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Easternport Bay teachers' notes
ISBN: 1 7406 055 1
 Download the PDF of these notes.
Here are a range of activities which can be used to extend students' knowledge of the story, explore research skills and gives students the opportunity to express their ideas.
BRIEF OUTLINE OF STORY
Kimberly Massoud, Jarred Gabrielli, Nick Ryan and Mr. Rat, the gang calling themselves Jokers, are committed to solving crimes, righting wrongs and telling jokes. While vacationing with Jarred's mum and step-dad in Blue Hill, the Jokers hear that a hotel planned for Easternport Bay might endanger the bay's fragile mangrove swamps.
As well, drugs are being shipped into the Bay. When Wayne, Nick's older brother, is unjustly accused, the Jokers set out to find the real villains. Dr. Dawn Olympia, ‘drop-dead-gorgeous' marine biologist, and Hermes, a.k.a. Leon Maher, apprentice investigative journalist, join into this adventure.
Kidnapped by Mr. Big a.k.a. Clive Roughhouse, plus his henchmen and Ursula Leewen (the editor of The Easternport News), the Jokers and Hermes are taken out to sea in Mr. Big's motor-yacht.
What happens next tests the Jokers' friendship to its limit.
RATIONALE
It's the very stability of the mystery/detective story that is so attractive to both readers and writers. It is so flexible and baggy that a writer can do whatever he or she likes providing there's a mystery that is finally solved. Here we have a crime, some ‘baddies', three keen detectives and a solution.
RESOURCES AND PREPARATION
In a mystery/adventure story, the main characters
face physical danger in a challenging setting
confront a baddie –can be either a person or the environment – and wins.
may have an atmosphere of romance in the sense of being larger than life.
solve mysteries and right wrongs.
DISCUSSION OF RELEVANT ISSUES
How important is maintaining the natural environment to you?
How hard is it to maintain a close friendship when you are in a hazardous situation?
Tone is the writer's attitude towards the material. Mood is the atmosphere created within the story. Any examples in this story of changes of tone?
Why do the Jokers collect jokes? What are the story's major themes? Do these jokes fit into those themes?
How do the gang interact? Though Jarred tells the story, is he their natural leader? If not, who might that be?
How come Kim is so pushy? What might be her reasons?
How come Nick is so silent? Does he have things he doesn't want the others to know?
Can you find any examples of this behavior amongst your own friends?
Both Kim and Jarred are attracted to an older person? Does this happen in ‘real life'? Can anything ever come of these attractions?
If they can't, does it really matter?
ACTIVITIES
Check out other books about gangs. Are these gangs always concerned with ‘solving crimes and righting wrongs'?
Play "Solve the Mystery". One person dreams up an unusual mystery and the class has to guess what it is. The interviewee is only allowed to answer yes or no. The interviewers are only allowed one question each.
‘The Murder Game'. Hold a pretend dinner party. One person is the victim and the other is the murderer. The murderer must have an ‘unusual' motive. Now it is up to the rest of the room to figure out ‘whodunnit'!
DEBATE THE FOLLOWING
How can we keep the environment safe and clean for our future?
What can you learn about animal reserves?
How important is it to have a close group of friends?
What qualities do you look for in a friend?
Can playing a sport overcome some inequalities?
Your fairy godmother is about to grant you a wish. What is it?
WRITING EXERCISES
Write a mock celebrity interview with the Jokers gang. Get them to describe what they like about each other.
Write a different ending to this story.
Create a fictional detective and write your own mystery
Write a story about the strangest mystery every solved.
Write a ‘choose your own adventure.'
WHAT INSPIRED THIS STORY
When I was very young I loved reading stories about groups kids who solved mysteries and crimes. Mostly Enid Blyton. After having listened to a number of children tell jokes and riddles, I thought to combine the two ideas in one novel.
E-Books
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PRINT BOOK AND AN E -BOOK?
A print book is read on paper.
An ebook is only digitally printed and you need a computer or an electronic reader to read it.
WHY PUBLISH YOUR WORK AS AN E-BOOK?
Readers often ask me why I decided to publish Cowpat$ as an ebook? My answer is to remind them how often the medium has changed and how beneficial these changes have been. e-publishing is timely. It is the next significant change in the way stories can be told.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF PUBLISHING
The first revolution occurred when printed books liberated books from the monasteries' monopoly. In the 15th Century, the number of books in Europe surged from a few thousand to more than nine million. The second revolution came with the paperback. In 1777- 83, John Bell's version of ‘The Poets of Great Britain' cost six shillings each instead of the usual guinea. It was the introduction of the paperback that forced the price of books to dive.
E-BOOKS AND P.O.D.
Now ebooks and print on demand (POD) are likely to do what paperbacks did to hard-covers. Book ATMs will provide POD services to faraway places. People will be able to select from publishing back-lists and front-lists comprising millions of titles. Millions of authors are now able to realize their dream to have their work published cheaply. The monopoly of the big publishing houses on everything written will be a thing of the past. ebooks may help restore the balance between best-sellers and mid-list authors.
I wouldn't dare suggest that ebooks are problem free. Both ebook and CD-ROM are dependent on readers or drives. Both are technology and format-specific. Changes in technology are liable to render many e-books unreadable. And portability is hampered by battery life or the availability of electricity. People still desire the smell and feel of ‘real books'. We are still in the experimental stage. However judging by the rapidity of acceptance in other technology such as cell phones, I suspect this won't take long. But if the medium changes, the content is familiar.
NEW FORMAT FOR FICTION
So why an ebook for a traditional mystery? Any kind of book encapsulates information. Even this latest innovation is nothing but household cheddar wrapped in trendy new packaging. But ebooks save on publishers' resources and warehouse space. They are light on readers' pockets and shelf space. They are wonderfully transportable. Many youngsters who might have been reluctant in the past to ‘read a proper book' like to play with computers and look up information on the web. In a novel like Cowpat$ which concerns itself with fantasy, using this format seems totally appropriate. I think that ebooks are one way publishing will go. In my opinion, ebooks will form part of our future.
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