‘The climax of this
strange, miraculous, beautiful book will make
it a classroom classic.’ The
Times
‘Readable, teachable,
adaptable, memorable. Highly recommended.’
Head
of English
Nominated for the
Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the
Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize
Teaching
points
Great opportunities for
exploring themes and imagery; and close language
work
Interesting links to other
literature and folklore – Frankenstein,
the Golem myth
Synopsis
Davie and his best friend Geordie are ordinary boys,
growing up in a close-knit Catholic community in Tyneside.
Then a new boy arrives. Stephen Rose has a disturbed
past but he also possesses artistic talents and a strange
power over people. Stephen makes astonishingly life-like
clay models and persuades Davie to help him make a clay
monster who will obey his creators.
The monster appears to come to life and seems torn between
the ‘good’ Davie and the ‘evil’
Stephen. Then Stephen uses the monster, Clay, to attack
the local bully. But when the bully is found dead, Davie
suffers a crisis of conscience. Stephen disappears and
Davie gains some peace by burying Clay’s remains
in his garden but it’s an uneasy ending –
will Stephen return? was he even real?
Cross-curricular links and themes
RE –
creation beliefs in world religions
Citizenship and PSHE
– personal responsibility
English –
links with folklore and literature (e.g. Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein,
other examples of the Golem myth in literature)
Themes: creating
and destroying; friendship and betrayal
ISBN
9780340941423 £5.99
January 2007
288pp
The Teacher’s Resource will be available to
download in March 2007
