WHY TEACH THIS?
Nothing upsets me more than hearing students say: “Reading is boring.” I have a stock answer: “No, reading isn’t boring, but the book you’ve chosen might be.” Thinking about the wealth of books that don’t feature on standard school reading lists just might be a way to turn “Reading is boring”
to “I really like that book”.
We all know that reading is subjective – as films, so with books; what one person loves, another will hate. The key, though, is to work out how to attract students to books so that, on the whole, they have positive reading experiences and, in turn, think positively about books. Making reading seem fun, exciting and valuable, especially as they’re brought up in a quick-fix culture, is a challenge, but a great solution is closer to home than you might think. Many school reading lists are similar or even the same; this could be where we go wrong. As a youngster, I read Sidney Sheldon, Colin Forbes, Jack Higgins and Jeffrey Archer, all bestselling novelists at the time and all recommended to me by my father because they were exciting reads. And they were, which was their USP.
The texts I often read and enjoy today are also potential choices – not because they’re classics or have been taught in schools for years, but because they’re engaging and entertaining. That’s my solution: think of what you liked when younger, what you like today and scour the bestseller lists. Find novels that’ll grab students, hooking them from page one or chapter one – books that won’t let go. After all, bestseller lists are filled with novels that are popular, and they must surely be popular for a reason.
STARTER ACTIVITY
The love/hate relationship that students have with certain books (or films if you really struggle to get anything book-related out of a reluctant or very infrequent reader) can be turned into a wonderful debate opportunity. Amazon reviews highlight how routine it is that books are loved and loathed. Many students may have heard about, seen or read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Bring up the book’s Amazon reviews pages on the electronic whiteboard or print some. Explore how one person presents his or her venom towards it and then how another professes undying love (no pun intended) for it.
Now ask them to name a novel (or film) they love and one they loathe. Give them time to create two spider diagrams: one to explain their love and the other to explain their hate. Put a list of persuasive skills on the whiteboard – rhetorical questions, repetition, emotive language, exaggeration, facts. Ask them to turn their spider diagram ideas into persuasive sentences using these techniques. Once they’ve done this, in pairs, their task is to persuade one another to try out the novel they love and to avoid the novel they hate.
Introduce the idea that writers try to persuade readers every time their novel is picked up: from page one, a writer must persuade a reader to read on. Not everyone is patient, so the opening hook in a novel can be vital in grabbing a reader’s attention. Can they remember, in the book (or film) they loved, what the storyteller did at the start to grab their attention? And what they did to make sure they didn’t let go?
(The opening extracts of the novels I refer to can be viewed for free on Amazon by opening the Kindle edition webpage and clicking on the cover image.) Display an opening that has a catchy hook. Here’s one that works well, from No Second Chance by Harlan Coben:
‘When the first bullet hit my chest, I thought of my daughter.’ Can they work out what Coben does to hook the reader? Does it work for them?
Other openings that work well: Long Gone by Alafair Burke, Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes, Avenger by Frederick Forsyth, The Sword of God by Chris Kuzneski and The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood. Explore how these opening lines/paragraphs attempt to engage the reader. Keep reminding students it’s subjective and encourage discussion about why something works or doesn’t work for them. Once you’ve done this, share the definitions of the opening hooks:
* Puzzling hook – makes the reader ask questions.
* Direct address hook – the reader is spoken to and feels involved.
* Atmospheric hook – this is descriptive, evoking a mood.
* Visual hook – paints a picture in the reader’s mind.
Which hooks were used in the extracts you read and how effective were they?
Finally, ask students to create a one-line or one-paragraph opening hook for the following situation (first or third person): A character has just been shot.
+KEY RESOURCE
Prepare your class for some fun this November with the Lone Wolf from the Read On series. This dark and poetic parable of adolescent frustration – from macabre mavericks Alan and Robbie Gibbons – is the perfect choice for your Key Stage 3 readers. Once you’ve read the book, download a scheme of work for Lone Wolf for lots of engaging classroom ideas http://www.collins.co.uk/lonewolfSOW). Plus, watch an exclusive interview with Collins’ authors and read about creating Lone Wolf on the blog (freedomtoteach.collins.co.uk). http://www.youtube.com/collinseducation, @freedomtoteach
MAIN ACTIVITIES
The first chapter
Explore how writers hook readers and then build and maintain tension by using the opening chapters of novels (typically, you’ll find the entire first chapter on Amazon). Use this list of tension techniques:
* The senses to paint pictures.
* Powerful verbs, adverbs and adjectives.
* Words to suggest decay and neglect.
* Short sentences for dramatic impact.
* A punchy cliffhanger.
* Words to suggest darkness and cold.
* Lists to create a maze.
You could link this to analysis using PEE or Quote-Comment.
These novels have great openings that build tension: Lasting Damage by Sophie Hannah, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, Tell No One by Harlan Coben, Buried by Neil Cross and Already Gone by John Rector.
Or if you really want to challenge students: Blood’s a Rover by James Ellroy. Ellroy uses language for effect in a unique way – his staccato rhythm, which oozes with style, could be explored.
Short story = big tension
There’s plenty of choice when it comes to short stories, which can also be used to explore hooks and how writers build and maintain tension. ‘The Octopus Nest’ by Sophie Hannah has never failed to grab students in my lessons and features a sustained build-up of tension that leads to a twist ending they never see coming. It also works with students in ALL year groups.
Other excellent choices: ‘The Nursery Bear’ also by Sophie Hannah; ‘A Little Place off the Edgware Road’ by Graham Greene (complicated, but I’ve even used it with a Year 7 class before); ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ by Roald Dahl; ‘The Yellow Wall-paper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (typically an A Level text, but it can work with classes as young as Year 8); ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ by Edgar Allan Roe; and ‘The Red Room’ by H.G. Wells.
Genre extracts
Ask students to work out the conventions of a particular genre of writing. Then explore how the conventions are presented in extracts. Use this to generate paragraphs of analysis.
Horror, comedy, thriller and action are popular genres, so here are some texts that work well: Dolly by Susan Hill (Part One; gothic horror); About A Boy by Nick Hornby (Chapter Seven, the dead duck chapter; comedy); Jaws by Peter Benchley (Chapter One; thriller – there is also the opportunity to study the use of a dual narrative as a tension-building technique); and Ghostman by Roger Hobbs (Prologue; action).
About our expert
The Head of English at St Michael’s Catholic High School in Hertfordshire, Karl Vadaszffy is also a freelance journalist and bestselling novelist. He is the author of the thrillers On Guard and The Missing.
Stretch them further
Challenge students to apply the hooks and tension-building skills they’ve studied by planning and then writing the opening chapter of a novel. this could become a project: create a blurb, create a book sleeve, develop a marketing campaign, write a synopsis of the rest of the story, write a pitch letter to an agent to persuade them to take you on as a client.
SUMMARY
So many new books are released every year that we’re missing a trick if we don’t use them. And, as English teachers, we’re prolific readers ourselves, so we should delve into own reading experiences to be adventurous with our text choices. There’ll always be room for classics (we mustn’t shy away from them; you’ll see I’ve included some in this lesson plan), but works by contemporary writers, in so many genres, can hook students into their stories and, therefore, your lessons.
HOME LEARNING
After studying the skills of writing to review, students could create reviews of the books you offer in sneak-peak form, or they could review whole books they read. To replicate genuine book reviews, they should also be persuasive in order to convince readers to read or reject the novel.
