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he boy who
bounced
O
nce there was a
little boy who had a
very bad habit
indeed. He used to
bounce like a ball.
Wherever he went
his mother would
say:“Walk like a little
gentleman.” But he
wouldn’t. He
bounced instead. His
father said:“No one
in our family has
ever bounced
before. I wish you would do something
else.You could run a bit, or even hop, or
you could skip.”
The little boy took no notice at all.This
was a mistake because one day he
bounced on a magician who was
snoozing in the sun.The magician was
very cross.
“It is really too much,” he cried.“I came
out for a quiet day in the country and
what happens? First I’m chased by a
bull (I had to turn it into a canary bird
to get away).Then I’m chased by the
farmer who owned the bull (I had to
change a foxglove into a lot of money
to pay him). It has left me very tired. I
lie down to have a snooze and a nasty
little boy comes and bounces on me.
Pah! Say you’re sorry, little boy, and walk
off quietly.”
The rude little boy took no notice of the
magician. He started to bounce away.The
magician became very angry indeed.
38
“If you want to bounce, well, bounce
you shall,” he declared, and began to
mutter magic words very quickly.The
little boy felt suddenly strange about the
fingers and toes—a sort of pins and
needles feeling. (That was the magic
working.) Before he could say
“Mousetrap!” he had turned into a red
rubber ball—a big ball, a bouncing ball.
He could bounce so softly that he
wouldn’t break a cobweb if he bounced
on it. He could bounce as high as a pine
tree.
“Meet me here in a year’s time,” the
magician said,“and I’ll think about
whether or not to turn you into a boy
again.”Then he lay down and began to
snooze once more.
By Margaret Mahy.
From The Boy Who Bounced and Other
Magic Tales (Puffin)
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Teaching notes for The Boy
Who Bounced
Text form:
Medium:
Field:
Tenor:
Mode:
OTHER
Fantasy
Illustrated book
A boy is turned into a ball
Storyteller to a young audience
Written to be read aloud
RESOURCES
A range of fantasy texts displayed in the
classroom.
Atlases and reference books.
INTRODUCING
THE UNIT
Share other fantasy texts by authors such as
Margaret Mahy,Tim Winton, Duncan Ball,
Roald Dahl and Tove Jansson. Draw out the
distinguishing features of these texts, and
encourage students to reach the conclusion
that the function of fantasy texts can be to
entertain through humour, to provide a moral
lesson, or both.
WRITE
ABOUT IT
The students may need to be guided through
the planning sheet.The stages of the narrative
may need to be reviewed. Stress the importance
of spending time planning as this will result in
a better piece of writing. Explain to students
that not everything written on the planning
sheet has to be written in the final copy.
BOUNCE
AROUND THE WORLD
Encourage continual editing and refining during
all the stages of the writing process. Have
students refer to an atlas to complete the map.
FOLLOW-UP/EXTENSION
CHARACTER
PORTRAITS
Encourage students to use their own
descriptive language and to include physical
and personality traits.
WHAT
A FANTASY!
Have students work in groups of three to five
to discuss the story. Each group can then
report the group’s ideas to the class.The
adventurous boy was happy to bounce all
around the world; however in the end he was
happy to be a boy again. He learnt not to be
rude and found that being helpful has its own
rewards.
• For capable students the computer program
‘Where in the World is Carmen Santiago?’
(available for Amiga, Apple, Macintosh,
Commodore and IBM) would be a great
way of introducing the world travel aspects
of the unit. It may be a little advanced for
some middle primary students as a lot of
reading is required. In this case a reference
book would be suitable for group work.
• Have students prepare a fantasy display for
the classroom or library.
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Name _________________________________________ Date _______________
The Boy Who Bounced
Character portraits
What do you think the boy and the magician looked like? Draw them in the
boxes. Next to the boxes, write five things about each character which you
think describe them well. The words may come from the passage, or you could
think of your own.
Magician
The boy who bounced
NA 3.5 NSW 2.5 Reads a wide range of written and visual texts and interprets and discusses relationships between ideas, information and events.
NA 3.12b NSW 2.11 Consistently makes informed attempts at spelling.
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Name _________________________________________ Date _______________
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The Boy Who Bounced
What a fantasy!
The Boy Who Bounced is a fantasy. A fantasy is a story which is touched by magic
and ‘unreal’ happenings. What can we learn from fantasies? Did you learn
anything from this passage from The Boy Who Bounced? Now it’s your turn to
bounce! What might happen if you could bounce all over the world? Where might you go?
Who might you meet? What adventures might you have?
Talk about it in a small group. Record your group’s main ideas here.
What can we learn from fantasies?
Did you learn anything from this passage?
What might happen if you could bounce all over the world?
NA 3.1 NSW 2.1 Communicates and interacts for specific purposes with students in the classroom and in the school community using a small range of text types.
NA 3.4 NSW 2.2 Interacts effectively and reflects on own skills and how others use communicating skills and listening strategies.
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Name _________________________________________ Date _______________
The Boy Who Bounced
Write about it!
On the next page you will find a map of the world, and lines for you to publish
a story based on the ideas you talked about in your group. Use the table below
to help you plan your story.
Name
Description
Characters
Orientation
When and where is the story happening?
Complication
Place
Event
1
2
3
4
5
Sequence of Events
NA 3.12a NSW 2.9 Uses strategies to plan, review, proofread and publish own writing with awareness of audience and written language features.
NA 3.9 Experiments with interrelating ideas and information when writing about familiar topics within a small range of text types.
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Name _________________________________________ Date _______________
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The Boy Who Bounced
Bounce around the world
On rough paper, draft and edit your story. Publish your final copy on the lines
below and mark your journey on the map. You might need an atlas to help you
find and name the places you visit.
NA 3.12a NSW 2.9 Uses strategies to plan, review, proofread and publish own writing with awareness of audience and written language features.
NA 3.12b NSW 2.11 Consistently makes informed attempts at spelling.
NSW 2.12 Writes using consistent shape, size, slope and formation. Demonstrates basic desktop skills on the computer.
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Name _________________________________________ Date _______________
The Boy Who Bounced
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