CHAPTER 8

CREATIVELY EXPLORING FICTION

From Cremin, T. (2014) Teaching English Creatively, London:Routledge

(no visuals)

INTRODUCTION

Children’s literature and fiction in particular is at the heart of the English curriculum. It has

the potential to play a powerful role in children’s creative development. Literature can

inspire, inform and expand the horizons of young people, challenging their thinking and

provoking creative multimodal responses in art, drama and dance as well as on paper and on

screen. As all national curricula documentation across the UK recognise, literature plays a

key role in children’s development culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually.

This chapter explores how to teach fiction texts creatively in literacy and shows how, through

employing the eight key features of creative practice, children can make rich connections,

interpretations and representations of meaning. At the primary phase, teachers use literature

to teach literacy, teach through literature in cross curricular contexts, teach learners about

literature and encourage independent reading for pleasure.

FICTION TEXTS

It is widely accepted that literature enables readers to develop an understanding about the

human condition and that the power of narrative underpins this. As Hardy (1977: 12)

famously argued, ‘narrative is not to be regarded as an aesthetic invention used by artists to

control, manipulate, and order experience, but as a primary act of mind transferred to art from
life’. As a way of making meaning, narrative pervades human learning and therefore deserves

a high profile in the curriculum.

Fiction can enable children to safely experience a range of emotions; it illuminates human

behaviour in different cultures and societies, and facilitates reflection upon universal themes

of existence, such as love, hate, envy, greed, prejudice, sacrifice, loss and compassion.

Fiction affords the chance for children to journey through other worlds, to take on other roles

and to learn, breaking down barriers in the process (Ee Loch, 2009), it cannot though do this

alone (Hope, 2008). The pedagogy of teachers is crucial; the nurturing effect of literature and

its potential to educate the feelings can only be tapped in school if fiction and poetry are

valued as more than mere resources for teaching literacy (Cremin, 2007).

Many young people find narrative fiction very appealing: it offers a strong motivation for

reading and viewing, and in the past has been the preferred reading choice of both boys and

girls (Whitehead, 1977; Hall and Coles; 1999). Today it remains popular and is among the

top reading choices for primary aged children outside school, who in England report a

preference for adventure, comedy, horror, crime, war/spy, animal., science fiction, sports and

romance stories in that order. (Clark, 2013). Story writing is also frequently cited as a

popular written genre (Myhill, 2001; Grainger et al., 2002), perhaps because in this form

children are able to take control of their own world making play and express their creativity

more freely. When reflecting upon why they love stories, two avid 10-yearold readers

replied: ‘You can lose yourself in another world and just kind of live there’ and ‘I like being

in a hot tub in my imagination’. Such a hot tub enriches children’s creative capacity, offering

ideas and possibilities and the opportunity to ponder, hypothesise and problem solve their

way forwards.

Narrative fiction appears in a wealth of formats and can be found in magazines, in short
story collections, in comics, graphic novels, picture fiction, novels, television and films.

Characters from popular culture such as Danger Mouse, Bagpuss, Clarice Bean, Dora the

Explorer, and Sponge Bob Square Pants and the Simpsons also belong to the world of fiction

that children encounter and on which they draw in their writing. As well as narratives from

TV, films and computer games , series fiction in books form- whether as hard copy or in

ebook format is often extremely popular with the young, prompting many children to get

hooked and persevere as readers. Quality examples which are also highly popular include: the

Horrid Henry tales by Francesca Simon, FS Said’s Varjak Paw, Michele Paver’s Wolf

Brother, Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid (a novel in cartoons), Helen Dunmore’s Ingo,

Toni DiTerlizzi’s The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell’s The Edge

Chronicles.

The lessons children learn about reading are shaped by the actual texts they encounter

(Meek, 1988) as well as classroom interaction around texts offered by their teachers. It is

clear that if they learn to read in the company of talented authors and illustrators this

positively influences their motivation, persistence and success. Likewise in the stories

children compose, the influence of the books they have read, heard and studied is visible

(Cremin and Myhill, 2012). This is evident in 6-year-old Alex’s ant story in which the

‘Where is Spot?’ principle of many young children’s narratives is evident (Figure 8.1). In this

tale, the poor ant nearly meets his demise when an ant-eater pops up out of the bushes.

Fortunately, however, Alex’s ant is saved when a lion chases the ant eater away.

TEACHERS’ KNOWLEDGE OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

In addition to offering supported choice, it is a professional responsibility to introduce

young people to new and classic fiction as well as picture fiction. Yet research suggests
that teachers are not always sufficiently well acquainted with authors and picture fiction

creators to enable them to plan richly integrated and holistic literature-based teaching, nor

foster reader development (Cremin et al., 2008a, b). In this UKLA survey, 1,200 primary

teachers from eleven local authorities in England were asked to list six ‘good’ children’s

writers. In their responses, 48 % of the practitioners named six and 10 % named two, one or

no authors at all. Roald Dahl gained the highest number of mentions (744). The next in order

of mention were: Michael Morpurgo (343), Jacqueline Wilson (323), J.K. Rowling (300) and

Anne Fine (252). The only other authors who received above a hundred mentions were: Dick

King Smith (172), Janet and Allan Ahlberg (169), Enid Blyton (161), Shirley Hughes (128),

C.S. Lewis (122), Philip Pullman (117), Mick Inkpen (106) and Martin Waddell (100). There

was reliance upon a limited number of arguably celebrity writers. In terms of range and

diversity relatively few writers of novels for older readers were included and there was little

mention of writers from other cultures or even writers writing about other cultures, yet as

Appleyard (1990) reveals there is a distinct kind of pleasure in finding oneself in texts and

all children deserve to experience this regularly.

[Insert Figure 8.1 here]

[caption]■ Figure 8.1 The opening of ‘The Ant’s Adventure’

The teachers’ knowledge of picture fiction was also limited, with only 10% of the

teachers naming six picture fiction creators and 24 % naming none at all, (Cremin et al.,

2008b). There were very few mentions of named picture book makers who offer complex

visual texts for older readers. Arguably, the teachers, 85% of whom reported relying upon

their own repertoires to select books for school, were not sufficiently knowledgeable to

introduce children to contemporary literature and, the survey responses suggest, were
using fiction and poetry mainly as a resource for instructional purposes. However, it is

reassuring to note that these teachers read in their own lives; nearly three quarters reported

reading a book within the last three months (Cremin et al., 2008a). Popular fiction topped the

list of their favourite reading (40%), followed by autobiographies and biographies and other

post 1980s novels (both 14 %). A small percentage (6.5%) had recently read children’s

fiction, including crossover novels such as Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling) and The Curious

Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon).

The lack of professional knowledge and assurance with children’s fiction that this

research reveals, the over-dependence on a small canon of writers and the minimal

knowledge of global literature, has potentially serious consequences for all learners,

particularly those from linguistic and cultural minority groups. Without a diverse knowledge

of children’s fiction, and an awareness of key authors and illustrators whose work is potent

enough to foster the creative engagement of teachers and younger learners, classroom literacy

practice at the primary phase will necessarily be limited.

Teachers who read themselves and read children’s literature widely are arguably better

placed to make judgments about quality and appropriateness in selecting books and in

matching books to individual readers. Such professionals have been called Reading Teachers:

‘teachers who read and readers who teach’ (Commeyras et al., 2003) and build strong

personal relationships with children (Cremin et al., 2014). This is a key characteristic of all

creative teachers professionals, who Craft (2005) argues, tend to adopt a humanitarian stance

to education. For more details on Reading Teachers see Chapter 5.

Teachers who read widely and keep up to date with children’s literature, are more likely

to see it as a rich source of possibility, a place for imaginative involvement and reflection,

and may be less likely to treat it merely as a model for writing or a resource for cross

curricular work.
TEACHING FICTION CREATIVELY

The teaching of fiction arguably suffers as a consequence of the twin pressures of

prescription and accountability, and the over-use of text extracts to teach specific linguistic

features. Professional authors, concerned at what they perceived to be an extract focused

‘analysis paralysis’ approach to fiction, have argued that what was at stake was ‘nothing less

than the integrity of the novel, the story, the poem . . . valued for its own sake and on its own

terms’ (Powling, 2003: 3; Powling et al., 2005). This group, which included Chris Powling,

Bernard Ashley, Philip Pullman, Anne Fine and Jamila Gavin, were not alone in expressing

their dissatisfaction; others have also voiced their concerns about the ways in which

children’s literature has been positioned and may be used in the classroom (Cremin et al.,

2007, Lockwood, 2008).

Nonetheless, many primary professionals realise that what they choose to read aloud,

recommend, share and study, and how they explore literature in the classroom, is crucial to

fostering learner creativity. So they seek to develop pedagogic practices that are open-ended

and give space to the children’s views, harnessing their curiosity through playful engagement

with powerful fictions that have the potential to interest, involve and challenge them.

Bringing a literary text to life, through layered multisensory collaborative engagement can

include drama, artwork, writing, discussion, digital work, dancing and singing for example,

and will prompt the generation and evaluation of new meanings and interpretations. It is also

likely to inspire children to read independently, provoking curiosity about characters,

narratives or poetic content (Landay and Wootton,2012; O'Sullivan and McGonigle, 2010).

Literature is often used creatively across the curriculum, for example in mathematics (Pound

and Lee, 2015), geography (Lintner, 2010), and history (Cooper, 2013).
 There is strong evidence that picture fiction can make a rich contribution to children’s

creativity (Arizpe and Styles, 2003). Meek argued long ago that quality picture fiction books

‘make reading for all a distinctive kind of imaginative looking’ (1991: 119), and highlighted

their potential for creatively engaging all readers. More recently, Arizpe, Colmer and

Martínez-Roldán (2014), have shown the myriad benefits, personally and culturally as well

socially, and in relation to literacy learning, of immigrant children reading pertinent and

powerful wordless picture books such as Shaun Tan’s The Arrival. Authors such as Tan, Neil

Gaiman, Emily Gravett, Anthony Browne and Gary Crew, for example, often experiment

with the interplay between words and pictures and set up gaps between the literal and

metaphorical interpretations of their narratives. As a consequence their demanding texts

provoke multiple interpretations as well as discussion about the issues, themes and values

expressed by the author/illustrator, as well as the language, characters and narrative structure

used.

Complex novels can also prompt involvement, enabling children to sustain their

engagement with longer texts and develop persistence. The talented work of Berlie Doherty,

Philip Reeve, Marcus Sedgwick, David Almond, Malorie Blackman and Geraldine

McGaughrean for example, often produces considerable discussion and debate. In addition,

flash fiction and picture strip and cartoon style stories by authors such as Bob Graham or

Marcia Williams, as well as graphic novel partnerships (e.g. between Mariko and Jillian

Tamaki), offer a rich expression of the potential of the imagination. Powerful fiction texts,

whatever their format, leave space for the creativity of the reader to be brought into play.

Creative teachers exploit these reverberating spaces and join learners in a range of problem

finding – problem solving activities that seek to advance their understanding, their

comprehension and their creativity.

While the act of reading fiction is likely to be seen as a private affair, and children need to be

able to make sense of texts for themselves, comprehension develops in large part through

conversation and interaction. Meaning emerges and is shaped and revised as readers engage

with and respond to what they read, often in the company of others. Each reader brings

him/herself to the text, their life experience, prior knowledge and understanding of the issues

encountered, as well as cultural perspectives and insights. Meaning is thus created in the

interaction between the author, the text and the reader. Benton and Fox (1985) argued long

ago that teachers should focus more on the creative act of reading and, in particular, on the

expression of personal responses. Their position remains of value; this is where deep delight

in literature begins. Through discussing their responses children can make connections,

interrogate their views about the world and learn about themselves in the process. In order to

achieve this, teachers need to investigate the layers of meaning in a text and help children

draw upon their prior knowledge. So while teachers’ own responses are important, batteries

of comprehension questions should be avoided and the children’s questions, puzzlements and

interpretations should lead the conversations.

Reading journals can also support a focus on active interrogation and reflection upon

texts. Creative professionals develop their own ways of operationalizing journals with each

class. Some may offer a bank of possible prompts at the back of the journal and invite

children to record their responses following discussion, others may encourage children to

annotate the text during reading, using post-it notes to highlight key phrases/passages,

puzzles or patterns. Reading journals can effectively integrate reading and writing and can

support both literature circles and private reading. If a bank of prompts is offered, those noted
in Figure 8.2 could be used and children encouraged to record their initial impressions and

the questions/ predictions for example. In addition, teachers may suggest children draw

responses to the narrative, encouraging visualisation of particular characters or scenes at

significant moments in the tale.

There are a number of other classroom practices that prompt exploration and engagement

and multimodal responses to texts examined in Chapters 4 and 5. Drama for example, can

enable children to inhabit the narrative, experience its tension and examine character

motivation and perspective. Art, photography, music and dance can also encourage

representations of the themes and the meanings identified, helping to develop children’s

intercultural awareness and layered understandings (McAdam and Arizpe, 2011). Multiple

suggestions for active exploration are also noted later in the chapter as part of work

encompassing written responses.

[Insert Figure 8.2 here]

[caption]■ Figure 8.2 Strategies for active reading

READING IN GROUPS

In small guided groups, in literature circles and independent choice-led reading groups,

children take part as interested conversationalists, talking their way forward creatively and

establishing new insights and understandings as well as developing a shared language for

talking about texts reflectively and evaluatively. In group discussion, the reading

comprehension strategies used by both children and teachers are important. These can be

modelled and will often be framed as tentative statements or open questions to prompt

extended conversations. They reflect the kinds of strategies effective readers employ to make

sense of the text (see Figure 8.2) and link to Philosophy for Children work which itself
prompts focused enquiry around a key question identified by the group (see Buckley, 2012

for details of the process). As Fisher (2013:41) acknowledges, ‘creative dialogue cannot be

left to chance, it must be valued, encouraged and expected’.

Literature circles involve children reading a text in common, mostly outside the session,

and meeting regularly to discuss it, often with the support of an adult and/or reading journal

(King and Briggs, 2005). They seek to foster increased autonomy within a community of

readers and time is usually set aside to develop a sense of anticipation prior to reading. In

addition, children will be involved in mulling over ideas together, identifying questions and

confusions, and seeking clarification as they share their interpretations with one another.

Literature circles can help children internalise the process of engaging in such exploratory

talk, so again teachers are likely to scaffold children’s learning by modelling the use of

reading strategies (Figure 8.2) to help them anticipate and reflect upon the text.

Establishing independent child choice-led reading groups can also enrich opportunities

for children to exercise their agency as readers. Many schemes exist that involve children in

voting for a favorite text or shadowing a book award. The CILIP Carnegie Kate Greenaway

Shadowing Scheme was the UK’s first and arguably remains the premiere award for

children’s literature in Britain. It draws on the expertise of experienced and knowledgeable

librarians (Butler, Simpson and Court, 2011) who annually award the Carnegie Medal, to the

writer of an outstanding book for children; and the Kate Greenaway Medal, for distinguished

illustration in a book for children. Working in shadowing groups, which are predominantly

extra-curricular, young people read, discuss and carry out activities on the books short-listed

for one or both awards, and can then compare their views with those of the judges.The

shadowing scheme, has a dedicated website, with author interviews and videos, children’s

reviews of the shortlisted texts and a Greenaway gallery where teachers can upload children’s

related artwork. It represents a potentially rich educational opportunity that affords scope for
developing interest, discussion, perseverance and for introducing readers to new fiction.

Young people interviewed as part of recent research into the scheme, indicated that

reading fiction is sometimes difficult to fit into their weekly routine, but that the scheme

provides a focus and a reason to prioritise reading:

I read a lot more now, I’m attempting to read for at least an hour a day. This is

because I’m on this mission to finish them all! (the shortlisted books)

I really enjoy talking about the books, as well as reading them, this gives me

something to aim for.

(Cremin and Swann, 2012)

Group members who met with teachers or librarians in book clubs in the lunch hour or

after school viewed the scheme enthusiastically, in part because there was scope to ‘say what

you want about books’ and take the ‘time to stop and think about books’. Those young people

who were involved in shadowing as a curricular initiative were rather less positive, but they

also valued the chance ‘to talk about books’, to ‘choose which books we wanted to read’ and

to ‘read such great books’ (Cremin and Swann, 2014). Talk in shadowing contexts was often

observed to be a fairly unrestricted exchange of ideas and was unconstrained by assessment,

as in the following interview comments from a group of young readers:

A: It is quite informal so umm, you are like, Greg was saying we don’t have to
read a certain book by a certain time, we can just read what we want to and
write a review and things like that and just talk about it freely.
I: That’s interesting, what do you mean by talk about it freely?
A: Like you don’t have to write a review or anything, we don’t have to say certain
things about it, we can say what we actually think.
I: OK
B: We are free to have our own opinions.
C People can understand and then debate with you whether it is a good book or
not, so it is supposed to have like other people’s opinions, listen to other
people’s ideas because it shows that people have different tastes in reading.

Disagreement was common in shadowing discussion, whether this was focused for example,
on Solomon Crocodile by Catharine Rayner in a class of young readers, or the novel Trash by

Andy Mulligan in an extracurricular group of 10-11 year olds. The scheme encouraged and

validated diverse views (Cremin and Swann, 2012). It is clear establishing reading groups,

such as literature circles or shadowing groups, can, if choice is afforded, and quality literature

offered, provide opportunities for mutual respect between readers to develop, for difference

and diversity to be foregrounded and for readers to develop both perseverance and

commitment.

WRITING FICTION TEXTS: EXPERIMENTING WITH FORM AND FREEDOM

It is widely recognised that reading enriches writing and that literature offers a repertoire of

possibilities for writers. Through open-ended explorations and focused discussions, children

learn more about how texts are constructed and such deconstruction can lead to

reconstruction in their own writing. At times this will be imitative, but at others, literature

will be engaged with as a source of inspiration and ideas. As part of the extended process of

composition, creative teachers map in opportunities to inhabit and explore texts through

drama, discussion, storytelling, art, dance, music and performance. Such explorations

encompass oral, kinaesthetic and visual approaches, and provoke children’s intellectual and

emotional engagement in the narrative, generating new ideas for writing. For example,

through improvising with puppet characters from a story, children can collectively co-author

new fictions, or through listening to oral stories and re-telling personal and traditional tales,

they can learn a great deal about narrative structure and language features (Cremin and

Myhill, 2012). Children’s involvement with computer games has also been shown to

influence their story writing (Bearne and Wolstencroft, 2007) as has their involvement in film

(Bhojwani et al, 2008). Both can be supported through taking a multimodal approach to
writing, this recognises that the fiction ( and other) texts children enjoy at home, combine the

modes of print and image, sound and gesture as well as movement. Leaning on literature, life

and a range of popular cultural resources supports young writers, although teachers will wish

to help them make their implicit knowledge about the multiple languages of narrative more

explicit and make judicious choices according to context.

In creatively encountering texts, children’s attention can be drawn to its constructedness,

so that their growing awareness of a writer’s skill develops alongside their pleasure in the

meanings conveyed. Young authors can develop the craft of writing in part through conscious

use of the fictional models around them. The Teaching Reading and Writing Links (TRAWL)

project demonstrated that critical reading and investigation of texts is an integral part of the

writing process, and children’s metacognitive development and awareness of the reader can

be enhanced through thoughtful teaching about the literary language of fictional texts

(Corden, 2001, 2003). The teaching on this project however, was not at the expense of the

meaning or purpose of the fiction, and children were provided with opportunities to work on

extended pieces of writing in which they could make use of their new knowledge and skills in

context.

Specific response to text activities that allow children to interpret and reconstruct stories,

as well as to increase their awareness of the author’s craft, can pay dividends. Children can

develop their knowledge about language through a range of such affectively involving text

activities that focus upon the key elements of fiction, character, language, setting, story

structure and the theme. To enhance their understanding of these elements, teachers can use

activities that foster children’s serious but playful engagement in narrative (See Figure 8.3).

[Insert Figure 8.3 here]

[caption]■ Figure 8.3 Activities that can help explore narrative elements
 Such activities need to be employed in the context of a text. For example one teacher,

recognizing the popularity of Lauren Child’s two series focused on Clarice Bean, (e.g Utterly

me Clarice Bean, My Uncle is a hunkle says Clarice Bean)and Charlie and Lola (e.g Charlie

and Lola: We completely must go to London; Charlie and Lola: I Will Not Ever Never Eat A

Tomato ), planned an extended unit of work around them. She chose to focus on the author’s

amusing characters and the ways in which Child brings them to life through drawings,

language, behaviour and other characters’ attitudes towards them. In one activity, the teacher,

having focused in a recent reading on Marcie, (Clarice’s older teenage sister), brought in a

pair of her own daughter’s jeans and proceeded to empty ‘Marcie’s pockets’, inviting the 7-8

year olds to predict the contents. They did so and explained their reasons for suggesting,

amongst other items, ‘bright pink lipstick’, ‘receipts from Boots’, ‘cigarettes’, ‘love heart

sweets’, ‘her mobile’ and ‘a purse with a photo of her boyfriend’. The teacher then invited

the class to choose their own character from one of the series, and imagine what might be in

their pockets. After some discussion these were drawn. The children then invented stories in

which some of the pocket objects played a part. Saabir, who chose Charlie (see Figure 8.4),

developed a tale which involved Charlie lending his younger sister Lola some gum. This

ended up stuck behind her ear and got caught in her hair, so his brush came into play... Later,

Lola insisted on borrowing his headphones too, so her new bald patch would not be seen!

Figure 8.4 Character pockets

Another practitioner, exploring Jez Alborough’s book Where’s My Teddy?, chose to focus

on the characters, Eddie and the great Big Bear. Both have lost their teddies and find each

other’s in the wood. The class of 5-and 6-year-olds created freeze-frames of significant

moments in the tale and engaged in interior monologues, speaking out loud the thoughts of
Eddie and the Big Bear at the moments they had depicted. Once safely home, with their

teacher in role as Eddie’s mum and the children in role as Eddie, they retold their stories

about meeting the Bear and his giant-sized teddy and finding their own beloved teddy. The

teacher then re-read the book and focused on the end, when both the Bear and Eddie are in

their own beds, ‘huddling and cuddling their own little teds’. Through role-play in pairs, the

children improvised their chosen character’s conversation with their teddy and rapidly

recorded these conversations. For an example, see Figure 8.5. Jenny’s conversation between

Eddie and his teddy, suggests that the little teddy had rather enjoyed his adventure with the

Big Bear, hinting at another story within Alborough’s story. In fact, Jenny had a lengthy tale

to tell about a cave in the mountains and the other animals the tiny teddy had seen while

travelling with the Big Bear. Her story was shared and celebrated as a novel interpretation

and later that week children were observed in the forest role-play area acting out the tiny

teddy’s adventures.

[caption]■ Figure 8.5 Jenny’s bedtime chat from Where’s My Teddy?

Copyright © 1992 Jez Alborough, from Where’s My Teddy? by Jez Alborough. Reproduced

by permission of Walker Books Ltd, London SE11 5HJ

Yet another practitioner, working with 9-10 year olds, chose to focus on the theme of the text

The Ice Bear by Jackie Morris. She used a visualizer to enlarge the pages and explored the

tale of how raven stole a white cub from his ice bear mother, later turning the cub into a

human child who was brought up by a hunter. For seven years the hunter and his wife, who

had longed for a child, held him close and sang him songs, but he seldom spoke, yet ‘always

the raven watched over him’. One day, the raven tricks the boy out onto the ice and as

darkness falls, the pack of ice bears come for him. He is reunited with his mother bear, (
whose skin is scarred by her tears of loss) but his human father swears to kill the bear that has

taken his child… The story ends in a traditional truce, with the boy spending winter with the

bears and summer with his human family, yet one is left pondering the consequences of this

and the role of the trickster raven. The teacher read sections of the tale at a time, stopping to

explore issues through talk and drama. For example the class explored the bear mother’s

emotions through interior monologues, hot seated the raven seeking to understand his

motives, and later in role as ice bears or humans sought to persuade the boy to stay with them

through a decision alley. Once the teacher had completed the reading of the book, he invited

the class to gather in groups to create a group sculpture to represent one of the key the themes

of the text as they saw it. Much discussion ensued, and titles were added to the visuals

physically created with their bodies, some groups also noted what their sculpture was made

from, adding to the metaphor offered. Their titles included:

• One bad turn does not deserve another

• Love and loss travel together

• Life scars you

• Who am I ?

There is evidence here of the children exploring divergent ideas, supported by their

imaginative exploration of the words and images in this potent text, the groups sculpture

activity prompted them to think in new ways and be exercise their collaborative creativity.

PROFILING FICTION IN EXTENDED LEARNING JOURNEYS

In profiling fiction across several weeks in the primary classroom there are a number of

available options. Teachers might choose to focus on a particular form of fiction, such as

myths or legends for example and explore how storytellers convey their narratives orally or in
written form. Or they might lean on a theme such as friendship or bullying and draw together

a number of texts to read and explore, considering how different authors, illustrators and

poets examine the issue. Alternatively, teachers might choose to focus on one or two

significant children’s authors and read across a range of their works, reflecting upon their

craft and style as writers. In each of these and other possible units of work, creative teachers

are likely to draw upon narratives presented in a number of media, including perhaps: printed

and graphic novels, oral tales, short stories in anthologies, and narratives on radio, television

and film.

If the focus is on a children’s author then during the period of immersion and exploration

of their fictional texts, children can be invited to search relevant websites (the author’s own,

publishers and other book sites) for additional information. It is also possible that radio or

filmed interviews will be available to watch and supplementary materials found to help make

connections between the writers and their work. Many authors respond to seriously written

letters of enquiry and also visit schools to work alongside children. In the Carnegie Kate

Greenaway research it was noted many authors were prepared to Skype shadowing groups to

talk about their books and this represents another option.

If the focus is on themes or is linked to cross curricular work then diversity will again be

key and making use of the Literacy shed (www.literacy shed.) may support focused yet

playful examinations. This website offers multiple resources and advice as well as children’s

examples from teachers who have used the materials. There are foci such as fantasy, ghosts,

contrasts and many more to help teachers and multiple video clips and animated picture

fiction texts such as Martin Waddell’s Owl Babies and David Weisner’s Tuesday. As with

any resource however the key issue is not the use of standalone activities, but a planned unit

of work which progresses over time, places the literature at the heart of the work and makes

use of the eight characteristics of creative teaching to foster creative learning. See Chapter 12
for a discussion of such planning.

If a creative learning journey based on the autobiographical tales and short stories of

some contemporary children’s writers is planned for example the route actually travelled will

be shaped by the children’s emerging needs and interests, and their response to the tales and

their themes. Letting the children lead during the journey will ensure that they take a degree

of ownership and control of their learning, fostering their possibility thinking and creative

engagement (Cremin et al., 2006a). The learning intention/ long-term outcome of such a unit

could be for each child to write and publish a short story, connected in some way to their own

lives.

Initially, the teacher could work with the class to create a short story collection, perhaps

borrowing from local libraries, inviting children to lend any from home, and seeking out such

tales in children’s magazines and websites. The focus could be on traditional tales such as

those found in Crossley Holland’s Short collections or on personal tales as in Morpurgo’s

Singing for Mrs Pettigrew, and Naidoo’s Out of Bounds, both of which draw upon their

childhood experiences to recreate and re-envision narratives. Still others such as Ahlberg’s

The Boyhood of Burglar Bill and The Bucket are explicitly autobiographical.

Creative teachers will want to find tales within these collections that engage and excite

them as adult readers, but might valuably start with Ahlberg’s opening tale in The Boyhood of

Burglar Bill, entitled ‘One-arm man, three-legged dog’. This deliciously evokes his

childhood, in which his love of football and a ‘madman teacher’ play a significant role.

Commencing with this is likely to trigger personal connections and tale telling, which could

be supported by drawing timelines of life, and talking to parents and carers about significant

events. In school, pairs could swap stories in a story buzz and identify possible titles for their

own and each other’s tales. An emphasis on ambiguity, brevity, intrigue and/or subtlety may

be foregrounded and another storybuzz with their titles might enable the children to revisit
and reshape their chosen life stories by sharing them with different partners. In a story buzz,

as the children move around the class pairing up, listening to and telling each other their tales,

their narratives will not only be rehearsed and reshaped, but will be expanded on. In one class

of 10-11 year-olds engaged on a similar autobiographical journey, the teacher found several

of the children chose to write not about family members but friends, and significant

memories surfaced. See for example Jo’s recollection of his friend’s death. Figure 8.5.

[Insert Figure 8.5 here]

[caption]■ Figure 8.5 A senseless death

A later focus on this journey could involve studying tales from Singing for Mrs Pettigrew

and sharing Morpurgo’s fascinating commentaries on each. In these he explains his

connections to the place, people and predicaments examined and recreated in the tale. By

now the children will have chosen the stories they wish to retell / develop, and may have

begun to map these out on page or screen. The class might also create their own

commentaries like Morpurgo or as compositional collages, using cut-outs from magazines,

the internet, and adding drawings and photographs to indicate the many influences on their

narratives. Shared and guided work through the unit would highlight particular objectives and

the teaching, both planned and responsive, will allow children to pursue their interests and

self- chosen narratives, offering support and tailored instruction on the journey.

Finally, it will be important to celebrate the children’s completed stories ensuring that

copies of the class anthology are available, in print or on the school website, and readings of

the tales in class and assembly are undertaken. Reviews can be sought from parents, peers

and children in other classes/ schools. Making public their work is important; it enables

young writers to receive feedback from their readers and recognise themselves as authors,
alongside the authors whose work they have read and studied. It might also be that the final

collection could be offered to local community centres, doctor’s surgeries and libraries to

extend the reach of the class’s publication.

CONCLUSION

Creative teachers seek out fiction texts that require children to actively participate in making

meaning – texts that trigger multiple questions, deep engagement and that build bridges of

understanding. In exploring such texts, creative teachers employ a wide range of open-ended

strategies that foster children’s curiosity and develop their personal and creative responses,

enriching their understanding of narrative and prompting related talk, reading and writing,

inspired by the power of the powerful literature chosen for study. At the same time, creative

teachers read aloud a wide range of other potent, affectively engaging texts.

FURTHER READING

Arizpe, E. and Styles, M. (2003) Children Reading Pictures: Interpreting Visual Texts,

London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Cremin, T. (2007) Revisiting Reading for Pleasure: Diversity, Delight and Desire, in K.

Goouch and A. Lambirth (eds), Understanding Phonics and the Teaching of Reading,

Berkshire: McGraw-Hill, pp. 166–90.

Evans, J. (2009). Reading the Visual: Creative and aesthetic responses to picturebooks and

fine art. In J. Evans (Ed.) Talking Beyond the Page: Reading and Responding to

Picturebooks, London: Routledge. pp. 99-117.

Ahlberg, A. (2006) The Boyhood of Burglar Bill, Puffin.

Alborough, J. (1995) Where’s My Teddy?, Walker.

Child, L. (2000) My Uncle is a Hunkle Says Clarice Bean, Orchard

Child, L. (2002) Utterly me, Clarice Bean Orchard

Child, L. (2007) Charlie and Lola: I Will Not Ever Never Eat A Tomato Orchard

Child, L. (2012) Charlie and Lola: We completely must go to London Orchard

Crossley Holland, K . (2011) Short Too! A second Book of Very Short Stories Oxford

Morris, J. (2010) The Ice Bear Frances Lincoln

Morpurgo, M. (2006) Singing for Mrs Pettigrew, Walker.

Naidoo, B. (2003) Out of Bounds, Puffin.

Tan, S. (2007) The Arrival Hodder

Weisner, D. ( 1991 ) Tuesday Houghton Mifflin

Rayner, C. (2011) Solomon Crocodile MacMillan

Mulligan, A (2011) Trash David Fickling Books.