Craig Silvey's "The Amber Amulet" teachers' review

Posted: September 01, 2023

Categories: Literacy, Talking Texts

Tags: literacy, classroom suggestions, book review

Author: Jane Sherlock and Deb McPherson

Talking Texts with Deb & Jane: a review of Craig Silvey's "The Amber Amulet" for teachers

Brief description and distinctive features

Alternate cover from the Sky Pony Press (USA) edition

Brief description of The Amber Amulet:

Liam McKenzie is a twelve-year-old Masked Avenger and a suburban neighbourhood superhero. He has a power belt with gems and minerals; granite for poise and determination, tiger’s eye for speed and agility and amethyst for truth and honesty. He also has a trusty companion, Richie the Powerbeagle, and together they patrol their patch, looking to do good deeds and set wrongs to right. When he discovers the sadness of Joan, a neighbour, he is determined to help her and thinks his mother’s amber heirloom will do the trick. When his mother discovers the amulet is gone Liam is faced with an ethical dilemma. This easy to read and engaging novel, with delightful scrapbook style illustrations by Sonia Martinez, will win your heart with its fun and warmth as well as its sensitivity and understanding as Joan and the Masked Avenger have a revealing discussion about love and loneliness. Silvey uses and subverts the adventure genre which provides inspiration for students to write as well as read.

Distinctive features of The Amber Amulet:

The Adventure Genre is challenged and subverted by Silvey’s unusual protagonist and by the use of humour and dramatic irony.
An ordinary suburban setting is seen through the very different eyes of the main character, Liam McKenzie aka the Masked Avenger and his sidekick, Richie the Powerbeagle.
The characterisation invites discussion of courage and imagination, the emotional growth of the protagonist and empathy.
The third person narrative provides commentary on the characters and the rising tension and plot twists.
The graphics from the pulp fiction and dime novel genre and the scrapbook style illustrations play an important part in the storytelling (see the website https://www.pulpmags.org).

**Ways to use The Amber Amulet in the classroom**

Consider the two covers available for this book. In small groups students look at both covers and discuss what differences you see and consider why they were made. Predict what might happen in this novel. Each group is to decide which cover they like best. In a class discussion students share their predictions based on the covers and explain why they prefer one to the other.

In small groups students research the conventions of the adventure genre (for example, a hero, a villain, an intense setting, a quest or a mission, a sidekick, a risk, a transformation) and identify and explore the ways such conventions operate in The Amber Amulet. Then students can investigate how the author challenges and refreshes those conventions through humour and dramatic irony.

Characterisation is a key element of The Amber Amulet. In pairs students consider how Craig Silvey creates his protagonists, Liam and Joan. Analyse the language features and structures such as dialogue, use of humour, description and plot that help develop the characters. Then create a character profile for classroom display which illustrates the main attributes of each character and how they are created. You could use the “Anatomy of a Powerbeagle” illustration on page 16-17 as a starting point.

Students could try turning Liam’s story into a different genre, for example: horror, fantasy, western, environmental fiction. They should research the convention of a new genre and, while keeping the same characters, place them in a setting and narrative compatible with the genre selected.

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

Text requirements: The Amber Amulet is an illustrated novel by an Australian author. It is a multimodal text and has cultural, social, gender perspectives and youth culture references.

Concepts could include • Genre • Character • Narrative • Style

Connecting texts

Special thanks to Steve Henry, Head Teacher English at Cherrybrook High, who brought this little gem of a novel to my attention through his wonderful presentation on Genre at the NSW Centre for Professional Learning English Conference.

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Jane Sherlock and Deb McPherson

Teachers

Jane Sherlock and Deb McPherson are experienced and passionate English teachers. They have also been involved in the education sector as authors and presenters at teaching conferences.

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