What
to talk about in Low Order Book Orientation
For narrative, talk about how each incident or episode contributes
to the development of the whole narrative.
In listening
to narrative, some children do not notice such links, and
do not notice their importance. Reading to children does not
ensure that everyone will understand the text in the same
way. For example, there may be children in your class whose
immediate reaction to someone huge who drives a flashy sports
car into the middle of a crowd would be that he is someone
to be admired. They will then find it difficult to cast him
in the role of villain.
For any
text, there will be words and concepts whose meanings some
children will not be able to work out from the context.
WHAT
YOU MIGHT TALK ABOUT IN THIS TEXT
How this chapter contributes to the development of the whole
narrative
· That there is a complication
· That Sebastian's size means he might win the race
· That Sebastian is shown to be a boaster in lots of
ways - by what he does, by what he wears, by what he says,
by what he owns
· That what Sebastian says and does make us dislike
him
· That Edward and Barney become friendly, so Edward
will have a friend in the race
· That both Edward and Barney will be trying to swim
their best, ie they are not boasters
· That Edward has annoyed Sebastian, so Edward will
have an enemy in the race
Unknown
or unfamiliar concepts that children might not pick up on
in the reading
· Numbers given out
· Numbers being drawn
Unfamiliar
Language choices
· hard grin
· easy swaggering air
· stomach full of jitters
· ringing in his ears
· Official Numbers Given Here platform
Unknown
or unfamiliar vocabulary
· platform
· official
· nervous
· bellowed
· plainly visible
· singlet
· boaster
· vivid
· sleek
· driving gloves
WHAT YOU
MIGHT SAY
It is in this chapter that we are introduced to a huge hippopotamus
called Sebastian. He must be very important to have a chapter
named after him.
The chapter
doesn't start by telling about Sebastian, it starts by telling
about the next thing that Edward has to do. He has to have
a number to wear in the race. Every swimmer gets a number
so that the people watching the race will know which swimmer
is which. They will be wearing the numbers on a singlet (show),
but Edward doesn't know that yet.
The place
where the numbers are handed out is called the Official Numbers
Given Here platform. The numbers have to be official, otherwise
anyone at all could just put on a singlet with a number on
it and pretend to be in the race. Official numbers are the
ones given out by the people in charge of organising the race.
The people organising the race are called officials.
Edward has
to go up steps to get to the platform
There are 84 entrants in the race and they have to queue up
to get their numbers.
Picture
1 - page 50
This picture shows us part of the queue. That's Edward in
the middle. The hippopotamus in front of him is Barney. Barney
is making friends with Edward and Edward is being friendly
in return. Barney has his hand up to his mouth so we know
he is talking specially to Edward. They are both looking happy
but we know from the words that they are nervous. Barney says
his stomach is full of jitters - that means the upset feeling
or butterflies that you get when you are scared and excited
at the same time. The queue is moving forward, and Edward
and Barney hear a voice announcing that numbers are being
drawn. That means that a number is scooped out of a barrel
for each entrant. Edward doesn't know what it means yet, and
it was impossible for Edward and Barney to see what was happening
because there were so many hippopotamuses about - not just
the ones in the queue, but other hippopotamuses watching.
They talk about whether they have a chance of winning the
race and about the training they have done. Both of them say
that they don't know whether they are likely to win, but that
they will do as well as they can, so we know that they are
good sports.
Suddenly
they hear a noise that stops them talking. It is the 'Honk!
Honk!' of a car horn.
Picture
2 - page53
Let's look at this picture. See the car with the hippopotamus
inside it waving. See the crowds of animals standing around
the bottom of the steps watching everything that happens,
carrying balloons and banners. The car is a sports car and
it is driving right through the crowd. The driver is the person
that the chapter is named for - Sebastian. He is coming right
through the crowd in his sports car. Look at the way everyone
has to move back to make room for him. Some of the competitors
and spectators look very surprised or shocked. Look at the
expression on the elephant's face. He looks really annoyed
at the pushing in.
Sebastian
has a big smile on his face. He thinks it's OK for him to
just drive through the crowd like that, in fact he is calling
out 'Make way!' - that means 'Get out of my way' and he is
calling himself 'the Mighty Sebastian' which means that he
thinks that he is the greatest. There is a big S for Sebastian
right at the front of the car that shows us that he likes
to show off all the time - Edward calls him a boaster.
We can see
Sebastian better in the next picture.
Picture
3 - page 54
Sebastian drove right up to the Official Numbers Given Here
platform before he got out of his car. We can see one reason
why he might call himself the mighty Sebastian. He is huge.
If he is so huge he might be a very good swimmer. So this
might be why he has a chapter to himself - perhaps he is going
to win the race. He certainly thinks he is pretty good, because
he keeps calling himself the mighty Sebastian. As well as
being huge he stands out in another way - he is almost black
and the other hippopotamuses are grey. Look how white and
bright his teeth are. The sun is flashing off them. Even though
Sebastian is smiling it is not a friendly smile. Morris Lurie
calls it 'a hard grin'. Demonstrate what that means.
Another
way he is showing off is with his car. (At this point you
could invite the children to help you find ways that the car
helps Sebastian to show off.) A sports car always looks good,
and this one is special. The author says that it is sleek,
which means streamlined, and it is very shiny. See how the
sun is flashing off the wheels - they are special silver wheels.
To make it look even more showy he has a decoration on the
bonnet, and I think HIP 003 is probably a special number plate.
We can see
in the picture that he shows off with his clothes. (At this
point you could invite the children to help you find ways
that his clothes help Sebastian to show off.) His belt buckle
has a very large S on it and his boots have a high heel. This
would make him look even taller than he is. He looks like
a film star or a sports star. In the words it tells us that
he wore a bright red jacket and a vivid green tie and white
driving gloves. Bright red and vivid green would be very noticeable,
and the white driving gloves would make him look special.
Another
way he is showing off is by how he moves. See how he has one
hand on the top of the car door and one hand forward. Stand
in a similar way to show how that makes people look as though
they're the center of attention. The words say that he climbed
out of the car with an easy swaggering air. 'Easy' means he
is looking quite relaxed and 'swaggering' means that he is
showing off by the way he moves. So we know that he wasn't
the least bit worried that he had made people angry and that
he was showing off.
He even
went up the stairs in a show-off way. Sebastian went up the
stairs two at a time and onto the platform. When he gets there
he announces that he is the best and strongest and fastest
hippopotamus in Africa and that he is going to win the race.
But Sebastian
has pushed in to the front of the queue. Now an official comes
up and tells him to go to the end of the queue. At first Sebastian
refuses - he says 'Sebastian doesn't queue for anything',
but the official tells him that he will only get a number
if he joins the queue. Then Sebastian turns nasty and says
'Who says?' But he does what he is told when the official
tells him 'I'm the winner of last year's Annual African Hippopotamus
Boxing and Wrestling competition'. Now we learn that Sebastian
isn't as tough as he seems. Sebastian didn't want to get into
a fight with a champion fighter, so he starts to go. But even
then he doesn't do what he is told straight away. First he
pounded his chest and shouted to everyone that he will win.
And he doesn't just shout 'I will win', he shouts 'The Mighty
Sebastian' will win, so that he makes sure everyone knows
his name.
This is
when Edward whispered to Barney that he is a boaster. But
we know that Barney thinks that Sebastian might win the race
because Barney say 'He is the biggest hippopotamus I have
ever seen'.
Picture
4 - page 57
Edward is now close enough to the front of the queue to see
what is going on, and this is what he sees. See the marbles
in the barrel with the numbers on them. That's an official
- you can read that on his badge - and the thing he is picking
out the marbles with is called a spoon. The official is drawing
numbers - that means he scoops out one marble for each entrant
with that big spoon.
Picture
5 - page 58
That is Edward with his number, so we know he will be #65.
Look how he is holding the marble close to his face and looking
cross-eyed at it - he is really puzzled. The number is so
tiny that he can't work out how the crowd will be able to
read it and know who he is.
Picture
6 - page 59
Now Edward has a big grin on his face. An official wrote down
his name and number, took the marble and instead gave him
a big white singlet with a huge black 65 on the back. Now
Edward can work out how the crowd will be able to read his
number.
Picture
7 - page 60
That is Edward, #65, and Barney, #51. See how proudly they
are standing with their hands on their hips showing off their
singlets to each other, and turning their heads to try and
see their own numbers. They are telling each other that they
look wonderful. Then Edward want to run off to show his family
how he looks in his singlet.
This is
where Sebastian comes in again. Remember that Sebastian was
right at the end of the queue. Edward accidentally bumped
into him because he was running. Sebastian grumbled to him
to watch where he is going. Edward says he is sorry, but Sebastian
is nasty to Edward. He tells him that he can't possibly win
because the Mighty Sebastian will win. Then he laughs at Edward
and calls him a 'little hippopotamus'.
Everyone
else has been nice to Edward, but Sebastian has laughed at
him and told him he hasn't got a chance of winning. So at
the end of the chapter Edward has got to know two other hippopotamuses
in the race. One is his friend and one is his enemy.
