VIVIAN FRENCH

ILLUSTRATED BY DANIEL DUNCAN

BOOK BAND: LIME

BEFORE YOU START

Prepare a group journal to help you record group discussions and responses
to the text as you work through the book.

Prepare outlines of the characters Dan and Billy, ready to complete using the
Role on the Wall technique.

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 SESSION 1: CHAPTER ONE

Focus: Predicting, Clarifying and Close Reading

Share the title of the book with the children. Based on the title alone, explore with the
group what they think the story could be about. Discuss what genre the story might be.

• Have you ever heard, seen or read any mystery or detective stories?
• Do you like this type of story? Why / why not?
Ask the children to suggest any mystery or detective stories they know, including classic
detectives such as Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple, figures from popular culture such as
Scooby Doo, or children’s mystery fiction series such as the Diamond Brothers mysteries
by Anthony Horowitz or the Laura Marlin mysteries by Lauren St. John.

What would they expect to have happen in a mystery or detective story?

Draw the key elements on a story map: something goes wrong or goes missing
or a crime is committed; the detective is introduced; clues are collected or witnesses
are interviewed; etc.

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Now look at the cover illustration.

• Is this what you expected?

• Have you changed your mind about what the story could be about?
• Who do you think Detective Dan might be?
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Read Chapter One and ask the children to discuss what they have found out so far.

Analyse the introduction to Dan and Billy’s friendship. Look at how quickly the author
Vivian French demonstrates their friendship on page 5: ‘Every afternoon they ran home
together. They did everything together.’

Discuss what the children can guess about Dan’s emotions by contrasting Dan and Billy’s
routine of running home and the Monday afternoon when Dan comes out of school
‘very slowly’.

• What do the author’s descriptions of Dan’s actions across the first three days
tell you about his feelings and thoughts?
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Allow the children to make links with their own lives.

• Have you ever had a best friend that you did everything with?
• Have you ever felt like you have been accused of something you didn’t do?
• Have you ever felt strongly that something has been unfair?
• What do you think Dan should do? What would you do?
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Vocabulary
As you go through the book, ask the group to pick out words they are unfamiliar
with or do not fully understand, such as sardines. Use photographs and video sources
to bring these words to life and help the pupils use them in context.

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 SESSION 2: CHAPTER 2

Focus: Summarising, Re-reading and Predicting

Before reading the next chapter, ask the children to summarise the story so far.

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Read pages 12-13.

• Are you surprised that Billy has offered to be the detective? Why / why not?
• What mystery is Billy going to solve?
• Do you think it will be an easy or difficult mystery to solve? Why?
• What clues might Billy look for?
Engage in a discussion with the children about how Billy might go about solving
the mystery. What does a detective do? Encourage children to use their knowledge
of detectives to predict what Billy and Dan might do. They might suggest searching for
fingerprints, following the crumbs, setting up a camera, watching the lunchbox, creating
a trap or interviewing any suspects.

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Read on until the end of the chapter and reflect on the characters of Dan and Billy.

Introduce the outlines of Dan and Billy, to be added to using the Role on the Wall
technique. Ask the children to come up with words or phrases to describe Dan’s feelings
and personality or his outward appearance or behaviour. To promote a higher level of
thinking, ask the children to consider what they know from his speech and what they
can infer from his body language and gestures.

• What does something Dan does tell you about his personality?
• And how does his personality make that action seem most likely (‘in character’)?
Repeat this with the character of Billy.

Encourage the children to continue to return to the Roles on the Wall as you read
the story.

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Discuss and note down any questions children have about Billy, Dan or the events
so far and any predictions they have about what might happen when playtime arrives.

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 SESSION 3: CHAPTER THREE

Focus: Thinking Aloud, Empathising and Questioning

Revisit the children’s predictions and then read Chapter Three. Discuss the consequences
of Billy and Dan’s attempts to solve the mystery and Mrs Harper’s reaction.

• How did you feel about Mrs Harper’s reaction and response?
• Do you agree with her response? Why / why not?
• Why do you think she made those choices?
• What might you think if you were in her position?
Revisit the illustration of Mrs Harper on page 26. Following the discussion, ask children
to create a thought bubble to represent what Mrs Harper might be thinking in that
moment. Place them around the illustration and compare the children’s varied responses.

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Continue to record any new insights and observations about Dan and Billy on their
Roles on the Wall.

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Vocabulary
Note down and investigate the meaning of any words or phrases that children
are unfamiliar with. For example, children may not have experienced ‘chalk dust’
in their classroom.

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 SESSION 4: CHAPTER 4

Focus: Questioning, Empathising and Predicting

Read Chapter Four, stopping at different points to clarify the children’s understanding
and allow for discussion, particularly around the differences in Dan and Billy’s behaviour
at the start of the chapter and Mrs Harper’s behaviour throughout the chapter. Return
briefly to the Roles on the Wall for Billy and Dan and add to these.

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Explain to the group that they are going to be detectives at this point, especially now
that Billy has stopped investigating. Work together to look back through the story and
note down everything they know about what has happened in the class. They could
draw maps of the classroom and create lists of suspects.

• What do you think might be significant?

• Are there any events or behaviours that might not be important and could
be ignored? If you were detectives investigating this mystery, who would
you want to interview?
Once they have decided, explain that they are going to have the chance to create
and then ask their questions so that they can solve the mystery.

Ask the children to discuss and decide on five questions that they would ask their
suspect(s) at this point in the story. Challenge the children further by asking them to:

• predict the answers to the questions

• restructure the questions so they provoke a deeper response: discuss different ways
of phrasing questions and model how to recast a closed question as an open one.
Then ask the children to choose their five most effective questions.

Once the children have selected and refined their five most effective questions, use
hot-seating and role-play to interview the suspect(s). You might invite a range of
children to volunteer to step into role and answer two or three questions. Alternatively,
you could be the suspect.

After the hot-seating, can the children predict any solutions to the mystery?

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 SESSION 5: CHAPTER FIVE

Focus: Thinking Aloud, Summarising

Read to the end of the story and discuss the children’s responses to the ending
of the book.

• Are you satisfied with the solution to the mystery?

• Was the solution as you had predicted?
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Explore and note the children’s responses to the whole story by engaging in book talk
using the four basic questions. These questions give children accessible starting points
for discussion.

• Tell me… was there anything you liked about this text?
• Was there anything that you particularly disliked… ?
• Was there anything that puzzled you?
• Were there any patterns… any connections that you noticed… ?
As children respond it can be useful to write down what they say under the
headings ‘likes’, ‘dislikes’, ‘puzzles’and ‘patterns’. This written record helps to map
out the group’s views.

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Discuss how the children felt about the book compared to their original expectations.

• When you first saw this book, what kind of book did you think it was going to be?
What made you think this?
• Now you’ve read it, was it as you expected?
• Have you read other books like it? How is this one the same? How is it different?
• Would you recommend this book to a friend?
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These resources were created by Bloomsbury and The Centre for Literacy in Primary
Education (CLPE). For more teaching resources, visit:

www.bloomsburyguidedreading.com

www.clpe.org.uk

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