Teacher Notes
These notes assume a mixed-ability Year 8 class and a five-week sequence of roughly four lessons per week. The book is short; the planning challenge is depth, not coverage.
Core and extension routes
| Route | Reading | Analysis | Product |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core | Whole book, reread selected spreads. | Visual grammar, fear, community, one paragraph. | An annotated spread and one analytical paragraph. |
| Extension | Whole book plus contextual sources. | Allegory, intertextuality, ethics, comparative reading. | An alternative ending with rationale and two paragraphs. |
| Support | Whole book with a visual summary and key vocabulary. | Composition, character, one clear theme. | A supported paragraph or labelled spread. |
Content care
The book depicts fear, prejudice, confinement, dehumanisation and expulsion. It does not show graphic violence, but the emotional content is strong. Explain the themes before reading and offer a way to step back from discussion. Some students may have personal experience of displacement, racism or exclusion. Do not ask them to disclose or to speak for a group. Signpost school support.
Discussing racism and asylum
- Use precise terms: refugee, asylum seeker, migrant, displacement, detention.
- Avoid treating a whole country or community as a single opinion.
- Distinguish between understanding a perspective and endorsing it.
- Challenge dehumanising language without shaming the student who used it.
- Use reputable sources for context and check their currency.
- Keep the book at the centre of the discussion.
Discussion protocols
- Think-pair-share: written thinking before whole-class talk.
- Silent seminar: written responses on a shared document.
- Perspective cards: discuss from the stranger, an islander, a bystander and the reader.
- Observer role: track who speaks and which claims are supported.
- Last word: respond to the previous point before adding a new one.
Differentiation
- Visual access: enlarge spreads, provide a described summary and use a visualizer.
- Writing: offer a paragraph frame, a word bank and a model.
- Discussion: allow written preparation, pair talk and role cards.
- Art: offer collage, tracing or digital layout as alternatives to drawing.
- Extension: compare with another picture book, research context or write a critical afterword.
Formative use
The tables and checklists are formative. Use them to notice patterns: Are students describing or analysing? Are they pointing to specific visual choices? Are they considering more than one interpretation? Reteach the pattern for the whole class rather than correcting every individual error.
Printing and access
Every page prints cleanly. The visual-analysis and storyboard pages work well as A4 handouts. If students use screen readers, check that tables are read in order and that any image is described in text. Do not reproduce the book's images in printed handouts; use the book itself or a licensed projection.