The Tunnel: 1

Product Information

Think about how the boy and girl have changed throughout the story. How did they feel towards each other at the beginning? How did they feel at the end? The girl struggles to decide whether to go into the tunnel or not. Can you think of reasons for / against entering it? Look at the objects on the waste ground. Could you write a story which explains how they got there? Drama opportunities - Children could explore this book using drama. For example, hot-seating could be used to explore emotions, freeze frames could be used where similar images are created but alternative fairy tales are used, conscience alley could be used to persuade the girl to either follow the boy through the tunnel or to leave him.

Anthony Browne is a highly acclaimed and well loved children’s author and illustrator. He was the Children’s Laureate 2009-11 Write a new story with the title ‘The Tunnel’. Who are the characters? Where does the tunnel lead to? A tale that isolates how far the rift between siblings can go but also how impactful the care within a family can be. 'The Tunnel' tells the tale of two siblings, who battling rivalry ends in them taking a mysterious journey through a fairy tale tunnel ending in the brother's stone cold exterior being broken down by the love and grief of his sister.The closely observed and finely drawn sibling relationship is at the heart of this story. The detailed illustrations of the world on the other side of the tunnel are full of fairy tale references and details to spot. Look at the strange textures and images on the illustrations of the tree trunks. What can you see on them?

Anthony Browne's childhood consisted of playing sport, drawing and fighting with his older brother. The Tunnel follows a strong theme of a sibling relationship which was inspired by his own experience with his brother. They even discovered a creepy tunnel together that they always used to go down. Look at the graffiti in the picture of the waste ground. Find out about graffiti and talk about the arguments for and against it. Could you design your own on paper using different Art materials?

Look at examples of tunnels. How have they been constructed? What techniques do people use to make sure that they are strong and safe? Look at how the colours in the illustrations change as the sister cuddles her brother. Can you try to make different shades of each colour by mixing paint? Imagine that a tunnel has been found on your school grounds. Where does it lead? What / who is hidden inside it? Read the words used to describe the inside of the tunnel. Can you think of any more words that might be suitable? This is an adventure story about a brother and sister who do not get along. It is their journey through adversity that brings them closer together. The Tunnel would be a great story to read aloud to a class, particularly when studying adventure stories. There are lots of opportunities in the book to pause and ask inference questions of your class. It also follows a structured adventure story model and therefore would be an excellent text to use for writing. During our SBC3 summer planning tasks our group used the The Tunnel as a text to accompany our writing lessons on adventure stories.

The story promotes thought, emotion and the importance of family/friendships. Using this in the recommended key stage 2 classroom could allow an excellent weekly topic using cross curricular links in Literacy, RE, PSHE and Geography.

Willy's Pictures

The sister lies awake at night ‘listening to the noises of the night’. Think about how different noises sound. How are they made? How could we muffle sounds to make them quieter and help the girl to sleep? If the reader is able to surpass the illustrations a beautiful relationship is formed and shared between a brother and sister of whom usually argue, disagree and clash in terms of stereotypical characteristics and lifestyles. The brother and sister argue a lot. Think about why arguments are caused. How can we help to resolve problems with our friends and family when they occur?