Brat Farrarin Prague
Christmas
Before Reading
ACTIVITIES ANSWERS
BEFORE READING ACTIVITIES (PAGE 92)
ACTIVITY 1 BEFORE READING
1Y 2N 3N 4Y 5Y
ACTIVITY 2 BEFORE READING
Encourage students to speculate and to make
guesses, but do not tell them the answers. They
will find out as they read that the ‘yes’ answers are
numbers 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.
While Reading
CHAPTERS 1 TO 3 WHILE READING
There were five Ashby children: the twins, Simon and
Patrick, their sister Eleanor, and the younger twins,
Ruth and Jane. Their aunt Bee had come from London
to look after them when their parents, Nora and Bill,
were killed in a plane crash. Then Patrick, who was the
oldest child, killed himself when he was only thirteen.
The Ashby family had lived at Latchetts for more than
two hundred years, but they were not rich. Nora had
had a lot of money, and Simon would inherit this on
his twenty-first birthday. But Bee earned money to
keep the family by working with horses. Her friend
Nancy, who was married to the local priest, George
Peck, used to live at Clare House when she was young.
But her family had not looked after their money and
in the end the house was sold. Her brother, Alec
Ledingham, became an actor and changed his name
to Alec Loding. He was not very successful, so when
he met Brat Farrar by accident in London, he saw
a way of making lots of money easily. He told Brat
that he could pretend to be Patrick Ashby, because he
looked just like him. When Brat got the Ashby money,
he could share it with Alec. So Brat went to see the
Ashbys’ lawyer and told him that Patrick had not died
when he was a child, but had run away to the United
States. The lawyer thought that perhaps the story was
true, because when he first saw Brat, he thought that
he was Simon Ashby.
CHAPTERS 4 TO 6 WHILE READING
© Oxford University Press
Possible answers:
1 After Patrick died, Simon burnt all his things.
2 Brat looked more like Simon than Patrick did.
3 Brat recognized Aunt Bee when she went to his
room.
4 Simon’s birthday party was put off until Uncle
Charles arrived from Hong Kong.
OXFORD BOOKWORMS LIBRARY STAGE
STAGE 52
STAGE
STAGE 5
1
5 Simon was very angry/unhappy when he heard that
Patrick wasn’t dead.
6 Aunt Bee was pleased that Patrick would have
Latchetts because he loved horses.
7 Brat nearly changed his mind about what he was
doing because it was criminal.
7 Eleanor went to meet Brat at the station.
8 Jane was unfriendly towards Brat at first, but Ruth
was friendly.
BEFORE READING CHAPTERS 7 AND 8
Encourage students to speculate and to make
guesses, but do not tell them the answers. They
will find out as they read that the ‘yes’ answers are
numbers 1, 4, 5 and 6.
CHAPTERS 9 TO 12 WHILE READING
Possible answers:
1 Because she was bored.
2 Because he was a dangerous horse.
3 Because Simon wouldn’t want to marry her now.
4 Because he wanted to read about Patrick’s death.
5 Because he had a special way of making his capital
letters and he used a special pen.
6 Because he wanted to find a tree where he could
train him not to knock people off his back.
7 Because he took Timber out.
8 Because he thought that she was in love with him.
9 Because he wanted to trick Roger Clint into thinking
that Chevron was tired so that Roger would relax
and Brat could win the race.
BEFORE READING CHAPTER 13
Do not give the answer yet. Students will find out
when they read the chapter that Simon admits to
murdering Patrick, and also to trying to kill Brat.
CHAPTERS 13 TO 15 WHILE READING
Possible answers:
1 He loved her.
2 For his new baby.
3 Because Brat couldn’t say anything about Simon
without giving away that he was a criminal too.
4 He thought about what Sheila Parslow had said
about Simon hating Tanbitches.
5 He thought that Simon was making a bad joke
because he was drunk.
6 He made footholds and used it to lower himself into
the quarry to look for evidence that Patrick had died
there.
7 Because he wanted Brat to know who was
responsible for his death.
6 BRAT FARRAR
XXX
BEFORE READING CHAPTER 16
The ‘yes’ answers are numbers 2, 4, 5 and 6.
After Reading
ACTIVITY 1 AFTER READING
6+11 16+8 1+5 15+3 7+2 14+12 13+4 9+10
Possible paragraph:
On Friday afternoon, Brat had bought a long piece
of rope and that night he made footholds at regular
intervals along it. Then he went to the old quarry
at Tanbitches, listening carefully on the way, but he
heard nothing. After he arrived there, he tied the rope
round a tree and slid over the edge of the quarry.
However, Simon was already waiting for Brat because
he planned to cut the rope and let Brat fall to his
death. Brat tried to pull himself back up over the edge,
but Simon put his foot on his hand. When Brat took
hold of Simon’s foot, Simon tried to stab him with
his knife. As Brat caught hold of Simon’s wrists, the
ground moved. Simon fell on top of Brat and they
both fell into the quarry.
ACTIVITY 2 AFTER READING
Possible answers:
GEORGE: My dear, I’m afraid that I have some very
bad news.
ELEANOR: Bad news? What’s happened?
GEORGE: It’s Simon. He’s been killed.
ELEANOR: Killed? Oh no! But how?
GEORGE: He tried to push Brat into the old quarry
at Tanbitches. They fought, and both fell over the
edge. Simon didn’t have a chance.
ELEANOR: Oh my God! What about Brat? Is he all
right?
GEORGE: He’s been taken to hospital and he’s very ill,
but the doctors think he will live.
ELEANOR: But why did Simon attack him? I know he
was angry about the estate and the money, but to
try and kill his own brother . . .
GEORGE: It’s worse than you realize, my dear. Simon
did kill his brother, eight years ago. He pushed
Patrick into the quarry, wrote the note that we
found, and left it on the cliff-top, to make us believe
that Patrick had drowned himself. Brat found out
the truth and was looking for Patrick’s body when
Simon attacked him.
ELEANOR: But if Patrick has been dead for all these
years, who is Brat?
GEORGE: We think that he’s an Ashby, but not your
brother. I’m so sorry, Eleanor.
ELEANOR: Don’t be sorry. It’s the best news I’ve ever
had!
ACTIVITY 3 AFTER READING
Possible answers:
• He talked to Mr Sandal about a children’s party at
Olympia.
OXFORD BOOKWORMS LIBRARY STAGE
STAGE 52
• He told Aunt Bee that her hair was different.
• He knew his way around the house.
• He said that he had noticed the old wallpaper.
• He told Simon the name of Patrick’s favourite toy.
ACTIVITY 4 AFTER READING
ACTIVITIES ANSWERS
Possible answers:
1 Mr Sandal thought that Brat must be an Ashby
because he looked like Simon.
2 At first, Aunt Bee thought that Brat couldn’t be
Patrick because Patrick would have written to her.
3 Simon knew that Brat couldn’t be Patrick because he
himself had killed Patrick.
4 Eleanor thought that Brat couldn’t be her brother
because of the way she felt about him when she
touched him.
5 George Peck thought that Brat couldn’t be Patrick
because he was almost sure that he had never met
him before.
6 Uncle Charles thought that Brat must be Walter’s
son because he looked like Walter.
ACTIVITY 5 AFTER READING
When Brat arrived at Latchetts, Bee took him to the
stables to see the horses in their boxes. Eleanor and
Bee trained the horses and also taught people to ride.
They were very interested in breeding horses too, and
when Brat arrived, the first foals of the year had just
been born. Brat loved horses and was pleased that he
was going to be the owner of a stud. Simon let him
ride a beautiful horse called Timber; but he didn’t tell
him how dangerous Timber was. Brat found out when
he cantered (rode) towards an open gate and Timber
tried to crush his leg between the saddle and the fence.
Luckily, Brat had plenty of experience, and he wasn’t
hurt. Later, he showed the blacksmith that he knew
how to make horseshoes. And he won a race at the
Bures show on one of Bee’s horses.
ACTIVITY 6 AFTER READING
Possible answers:
• Ruth and Jane looked exactly the same but you
could always tell which was Jane because she wore
old clothes. She loved horses and had a pony called
Fourposter. Ruth, on the other hand, always wore
a clean dress and was bored by horses. She was
friendly and interested in people.
• Patrick and Simon were very different in appearance
and character. Patrick was quiet, serious and
sensible, with a great sense of responsibility. He
© Oxford University Press
loved horses, and enjoyed bird-watching. Simon, on
the other hand, had no real feeling for horses. He
was selfish, money-conscious and dangerous.
ACTIVITY 7 AFTER READING
Open answers.
7 BRAT FARRAR
XXX