Getting Started
Overview
A temporarily blinded English soldier who
deserts from the war is found by some French children. He has a small
silver donkey like a charm or talisman, and he tells the children stories based
around the theme of donkeys. These include 'The First Tale', which is about
Joseph, Mary and the donkey that carries her to Bethlehem, and 'The Third Tale'
which, while not specifically saying so, is based on John (Jack) Simpson
Kirkpatrick and the donkey at Gallipoli.
The Silver Donkey is an important anti-war story.
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Author profile
Sonya Hartnett is the internationally acclaimed
author of several novels including Thursday's Child, winner of
the 2002 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, and Forest, winner of
the 2002 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award (older readers).
In 2000, and again in 2003, Sonya was
named one of the Sydney Morning Herald's Young Novelists of the Year.
Her work has been published internationally.
In 2004, The Silver Donkey was
published to great critical acclaim. It won the 2005 Brisbane Courier Mail award
for young readers, was the 2005 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of
the Year (younger readers) and was shortlisted in the NSW Premier's Awards
(Patricia Wrightson Prize).
Source: Penguin Books (used with
permission)
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Useful websites
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Focus questions
Before reading the book
- What might the silver donkey be?
- What donkey stories do you know already?
- On the front cover, who might the man be?
- Where and when might this book be set?
- On the contents page, four 'tales' are included.
These are stories about donkeys. What do you think the rest of the book might
be about?
During and after reading the book
- How were the children different from each other?
- Why was the man in the woods?
- What might happen when the man gets home?
- How do the tales about the donkeys match or
enhance the main narrative?
- How important was the silver donkey?
- Why do you think the author has selected the donkey
as an animal to write the book about?
- What do you lean about war from this book?
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Activities
Responding to text
Metaphorical language
Individuals
There are many examples of metaphorical
language in The Silver Donkey. Read the following in context:
- 'hill's brow', p 2
- 'forest's grim shadow draped', p 5
Find other examples of metaphorical
language in the book and explain what they mean.
The author also invents words. Read some
examples: 'mouldery', p 6, and 'quaggy', p 68. List more examples. Make up some
of your own words and give them meanings.
Write all of the above in your personal
dictionaries, or start one now.
Children and adults
Class
As a class, discuss how the soldier felt
and what he meant when he said, 'He'd been made to do
what adults thought he should do, as children always are. It had seemed to take
forever for him to grow old enough to be free again' (p 23). Put the soldier in
the hot seat to explore this further and find out more about what he
thinks and feels. The three children could also be put in the hot seat. Write a
poem about when you feel like this.
Unreliable narrator
Small groups
Re-read the sections in the book where
the soldier talks about his brother. In Viewpoint:
On Books for Young Readers 13(1), 2005, Sonya Hartnett states that, 'John
is not real … The soldier never refers to John in his private thoughts.' The
author is saying that the soldier has no brother. Is this true or not from your
reading of the book? Explain your response. Rewrite parts of the book where the
soldier seems to lie about his brother. Consider how this impacts on the plot.
Senses
Individuals
Hartnett sees the characters as colours.
For example, Coco is a soft pink. What colours represent each character to you?
Make a Circular Chart divided into quarters with the headings 'Sight',
'Sound', 'Taste' and 'Smell'. List examples from the text, using pages such as 18–21,
30, 54, 88, 97, 120, 151–2, 171–2, 178.
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Responding to images
Motif of the donkey
Class
There are images of the silver donkey and
other donkeys on the cover and endpapers, and there are some
illustrations in the text pages.
When and how are donkeys shown as stereotypes?
When and how are they appreciated and celebrated? How are they shown in the
images in the book?
Individuals
Write the characteristics of donkeys as words,
inside a Donkey Template. An example is 'patient', from p 46.
Optional: Add features on the reverse side of the template such as textured
hair by attaching steel wool or faux fur. Read p 15 for a description. Then
hang the donkeys as mobiles.
Illustrations
Individuals
Line illustrations appear throughout the
book. How well do these describe the characters and scenes? How well do they
leave space for your imagination?
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Research skills
World War I
Small groups
The book is set in France in WWI. Focus on information and images about WWI from the book, such as those on p 56 and 98–114,
then research more about WWI from other primary sources and secondary
sources. List the facts you find as a PMI Chart.
This book, particularly 'The Third Tale'
about John (Jack) Simpson Kirkpatrick and his donkey at Gallipoli, would be
good to read for ANZAC Day. Only a Donkey by Celeste Walters and
Patricia Mullins would also be appropriate for younger students.
Primary and secondary sources
Class
'The First Tale' is the Christmas nativity
story. It is about Mary riding on a donkey to Bethlehem, Joseph only being able
to find room in a stable, and the donkey carrying baby Jesus back again.
Compare this story with the Bible as a primary source. Read the
beginnings of the Gospels. Which aspects of Hartnett's tale are similar to the biblical
account? Which aspects differ? After comparing the narratives, do you regard
Hartnett's tale as historically accurate? Why or why not? An Affinity
Diagram might help you reach a result.
Transform these findings into a recount
or essay.
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Making connections
Individual differences
Individuals
Soldiers in the past and present should
not just be seen as generalisations, but as individuals. Read about the
differences between soldiers on p 97–98. Then write about individual students
in the class and their differences in a class book, noting that the class is
made up of different individuals.
Sculptures
Small groups
Each group presents one of the four tales
as frozen sculptures, slow motion sculptures or fluid
sculptures. Incorporate the moral code of each – goodness, strength,
patience, bravery. An example is 'helping someone who is limping'. These moral
codes should be valued in the past, present and future.
War
Beyond the classroom
'But war is war, and sometimes
soldiers forget that there are good things, things worth keeping, in the world.'
(p 136)
- Using oral histories (or other sources), discuss
some good things that happen in war (such as people risking their lives for
others), as well as bad things (try not to be too graphic as some students may
be very sensitive). Why might soldiers try to find good things in war? Why might
they forget to appreciate or save the good things?
- Using the Placemat strategy, brainstorm how
fighting (a possible stage of the 'war' continuum) is avoided and prevented in
your class, school and/or country.
- Compile findings which could also be used
in a global situation to avoid war.
- Vote on the best idea and write a letter as a joint construction to the United Nations or the Prime Minister.
