Katherine Rundell's "Impossible Creatures" teachers' review

Brief description and distinctive features

Distinctive features of Impossible Creatures:

• Superb storytelling which references creatures of mythology including a griffin, dragons, centaurs and many more
• Powerful world-building with a terrifying start that foreshadows the perils to come   
• Prefaced by ‘The Guardian’s Bestiary’ which is an illustrated glossary of all the creatures we come across throughout the story 
• A map and intriguing chapter headings guide the reader through the story
• A classic heroic quest to find a cure for the world’s pain
• Magnificent protagonists from pragmatic and loyal Christopher to precocious, brave and vulnerable Mal, plus some villainous and terrifying opponents  
• Thrilling and dangerous adventures linked with extinction and ecological concerns
• Acknowledgement of youth leadership and agency
• Prose that is precise, beautiful and memorable
• Demanding and gritty situations and experiences - some tough stuff! 
• Impossible Creatures has a powerful and satisfying conclusion however this is a proposed trilogy (and it will be a long wait for this reader until Book 2 arrives).  

That last point is personal. When I was in Year 11, many years ago, I had just been captivated by The Fellowship of the Ring and I had to wait many months before the librarian put the The Two Towers on the bookshelf. It was worth the wait, but it seemed an eternity until The Return of the King arrived. 

Ways to use Impossible Creatures in the classroom

Impossible Creatures is a remarkable novel and the suggestions below barely scratch the surface of what could be explored in a full unit, based on a close study of text and genre.  

An introduction to genre and the conventions

Genre is defined in the NSW 7-10 English Syllabus (2022) as

“categories into which texts are grouped based on similarities in premise, structure and function. The ‘genre’ of a text describes larger recurring patterns of subject matter and textual structures observable between texts, such as typical plots, characters and setting. ‘Genre’ can also describe categories of form and structure in texts.”

Common genres are crime, fantasy, sci-fi, adventure, horror or gothic or western.  

Young Adult (YA) is a category intended for teenagers, which is often read by adults. 

Specific textual elements are what make some novels or films easily recognisable and definable as a particular genre. They could refer to plot and narrative turns that often occur in the genre the story is set in. Or characters and settings that are common elements of the genre and themes that are often featured and used in the genre.  For example, a useful definition for fantasy from Wikipedia is “a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore”.

Impossible Creatures has a title that is pure fantasy and would be an excellent text to investigate the textual elements /conventions of the fantasy genre which can include:

• World-building through the creation of an imaginary world
• The use of magic or the supernatural by characters, creatures, or the landscape itself
• A central conflict or quest, often a battle between good and evil.
• The use of mythology and folklore to colour and inhabit a new world
• The use of symbols and medieval allusions.

Neil Gaiman summed up the appeal of fantasy when he said, “You’re making things that aren’t true, and you’re giving them to people in order to allow them to see—we hope—greater truths.”

Task: In groups ask students to reflect on any fantasy books they have read or films they have seen and draw up a list of common elements that seem to occur often in these types of texts. Each group shares the names of texts they have mentioned and the characteristics they see as common with the class so a wider list can be made.

As part of the exploration of Impossible Creatures, form small groups and allocate a specific textual element of the fantasy genre to each group. Students are to explore the novel to find examples of this textual element. Build a class table which captures how Rundell has incorporated the fantasy genre into her compelling novel.

Wide reading challenge

Encourage students to read more widely in fantasy by having a book box of titles in the classroom. Challenge students to read another fantasy book set in a different world by choosing from the book box and provide time to read in class. Possible texts could include:

• A Monster Calls Patrick Ness illustrated by Jim Kay 
• Beowulf Gareth Hinds 
• Medusa: the girl behind the myth Jessie Burton illustrated by Olivia Lomenech
• The Hobbit JRR Tolkien 
• The Lord of The Rings JRR Tolkien
• The Book of Dust Phillip Pullman Book 1 La Belle Sauvage Book 2 The Secret Commonwealth
• The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe C S Lewis and the other Narnia stories 
• Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book? Lauren Child ( picture book) 

Time is running out

Petroc, a rare criminal centaur, in Impossible Creatures says

‘They say, if the glimourie isn’t saved now, it never will be saveable. It’s a concept you humans have always struggled to grasp: that time might run out.’ The fire behind him sparked, and he sniffed the air. ‘It will be an ending: a dark, cold end. We centaurs understand that. I understand it, very well. I see the power and beauty of such an ending.’ p246

Petroc welcomes a dark ending, however his assessment of humans may be correct. One of the clear themes in Impossible Creatures is concern for, and care of the environment we live in. When the ‘glimourie’ is gone in Impossible Creatures, the land and the creatures will die. On Earth we are in our own fight against climate change.  

Task: In groups discuss what connections you can find between the Archipelago and Earth and their interaction with the environment. Do you think there is power and beauty in such an ending for the Archipelago or earth? After the discussion put your own thoughts on paper.

The joys of writing fantasy by the author Katherine Rundell

Students could use this stimulus to help unleash their imaginations, and to “wield metaphor(s)” to describe their world and thereby increase their understand of it.

Task: Imagine you are an animal, insect, fish or bird on earth and you want to tell humans what is happening to your environment. What would you say to persuade them to change their ways. Write 300 words and be prepared to deliver your message to the class.

Relevant details in relation to the new English 7-10 syllabus

Text requirements: Impossible Creatures is a novel (extended prose) and a quality multimodal text from a British author.  It includes a range of cultural, social and gender perspectives.

Concepts could include Genre • Intertextuality • Theme

Relevant NSW English 7-10 Syllabus content

Reading viewing and listening to texts | EN4-RVL-01

Reading viewing and listening to texts for meaning

• Explore the main ideas and thematic concerns posed by a text for meaning
• Engage with the ways texts contain layers of meaning, or multiple meanings
• Identify and understand that relevant prior knowledge and personal experience enables and enhances understanding when reading, viewing or listening to texts
• Explain personal responses to characters, situations and issues in texts, recognising the role of written, oral or visual language in influencing these personal responses

Understanding and responding to texts B | EN4-URB-01

Theme

• Understand how repetition, patterning and language features used within a text communicate ideas about social, personal, ethical and philosophical issues and experiences, and demonstrate this understanding through written, spoken, visual and multimodal responses

Understanding and responding to texts C | EN4-URC-01

Genre

• Understand how a genre addresses its purpose through patterns of textual elements, such as structure, choice of language, character archetypes and settings, and apply these patterns in own texts
• Analyse how texts can participate in larger, established patterns of narrative, purpose, theme and tone by exhibiting and challenging conventions, and experiment with conventions in own texts
• Explore particular genres to identify ways they may be adapted to different modes and media, or refreshed by combining with other genres, and experiment with these in own texts

Intertextuality

• Analyse how texts can draw on elements of other texts to enrich meaning
• Understand how and why texts can be adapted, appropriated or transformed for different contexts, purposes and audiences, and experiment with adaptations, appropriations and transformations in own work

(English K-10 Syllabus 2022 © NSW Education Standards Authority for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2023)

Connecting texts

Connecting texts to famous fantasy and mythology