English Home Learning Due in Tuesday 11th October
2016
Read the following extract from “The Girl Who Walked
on Air” by Emma Carroll. Highlight any powerful language you notice. Then
answer the questions in full sentences, using a pen and trying to join your
letters.
The bigger the danger, the
bigger the crowd. One look at tonight’s punters said it all. With just minutes
till show time, the big top was almost full and I was quite ready to burn with
excitement. Every last ticket was sold. And still the queue snaked out of the
field and down the lane until all you could see were people’s hats bobbing
above the hedgerows.
First thing this morning,
posters had gone up all over town. “MORE DARING THAN EVER!” they’d said in blue
and gold letters. “WATCH MONSIEUR MERCURY DEFY GRAVITY ON HIS TRAPEZE!” To me,
M. Mercury was good old Jasper, who I lived with in a tiny trailer, and who
drank Lapsang tea out of dainty cups and let me have first dibs on every
piecrust. Which was more than could be said for my mam. When I was just a baby
she left me at the circus, the way most people forget an umbrella.
Inside the ticket booth
where I worked there wasn’t space to swing a cat. I felt it specially tonight,
jiggling from foot to foot, impatient to get finished so I’d be free to watch
the show. My dog Pip sensed it too; sat beside me, he watched my every move. At
last the final punters filed past to claim their tickets. They were a noisy
bunch, laughing and nattering, their breath like smoke in the evening air.
They’d be quiet soon enough. Once they were inside the big top, they’d squeeze
onto a bench and look upwards. And what they’d see would leave them speechless.
A little shiver went down my
neck. Imagine if I was about to perform.
All those eyes gazing up at me. Just imagine it!
I came back to earth with a
bump. The circus owner, Mr Leo Chipchase, was in the doorway. He’d put on his
best tartan waistcoat and was smiling, which made a change.
“Think of all those
backsides on seats, Louie,” he said as he squeezed in beside me to count the
takings. “The bigger the danger...”
“...the bigger the crowd,” I
finished for him.
He did have a point. There
were grander circuses than ours, with more animals, more curiosities, more
sparkle. Backsides on seats mattered. So, what better way to draw the crowds
than a thrilling new routine. And tonight that’s exactly what they’d get.
Jasper would perform not a double but a TRIPPLE somersault from his trapeze. No
other circuses boasted such a stunt. It was genius.
1.
Why do you think the crowds were
bigger when there was more danger?
2.
Jasper lets Louie “have first dibs
on every pie crust.” What does this suggest about Jasper’s personality? Explain
your answer.
3.
How do you think Louie feels about
her mother? Explain your answer.
4.
Why are the lines “Imagine if I was
about to perform...” written in italics?
5.
The extract says that although Leo
Chipchase doesn’t smile very often, he “was smiling.” Why do you think this is?
6.
After reading the title of the book and this
extract, explain what you think might happen in the rest of the book.
