Teachers’ Notes
PETE AND THE
RULER OF THE
UNIVERSE
EMILY RODDA
Teachers’ Notes written by Kate Rowe
OMNIBUS BOOKS
Category
Title
Junior Fiction
Pete and the Ruler of
the Universe
Author
Emily Rodda
Extent
80 pp
ISBN
978 1 86291 977 8
Age
6+
Contents
Introduction…………………………………………………........…...2
About the Author……………………………….......………………..2
Before Reading the Text….…….......……………..…….……….....3
Reading the Text…………….......…….…………..…………………3
Questions about the Text…….......……………...……………..…..4
Creative Activities……………………………..........….….…………6
Further Discussion/Activities………………........……………..…....8
Further Reading…………………………….………………..........….8
Websites…………………………………….……….......…….....…....8
Teachers’ Notes may be reproduced for use in school activities. They
may not be redistributed for commercial sale or posted to other
networks.
INTRODUCTION
Pete and the Ruler of the Universe is a humorous story for readers aged 6 and above. It
tells the story of a ten-year-old boy, Pete, whose new baby sister Ellie unexpectedly
begins speaking. Unfortunately for Pete, the things Ellie says are copied from a cartoon
villain she has seen on TV—the evil Kraak, who wants to be the ruler of the universe.
Ellie gets her brother in all sorts of trouble by insulting people and demanding her own
way, leaving him with the blame—no one believes a little baby could possibly talk. Pete
realises that a new brand of baby snacks is causing the problem: Brown's Bonzer Baby
Biscuits. He tries to warn his parents and others that the biscuits are bad for his sister,
but nobody believes him. They think instead that Pete is jealous of Ellie, and is making
up stories.
What are these biscuits doing to Ellie? Are other people affected? And why, given all the
things she COULD say, does Ellie choose to say such bossy things? Pete starts a personal
campaign to wipe out Ellie's supply of Brown's Bonzer Baby Biscuits, with hilarious
results.
Pete and the Ruler of the Universe is written from Pete’s perspective. It is a fun, easy
read with the occasional advanced word. Themes include families, new babies, sibling
rivalry, and food additives. This is a new edition of a title originally published under the
name Crumbs! by Omnibus Books in 1990.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emily Rodda’s real name is Jennifer Rowe. She was born in Sydney and completed an MA
(Hons) in English Literature at Sydney University in 1973. She worked in publishing for
many years, as an editor and then a publisher at Angus & Robertson, before becoming
the editor of the Australian Women’s Weekly magazine in 1988.
Always a keen reader and writer, Emily began writing children’s stories in her spare time
to entertain her young daughter Kate. She submitted her first manuscript to Angus &
Robertson using a pseudonym — her grandmother’s name, Emily Rodda — to make sure
that she got an honest opinion of her work from her colleagues. This book, Something
Special, won the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award, as did four
other of her books in subsequent years: Pigs Might Fly, The Best-Kept Secret, Finders
Keepers, and Rowan of Rin.
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A full-time writer since 1992, Emily Rodda has published over 90 books. In recent times
she is best known for the popular Deltora Quest fantasy series which has sold more than
any other Australian series, has been made into a successful animated TV series in
Japan, and is published in over thirty countries around the world.
In 1995 Emily Rodda won the prestigious Dromkeen Medal. The judges of the award said
of her that she ‘maintains a prolific writing schedule, continues to provide a role model in
promoting children’s literature, and still spends many hours sharing her love of books
with children and educators’. She has also won many different Kids’ Choice Awards
across Australia. She has won two Aurealis Awards, for Deltora Quest Series 1 and also
Deltora Book of Monsters with Marc McBride in 2002, and for The Wizard of Rondo, the
second book in her Rondo trilogy, in 2008. Her most recent series is The Three Doors
trilogy.
Emily has also written eight mysteries for adults under her real name, Jennifer Rowe.
She has four children, and lives in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.
For
further
information
please
consult
Emily
Rodda’s
online
biography
at
http://www.emilyrodda.com.
BEFORE READING THE TEXT
What is it like to have a brother or a sister? As a class, discuss the idea of siblings and
compare students’ experiences of being the eldest, youngest, middle or only child in
their families. If any of the students has a new baby brother or sister he or she might
like to describe what babies are like, and what sorts of things babies can do (and can't
do!) at different ages.
READING THE TEXT
The teacher might like to read the first chapters to the class, and ask the first
comprehension questions orally, either for students to work on alone or in pairs, or as
part of a class discussion. The teacher could continue to read the text, or ask the
students to continue reading on their own.
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QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TEXT
Students could answer these questions orally, alone or in pairs, or as a written task to be
handed in. In some cases the questions may spoil the story, so you might like to hand
them out only after everyone has finished the relevant chapter.
Chapter 1:

How old is Pete when his sister Ellie is born?
A) Pete is ten years old when Ellie is born.

What are the names of the two main characters in the TV show that Pete and Ellie
watch together? How are they described in Chapter 1?
A) Solvar the Light-Warrior and Kraak. Solvar is heroic, and muscly. Kraak is evil,
green and ugly, and wears a black cloak with a silver skull on it.

What very surprising thing happens to Pete in Chapter 1?
A) His baby sister Ellie speaks to him, though she is much too young to talk.

Do you know what ‘Bonzer’ means?
A) It’s an old Australian slang word meaning ‘excellent’.
Chapter 2:

Why don’t Pete’s mum and dad believe him when he says Ellie spoke to him?
A) Because Ellie is only four months old: she’s much too young to be speaking.

What does the word ‘revenge’ mean?
A) Put simply, ‘revenge’ means a nasty payback to someone for something mean
they have done.

Where does Pete think Ellie learned to say the word ‘revenge’?
A) Pete thinks Ellie learned the word ‘revenge’ from watching the Solvar and
Kraak TV show.
Chapter 3:

What three embarrassing things does Ellie do in Chapter 3? Why does Pete get
the blame?
A) Ellie calls a lady in the supermarket a monster, she scares a baby at the park,
and she threatens the next-door neighbour’s cat. Each time, Pete gets the blame
because no one can believe Ellie is old enough to be responsible.

What do Pete’s parents think about the situation?
A) Pete’s parents think he might be jealous of Ellie, and that he is making up
stories to get her into trouble.
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Chapter 4:

What makes Pete realise that Ellie has eaten a whole packet of biscuits in a week?
A) Pete sees his dad crumpling the empty packet of biscuits.

Why does Pete realise the biscuits are causing Ellie to talk?
A) Pete realises that Ellie has been eating Brown’s Bonzer Baby Biscuits all
week—and talking for the same length of time.

Why does Pete’s mum reject his idea that there might be bad chemicals in the
baby biscuits?
A) Pete’s mum says people aren’t allowed to put nasty stuff in baby food.
Chapter 5:

Where does Pete finally hide the Brown’s Bonzer Baby Biscuits?
A) Pete hides the biscuits in his room.

Why can’t he just put the biscuits in the bin?
A) Because he thinks his mum might see them there.

Why doesn’t Pete just eat the cookies, to get rid of them?
A) Pete is worried about what effect the cookies might have on him if he eats
them.

What new idea does Pete try at the end of this chapter to stop the biscuits?
A) Pete writes a letter of complaint to the people who make Brown’s Bonzer Baby
Biscuits, and posts it to the address on the side of the biscuit packet.
Chapter 6:

Why does Pete get so upset at the beginning of this chapter?
A) Specifically, Ellie yells at him, and his mum accuses him of upsetting her, and
is obviously sad and worried about him. A more general answer is that he is tired
of getting the blame for Ellie’s behaviour.

Why does Pete’s mum think Ellie likes Kraak?
A) Pete’s mum tells him that babies don't know how to take turns, or share, or
care about other people’s feelings. They think they are the ruler of the universe,
but they learn as they get older that this is not the case.
Chapter 7:

In Chapter 7 Pete finds more evidence that other kids are having problems with
the baby biscuits. What does he find?
A) Someone has written ‘Brown's Bonzer Baby Biscuits make crazy babies’ and
‘Stop the Baby Biscuits now!’ on the footpath in chalk.

How does Pete’s mum find his hidden stash of biscuits?
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A) Pete’s mum comes to his room to look for a torch, and discovers there are lots
of ants. While trying to find out where the ants are coming from, she finds the
hidden biscuits.
Chapter 8:

Why does Lorraine think Pete took the biscuits?
A) Lorraine thinks Pete took Ellie’s biscuits because he was jealous of her: he
thought the biscuits represented his mum and dad's love for Ellie, and he
jealously wanted to keep this love for himself—therefore he kept the biscuits for
himself.
Chapters 9 & 10:

Why does Pete believe things will be fine between him and Ellie from now on?
A) Pete thinks Ellie has decided that she is his ally, because she called him her
‘loyal follower’, which is what Kraak calls his pet toad.

Do the Brown’s Baby Biscuit company ever admit that there was a problem with
their biscuits?
A) No. But after a few months they release a new version of the biscuits that says
‘New Improved Formula’ and ‘All Natural. No Artificial Ingredients’ on the packet.
This suggests that they have changed the recipe, and therefore that there was
something wrong with it after all.
CREATIVE ACTIVITIES (AFTER READING THE BOOK)
1.
CREATIVE WRITING

Do you have brothers and sisters? Where are you placed in the family (e.g.
eldest, middle, youngest, or only child)? Write a paragraph describing what you
think about it. Do you like your place in the family? Why or why not?

In Chapter 5, Pete decides not to feed the biscuits to his neighbour Lorraine’s cat,
because he is worried about what might happen. Imagine that a cat DID eat
some of the Brown’s Bonzer Baby Biscuits. What do you think it would say? What
would a dog say? Write a short story based around this idea.

Ellie talks like Kraak because she has seen him on TV. The other babies affected
by Brown’s Bonzer Baby Biscuits might have watched different programs—a game
show, for example, or the news, or the weather, or a cartoon series about a
family of mice. Write a story about what one of those other babies might have
said in the supermarket, the park, or to someone at the bus stop.
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
Imagine you work in the Publicity or Complaints section of the company that
makes Brown’s Bonzer Baby Biscuits. Write an email to the managing director
telling him/her about the complaints you’ve been receiving, the writing on the
footpaths etc. If you like, you could write the managing director’s reply as well.
2.
ART & PERFORMANCE

Draw a picture of your favourite character/s from Pete and the Ruler of the
Universe.

In this book, Craig Smith’s illustrations work together with Emily Rodda’s words
to tell the story. Now it’s your turn. Find a part of the story that you like, and use
illustration to show what happens. Your picture doesn’t have to look like Craig
Smith’s: it should be in your own style. You could try drawing, painting, or
collage.

Using your illustrations as a base, create puppets and bring a scene from Pete
and the Ruler of the Universe to life, in pairs or groups. First you will need to
make the puppets. An easy way is to draw your character (fairly big, perhaps the
size of an A4 piece of paper), colour it in, and glue it to a piece of strong
cardboard. The cardboard should be strong enough to stand up without flopping.
Cut out the character shape. Glue or tape a paddle pop stick to the back of the
cardboard, at the base, so you can hold your puppet upright. Next, you will need
to make a stage. This could be as simple as a desk: students sit underneath the
desk, holding the puppets up at desk level and making them speak. Or, if you
have a bit of time, and you can find a big enough box, you could create a Punch
and Judy style theatre for one or two students to stand inside at a time. There
are lots of different sites on the Internet giving instructions on how to cut out and
decorate a cardboard box theatre (for example, some simple instructions can be
found at http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Puppet-Theater-from-a-Box).

What colour is the Brown’s Bonzer Baby Biscuits packet? Using the description
from the book, design the packet.

Create a magazine advertisement, an ad for the side of a bus or a billboard for
Brown’s Bonzer Baby Biscuits.

3.
Draw a cartoon strip representing one episode of Solvar the Light-Warrior.
DISCUSSION TOPICS AND CLASS PROJECTS

PETE’S OPTIONS: As a class, list all the ways that children in the story try to draw
adults’ attention to the problem of the biscuits. (Pete writes a letter to the
factory, for example.)
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
COMPLAINTS: In the book, what methods of communication do kids use to
complain about Brown’s Bonzer Baby Biscuits? What would you have done in
Pete’s place? Who else could you have talked to?

HEALTHY FOOD: It’s important to eat good food in order to stay healthy. Make a
list of food that is good for you, and a list of food that you shouldn’t eat all the
time.
FURTHER DISCUSSION/ACTIVITIES

Do you have a family member who likes cooking? See if you can get him or her to
teach you how to bake biscuits. Perhaps your class could have a Bonzer Biscuit
Day when everyone brings in a few of their home-baked biscuits to share.

If you liked Pete and the Ruler of the Universe, write and tell Emily Rodda why.
Or if someone in your class comes up with a question about the book that no one
can answer, write and ask her about it! Don’t forget to include a stamped, selfaddressed envelope for your reply. You can address your letter to either of the
following addresses:
Emily Rodda c/- Scholastic Australia, PO Box 579, Gosford NSW 2250
Emily Rodda c/- Omnibus Books, 175–177 Young Street, Parkside SA 5063
FURTHER READING
Emily Rodda has written several other funny stories based in Australia like Pete and the
Ruler of the Universe. You might like to read Bungawitta, Bob the Builder and the Elves,
Green Fingers, and Dog Tales. Your school librarian will have further suggestions.
WEBSITES
EMILY RODDA
For information about Emily Rodda, including answers to frequently asked questions and
a current booklist, please go to:
http://www.emilyrodda.com and http://www.scholastic.com.au
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