Teachers Notes OMNIBUS BOOKS OMNIBUS BOOKS Category Title Author Illustrator Junior Fiction Secret Agent Derek Danger Dale and the Case of Animals Behaving Really, Really Badly Michael Gerard Bauer Joe Bauer Publication date July 2014 Format Extent Binding Printing 190 x 160 mm 128 pp Paperback Mono ISBN 978 1 74299 065 1 Previous publications Michael Gerard Bauer Ishmael and the Hoops of Steel (Omnibus Books, 2011) Just a Dog (Omnibus Books, 2010) Dinosaur Knights (Omnibus Books, 2009) Ishmael and the Return of the Dugongs (Omnibus Books, 2007) Don t Call Me Ishmael! (Omnibus Books, 2006) The Running Man (Omnibus Books, 2004) Michael Gerard Bauer & Joe Bauer Eric Vale Off the Rails (Omnibus Books, 2013) Eric Vale Super Male (Omnibus Books, 2013) Eric Vale Epic Fail (Omnibus Books, 2012) Secret Agent Derek Danger Dale and the Case of Animals Behaving Really, REALLY Badly Written by Michael Gerard Bauer Illustrated by Joe Bauer Contents Teachers Notes by Rae Carlyle Introduction... 2 About the Author.. 2 About the Illustrator. 2 Before Reading the Text. 2 Reading the Text.. 3 After Reading the Text... 6 Extension Activities... 6 OMNIBUS BOOKS PreviousBrown and Ben Wood) Give Me a Home a Teachers Notes may be reproduced for use in school activities. They may not be redistributed for commercial sale or posted to other networks.
Introduction Secret Agent Derek Danger Dale first made an appearance in the Eric Vale books, where he was the main character in an ongoing story that Eric was writing in his free (and sometimes not so free) time. In The Case of Animals Behaving Really, REALLY Badly, Derek finally gets to star in a book that is all his own. He extricates himself from impossible situations, captures the bad guys, placates his irascible boss, and does all this while somehow never quite managing to keep his shirt on. Derek Danger Dale is a light-hearted and highly entertaining variant of the super spy who has come to prominence in children s literature in recent years, and his over-the-top adventures battling a cast of truly nefarious villains keep the reader wondering to the very end just how he is going to save the situation this time. About the Author Michael Gerard Bauer was born in Brisbane. He taught at schools before resigning in 2000 to pursue his dream of being a published writer. His first novel The Running Man won the CBCA s Book of the Year (Older Readers) Award in 2005 and he has since garnered many other honours including international awards. His other books include Don t Call Me Ishmael!, Ishmael and the Return of the Dugongs, Ishmael and the Hoops of Steel, Dinosaur Knights, You Turkeys!, Just a Dog, Eric Vale Epic Fail, Eric Vale Super Male, and Eric Vale Off the Rails. Many of Michael s books have been published in other countries and in different languages. Michael blogs at http://michaelgerardbauer.wordpress.com and has an author page on Facebook. About the Illustrator Joe Bauer is a young filmmaker whose recent film The Killage has enjoyed international critical success. In addition to making comedy films, Joe has been drawing since childhood. He is the creator of the original covers for his father Michael s first two Ishmael books, and has illustrated the Eric Vale series as well. Before Reading the Text While it is not necessary to have already read the Eric Vale books before reading about Derek Dale, a class discussion mentioning the fact that Derek appears as a fictional character in stories that Eric who is himself a fictional character writes would be of value. 2
Ideas for questions to prompt discussion include: 1) Who has read any of the Eric Vale series? 2) What happened in the books? 3) What do you know about Derek Dale and his adventures from the Eric Vale books? 4) What do you think a book that is all about Derek might be like? 5) What are some of the literary and textual features that you would expect a book starring Derek to have (e.g. use of adjectives, character names, descriptive passages, dialogue, illustrations, humour, parody, stereotypes)? Reading the Text Part 1 After reading the opening scene, discuss your initial impressions of the story and characters. Some points to consider are: What is the purpose of an opening scene like this one? What is distinct about the way the characters are named? How do the different characters talk what language do they use, and how has the author shown us this? What do you think is likely to happen next, both immediately (i.e. will Derek survive his fall, and if so, how?) and in the longer term. What type of book is The Case of Animals Behaving Really, REALLY Badly? How would you classify it, and why? Is it possible for a book to fit into more than one category or genre of story at once? Consider both the type of story that is being told, the way in which it is being told, and the use of illustrations to enhance the written narrative. Group Research Task The Case of Animals Behaving Really, REALLY Badly is a humorous book, a spy adventure story, and the use of illustrations almost (but not quite) qualifies it as a graphic novel. As a class visit the school library. Assign each student a section of the shelves containing chapter books and novels. This can be done either alphabetically (e.g. each student is assigned all the chapter books where the author s surname starts with a specific letter) or by segment of shelving (e.g. the first two sections of the top shelf). Have each student investigate the books on their segment of shelf, and record 1) How many books are on your stretch of shelf? 2) How many books are adventure novels? 3) How many books are humorous? 4) How many books are graphic novels, or make strong use of illustrations? Upon returning to the classroom, as a class use a tally chart to compile an overall record of the class s findings, and discuss the results. It may also help to present them in graph form. Discuss the results of your research. 3
Some points to consider are: What is the percentage of humorous fiction books you found? What is the percentage of adventure novels you found? Would you consider these types of books popular among school-aged readers, and do your results support this conclusion? What is the appeal of chapter books with a strong visual narrative component (i.e. ones that have lots of illustrations)? What other categories of books/genres did you notice while you were researching? How do your results compare to the class s personal preferences in free-choice fiction? Extension Activities Present both individual and group findings as a graph, or series of graphs. Further research the types of books in the school library, categorising all the books found on a segment of shelf by genre, topic or theme. Part 2 In The Case of Animals Behaving Really, REALLY Badly the author has made good use of stereotypes when developing and portraying his characters. Some points for discussion are: What is a stereotype? How do we decide if a character is a stereotype? What are the different characteristics and traits the author has given his characters that let us know they are intentional stereotypes? - What are the main characters names? - How do they speak to each other? - What do they look like, and how do they dress? - What actions of theirs fit the stereotypical notion of villain, henchman, hero, or nasty boss? Group Research Task A stereotype can be defined as a fixed, overgeneralised idea held about a group of people. It can be about any groups such as villains, heroes, and spies, or it can be about groups based on gender or age. One of the most common forms of stereotyping that people see in their daily lives are those based on gender. From fast food places that give away girl toys and boy toys, the different colour choices that clothing and toy manufacturers make depending on whether they are marketing to boys or girls, to commonly expressed beliefs such as girls like pink and sparkles and boys prefer sports, we see stereotyping every day. In pairs or small groups, analyse a store catalogue, or some pages from one, and see how many different examples of gender-stereotyping you can find. Toy catalogues will probably be the easiest, but you will be able to find examples in clothing, home wares, and electronic catalogue pages as well. Comparing a mothers day catalogue to a fathers day one would also be interesting. 4
Write a brief paragraph outlining your findings and discuss them with the class. As a class discuss how stereotyping can contribute to the choices and decisions people make and how any individual will always have at least one way in which he or she doesn t fit the stereotype. Literary Component Create your own stereotypical fictional character. You can choose a hero, a villain, an artist, a sportsperson, a teacher, an elderly lady, or any other type of person you want. Write a short story describing your stereotype-character, with at least one paragraph that is mainly dialogue. Include as many features of the stereotype as you can. Remember, sometimes stereotypes can also be offensive to people in the stereotyped group. Think carefully about which group you are choosing to make sure you are not going to offend anyone. Some points to consider when creating your stereotype character are: - What do they look like? - What do they wear? - How do they walk and move? - How do they talk, and how does their language use change depending on to whom they are talking? - What activities do they engage in? Challenge: Don t say in your story exactly what your stereotype is, but share it with the class and see how many people can guess which stereotype you are trying to make your character fit! Part 3 In The Case of Animals Behaving Really, REALLY Badly the author uses descriptions of the characters physical actions to create a mental image for the reader of what the character is feeling or thinking. For example, on page 5 The Countess flared her nostrils, glared her eyes, bared her teeth, snarled, growled, hissed, cursed, shrieked, stamped her foot, and spat. The next sentence states She wasn t entirely pleased. Discuss how these two sentences together manage to create a moment of humour in the story. What is it about having these two sentences one after the other that makes them humorous? What is unusual about the first sentence what makes it different from the descriptive sentences you will more usually find in stories? Can you think of any other phrases or scenes where the author has used language in a non-typical fashion to create a mental image for the reader? What other features of the author s word choices and language use stand out to you as the reader? Look at the phrase one of those tricky, secret-agenty, escapey kind of things (p. 13). - What has the author done here? - Do you know what the phrase means? - Can you think of any other examples of this type of language used in the story? 5
Literary Component Write and illustrate a short story of your own where a secret agent has to escape from an evil villain. Put your hero in a seemingly impossible situation, and think of the most outrageously unlikely way for them to escape. Be imaginative here your scene should involve an escape that is both thrilling and extremely improbable. Illustrate your story with cartoon style drawings of your main character and the villain, being sure to include extra details in your drawings that add to the story. After Reading the Text Discuss what your overall impressions of the story were. Some points to talk about are: What did you like about the story? What did you find challenging/difficult about the book? What was your favourite scene, and why? Who is your favourite character, and why? What was the funniest part of the story and what did the author and illustrator do to help make it amusing? What would you like to see Derek do in his next adventure? Literary Component What do you think is likely to happen next to the characters you met in this story? Choose one character and write a short story outlining their adventures immediately after the end of this book. Be sure to pay close attention to the final illustrations for some hints as to what is happening right at the end of the book. Extension Activities 1) Derek uses his trousers as a parachute. How effective is this realistically likely to be? Experiment with making model parachutes you can use a doll or a weight of plasticine for the test person, and see if you can find one that actually works. You can also try making a parachute for a doll or action figure using its clothes. 2) Crudman makes angel wings double cream, dark chocolate and syrup-infused, triplelayered, sugar-coated fairy cupcakes, which are apparently delicious. Starting with a plain cupcake recipe, and making alterations and additions to it, see if you can create your own special cupcake. 3) Binkie is a rare jungle yeti. Research the myths about Yeti, Sasquatch and Bigfoot, and write a report on them. You can present your report to the class as a powerpoint presentation, a poster or an information leaflet. 6
4) MacEvilness has in his menagerie a collection of extremely scary fictional creatures. Create a poster that showcases an imaginary creature that you have thought up. Include information on the poster about what it eats, where it lives, and how it behaves. Your creature can be tiny or huge, and scary or friendly or cute. 5) Derek has some fairly ordinary pets and some that are quite unusual, such as worms. Go for a walk around the school ground and see how many beetles/bugs/insects and other creatures you can find that might make a nice addition to Derek s pet collection. Choose one creature that you see and research what would be needed if you were going to keep it as a pet. 6) In small groups, choose a scene from the story and then act it out for the class. You might want to perform some of the funnier scenes at your next school assembly! 7) Make a model menagerie cage using paddle pop sticks or wooden skewers. Stock your cage with creatures you make from plasticine, wool, feathers, coloured sticks and other craft materials. 8) In fiction, spies will often have fancy gadgets that no one else knows have even been invented. Draw a picture of a spy gadget that you would want to have if you were a secret agent. Remember, label all the different parts of your gadget to let people know what they do. 9) As a class make a wall display showcasing the book. Make dozens of cardboard butterflies and decorate them with glitter, sequins, and paint. Have a string coming from each butterfly to a picture of the book. 7