Caprice - My Novel Study I Am Not Esther

NOVEL STUDY

WALT self manage our reading time while maintaining meaning and understanding in an extended text.

I am in the Chapter 7 Reading group.  This week we are reading the novel I am Not Esther.  It was written by Fleur Beale.

You can find all of my work in my novel study doc in my Reading folder.  It is titled ‘Novel Study Task Sheet - Term 2 Week 2-3.

Reading Plan:

We have decided to read the following parts of our novel on these days:

Day One: Page 1 to Page 30

Day Two: Page 31 to Page 55

Day Three: Page 56 to Page 80

Day Four: Page 81 to Page 109

Day Five: Page 110 to Page 159

Day Six: Page 160 to Page 200

By the end of day six, the novel should be finished!

Reading Tasks:

These will be completed each day, after I have read my section of the novel.

Task One:

Choose 2 new words you have come across while reading today.  Write the words.  Write a direct quote from the book using quote marks and write the page number you found it.  Now write down what you think it means, then find the meaning of the word in a dictionary or online dictionary and write it down.

1. Write a description about the main character in  the story

Fellowship - A group of people meeting to pursue a shared interest or aim. My Definition - To worship a God or God’s.

Hysterics - A wildly emotional and exaggerated reaction. My Definition - Reaction

Uncontrollable laughter.

Task Two:

Write a summary of what you have read today.  Remember a summary should be written in your own words and should be quite brief (short).

A young girl named Kirby who is abandoned by her mum. Kirby’s mum goes to Africa while Kirby is left with her mum’s sibling who change her name to Esther. But, she is very uncomfortable with that change in her life. She is being pushed down a pathway she doesn’t want to be in and suffers the change her mum had to go through whilst she was a child. Kirby is snatched away. There is no TV or radio. No mirrors. She is forced to have her hair in a plait and is forced to wear long, modest clothes. And must behave in a ‘Godly’ fashion. Can she keep up with it?

Task Three:

Task Four:

The daily questions

Daily Questions

Day One:

Describe the main setting. In this story it is set in Wellington, at a happy house. This house is filled with religious human beings.

How important is it? Well, to Aunt Naomi. This house is very important because of all the fun times she and the family had during the time they lived in that house. And they still live there as well.

Does the setting help set a mood? Yes. This setting helps set a happy mood for Aunt Naomi, Uncle Caleb and the children. But most of the time this setting sets a sad and blue mood for Esther(AKA Kirby). This is because she doesn’t want to be there!!! Will she STAY or will she GO?

Day Two:

Analyse two characters.  Describe their physical characteristics (what they look like) and their personality traits (e.g. friendly, kind, horrible, nasty).  Use a Venn Diagram to complete this task.  

Daniel:

He is the oldest but most maturest BIG BROTHER any little brother or sister could ever have. He asks if he could take the family out for a walk, he asks if anyone needs help and that’s what a REAL BROTHER would do!!! He is very kind, mostly happy and when he’s angry. He doesn’t take it out on anyone. Daniel is a friendly, loving, helpful, trustworthy AND he is a BROTHER!!!

Day Three:

What is the plot?  Explain what the conflict (problem) or goal is and how the character is trying to solve or achieve it.

The problem is that Kirby(AKA Esther) is abandoned by her mother and is forced down a path she doesn’t want to be down. She is like a tree standing tall at one time, then getting cut down at the other time! She is rushed in the race, she doesn’t want to wear long, modest clothes! She just wants things to go back to normal!

Day Four:

How have the characters developed since the start of the story? At the start of this novel Esther(AKA Kirby) moved out to live with her religious family. She didn’t know any of these children. The only people she knew was Aunt Naomi and Uncle Caleb. But then going towards the end of this novel, she get’s to know everyone and becomes great friends(cousins) with Magie(Magdalene).

Has anyone shown a different side? Yes. Ever since Aunt Naomi went into hospital to give birth to Zillah, uncle caleb felt weak and incomplete. This is because Aunt Naomi used to be a great comfort to him, and I guess he just wasn’t the same anymore.

What would you do if you were that character? If I was Uncle caleb, I would harden up and just keep in mind that Aunt naomi will be fine with Zillah(new born baby) up at the hospital. Knowing that she has lot’s of nurses and doctors around her to help her get through it!!!

Day Five:

What do you predict the ending will be?  Why do you think this?  

I think that Ellen(Kirby’s mother) will come back and KNOW that she made the wrong decision to leave her CHILD with some of her siblings.

Day Six:

What is the theme of your novel?  What message, moral, or lesson is the author trying to get across.  Was the theme explicit or implicit (did the author make it obvious or did you have to use your inference skills to figure it out?).

I thought that Fleur Beale wrote this novel because when you read it. it really feels like she wrote this because she might have been down that pathway in her childhood. Most of the time I had to use my inferring skills to find out whether or not she would stay with Maggie or go and be free! the moral of this novel is that if you are left alone in this HUGE world with people you don’t want to be with, the MOST MATURE thing to DO is to stay with them and just keep in mind that you’re not the only person in this world SUFFERING from the nightmare that you cannot wake up from!

This is my NOVEL STUDY DOC I did the past week. This is the reflection on a Novel I read called I Am Not Esther. Be sure to leave me some interesting comments including FF and FB for my next piece of work I post! Stay Cool!