Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Sample Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Before the Book (Pre-Reading Activities) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
About the Author and the Illustrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Book Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Vocabulary Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Vocabulary Activity Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Section 1 (Chapters 1–3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
• Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
• Charms and Amulets – hands-on research project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
• Noises in the Deepwoods – using cooperative learning to create a ‘soundscape’ . . . . . 12
• A New Sport – connection to design and technology/society and environment . . . . . . . 13
• Reading Response Journals – connection to students’ lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Section 2 (Chapters 4–7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
• Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
• A Postcard from Twig – hands-on writing project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
• Goblin Interview – using cooperative learning to conduct character interviews . . . . . . 17
• A New Goblin Leader – connection to society and environment/problem-solving skills . 18
• The Lullabees and the Skullpelt – connection to students’ lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Section 3 (Chapters 8–9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
• Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
• Make a Mask – hands-on art project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
• Friendship – using cooperative learning to explore a concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
• The Banderbear – connection to science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
• Twig and the Rotsucker – connection to students’ lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Section 4 (Chapters 10–11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
• Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
• Scene in a Shoebox – hands-on art project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
• Compound Characters – using cooperative learning to explore words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
• Design a Creature – connection to design and technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
• The Heartcharmer – connection to students’ lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Section 5 (Chapters 12–14) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
• Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
• Sky Pirate Diary – hands-on writing project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
• Twig and the Gloamglozer – using cooperative learning to prepare a role-play . . . . . . 32
• Story Map – connection to art & mathematics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
• Character Comparison – connection to students’ lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
After the Book (Post-Reading Activities)
Any Questions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Book Review Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Research Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Culminating Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38–41
Unit-Test Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42–44
Bibliography of Related Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46–47
Appendix: Reading Journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
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Answer Key
Page 25
1. Accept appropriate responses.
2. Answers will vary, but should include the
following features: enormous body, covered
in tattoos, rippling forearms, a broad neck, a
bald head, a broad nose, bloodshot eyes,
wears a patterned dress. She is ferocious
and mean (or similar).
3. He is wearing a banderbear skin.
4. She is an apothecaress (or apothecary),
which is similar to a chemist. She uses a
variety of herbs, flowers and animals to
make potions and poultices. She tells Twig
she understands the properties of most of
the things that live and grow in the forest.
5. He follows Mag and falls into an
underground tunnel.
6. Accept appropriate responses.
7. A loyal, intelligent, black beast with yellow
eyes. Accept appropriate responses for the
second part of the question.
8. He misses being outside and the banderbear.
Also, he has nothing to do but think.
9. She has long eyestalks and she constantly
licks her eyeballs. Answers will vary as to
why Twig doesn’t notice these things after a
while, but should indicate that he realises
she is kind.
10. Accept appropriate responses.
9. Accept appropriate responses.
10. Accept appropriate responses.
Pages 35 and 38–41
Most answers will vary due to the students’
opinions.
Page 42
1. • halitoad – a creature with foul breath
• torrent – a violent stream of something
• acrid – sharp or irritating smell or taste
• faltering – using unsteady movement
• amulet – a charm
• treacherous – unreliable
• plaintive – sorrowful
• chasm – a deep gap in the earth’s surface
The word ‘halitoad’ should be circled.
2. a) true b) true c) false d) true e) false
3. c, b, d, a
4. a) Because his parents were afraid the sky
pirates would kidnap him.
b) She wanted to keep him as a pet.
c) He was picked up by the rotsucker.
d) It points to your destiny.
5. Accept appropriate responses.
Page 43
1. Twig’s comfort cloth.
2. Gristle (He has venom inside him that has
made him swell up.)
Page 30
3. The skullpelt, which was disguised as
1. Accept appropriate responses.
Spelda.
2. It helps the sky ship to fly.
4. Twig.
3. Accept appropriate responses.
5. The banderbear’s rotten tooth.
4. Hubble sees the tooth pendant Twig wears.
6. The cocoon he is trying to break his way
Twig suspects it was Hubble who cried out
out of.
the night the banderbear died.
7. Mag is about to turn termagant.
5. He says realising that Twig was his son was
8. The flight rock.
more than he could bear. Accept appropriate
9. The gloamglozer.
responses for the second part of the quesion.
10. His abandonment of Twig.
6. When the captain tells him the baby he
Page 44
abandoned was a boy.
7. It tells him he is special, it can help get rid
Ask students to perform one or more of their
of his emptiness by helping him become a
rehearsed conversations for the class. Students
gloamglozer too and it can help him see
can be assessed on the content of the
what is beyond the Deepwoods.
conversation and the characterisation. They
could also write a self-assessment of their work.
8. He tells him he will be a member of the
crew, like all the other pirates.
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Sample Lesson Plan
Each of the suggested lessons may take from one day to several days to complete.
•
•
•
•
•
Make a character mask (page 21).
Discuss the concept of friendship (page 22).
Write a scientific report on the banderbear (page 23).
Give opinions about Twig’s actions (page 24).
Complete the Section 3 quiz (page 20). The answers
should be discussed as a class or in small groups.
• Introduce the vocabulary words for Section 4 (page 8).
Lesson 1
• Complete some pre-reading activities (page 5). These
can be completed as independent group or whole class
activities.
• Read ‘About the Author and the Illustrator’ (page 6).
• Introduce the vocabulary for Section 1 (page 8).
• Discuss the fact that the author has used many
invented words in the book.
• Ask students to find definitions for the vocabulary
words in a comprehensive dictionary.
• Read chapters 10–11. Ask students to listen or watch
for the vocabulary words and any invented words. Reread the sentences in which the words are found and
discuss their meanings and effects.
• Use one or more vocabulary activities (page 9).
• Discuss the illustrations in these chapters and how they
help to create meaning. Ask students to give opinions
on what was chosen.
• Make a diorama (page 26).
• Explore compound words (page 27).
• Design a Deepwoods creature (page 28).
• Describe your hopes and dreams for the future (page 29).
• Complete the Section 4 quiz (page 25). The answers
should be discussed as a class or in small groups.
• Introduce the vocabulary words for Section 5 (page 8).
• Read chapters 1–3. Ask students to listen or watch for
the vocabulary words and any invented words. Re-read
the sentences in which the words are found and discuss
their meanings and effects.
• Use one or more vocabulary activities (page 9).
• Discuss the illustrations in these chapters and how they
help to create meaning. Ask students to give opinions
on what was chosen.
• Research Ancient Egyptian charms and amulets
(page 11).
• Create and perform a ‘soundscape’ (page 12).
• Invent a new sport (page 13).
• Begin reading journals (page 14).
• Complete the Section 1 quiz (page 10). The answers
should be discussed as a class or in small groups.
• Introduce the vocabulary words for Section 2 (page 8).
Lesson 6
• Read chapters 4–7. Ask students to listen or watch for
the vocabulary words and any invented words. Re-read
the sentences in which the words are found and discuss
their meanings and effects.
• Use one or more vocabulary activities (page 9).
• Discuss the illustrations in these chapters and how they
help to create meaning. Ask students to give opinions
on what was chosen.
• Write a postcard from Twig (page 16).
• Role-play an interview with a gyle goblin (page 17).
• Describe what you would do as the leader of the gyle
goblins (page 18).
• Consider what you would see in a lullabee grove (page
19).
• Complete the Section 2 quiz (page 15). The answers
should be discussed as a class or in small groups.
• Introduce the vocabulary words for Section 3 (page 8).
Jacques, Brian. Redwall. (Redwall series, Book 1) (Ace, 1998)
Lewis, C.S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. (Macmillan, 1950)
Marillier, Juliet. Daughters of the Forest. (Sevenwater trilogy, Book 1) (Tor, 2002)
Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia. (Crowell, 1977)
Rodda, Emily. The Forests of Silence. (Deltora Quest series, Book 1) (Apple, 2001)
Stewart, Paul. The Midnight Hand. (Corgi, 1997)
Muddle Earth. (Macmillan, 2003)
The Wakening. (Corgi, 1996)
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit. (HarperCollins, 1991)
Lesson 7
• Complete ‘Any Questions?’ (page 35).
• Choose and begin book reviews and research projects
(pages 36 and 37).
• Begin working on the culminating activity (pages 38, 39,
40 and 41). This work could be presented as a booklet. It
could also serve as a springboard for students to write a
creative narrative about their adventures.
Lesson 4
Lesson 8
• Read chapters 8–9. Ask students to listen or watch for
the vocabulary words and any invented words. Re-read
the sentences in which the words are found and discuss
their meanings and effects.
• Use one or more vocabulary activities (page 9).
• Discuss the illustrations in these chapters and how they
help to create meaning. Ask students to give opinions
on what was chosen.
#HB0705 Beyond the Deepwoods
Forsyth, Kate. Witches of Eileanan. (Witches of Eileanan series, Book 1) (Roc, 1998)
The Weather Witch. (Corgi, 2002)
• Read chapters 12–14. Ask students to listen or watch
for the vocabulary words and any invented words. Reread the sentences in which the words are found and
discuss their meanings and effects.
• Use one or more vocabulary activities (page 9).
• Discuss the illustrations in these chapters and how they
help to create meaning. Ask students to give opinions
on what was chosen.
• Write a sky pirate diary (page 31).
• Role-play a scene from the book (page 32).
• Create a story map (page 33).
• Compare yourself to Twig (page 34).
• Complete the Section 5 quiz (page 30). The answers
should be discussed as a class or in small groups.
Lesson 3
Colville, Bruce. Into the Land of the Unicorns. (Unicorn Chronicles, Book 1) (Apple, 1999)
L’Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time. (Yearling, 1973)
Lesson 5
Lesson 2
Bibliography of Related Reading
• Use one or more of the unit tests (pages 42, 43 and
44). Discuss the answers to the tests as a class.
• Discuss the students’ feelings about the book.
• Provide the bibliography of related reading for
interested students (page 45). Have as many of these
books as possible on display in the classroom. Teachers
may also like to add other suitable books to the list.
4
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#HB0705 Beyond the Deepwoods
Unit Test: Option 2
Response
About the Author and Illustrator
Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell are an author–illustrator team who have created many books
together, including The Edge Chronicles series. This series currently includes Beyond the
Deepwoods, Stormchaser, Midnight over Sanctaphrax and The Curse of the Gloamglozer. Paul and
Chris both live with their families in Brighton, England. They met through their children, who
attended the same school. Their first collaboration was a picture book series for young children, the
first book of which was called A Little Bit of Winter.
Paul Stewart was born in London, England in 1955. He completed university qualifications in
English and creative writing, and soon published his first short story. In 1979, he travelled around
Greece and then worked as a teacher in Germany. In 1984, he taught in a language school in
Brighton. Two years later, he left teaching to write full-time.
Paul has written many adults’ and children’s books, including The Wakening, The Weather Witch,
Football Mad, The Midnight Hand, Dogbird and Trek Cape. Paul says he gets his story ideas when
he is lying in the bath!
Chris Riddell was born in South Africa in 1962. He studied in England at the Epsom School of Art
and the Brighton Polytechnic. Chris works as a freelance illustrator. He has written and illustrated a
number of children’s books, including Mr Underbed and Bird’s New Shoes. He has also illustrated
some prize-winning books, including Something Else by Kathryn Cave. Since 1998, he has worked
as a political cartoonist for several newspapers.
Chris started the idea for the Edge Chronicles series when he drew a map of the Edge, and showed
it to Paul, saying that he thought it would make a good fantasy story.
Explain who or what each of these quotes is referring to.
1. Chapter 1: Spelda
‘He won’t let anyone touch it. And he won’t be parted from it neither. His father tried once –
said the boy was too old for such childish things.’
2. Chapter 3: Sinew
‘As long as they get an antidote inside him before he explodes,’ she said.
3. Chapter 4: the caterbird
‘The face,’ the bird said firmly. ‘Look at the face, and see what I saved you from.’
4. Chapter 6: the Grossmother
‘Vile … disgusting … revolting VERMIN! Contaminating my beautiful colony.’
5. Chapter 8: Twig
‘You want me to wear it round my neck?’
6. Chapter 9: Twig
‘Got to make the hole bigger,’ Twig told himself as he raised the knife high above his head.
‘And quickly.’
7. Chapter 10: Mag
‘Did you hear that, Twig? It’s time! Come on.’
8. Chapter 12: Tem Barkwater
‘The trick will be to get it back to the sky ship while it’s light enough to carry, but heavy
enough not to fly away.’
9. Chapter 13: Twig
‘I s … s … summoned you?’ said Twig, the faltering words weak and muffled in the dense
fog. ‘But how? When?’
10. Chapter 14: Quintinius Verginix (Cloud Wolf)
‘It will not happen a third time,’ he said softly.
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#HB0705 Beyond the Deepwoods
Unit Test: Option 1
Book Summary
Unit Test
Beyond the Deepwoods
1. Match each word to its correct definition. Circle any words the author invented for the book.
• halitoad
• a violent stream of something
• torrent
• a charm
• acrid
• a deep gap in the earth’s surface
• faltering
• unreliable
• amulet
• sorrowful
• treacherous
• a creature with foul breath
• plaintive
• sharp or irritating smell or taste
• chasm
• using unsteady movement
By Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
Twig’s life with his woodtroll family in the mysterious Deepwoods changes forever when the
fearsome sky pirates take an interest in him. To avoid capture, Twig must travel alone through the
Deepwoods to the safety of his cousin’s house. But before he can begin his journey, his mother
Spelda tells him the truth about why he looks and thinks so differently from the other woodtrolls –
he is not one at all. Spelda admits to Twig that she found him abandoned as a baby.
Soon after entering the Deepwoods, Twig leaves the safe path Spelda tells him to follow and begins
an amazing adventure to discover his identity and his destiny. He encounters the kindness and
friendship of the butchering slaughterers, the enormous banderbear, the enigmatic caterbird and the
gossiping gabtroll; comes close to being eaten by a gang of piranha-like wig-wigs, savage
woodwolves, a hungry bloodoak, the horrifying skullpelt and the disgusting rotsucker; and escapes
capture by the massive Grossmother and the vicious termagant trogs.
2. True or false?
a) Twig is a woodtroll.
b) The gyle goblins eat pink honey.
c) The slaughterers are popular with all the Deepwood creatures.
d) Mag is excited about turning termagant.
e) The gloamglozer tries to help Twig.
3. Order these events.
a) Twig joins the sky pirates.
b) Twig befriends a banderbear.
c) Twig meets the slaughterers.
d) The gloamglozer releases Twig over the Edge.
4. Short answer
a) Why did Twig have to leave his family?
b) Why did Mag lead Twig to her underground home?
c) What happened after Twig fell asleep in the cocoon?
When Twig meets some grounded sky pirates, he overcomes his fears to help them repair their sky
ship. That night, the captain of the ship tells the story of how he abandoned his baby son many
years ago. Twig suddenly realises the captain is his father. But to his great sadness and frustration,
the sky pirates take off without him. Abandoned, Twig finds himself in the midst of a sudden forest
fire. In the run for his life, he finds his way to the edge of the Deepwoods and is horrified to meet
the most feared Deepwoods creature of all – the gloamglozer. The gloamglozer admits to Twig that
it had transformed itself into many of the helpful creatures he met on his journey. Promising to end
Twig’s emptiness by making him into a gloamglozer, it tricks him into taking its hand and stepping
over the Edge. Once Twig is in its grasp, it releases him, telling him that its task is to seek out
‘insignificant creatures’ that are
‘nothing’ and dispose of them over the
Edge. Yelling out to the gloamglozer
that he is not ‘nothing’, a terrified
Twig falls into the darkness, but is
suddenly saved by the caterbird. The
caterbird delivers Twig to his destiny –
his father’s sky ship. Twig’s father
promises never to abandon him again
as the sky ship soars into the air
beyond the Deepwoods.
d) What does a ‘heartcharmer’ do?
5. Long answer
Write the answers to these questions on the back of this sheet.
•
Do you think Twig was pleased with the ‘destiny’ he found at the end of the book?
Give reasons.
•
Explain who you think was the kindest character in the book and why.
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Section 1: chapters 1–3
Culminating Activities
Quiz
1. On the back of this sheet, list the main events of chapters 1–3 in order.
2. How does Twig look different from the woodtrolls?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
3. Why is Twig attacked after the trockbladder game? What do you think of what he does during
the game?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
My Journey through the
Deepwoods
During the Journey
Before you reach the Edge, many exciting, wonderful and dangerous things happen to you.
1. What have you liked most about your journey so far?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
2. Describe the three most dangerous or unexpected things that have happened to you and how
you managed to escape.
____________________________________________________________________________
4. Why wouldn’t you want to meet a halitoad?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
5. What does Gristle and Sinew’s mum give to Twig?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
6. What makes naming knives so important to woodtrolls?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
3. What do you miss most about home?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
7. Why doesn’t Tuntum want Twig to go with the sky pirate?
4. Who was the most helpful creature you met? What did it do?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
8. Why are the slaughterers disliked by the woodtrolls? Do you think this is fair? Explain your
answer.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
5. Draw yourself during your journey through the Deepwoods.
9. Why does Twig leave the slaughterers’ village? Would you have done the same? Give reasons.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
10. Would you prefer to be a woodtroll or a slaughterer? Give reasons.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
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#HB0705 Beyond the Deepwoods