The Porcupine's Quill
Celebrating forty years on the Main Street
of Erin Village, Wellington County
Instructor Resources
Lesson #1
Never More Together
A Guide by Steven McCabe
Part 1: Observation and Comprehension
Consider the images above and answer the following questions in writing:
- What ‘era’ do the telephones appear to be from?
- Is the phone ringing in an office or a family home?
- Who is getting a phone call?
- What time of day is it?
- What is the weather outside?
- What is the mood of the conversation? Urgent? Friendly? Secretive?
- Is the call about something that happened at work, at school, socially?
- Is it an ‘official’ call or between people who know each other?
- Is there a problem that needs to be solved?
- Considering your answers and ideas above, write an imaginary dialogue between two callers. Is there possibly a secret? Or are they discussing a plan? Is it boring or intriguing?
Part 2: Analysis
Consider an additional three images photocopied from Never More Together, then complete the following activity.
- Begin by captioning the images.
- Describe what is happening. What do you see?
- Describe the relevant details using adjectives, verbs and nouns.
- What is the mood of the images?
- Imagine what the image is not showing. What could be taking place out of view that is part of what is happening?
Part 3: Order and Sequencing
- How do these images fit in with your description of the telephone conversation?
- Do these images happen before or after the conversation?
- Create the outline of a story by combining ideas that you have suggested and described from Part 1 and Part 2 of this activity.
Part 4: Visual Assessment
After you have created the outline of your ‘alternative’ story based on images from the wordless book, consider the title and book cover.
- Imagine what this title signifies and what this book might be about.
- Discuss with the class, or your work group, what you think this book might be about and how your idea for a story might go in a new direction.
Part 5: Creativity
Use the ideas you have generated to create your own comic, graphic narrative, short story or series of poems.
NOTE: Download the ‘Building a Wordless Novel’ worksheet in the Materials section for a way to plan a story by collaborating with images in a sequence.
Materials
Never More Together Sample Image #1
1.1 MB
Never More Together Sample Image #2
968 KB
Never More Together Sample Image #3
1.1 MB
Never More Together Sample Image #4
736 KB
Never More Together Sample Image #5
444 KB
Building a Wordless Novel Worksheet
18 KB
The Porcupine's Quill would like to acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. The financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) is also gratefully acknowledged.