Into the Margin · ages 9-14

My Shadow

The idea: working out old words from the words around them, and noticing when a poem is also true.

Inkling looks at her long morning shadow on the margin of a giant book, with Pith and Sheaf beside her.

Read it

Who is in this book

Inkling a child of the Green Names what she notices
Yonder Predict from the clues before you read on; a wrong guess means the story surprised you from ReadQuest
Pith Work out a hard word from the words around it from ReadQuest
Nettle Poke the text with why, how and what-if; questions mean you're awake from ReadQuest
Beto a child of the Green Takes things apart
Sheaf Gather the whole passage into one armful: keep the middle, let loose details fall from ReadQuest

Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.

The Honest Page

Which parts of this story are true, stretched or made up?

True

"My Shadow" is a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson in A Child's Garden of Verses, published in 1885. Source
Shadows are long when the sun is low and short when it is high, and there is no sun shadow before sunrise. Source

Stretched

The shadow stayed at home in bed. What we simplified: The poem says it the way a child might feel it; really, with no sunlight there was no shadow to see.

Made up

Stepping into the margin of a page is made up. Yonder, Pith, Nettle and Sheaf come from ReadQuest.

Tell it back

Tell the story in your own words: who was there, what went wrong, and what they found out. Then the third of four bookmarks, the clarifying one, with a coconut on it goes on your belt.

Ring the hammer for someone

Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.

Across the Table → For the grown-up: the story in three lines, one question to ask, and one thing to do together.