Everything Oppel
The awards that Kenneth Oppel has won for his fiction over the decades are too numerous to mention. He has been shortlisted or won almost every prize for children’s literature that exists. Oppel’s first novel was published, thanks to Roald Dahl’s encouragement when he was 18, and he has since sold millions of copies of his famous Airborn series and Silverwing saga. For more than a quarter century, readers have enjoyed his imagination and style, and this is an opportunity to put his face to the words that have delighted so many. Come and meet him for yourself.
Curriculum Connection:
• develop a narrative describing a character.
• comprehension and literary analysis.
• generate and integrate new ideas.
Activities:
1. Kenneth Oppel’s Silverwing saga is populated with a variety of rich characters, but not all get as many pages devoted to them as Shade. Have students pick a character other than the main protagonist and expand on that character based on what they already know from the books. Identify and write down a list of traits on the chosen character, then write a short biography, filling in details about the character’s past not given. What were their parents like? How did they get to where they are? Did they have any siblings or important friends? What was their relationship with their friends/siblings like if so? Have students present their final product to the class.
2. Students can go further and write a “missing scene” or choose a scene to rewrite from the POV of that character. How would their thoughts and feelings differ from the original POV character?
