George the Fraud and the Dragon
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Blurb
George's laziness and greed creates mischief and mayhem when he kills Mays, the dragon, for fame and fortune, and steals the crystals that guard the earth. But this turns the world upside down and causes destruction. Can this destruction be reversed? And is there anyone who has the courage to stand up to George and stop the chaos he's released?
Themes found in the story
Teaching Ideas for the Book
- Find other stories/books that demonstrate the above themes.
- Choose three themes – can make up a quick story to include them. This only needs to be short and can be done in pairs or groups. It only needs to be retold and not written.
- Collect vocabulary from the book – e.g. verbs. When you write, it’s more important to use strong verbs rather than adverbs. Over use of adverbs is frowned upon in the publishing industry. Another verb class to look for are adjectives. Too many adjectives slows a story down, too few doesn’t paint a picture for the reader so the writer needs to choose strong adjectives in the right place.
- Find all the forms that stem from the verbs e.g. to imprison, imprisoned, imprisons, imprisoning (then you have imprisonment (n)), root word prison (prisons, prisoners, prisoner). Spend time exploring suffixes, prefixes and how words can change word class as well as exploring their root words.
- Choose 10 of the verbs and write a short story using them.
- As you read each chapter, explore the themes. There are a few above but I’m sure you’ll be able to find a lot more.
- Explore Pangea as it was a global super continent which existed 450 million years ago. It split to become the continents we know today. (Animation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_8W9FYKRTw) (https://kids.kiddle.co/Pangaea)
- Do a project on Wolves or Bears. Wolves are amazing creatures that work together in packs to look after each other. Another book you could use for wolves is The Eye of the Wolf by Daniel Pennac.
- How do wolves change rivers? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q
- How wolves saved Yellowstone Park - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K_YQZheKr4
- Find different names for the different colour crystals e.g. red – ruby/garnet, yellow – citrine etc.
- Finish the short stories in the book.
- Do a project on dragons. See the book Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons. Design your own dragon explaining the adaptations e.g. scales that change colour to blend in with the background like a chameleon.
- Make a dragon collage.
- Find other books where the dragon and/or the wolf is the baddy (antagonist).
- Writing: Diary entry for Aylish; finish the short stories in the book; report on either wolves or dragons; argument for and against killing the last dragon (as in the story of St George and the Dragon); rewrite the story of St George and the Dragon from the dragon’s perspective; book blurb and book review
- What would they do if they were in control of one of the crystals?
- This is a great opportunity to look at what is happening to our planet with climate change. Watch the Swedish girl Greta Thunberg give a talk at TEDx. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAmmUIEsN9A). There are other talks by other people about climate change - https://www.ted.com/playlists/78/climate_change_oh_it_s_real
- How can we reduce climate change? What can we do? And what can governments and industry do?
- Look at fossil fuels and renewable energy.
- You could also look at pollution (air, water and land).
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