Rachael King's "The Grimmelings" teachers' review - Talking Texts with Deb & Jane #51Rachael King's "The Grimmelings" teachers' review - Talking Texts with Deb & Jane #51

Brief description and distinctive features

  1. The Grimmelings
    The Grimmelings
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For Stage 4

Brief description of The Grimmelings

This fantasy story connects with Scottish myths and legends passed down from generation to generation and yet retains a strong realism in both its New Zealand lake setting and the startling events that occur in the story. Thirteen-year-old Ella is a convincing protagonist as she deals with the power of a family curse and the problems of adolescence, a missing father, an overburdened mother, and an ill yet resourceful and somewhat magical grandmother. The family business is horses and Ella and her protective horse, Magpie, are part of the team that offers rides. Ella is angry about some bullying on the bus by classmate Josh Underhill and is intrigued by a new boy called Gus. When Josh goes missing Ella is worried that her wish about Josh has resulted in his disappearance. At the same time a powerful black horse is spotted on a hill above the house and both Gus and the black horse are strangely compelling. The horse and Gus are revealed as a kelpie. Kelpies are dangerous shape-shifting water creatures who can appear on land as humans or horses. In their horse form they entice people to ride on their backs and then take them to a watery grave. Ella, her younger sister Fiona and Grizzly, her grandmother are soon engaged in a lifesaving mission to find those who have been taken and defeat the kelpie.

Rachael King is a writer and reviewer, living in Ōtautahi Christchurch New Zealand. She's the author of two novels for children: Red Rocks, which won the Esther Glen Medal, and The Grimmelings, published in 2024.

Distinctive features of The Grimmelings

  • A vivid cover and fascinating title; the “Grimmelings” of the title is a Scottish Gaelic term for “the first and last gleams of daylight”
  • Set in the engaging natural beauty of New Zealand around a deep and intriguing lake
  • Scottish folklore and the mythical kelpie are pivotal to the plot and the gripping action
  • Powerful characterisation provides an opportunity to explore an intense interaction between thirteen-year-old protagonist Ella, and antagonist Gus, who is the mysterious stranger
  • The narrative provides an excellent balance between the fanciful and the realistic
  • The novel is full of the Scottish Gaelic language and several chapter heading contain a definition of a Scottish word e.g. shirr: a ruffle on the surface of water and students can enjoy the challenge of using context to supply meaning
  • Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series is acknowledged as a strong influence, especially the books The Dark is Rising and Silver on the Tree
  • There is a strong sense of sustainability and of the importance in people's lives of the preservation of the natural environment.

Ways to use The Grimmelings in the classroom

Research the origins and symbolism of the kelpie legend 

In Scotland a huge metal sculpture called the Kelpies, and designed by Andy Scott, can be found between the Scottish towns of Falkirk and Grangemouth. The horse heads were named after the mythological transforming beast which author Rachel King uses to such impressive impact, in The Grimmelings. Find out what you can about this Scottish water creature and share the information you find with the class.  

The "Kelpies" designed by Andy Scott

Group analysis

Investigate the blending of the fantastic and the realistic in this exciting story. Some elements are listed below, suggest other elements and add them to the table below and then in groups consider what techniques the author uses to blend these two very different genres. Report your findings to the class.

Fantastic elements Real elements
 • The Scottish kelpie  • Loneliness of both Ella and Gus
 • Fiona’s charms and Grizzly’s knowledge  • The horse rides, the behaviour of clients and the resentments of some townspeople
 • The collective retrospective amnesia of the population at the end of the novel  • Grizzly’s funeral and the appearance of so many of the townsfolk
 • The black stallion and Magpie  • The regular horses of the trekking business
   
   

 

Descriptive writing

Rachael King writes a powerful description of the Kelpie in horse form as it stands in the water of the lake. The author positions Ella as the observer and uses visual and tactile imagery to engage the reader.

A horse stood in the water, drinking. It was as black as night, its sheen reflecting the colours of the streaked sky and the dark, impenetrable water. The Ben had turned grey, its shadowy shape mirrored in the lake, along with fat, lustrous clouds.

There was power in its limbs, in its solid body, in its broad chest - Ella could sense it pulsing. It was massive, a mountain, built for battle. Its long, untamed mane and tail dripped with water, glossy green weeds from the lake caught in its tangles. p139

There are many creatures described in different mythologies from around the world. Some are associated with aquatic and marine mammals, some with arthropods, with bats, birds, bears, lions, reptiles, canines and other species. Many creatures appear in multiple mythologies.

Individual Task: Research another creature in world mythology and write (and illustrate) your own description. Nominate what mythology the creature comes from. Use the descriptions in the novel as models for your own writing and note the powerful use of metaphor. Compose your own description and experiment with metaphor, simile and the use of the senses. Here are some suggestions to start you off: centaurs, sphinxes, griffins, werewolves, chimeras, dragons, selkies, bunyips, and nixies.

 

Environmental awareness and sustainability

In The Grimmelings Rachael King reminds the reader of the power of nature and its vulnerability through her descriptions and the voices and actions of her characters.

Grizzly says, “…Ach, this country. We’ve ruined it in so many ways. Cleared all that forest, destroyed all those native birds and plants just so we can make it look like home. Putting dairy farms where they have no business, destroying the land and the beautiful waterways…” p235

Group Task: Look through the novel and note the descriptions of the natural landscape and the events when that landscape was threatened or threatening. Research why the natural environment and native species are so important for our future life on this planet. What environmental issues can you identify in your own school, local council area and state? Share your research with the class and discuss what you can do to help and preserve the natural landscape, flora and fauna.

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

Text requirements: The Grimmelings is a novel (extended prose) from around the world.  It includes a range of cultural, social and gender perspectives.

Concepts could include Narrative • Characterisation • Intertextuality.

 

Relevant NSW English 7-10 Syllabus content

Understanding and responding to texts A | EN4-URA-01

Characterisation

  • Analyse how engaging characters are constructed in texts through a range of language features and structures, and use these features and structures in own texts
  • Describe how characters in texts, including stereotypes, archetypes, flat and rounded, static and dynamic characters represent values and attitudes, and experiment with these in own texts
  • Understand how the interactions of characters, such as protagonists and antagonists, might be perceived to represent aspects of human relationships, and experiment with interactions when composing texts

Narrative

  • Understand narrative conventions, such as setting, plot and sub-plot, and how they are used to represent events and personally engage the reader, viewer or listener with ideas and values in texts, and apply this understanding in own texts
  • Examine how narratives can depict personal and collective identities, values and experiences

Point of view

  • Examine elements of focalisation, such as omniscience, limitations, indirect speech, tone, reliability and multiple narrators, and how these interact to shape perceptions of meaning in texts, and apply this in own texts

Narrative

  • Analyse how narrative conventions vary across genres, modes, media and contexts and how they can be used to represent ideas and values and shape responses, and apply this understanding in own texts
  • Explore how narratives can represent and shape personal and shared identities, values and experiences

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

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

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Earthsea: The First Four Books by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley