Montmorency
Montmorency, Eleanor Updale (Scholastic 2003).
Montmorency is the anti hero of a series of adventures by Eleanor Updale which mix action with a strong sense of being firmly set in the Victorian period. Further titles are Montmorency on the Rocks (Scholastic), Montmorency and the Assassins (Scholastic) and Montmorency’s Revenge (Scholastic 2007).
Here is an extract from the first book in which the author skilfully describes an important character. Why not use this with the gingerbread technique with your students?
Around the outside of a gingerbread figure they write down all the visible features of Sir Joseph whilst inside the gingerbread figure they write what sort of person he is, his inner thoughts and characteristics. They can also use this technique to build characters of their own.
Taking the stage at the Scientific Society, Sir Joseph was a mixture of confidence and fear. He had a total command of his subject, but Montmorency could tell that he felt socially inferior to many of his audience, which included a couple of the more intelligent members of the House of Lords, as well as distinguished academics and a few visitors from abroad. Bazalgette was a short, neat man, with a thin nose and clever, dark eyes that seems to be able to fix upon everyone in the room. His clothes were smart but fashionable: checked trousers and a plain jacket over a yellow waistcoat. His shirt collar was tied high at the neck with a silky cravat. A few strands of hair hopelessly tried to disguise the glistening baldness at the top of his head. Then suddenly, around his ears, his black locks grew rich and bushy, joining up via dainty sideburns with triangles of shiny, springy beard and a generous moustache. His chin was as bald as his head. Montmorency wondered why, when the rest of his face was so hairy, why he bothered to shave that one egg shape. Did he do it himself, or did he have someone else to judge exactly where the razor should go? And how often did he shave it? There was no sign of shadow, even though it was six o’clock at night.
