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'Cliffhanger'
By Jacqueline
Wilson
My class
of Year 3/4s really enjoyed this book when we did
it as a book study. It tells the story of Tim who
finds himself sent on an adventure holiday by his
Mum and Dad. Tim hates all sports so an adventure
holiday isn't exactly his idea of fun. When he's there,
though, he meets some new friends, Biscuits, Giles
and Kelly. By the end of the book Tim's experiences
have transformed his view of adventure holidays and
himself.
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'Cliffhanger' ideas
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Activity Ideas
A postcard from the
holiday
Imagine that you are
Tim and you've just had your first day at the adventure camp.
Write a letter home to your Mum and Dad telling them about your
first day so far. (Of course, you can do this for any of the
days after reading the relevant chapters... I avoided reading
them Tim's postcard until after they did the activity.
The children could
also write a postcard as one of the other characters. How would
Giles feel after his first day?
Being Scared
Tim was verys scared
when he was climbing down the cliff. You could talk about when
the children were really scared and get them to write poems
about it. You could use a sheet similar to the one below to
gather together their ideas before poetry writing begins.
Character Diary
My class enjoyed writing
diaries of the holiday as one of the other characters. I just
gave them a list of the days and the main events that happened
during each day.
Who said what?
Match the speech to
the character that you think would say it.
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I love my troll.
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I'm starving.
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I hate games.
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Girls are better than boys.
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I want to win!
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I'm good at all sports.
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I don't really like adventures.
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I can't flipping run.
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You weedy nerdy little cissies.
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I'm not very good at simmering!
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I can't catch.
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I love chocolate.
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I want to go first.
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I'm scared of heights.
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You can share with me.
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I'm going to love abseiling.
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Commentary
Near the end
of the book there's an obstacle race. A good activity here is
to get the children to imagine that they are a TV (or radio)
sports commentator and that the race is a major sporting event.
They could re-write the race in the form of a commentator's
script, perhaps even recording the finished product onto tape.
Additional Resources
Cliffhanger - Character
Diary
Use the notes below
to help you write your character diary. Remember you can write
as Biscuits, Kelly or Giles. The other Tigers are Laura and
Lesley. Jake is the Tiger's special helper.
Day 3 - Monday
23rd July - The Canoe Race
Biscuits was with
Tim in the race.
Giles was with Kelly.
Laura was with Lesley.
Biscuits and Tim were
very slow.
Giles and Kelly went
into the lead.
Kelly got excited
and lost her Troll doll, Theresa.
Giles was annoyed.
Kelly was upset.
She wanted to go back
and get the doll.
Giles wanted to win
the race.
Biscuits and Tim rescued
Theresa.
They lost the race.
After tea the Tigers
had to clean up in the kitchen.
Giles and Kelly started
arguing about losing the race.
They started splashing
each other.
Giles picked on Tim.
Everyone tried to
splash Giles.
Biscuits flicked Frosties
at him.
The Tigers got told
off by Jake.
Character Diaries
Kelly's Diary (Day
One)
I was really looking
forward to the adventure holiday. Of course Mum was a bit worried
about me. You know how mums get. I was so excited that I was
practically bouncing up and down my seat during the journey
to the centre. I kept waving to all the other drivers and pulling
silly faces. Once we arrived at the centre I managed to get
rid of my Mum and went to settle in. That was quite a laugh
actually as I went into the wrong dorm. The boy who was with
me didn't seem to see the funny side. He walked in on the girls.
He seemed quite quiet and I don't think he wants to be here.
I'm sure he'll lighten up a bit when we start the fun and games.
The girls in my room aren't much fun. They just whisper to each
other and giggle. The boys are much more fun. We had a laugh
at dinner and pretended to be panting panthers. Theresa and
I are looking forward to tomorrow. It's abseiling. It sounds
like great fun!
Giles' Diary (Day
One)
It hasn't been too
bad so far. I'm really glad, though that I brought my own equipment.
The things that they have here are shoddy and sub-standard.
Mind you, so are the other children. I've been lumbered with
a chocolate guzzling gorilla and a total wimp. I don't know
how I'm going to win with them on my team. The only one that
seems any good is Kelly, but she's a girl. I think she's the
wimp's girlfriend. He says that she's not but she talked to
him at dinner. We lost at Triangles this evening. It was all
because of that Tim. He couldn't even catch a cold! I hope that
the rest of the team games don't involve catching or we're done
for. I can't wait to get started on the difficult activities.
The things that we've done today have been so easy. I suppose
the other children need breaking in gently. Tomorrow is abseiling.
I've done that a load of times before. I hope that they make
it more difficult for me.
Biscuits' Diary (Day
One)
Dad drove me to the
activity centre this morning. It was his idea for me to go.
For some reason he thought that it might be good if I got a
bit more exercise. Oh well. He still made sure that I have plenty
of essential equipment with me. It's all over in the corner,
safely inside my bag. There are two boys sharing a room with
me. One of them is called Giles. He's a bit posh and likes talking
about how good he is at everything. I told him that he wasn't
as good as me at belly dancing! My other friend is called Tim.
I don't think he wants to be here but I think we're going to
have fun together. So far the best thing about the day has been
dinner. It was delicious. It's a good job that I brought some
extra rations. The servings aren't very big at all! Luckily
Tim didn't want all his dinner so I finished it off for him.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow. It's abseiling. I wonder what
we'll be having for breakfast?
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