From the Word Wizard's Notebook

identified some words that I did not know and found out their meanings.



written by Oliver
Literature Circles round 4 - chapters 13-16

From the Travel Tracer's notebook

written by Joshua
Literature Circles round 3 - chapters 9-12

From the Poet's notebook

As the poet, my job is to take a piece of writing from the book and turn it into a poem.

Ice Cold Stormy Night

The sky was as black as the deepest, darkest ocean on a cold winters night.
The rain was as cold as ice, as it fled across the field.
The wind was as strong as the mightiest sea.
As we walked down the path, it roared and rumbled continuously,
until we knew we were home.
Safe.

I got this from page: 129 … The sky was almost black when he and Tom stepped outside. A strong wind tore through the trees whipping the braches fiercely to one side while the rain swept across their faces. Tom put up the umbrella.

written by: Indiana
Literature Circles round 3 - chapters 9-12

From the Discussion Director's Notebooks

As Discussion Director I have tried to ask deep questions, and have based these questions on the 6 thinking hats.



written by Oliver
Literature Circles round 3 - chapters 9-12

From the Predictor's notebook

I made a prediction from the scene where Willie was practising his play.



written by Robin
Literature Circles round 3 chapters 9-12

From the Characteriser's notebook

I chose Zach as my character because I felt he was interesting to find character traits for.

click on the photo to view full size image


made in Inspiration by Phoebe
Literature Circles round 3 chapters 9-12

From the Actor's notebook

As the actor/actress, I had to choose a scene from chapters 9-12 and change the scene into a script. My scene is the morning of Willie's birthday.

(Willie is sound asleep in his bed)

Willie- (Stirs from his sleep and leaps out of bed) (yawns)

Tom- (comes into Willie’s room) Mornin’ boy! Oh and before I forget, Happy Birthday!

(Tom helps Willie get changed and they go downstairs)

Willie- (sitting by himself at a table writing lines on a piece of paper)

Tom- (walks in and looks over Willie’s shoulder) Practicin’ your writin’ eh?

Willie- (scrunches his face at the paper and then turns to Tom) Ummm… Yes, Sir.. I mean Mister Tom (turns back to the paper and starts writing again)

Tom- (pats Willies head) Such a clever little lad.

Willie- (Smiles but then stares hard at the paper, Tries to sound out the sentence) I..I..am.. am.. Wi.. Wi.. Wi

Tom- What’s that lad? (Takes a look at the paper) Ah… Try sound it out I a-m Wil-li-am Bee-ch.

Willie- (stares hard at the paper) I… am… Wi.. Wi…

Tom- (Picks the paper up and looks at it) That’s very neat handwritin’ you got there boy.

Willie- (smiles weakly)

written by Maria
Literature Circles round 3 chapters 9-12

From the Summariser's notebook

My summary for chapters 9-12

Willie’s sixth day in Little Weirwold is his birthday when he receives many gifts from people who he has and hasn’t met. Some of the gifts were sketch pads and clothes. Willie seemed surprised that he received so many gifts.

Tom looked out the window where his son and wife were buried. The memories of them didn’t seem as painful as he thought it would be.

Willie went off to draw and Zach came in and led him to a surprise party they held for him where he ate and said thank-you to the people whom had given him gifts. At the end he suddenly vomitted.

One day, Tom handed Zach a leather brown case that had costumes, his tap shoes and books. Zach showed the twins, George and Willie his tap dancing. They wanted to meet again on Friday. Willie said they might be able to meet at his house if Mister Tom says yes.

Willie didn’t want anyone knowing that he bed wets. Luckily Mister Tom said that it will be dried and cleaned.

When they came on Friday, they were impressed with William’s drawings. George tells them Miss Thorne is casting a play. Carrie then starts to say that boys get all the chances.

George asks William and Zach if they could sing in the church Choir. Zach says that he is Jewish and doesn’t like churches that much. Willie says that he could sing in the church.

Tom came in with hot chestnuts and lemonade. They ate and enjoyed the meeting.

It eventually became closer to November. Willie and Zach were one of the last evacuees left in Weirwold.

Weirwold soon became normal and William was up to the standard of Mrs. Hartiges class in reading though, he had a lot of maths to do.

Miss Thorne was producing an adaptation of ‘A Christmas carol’ by Charles Dickens. Willie and his friends were all apart of the play. Miss Thorne asked Willie to play the part of Scrooge. He did so and everybody thought he was good.

When Willie came home, Mister Tom started to think that he was sounding like him. Tom was asked to play the organ in the concert. William asked if he could play the organ and said that when Rachel his wife was alive and told William about his son and wife. William told Mister Tom that he was in the play and Tom was happy for him.

written by Honour
Literature Circles round 3 chapters 9-12

From the Travel Tracer's notebook

Travel events for Chapters 5-8

created by Phoebe
Literature Circles round 2

From the Illustrator's notebook

This is a scene from the book where William goes picking for berries with Zach, George, Carrie and Ginnie.

drawn by Honour
Literature Circles round 2 chapters 5-8

From the Word Wizard's Notebook

As Word Wizard I found words that I did not know the meanings of and found out the meanings.

acoustically; of sound or sense of hearing, without electrical amplification acoustic

silhouettes; picture showing the outline only usually, in black on white or cut from paper. black outs ,

flinched: draw back in fear. wince , baulk pneumonia: inflammation of one or both lungs.

suspiciously: prone to causing suspicion

vigour: active or physical or mental strength or energy. fishy, misconstruction

scampering: run or skip move hurriedly. scamper, dart, dash

nonchalantly: calm or casual. nonchalance, calm, cool

written by Joshua
Literature Circles round 2 chapters 5-8

From the Poet's notebook

As the poet, I chose do write an acrostic poem


written by Oliver
Literature Circles round 2 chapters 5-8

From the Predictor's notebook

I predict that Willie will enjoy staying in little Weirworld more now that he has met Zach, because earlier in the book, Willie told Mister Tom that he had no friends and that all the children picked on him in London. Now that Willie has found Zach as a friend I think he will become more self-confident and socialise more. I also predict that later in the story Willie’s life will be filled with happiness because he will have a lot of friends, but then I think that Willie’s mother will come to visit or ask him to come back to London and wreak his joy in little Weirworld.

written by Maria
Literature Circles round 2 chapters 5-8

From the Actor's notebook

As the actor, I have taken a short piece of the story, put it in to my own words, mostly, and turned it into a play scene.


GEORGE: “Look! Look! It’s a swallow!”

WILLIE: “Wot’s a swallow?”

GEORGE: “Up there, look!”

WILLIE: “Isn’t a swallow something you do when you eat or prevent yourself from crying?” He thought.


In Dobbs’ field…
GINNY: “Isn’t she gorgeous?” She said, stroking her mane.

WILLIE: “Yeah?” He said, unsure of wether he meant it or not.

GEORGE: “Cum’on, let’s climb over the gate!” He said, half way up the gate already. “G’d evening Mr Oakly!”

MR OAKLY: “G’d evening George! Like to see the shealter?”
By Indiana
Literature Circles round 2 chapters 5-8