Are you brave enough to look through the Viewer?

In Book Talk we have been in awe of the wonderful book The Viewer by Shaun Tan. He is the same author who wrote The Lost Thing, which we are currently analysing in our writing lessons.

The book follows a curious boy called Tristan who uncovers a peculiar object at the dump. Inside the box he finds a mask. When he puts the mask on, a series of images flash before him. At first Tristan feels intrigued and fascinated by what he sees. Soon the pictures change and he begins to feel frightened.

Using this book as inspiration, the children imagined what they might see, both positive and negative, if they were to look through the viewer. Some described a colourful firework display painting the winter sky or a sparkling crystal clear ocean teeming with fluorescent fish. Others imagined an endless tunnel of cobwebs with spiders scuttling to and fro or a raging storm with lightning splitting the sky in jagged cracks as thunder let out its mighty roar.

The children loved using figurative language such as personification, similes and metaphors to describe the scenes they would witness if they were brave enough to peer into the viewer.

Well done Year 5. You have produced some super pieces of imaginative writing.

Tom