Brother Band: Outcasts - under construction

by John Flanagan

Reading schedule

Week 17 - Read through chp (roughly 1/4 of the book)

Week 18 - Read through chp (roughly 1/2 of the book)

Week 19 - Read through chp (roughly 3/4 of the book

Week 20 - Finish

Week 21 -Culminating Activities and writing projects

Week 22 - Culminating Activities and writing due

Weekly Assignments

January 13, 2026 Week 17 Characterization

As you read choose one character on which to focus. How does the author reveal what that character is like? Look for the following ways the author characterizes him or her and mark these passages:

  1. Narrator’s words about the character

  2. Other characters words or thoughts about the character

  3. Character’s own words (can be thoughts or dialogue)

  4. Character’s own actions

  5. Other characters actions or reactions to that character

If you’ve already read the entire book, go back and skim the first 1/4 of it and look for passages about one particular main character.

Add some passages you’ve found to our Characterization Chart CHARACTERIZATION CHART (MS Word Doc) PDF HERE. You do not yet have to fill in the symbols section, but be thinking about a symbol that could represent that character trait.

January 20, Week 18, Deeper Meaning - Analyze one Quotation

Finish the Above and Below Ground Form which we started in class.

On the back side of that handout, draw an illustration of the what the quotation you chose means.

Created by Lisa Clark-Burnell

Week 19

Character Development & Start Culminating Activities

Character Development

  1. Add to your CHARACTERIZATION CHART (MS Word Doc) — from Week 7.

  2. Is your character:

    • dynamic or static? (we talked about these definitions in week 6. )

    • round or flat?

    • What additional evidence from the book supports your claim about whether or not your character is dynamic or static, round or flat? Find at least one passage that backs up your argument.

Culminating Activities

  1. Look at the list of culminating activities at the VERY bottom of this webpage (it’s in an orange-beige box). Choose the activity you want to do.

  2. Begin brainstorming ideas for it. You’ll turn in your paper with your brainstorming on it for tickets.

Week 11

  1. Finish this chart Topics and themes chart and textual evidence 

  2. Finish your culminating activity from the list below and bring to class the last week of the semester to present it.

Culminating Activities

Choose one.

  1. Create a 3/4 life size poster of a character from the novel. We call this a character collage. Illustrate them with symbols of their character traits and write quotations from the novel which reveal that trait.

  2. Illustrated quotations. Choose three important quotations from the novel which reveal something important about a main character, topic, or theme of the novel.  What do each of these quotations reveal? Create drawings to go with each quotation.

  3. Create a public service poster warning of the dangers of ________________________.  What are examples of how _____________________ affects _________________.

  4. Character development via comic strip. Draw a comic strip or poster showing how Alcatraz changes over time if at all. Is he a flat or round character? A static or dynamic character? Your comic strip should show at Alcatraz at three different points in time. Consider: What does he learn about himself?

  5. Explore Viking sailing. Create a power point presentation or other multi-media presentation on Viking sailing. You could consider the history of Viking sailing, impact of Viking sailing practice on history or compare it to modern sailing. Or how Viking sailing shaped the modern world?

  6. Create a presentation on heroism. How do books, movies, news and popular culture traditionally depict heroes? Do you think it matters if a person’s actions are intentially heroic or accidentally heroic? Include these ideas in your presentation and tie them to the novel.

  7. Steam punk & science fiction: how does this novel incorporate bits of these genres into it? Create a poster illustrating that.

    • Steam punk genre definition from p. 315 “a subgenre of science fiction, which is often set in an alternative history or fantasy and features the use of steam as a primary power source. Steampunk features technologies which seem simultaneously futuristic and old-fashioned, or beings which are combinations of mechanical and biological elements.”

    • Science fiction genre definition from p. 315 “deals with imaginative concepts such as futuristic settings and technologies, space and time travel, and parallel universes. Sci-fi stories frequently explore the effects of specific scientific or technological discoveries on governments and societies.”

  8. Create a poster or essay about self-knowledge and how that is a form of power.  Consider how acknowledging our weaknesses or our less admirable tendencies gives us power. How does a main character understand themselves better by the end of the novel? What role does their self-knowledge play in helping them succeeding??

  9. Create a poster or write an essay about contrasts or opposites in the novel. Who or what are contrasted starkly in the novel?   Find quotations in the novel about these ideas.

Created by Lisa Clark-Burnell.