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Davenport Stories – lebhafte englische Schullektüren für Leser zwischen 10 – 17 Jahren

Die Lektüren von Davenport Stories sind:

• international ausgezeichnet
• bieten zahlreiche Illustrationen
• mit Questions + Activities

CYBER NIGHTMARE

Davenport Stories

Paul Davenport: Cyber Nightmare

6,20 €

VERSANDKOSTEN

ARBEITSBLÄTTER ZUR LEKTÜRE

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Neil Green is an active student at Caribou Middle High School. He likes his school and his school likes him. So he thought. Until he began getting shocking text messages. His best friend Darby tells him to ignore them, but then a nasty website appears, presenting Neil and Darby in a false light, and turning Caribou Middle High into their own personal chamber of horrors. Realizing that they have to defend themselves, they set up their own website to combat the cyber bully.

Davenport Stories – lebhafte englische Schullektüren für Leser zwischen 10 – 17 Jahren

Die Lektüren von Davenport Stories sind:

• international ausgezeichnet
• bieten zahlreiche Illustrationen
• mit Questions + Activities

Davenport Stories

Paul Davenport: Showdown at St. Ann’s

6,20 €

VERSANDKOSTEN

ARBEITSBLÄTTER ZUR LEKTÜRE

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Showdown at St. Ann’s is the story of a school in the grip of a ruthless youth gang. Helpless, the students submit to their fate, giving the gang whatever they ask for, while the teachers look the other way. One day,  a new boy comes to school. The students think the little guy is cool. They are surprised when they learn that he is a black belt holder. The gang learns this the hard way, and takes brutal revenge on him. At the urging of his friends, he forms a judo troop and prepares to take on the gang. A showdown is in the air!

Before I read A Short History of Nearly Everything, I thought that my understanding of the cosmos was more or less up to date. You know, the idea that Earth is a tiny planet spinning in the depths of a huge universe. But then Bill Bryson took me, his reader,  for a leisurely walk through the long history of the evolution of the world from the very beginnings up to the present. When the walk was over, my view of the cosmos was still intact, but the idea of just how tiny Earth is and how huge the universe is had become a whole lot clearer to me. His penetrating examination of the origins of life and what it is made up of is at the same time fascinating and, well, kind of scary. Through it all, Bryson is the perfect narrator, always entertaining, never boring, as can be seen for example in the following excerpts about the wondrously fortunate circumstances that make Earth suitable for life:
So far, space scientists have discovered about seventy planets outside the solar system, out of the ten billion trillion or so that are thought to be out there, so humans can hardly claim to speak with authority on the matter, but it appears that if you wish to have a planet suitable for life, you have to  be just awfully lucky, and the more advanced the life, the luckier you have to be.
He then goes on to talk about the four main favourable circumstances that have made life possible: planet Earth’s excellent location, the favourable composition of the earth, the fact that Earth has a ‘twin’, the Moon, and finally timing, by which he means the course of the history of the universe with its alternating periods of stability and stress.
As for the breathtakingly amazing role played by the Moon, Bryson writes:
Without the Moon’s steadying influence, the Earth would wobble like a dying top, with goodness knows what consequences for climate and weather. The Moon’s steady gravitational influence keeps the Earth spinning at the right speed and angle to provide the sort of stability necessary for the long and successful development of life.
In typical understatement, he reminds the reader that this situation is not permanent:
This won’t go on for ever. The Moon is slipping from our grasp at a rate of about 4 centimetres a year. In another two billion years it will have receded so far that it won’t keep us steady and we will have to come up with some other solution, but in the meantime you should think of it as much more than just a pleasant feature in the night sky.
An interesting subplot in all this is the role played by science and the long list of men and women, many of them relatively unknown, who made key contributions to our understanding of the universe. In Bryson’s narration, they come to life in an awe-inspiring story of heroic effort and amazing insights, only occasionally marred by mean-mindedness and resentment.
I can only second what Tim Flannery of The Times Literary Supplement wrote of Bryson’s book: ‘It represents a wonderful education, and all schools would be better places if it were the core science reader on the curriculum.’

Am 15.03.11 besuchte der Autor für englische Jugend- und Kinderbücher Paul Davenport zwei zehnte Klassen, um ihnen etwas über das Schreiben von Büchern zu berichten.
Nach einer kleinen Begrüßung wurden 4 unterschiedliche Gruppen pro Klasse gebildet, die dann in 20 Minuten einen Dialog mit Bezug auf eine Szene aus dem Buch „Run For Your Life“ schrieben . Jede Szene wurde einzeln vorgespielt und so die grobe Handlung des Buches vorgestellt.
Im zweiten Teil des Besuches erzählte Paul Davenport etwas über sich selbst und von seiner Heimat in Houlton, Maine, USA. Dort wuchs er auf und beschäftigte sich hauptsächlich in und mit der Natur. Der heute in Lingen lebende und arbeitende Autor zog im Anschluss an sein Studium nach Deutschland, um hier als Lehrer zu arbeiten. An seiner Schule schrieb er jedes Jahr ein neues Theaterstück für die jüngeren Klassen und wurde so entdeckt. Seit dem hat er viele englische Jugendbücher veröffentlicht, die alle irgendetwas mit seinen Lieblingsbeschäftigungen zu tun haben, wie zum Beispiel Sport treiben oder Reime schreiben, die dann auch in vielen seiner Geschichten wieder auftauchen.
Außerdem erzählte Paul Davenport von seinen Methoden, ein Buch zu schreiben. Zur Veranschaulichung seiner  Herangehensweise zeigte er einen Baum, an dem die Früchte, seine Bücher, hingen. Die Wurzeln, also die Grundlagen, sind die drei wichtigsten Faktoren in Pauls Leben: Sport, Musik und die Natur. Durch deren Inspiration kommen ihm die Ideen für eine Handlungsgeschichte, die dann in seinen morgendlichen Arbeitsstunden in ein Buch umgesetzt werden.
Zum Schluss wurden noch einige Fragen gestellt, die sich auf das Schreiben seiner Bücher und auf seinen persönlichen Lebenslauf bezogen. Auf die Frage, ob er nicht schon einmal überlegt habe, Bücher für Erwachsene zu schreiben, antwortete er, dass er immer noch ein „Jugendherz“ habe und sich auch nie davon abwenden könne.

Zur Hompepage des CAG Cloppenburg

Klappentext:

Four 13-year-old friends build themselves a raft to ride the Millstone River on. They’ve kept the trip a secret and plan to be back before their parents start worrying about them. On the river, the raft floating high and dry, the friends are enjoying the ride – until they reach fast water and the sabotaged raft breaks apart, throwing them into the cold waters of the river. Stranded in the middle of the woods, they face a long, dangerous walk home.

Auszug:

One week and a lot of hard work later, the raft was ready to go. Jed and the others had spent almost the whole last day finishing it. After that, they had a quick swim and
talked about their plans to raft down the river the next day. They could hardly wait. Before they returned home, they decided it would be a good idea to christen the raft. They took a long piece of the rope that was left over from making the raft and tied an empty bottle to one end of it. Then they tied the other end to the branch of a tree above the raft. Jed held the bottle and got ready to throw it. ‘Wait a minute,’ said Joline. ‘We’ve forgotten the most important thing!’ ‘What’s that?’ Carlos wanted to know.
‘The name. When you christen a ship you need a name. What are we going to call our raft?’ ‘How about ‘S.S. CJCJ’? said Chester. ‘What’s that?’ Jed asked.
‘It stands for Chester and Joline, Carlos and Jed.’ ‘Or Carlos and Jed, Chester and Joline,’ Carlos said. ‘Yeah. I like that better, too,’ said Jed.
‘What does ‘S.S.’ mean?’ Carlos asked. ‘Sailing Ship,’ Chester said. ‘It’s what they always call ships, like the S.S. Queen Mary.’
‘I’ve got a better idea for a name,’ said Jed. ‘How about “S.S. Secret”? Because it’s a secret raft. No one knows about it except us.’ ‘And Slo-Mo and his gang!’ Carlos added quickly.
‘Right. I forgot about them. What about ‘S.S. Almost Secret’? Jed laughed. ‘Listen. We’ll just call it “S.S. Rocky Hill”, okay?’ Joline looked around at the others. They all nodded.
‘Ready, Jed?’ Chester said. ‘Take good aim! The bottle has to break, you know. It’s bad luck if it doesn’t.’ Jed hesitated. He looked unhappy.
‘Hello, earth to Jed Crane! Are you there? It’s time for you to throw the bottle,’ Joline said with a smile. ‘I – I don’t know. I don’t think it’s such a good idea after all.’
‘Huh? What’s wrong with you, man?’ Carlos said.
‘If I throw the bottle it’ll break into pieces and they’ll all end up in the river.’ There was a sad look in Jed’s eyes. ‘Hey, we’ll pick up the pieces afterwards, if it’ll make you feel any better,’ Carlos said. He looked at Joline and Chester and rolled his eyes. ‘Well – okay – but all the pieces,’ Jed said slowly. ‘Every one of them. Don’t worry,’ Carlos said, winking at the others.
‘You’ve got a deal!’ Jed said and laughed. Immediately, he raised the bottle high and said in a loud voice, ‘I christen you S.S. Rocky Hill!’ Then he threw it. It hit the side of the raft with a loud bang and broke. ‘Hooray!’ shouted the others and exchanged noisy high fives. As they continued to laugh and fool around, Jed stood there, watching them quietly. After a while, Carlos noticed the way Jed was looking at them. ‘Oh oh, let’s get those pieces of glass out of the river before Jed here has a heart attack!’ he said. Late that evening, long after they had gone home, an old car came driving down the river road. It stopped near the raft. Four people got out, each of them carrying a flashlight. The driver made a sign to the others to be quiet. For several moments, they stood there and looked up and down the river. Then they moved slowly down the riverbank to the edge of the water. There, before them in the light of their flashlights, lay the raft. Laughing softly, the driver of the car turned to the others and said, ‘Okay, guys, you know what to do. Let’s get started!’
For the next hour the four of them worked quietly. No one said a word. When they were finished, the driver of the car went from one end of the raft to the other, checking what they had done. ‘Good work,’ he said finally and smiled at them. ‘Let’s get out of here!’ He turned and started slowly up the riverbank, the others close behind him.

Rezension von der Klasse 8d des Gymnasium Nordhorn:

‘Interesting’
‘Exciting’
‘Good tension’
‘We liked the Activities, they helped us understand the novel’
‘We liked the ending!’
‘Sometimes the plot develops unexpectedly’
‘Novel is very varied’
‘easy to read and to understand’
OUR FAVORITE CHARACTERS: JED and JOLINE

Setting SOS Rocky Hill

Klappentext:

Neil Green is an active student at Caribou Middle High School. He likes his school and his school likes him. So he thought. Until he began getting shocking text messages. His best friend Darby tells him to ignore them, but then a nasty website appears, presenting Neil and Darby in a false light, and turning Caribou Middle High into their own personal chamber of horrors. Realizing that they have to defend themselves, they set up their own website to combat the cyber bully.

Auszug:

It was late October, the break for the potato harvest was over and life was back to normal in Northern Maine. School was in full swing again. Almost. Some students were finding it difficult to concentrate on their schoolwork after the long, three-week break. Their minds were on other things, not all of them good. You could see it in their eyes. Sylvia’s eyes were scanning the faces in the crowded cafeteria when the idea came to her. Smiling, she turned to Cora. ‘I know how we can have some fun,’ she said. Cora’s blank face lighted up. ‘How?’
‘We pick a victim and rattle their cage!’ ‘Huh?’ Cora’s face went blank again. Sylvia leaned closer to her friend. ‘We pick someone we don’t like and bully them.’
‘Bully them? What if they’re bigger than us?’ ‘Bigger, smaller, faster, slower – it doesn’t make any difference. We do it electronically. You know, via IM, email or computer.’ ‘Oh, yeah. That’d be fun!’ Cora clapped her hands like a little girl. Suddenly, she stopped, a question written all over her face. ‘But who?’
Sylvia narrowed her eyes and smiled. ‘That shouldn’t be a problem. Think of all the kids we don’t like.’ She started scanning the faces in the cafeteria again. A moment later she stopped
and turned again to her friend. ‘That guy, for example!’ she said in a whisper. ‘Which guy?’ Cora’s voice was full of excitement. ‘The one in the blue sweatshirt, talking to some girls, three tables from here.’ ‘You mean Neil, Neil Green?’ Cora’s eyes opened wider and wider. Sylvia laughed softly. ‘That’s the one. The one and only Neil Green. ’Cora looked puzzled. ‘Why him?’ Before Sylvia could answer, Cora smiled and said, ‘Wait a minute! Last year! You had the hots for him but he never even looked at you. I remember!’
Sylvia gave her friend an angry look. ‘Not because of that. I forgot about that a long time ago,’ she said. ‘It’s because he’s such a conceited bastard. Look at him. Look at that smile. It’s got I’m-the-coolest-guy-here written all over it. Do you see it?’ ‘Yeah.’ Cora nodded quickly to show how strongly she agreed with her friend. ‘Why don’t we begin with an IM? Got any ideas?’ Cora’s face went blank again. She looked at Sylvia and shook her head.
‘Well, I have! Listen!’ Sylvia looked around and then began to whisper to her friend.

Rezension Cyber Nightmare von Sarah Garus (Hildegardisschule Bochum):

Wir haben die Lektüre Cyber Nightmare mit unserer 10. Klasse gelesen. Eine fesselnde Geschichte, die auf ein großes Problem der heutigen Zeit aufmerksam macht. Neil Green (der Protagonist) erfährt wohl eine der gemeinsten Arten des Mobbing: er wird unter anderem als schwul bezeichnet, wobei ich denke, dass dieser Vorwurf, welcher alle in Entsetzen und Spott versetzt, ein wenig auf den konservativen, amerikanischen Denkstrukturen basiert.
Der Autor Paul Davenport hat auch durch die Wahl der Täter, Mädchen, den Nagel auf den Kopf getroffen. Mädchen sind heutzutage teilweise viel verhaltensauffälliger als Jungen und ihre Rachegelüste sprengen so manche Vorstellungskraft. Dem Leser wird vom ersten Kapitel an Sylvias und Coras Absicht vor Augen geführt, was mich persönlich etwas stört, da meiner Meinung nach die Lektüre so etwas an Spannung einbüßt, da man schon weiß, wer Neil in der Hand hält. Was der Lektüre aber einen Pluspunkt einbringt, ist Neils Absicht, sich selbst zu verteidigen. Er schafft es, den ,,Mund zu öffnen ” und setzt dadurch ein öffentliches Zeichen gegen die in der Gesellschaft weit verbreitete Form der Diskriminierung, das Mobbing.
Insgesamt hatte ich viel Spaß an dem kleinen Büchlein, weil sich so die Diskrepanz zwischen dem Schulenglisch und dem umgangssprachlichen Englisch wieder mehr offenbart hat. Ein Buch in einfacher Sprache mit Sätzen, die für Schüler gut zu verstehen sind. Zudem sind auch die „questions & activities” -Übungen eine sehr gute Hilfe zum Verständnis und für eventuelle Klausurvorbereitungen.

Setting Cyber Nightmare

Cyber Bully Rap

Davenport Stories auf der Frankfurter Buchmesse

You won’t see us in these videos but we were there – somewhere else. Whatever, I’ve chosen two videos about the fair. The first is to give you an idea of the upbeat atmosphere  and the XXL dimensions of the book fair. In the second, the ‘Dummfrager’ pokes fun at some of the would-be experts there. I like that. The fair was an exciting event, a must not only for booklovers, but also for those who prefer the newer media forms.

In diesem Jahr findet die Frankfurter Buchmesse vom 14. bis 18. Oktober statt. Ehrengast ist China. Die ersten drei Messetage sind dem Fachpublikum vorbehalten. Privatbesucher heißen wir am Wochenende – am 17. und 18. Oktober – herzlich willkommen.