STAGE

Remember Miranda
1 Rowena Akinyemi

Introduction

This ungraded summary is for the teacher’s use only

and should not be given to students.

The story
Cathy Wilson gets her first job looking after Susan and
Tim, the two children of Duncan Harvey. Cathy has
got the job because Duncan’s wife, Miranda, has died
recently. Duncan, and the children, live with Duncan’s
mother (who has arthritis) in a remote house on the
Norfolk coast. Cathy arrives there on a cold October
Background to the story
evening. On her way to the house she meets Nick
The story is set on the North Norfolk coast, about 250
Watson, a handsome young farmer who lives near the
kilometres north of London. It is a remote area, with
Harvey family.
forests and sand dunes. In the autumn and winter
Cathy moves into Beach House, the Harveys’
(when this story takes place) it is extremely windy
home. She likes the children, but Duncan is rather
and can be very cold – an intriguing setting for a love
reserved and his mother (Mrs Harvey) can be difficult.
story.
She also makes friends with Juliet, Miranda’s sister.
One evening Cathy goes out with Nick. Mysteriously, Before Reading
Nick warns her to be careful at Beach House. Mrs Here are some ways to help your students approach
Harvey discovers that Cathy has become friendly with the story:
Nick and warns her to stay away from him. 1 Give students the title of the book and show them
Cathy discovers that there is a mystery about the picture on the cover. Ask them to try and guess
Miranda’s death. She knows that she died two what kind of the story it is.
years ago, but nobody wants to give her any more 2 Give students a copy of the text on the back
information than this. Finally she goes to the local cover of the book, and of the story introduction
library, looks at some old newspapers, and discovers on the first page. When they have read the texts,
that Miranda died falling down the stairs in her house. ask them a few questions about the story, or use
But was it a fall, or was she pushed, perhaps by the Before Reading Activities in the back of each
Duncan? Bookworm.
One cold, windy, winter’s day, Duncan, Nick and 3 Use the pre-reading activity in this worksheet.
Cathy meet by chance on the beach. There is an 4 If there is a recording of this title, play the first few
argument, and Cathy discovers that Miranda had been pages and stop at an interesting point.
in love with Nick, and had wanted to leave Duncan
and the children for him. During this argument, Cathy
realizes that she no longer likes Nick, but that she is
in love with Duncan.
Duncan and Cathy return to Beach House, where
Duncan’s mother admits that she pushed Miranda
down the stairs. She didn’t want to kill her, but she did
want to stop her leaving Duncan.
At the end of the story we discover that Cathy
has stayed with Duncan and the children, while Mrs
Harvey has left Beach House and is in hospital.

117 © OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

 STAGE
Remember Miranda
1 Pre-reading activities

Match the words with the pictures/Name the characters

Can you match the words with the pictures?

1 2 3

4 5 a ‘Come and sit down here,’ said

Mrs Harvey.
b ‘You think I killed Miranda?’
shouted Duncan.
c ‘Is Tim going to die?’ cried Susan.
d ‘Hello Cathy. How are you?’
e ‘We don’t want more accidents,’
Juliet said quietly. ‘Remember
Miranda.’

Name the
characters. 1 .L_Sd 4
Now look
at this picture.
Can you write
2
in the names 5

of the people?

3 6

To the teacher

Aim: To introduce the main characters in the story
Time: 10 –15 minutes
Organization: Give one copy of the worksheet to
each student or each group of students. Ask the
students to match the words with the appropriate
picture.
Key: 1e, 2c, 3a, 4b, 5d. When the students have
completed this task, check it with them and then
ask them to write in the names of the people in the
picture at the bottom of the page.
Key: 1 Cathy, 2 Duncan, 3 Mrs Harvey, 4 Juliet,
5 Tim, 6 Susan.

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 STAGE
Remember Miranda
1 While reading activities

The Harvey family tree/Character descriptions

The Harvey family tree. Complete the diagram.

2]LYOQL_SP]

/`YNLY

Character descriptions
Now match the people with the descriptions and write where they live.

NAME DESCRIPTION LIVES

a five-year-old boy

an old woman with white hair

who walks with a stick

a seven-year-old girl

has beautiful dark eyes and long

dark hair

a man who works with a big

London company

To the teacher

Where: At the end of Chapter 1 Organization: This activity asks students to

Aim: To check that the main characters are well complete a family tree of the Harvey family and
remembered then match the people in the family tree with a
Time: 10–15 minutes description.

119 © OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS PHOTOCOPIABLE

 STAGE
Remember Miranda
1 After reading activity

Character crosswords

Look at this ‘crossword’ about Nick. DRIVES A LA n DROVER

INTEREST i NG
A S K S C AT H Y TO B E C AREFUL
LI K E S C AT H Y

Make ‘crosswords’ about some of the other characters.

..................................... C ......................................................... ..................................... J ..........................................................

..................................... A ......................................................... ................................. U ..........................................................

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To the teacher

Aim: To encourage students to think about the and ask them to look at the main characters in the
characters in the story story and write ‘crosswords’ around them, following
Time: 15–30 minutes the example given. Students can work alone or in
Organisation: Give out the worksheet to the students pairs.

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