An Unexpected Hero

What could be worse, Matt Turner wonders, than having to leave your parents, friends and the buzz of big city life for a remote rural school that’s so small it only has two classrooms, and two teachers who are married to each other?

The twelve-year old soon finds out that worse things can happen. A school project plunges him into his worst nightmare – he has to make a speech in public.

Matt decides to speak about New Zealand’s First World War pacifist, Archibald Baxter.

But is that a good idea in a district where almost every family has lost someone to war?


Respond to the Book
Use a whole a page in your journal to present your thinking so far about this story.  You can add some drawings, symbols, or relevant icons to the page.

Something I've discovered about war because of this story is...

Some questions I now have because of ideas in this book include...

I think Archie is / isn't a hero because...

Something that shocked me or surprised me in the story is...

Bullying behaviour I've noticed in the story includes...

Billianaire Boy

Holes Vocabulary

Holes

Let's make a word wall and picture collage showing characters and scenes from the book.

Words and Picture Ideas

Characters and Objects

Stanley Yelnats
Zero
X-Ray
Armpit
Mr. Sir
The Warden
Mr. Pendanski
Rattle Snake
Yellow Spotted Lizard
Scorpions
Clyde Livingston
Kate Barlow
Trout Walker
Madam Zeroni
Holes
A shovel
A water bottle
Sunflower seeds

Other Ideas
Stanley's cot
The wreck room
Clyde Livingston's sneakers
The water truck
The dry lake bed + hundreds of holes
A jar of spiced peaches
Mary Lou
Sam's boat
A lipstick tube
Red nail varnish

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a 2006 novel from the point of view of a young German boy who is caught up in the confusion of World War II.  The story revolves around the thoughts and feeling of Bruno and about how his life changes when his dad has to take a new job as part of the war effort.  The family move to a strange isolated place where Bruno is left to make new friends, if he can find any.

Paul Jennings

Paul Jennings writes strange and interesting stories that put a twist on everyday problems and situations.

Sometimes creepy.  Tales with a sense of comedy and irony.

Stormbreaker

Alex Rider is a 14-year-old schoolboy who lives with his uncle Ian and their housekeeper Jack Starbright. Ian is supposedly a bank manager and is, much to Alex's regret, often away from home. One day, Alex is told that his uncle has died in a car crash, but quickly discovers that his uncle was in fact a spy working for MI6 and that he was killed by the assassin, Yassen Gregorovich.