FOR WRITING A GREAT PORTAL STORY 1. PURPOSE Know why you are using a portal. Establish how it works and what it does. This is the door lore that creates the magic in the story. Whether it’s a door in time or to a secret garden, you need to know why it’s there and what purpose it will serve in your story. 2. STRUGGLE Adding mystery or a struggle to a character’s ability to open the portal will make it more of a significant event. Delaying the opening of the door will increase your reader’s curiosity about what or who is on the other side. If it’s too easy, it’s boring. Why might your character fail to open the portal? 3. NEW TERRITORY What is on the other side of your portal? Your protagonist should notice all physical differences and any strangeness. What do they think or feel about the space on the other side of the door? Consider weather, temperature, landscape, time, flora and fauna and the people or creatures that live in this new place. 4. A CHALLENGE Whatever is waiting for our hero on the other side of the portal must challenge them, and the experience should change them. In the featured extract, Sim wishes his mum would save him, but after opening the Time Door, he sets out to save her. 5. LANGUAGE What do you want your reader to know about this new place? Think about how you describe going through the door or portal. Try changing the narrative perspective. Use simile or metaphor to evoke newness. Peer inside the mind of the author, and help pupils understand how to produce their own enchanting portal story 1 Hunt For The Golden Scarab by M.G. Leonard Chapter 19, pp.170-171 Sim closed his eyes. This was it. The Council had found him. He’d never see his mum again. In his head, he stepped the A played by the tuning fork down to an F, humming the harmonizing note so that his skull buzzed with it. F was the first note of the ‘Raindrop’ Prelude. With his back and hands flat against the metal door, Sim imagined the keyboard of his piano back home and played the opening phrase of Chopin’s piano piece, as if it could reach through time and summon his mum. He let the music fill him up until he was brimming with it. Until it radiated out of him like golden sunlight. Until he felt he was no longer physical but pure music and he was falling backwards. Cover © Manuel Šumberac