Chalk Eagle

Week 1

TEACHERS NOTE: Avoid distributing the book at the beginning of the session or even telling the children that this title is a wordless picture book. Discover together through the suggested activities.

Prior knowledge

Probably the most well known wordless airbourne adventure is Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman. Ask children to share their knowledge of the story. 

• How do you feel when the Snowman takes the boy into the air? How do you think the boy might be feeling?

Building knowledge

Distribute copies of the book. Allow time to handle the book. Run your hand over the cover. Three areas are embossed (raised). What do they represent?

Play the short Book Trailer of Chalk Eagle with your group.

Share your first impressions and note any questions (it is important that you don’t try to answer the questions at this point). Questions can be written on a large sheet of paper or in the reading journal. If you are meeting together as a group, individuals can write their question in their journal and you can can collect the group’s questions on one sheet.

Now turn the pages of the book together. Allow time to look at each spread but keep a well- paced rhythm here. We will return to the details later.

• Can any of your questions be answered on a first reading? 
• Do you have any new questions?
• What do you notice about this book?
• Is there anything that puzzles you or surprises you?

(be prepared for some negative feedback here – some children may be frustrated that there are no words in this book, they may be confused and unsure how to ‘read’ it) All feelings are valid. It is important to acknowledge all opinions at this stage.

• Have you read any wordless picture books before? Encourage children to share any wordless pictures books that are already familiar to them. Some children may remember Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins – although it does have some words, the majority of the story and the true meaning is conveyed through the pictures. Are they familiar with Aaron Becker’s Journey. This is an appropriate tile to reflect on at this stage as it is also a wordless journey.
• Can you think of any advantages of telling a story without words?

At this point in the first session you could share the About the Book section and look at the interview with Nazli.

Returning to the book. Look at p.5-6 together.

• What can you see?
• What is the boy doing? Where is he looking?
• What is in the room? What isn’t in the room? (aside from the chair we can’t see any furniture. There are no curtains on the window. There are no toys.

Spend a few minutes looking out of the window.

Look at the sky. You may offer these prompts – they are not questions that have to be answered.

• Can you see any clouds? – do they remind you of anything? Do they help you imagine a particular setting?
• Are there birds flying – imagine where they are going and what they might see.

This activity is promoted by many authors – day dreaming time is valuable and productive. It allows the individual to pause and let their thoughts wander stimulating connections and creativity. 

You could follow the daydreaming exercise with an opportunity to put pen to paper and draw anything that has sprung to mind.

Reflect on what you learnt about this book so far.

Week 2

TEACHERS NOTE For this session you will need access to a screen in order to share the slideshow

Part 1

When Nazli and Amin moved to Northern Iran she was inspired by the view from their window of green rice fields and clear blue sky.

Share the Chalk Eagle slide show (part 1)

Using a T diagram to plot your thoughts

• What words do you associate with the photograph of the city?
• What words do you associate with the photograph of the mountains?

Part 2 Bird’s Eye view – a look at perspective

The vehicle for the boy’s journey is an eagle.  Whereas the lion is often depicted as  “King of Beasts”, the eagle is often considered the “King of Birds”. 

• What do you know about eagles? what qualities do they have?

Share the film clip ‘The Spirit of the Eagle’ (see resources).

Look at aerial images together. Some examples are given (see resources).

The study of a picture book enables children to build their literary vocabulary, which not only helps with their understanding of the story but also supports analytical writing. Create or add to a word hoard – see general guidance. Add words as you discuss them.

Here you can add the word perspective – remember to invite the children to write the meaning in their own words as well as looking up a dictionary definition.

Look again at pages 7-8 and 9-10. The children may like to lie down and look up like the boy in the story. If this isn’t practically possible, ask them to imagine lying in that position outside looking directly up at the sky.

• What can you see from this angle? Does the world seem a bigger place? Is anything possible?

Page 9-10 is the complete opposite angle – looking directly down.

• What do you notice about the boy and the eagle? – consider direction of travel, the boy’s extended arms
• What does this tell us about them? Compare this spread with that on p.29-30 (where the boy is lying on top of the chalk eagle)

Close your eyes & imagine you are flying over your home, school or the town where you live. 

• What can you see? 
• How do you recognize it from above? 
• Are there any landmarks or large spaces that would stand out from above.

If you can access an aerial photograph of your local area – share it with the children.

Share the slides of different places from above. The slides have aerial views over India, China, Sweden and North America.

Picture books and particularly wordless picture books are reflections of the society in which they were produced and the society in which they are ‘read’. Ask the children

• Where do you think this story is set? 
• Is it Iran? – look at the shape of house
• Consider the lack of detail in the illustrations. Do you think this was done on purpose?
• Could the story actually take place anywhere?

Close your eyes & imagine you are flying over your home, school or the town where you live.

• What can you see?
• How do you recognize it from above?
• Are there any landmarks or large spaces that would stand out from above.

If you can access an aerial photograph of your local area – share it with the children.

Next week we will be looking at the illustration technique more closely.

Week 3

Illustration 

A picture book provides the perfect opportunity to discuss composition by looking at the physical aspects of the story. This is another opportuntity to look at technical vocabulary (and add to your word hoard). Art is central to the story as well as the medium in which it is presented. It is the physical act of art and the imagination of the boy that bring the eagle to life.

Creating the setting

Share the inspiration for this story with your group – see ‘About the Book’. You can refer back to the slide showing the vivid colours of the rice fields and blue sky.

Nazli has used a very simple colour palette: vivid greens and blues plus white

• What do you associate with the colours blue and green? You could plot your ideas in a double bubble graphic (see resources for the template).

The white of the chalk eagle is an effective contrast against the strong natural colours. 

How does the use of colour tell us that the eagle the boy is watching at the beginning of the story is real?

Line and texture

Nazli used a method called screenprinting to creature the texture in her drawings.

Can you see how the geometric shapes of the houses and rooftops form patterns?

In contrast the wavy solid lines of the rice stems and the cones of the mountain peaks are soft.

In the book each doublespread bleeds to the edge. Share the slides of the pages with a frame (see resources) and compare to those in the book.

A note about Scale

• What do you notice about the size of the real eagle? the size of the cat? the size of the chalk eagle?
• Can you think why the chalk eagle is so large? How big is your imagination?

Summing up

• What can you conclude about how the illustration design and technique helps the telling of the story?

The possibilities are endless? the detail is deliberately vague/sparse, the setting could be any city, anywhere. These features allow the reader to interpret their own story and use their own imagination. Reflect on how the way the story is painted through the illustration helps us to understand the story.

Week 4

Character and emotion

The real and imaginary are interwoven throughout this story and as we found last week the illustration helps us to identify which is which. 

Explore the connection the young boy has with the eagle.

• Who is the boy? We don’t know his name. Could it be anyone, could be you?
• What do you notice about his expression throughout the story? Is is happy or unhappy?

Ponder together about why the eagle is a good choice of bird/animal to take the boy on an adventure. 

You could draw the outline of an eagle on a large sheet of paper and add labels/sticky notes to represent its qualities.

There are many different types of eagle.

• Does the boy draw a particular eagle?
• Does the book tell us anything about eagles? Their habitat, their lifecyle?

There is an opportunity here to develop inference skills.  Look beyond the literal – this isn’t a book about eagles, or Iran. 

You can focus on the use of colour to illustrate this point.

• What colour is the ‘real’ eagle? Beyond being the natural colour of chalk, how does the colour white help to expand the interpretation of the story? 

If you have a Year 2 Reading Gladiators group in school you can make links with The Phoenix of Persia and The Shamaneh.

A feline friend

Have you spotted the thrid character in this story?

• What is the significance of the cat? (the boy’s constant companion)

 Look at pgs 11-12 

• What do you notice about the position of the boy and the cat? (mimicking movements) 
• What is the cat doing on pgs 15-16? (seeking the boys attention)
• 17-18 – the cat and the eagle are one and the same
• 19-20 the cat remain close and loyal even though the boy is looking elsewhere for a friend
• 21-22 – distance – do you think the cat feels rejected?
• After the adventure what is the cat doing?

In the final spread – the cat follows the boy back inside. He remains loyal and constant.

Week 5

Narration and Storytelling

In a wordless picture book the narration and emotion are conveyed solely through the pictures.

We can’t close our eyes and listen to the story, we must find the story by looking very closely at the pictures. Unlike prose fiction, which is read from left to right, top to bottom, when reading a picture book the eye is drawn to dominant features on a page but moves around and scans for additional information from the elsewhere on the page.

• Can you see the journey of the boy in this story?
• What would this story sound like?
• Can you imagine the boy’s voice as the storyteller.

The wordless picture book format enables every individual reader the opportunity to tell their version of the story. As a warm-up for the next activity you could play a couple of rounds of story dice if you have some in school.  Take it in turns to ‘tell’ each other the story of Chalk Eagle. Before you start you might want to consider imagining beyond the story as Nazli mentions in the interview.

• What lies beyond the mountains?
• Do the boy and the eagle meet anyone on their journey?
• Are there other chalk characters drawn by other children?
• Where does the eagle go at the end of the story?
• Does the eagle return?

Does this story have a rhythm? The interesting point when reading a wordless picture is that you dictate how long you stay on a page before turning over and continuing the story.

Watch the book trailer again and see how the animation provides a pace.

Oral storytelling partners very well with wordless picture books.

Look at the Chalk hill drawing slides (see resources)

What might their stories be? 

You can create a rough storyboard (focusing on ideas not the artwork) in your reading journal to help you tell your story. You might like to employ Nazli’s method of imaging the story like an animation in your head first.

You can revisit your character work on eagles and how stories are a product of the time they are written. The chalk hill drawings were created at very different periods in history.

Week 6

Themes and Mini-challenge

You may be familiar with The Magic Paintbrush by Julia Donaldson or Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai in which, through the medium of art, the characters change their situation for the better. 

• Can you identify the themes of this story. Some suggestions are freedom, empowerment, journeys, hope. Are there any more?

The nameless boy lives in a crammed, busy city. For him, the only chance he has of seeing and sensing that freedom which many of us take for granted is through his imagination.

• If you could go anywhere where, where would it be? 
• Would it be a real location, a fictional world or an imagined place? 

Look at the final picture.

Could the ladder be a symbol of hope? the boy is climbing out of his current situation. The loyal cat follows.

Look at the expression on the boy’s face.

• How do you think he feels?
• Has the boy got what he was seeking all along? Companionship, unconditional love.

This book is part of a collection for refugee children from different countries.

• From your reading and discussions what qualities does this book have that make it a good choice for these children?

Share the minichallenge with your group.