Litle Brown and Co, 1992

Summary: Teenager Will Flowers draws many analogies between fighting in a war and living in the same household with his adolescent younger sister, Estelle. Indeed, he quotes many sections from a World War I journal that equate perfectly to the family's chaotic life. Hormones rampaging, Estelle manages to keep everyone off balance. Muffy, their pre-school sister, appears unwilling to speak and sucks her thumb continually. Their mother, a lawyer, and their father, a garage owner, resort to threats, cajoling, manipulation, and avoidance techniques. Will decides it is worth writing a book about the experience.

Level: RL: 6 IL: 6-8

Themes:

authorship

family relationships

adolescence - growing up

Activities:

1. In the opening scene, a famous author appeared at Will's school. Although arrangements had been made months in advance, the host teacher no longer taught there and several tense moments passed before the administration figured out what to do with her. Choose an author who lives nearby. Plan and implement the proper way to host an author visit. (The Melton book in the Resource List is quite helpful.) Take into consideration the following points:

• Financing (PTO's, local service clubs, fund raising, sharing with other
• schools)
• Planning and making arrangements (checklists)
• Making preparations for the visit, media coverage, proper behavior
• Designing an actual visit, including how the reception committee would
• function, whether or not the author would sell and autograph books
• Showing appreciation and overall evaluation

Write a article for the local paper, using the research and your experience.

2. The Book of the Banshee is written in the first person as "told" by Will, the banshee's brother.

A. Does Will actually tell Estelle what her behavior is doing to the family? Why or why not? Back up your answer with specific page numbers from the book. Take turns explaining to your reading group or write in your journal reasons why the family didn't confront her? Find the passage in which Estelle acts in the most bizarre manner. Read it to your parents or another adult and ask how would they have handled Estelle if she were their child? Report back to class.

B. Why did Anne Fine use Will's point of view? Think how the story would be different from some one else's perspective. Rewrite one scene as if it were told by another character (Muffy, the mother or father, Estelle, or even Chopper, Will's best friend).

3. Why does Estelle act like she does? Research what is happening to adolescent hormones. What other physical explanations might there be for Estelle's actions?
Would a psychiatrist or a medical doctor be helpful? Make a careful list of general behaviors that might provide doctors with a clue. (Include page numbers.) Other possible areas to investigate:

• derivation of the word hormone.
• general facts about hormones e.g. They belong to which system? How many are there? Where are they found?
• the incredible secret of how they function

OPTIONAL: Set up an appointment with both types of doctors and have one class member interview them for a diagnosis. (Be sure to make it clear IN THE BEGINNING that this is for an assignment and shouldn't take place during working hours.)

4. WAR ANALOGY A. Discuss the cover illustration. Pre-reading: What do you think this book is about? What type of character do you think the boy and the girl have? This book is dedicated to Brigadier Warren. Who is he? Why did Fine select him? Write to the author with your hypothesis and inquire as to accuracy.

B. Anne Fine adds a page with this acknowledgment: "I am indebted to Thomas Suthren Hope for his superb account of his time in the trenches: The Winding Road Unfolds, Putnam, London, 1937." If desired obtain a copy of this and note references and similarities. (NOTE: The Bangor Public Library does own this book although it is not yet on URSUS. Recommended for older students and those who are not squeamish about the gore of war.)

5. In the background, the reader observes Will as he writes The Book of the Banshee. In the end he decides to send it to the publisher and use the pseudonym Anne Fine! Make a chart of famous non de plumes for your English classroom. Write a pamphlet about how to write and get work published. (Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market contains some helpful hints.) Address such common concerns as: Should it be sent to a publisher unsolicited? How important are agents? How high are their fees?

ASSESSMENT: Send your brochure to a professional author and ask for feedback. Publish the pamphlet and distribute it to interested students.

Sample Writer's Guide pamphlet.

6. What is a BANSHEE? Draw an illustration of your interpretation. Do you believe this is an apt description of Estelle? Why or Why not?

In case the resources about banshee aren't available, two descriptions follow:

"Nobody seems to have laid eyes on this 'woman of the fairies.' She is less a shape than a mournful screaming that haunts the Irish night and (according to Sir Walter Scott's Demonology and Witchcraft) the Scottish highlands. Beneath the windows of the visited house, she foretells the death of one of the family. She is held to be token of pure Celtic blood, with no mixture of Latin, Saxon, or Danish. The Banshee has also been heard in Wales and in Brittany. Her wail is called keening." (Borges, p 41)

"The domestic spirit of certain Irish or Highland Scottish families, supposed to take an interest in their welfare, and to wail at the death of one of the family. The word is the Old Irish ben side, a woman of elves or fairies." (Reader's Encyclopedia, p 73)

7. Read My War with Goggle-eyes, also by Anne Fine. ("Kitty is not pleased with her mother's boyfriend, especially his views on the anti-nuclear issue, until unexpected events prompt her, after all, to help him find his place in the family." CIP) Compare the main character's personality traits and actions with Estelle's in The Book of the Banshee. Both books employ an interesting device in telling the story. Compare and contrast. Also examine the conclusions and how she paints the parents in both books

Resources

Better Homes and Gardens. New Family Medical Guide. Edited by Edwin Kiester, Jr. Meredith Corp., 1989.

Borges, Jorge Luis. The Book of Imaginary Beings. With Margaritta Guerro. Avon, 1969.

Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market. Edited by Connie Wright Eidenier. Writer's Digest Books, annual.

Fine, Anne. My War with Goggle-Eyes. Little, Brown, 1989.

Hope, Thomas Suthren. The Winding Road Unfolds. Putnam, 1937.

Melton, David. How to Capture Live Authors and Bring Them to Your Schools. Landmark, Ed. 1986.

Reader's Encyclopedia. Edited by William Rose Benet. Crowell, 1948.

Prepared by Abigail Garthwait, Asa Adams School, Orono

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