Brother Band: Outcasts

by John Flanagan

Reading schedule

Week 17 - January 13, Read through chp 12 (roughly 1/4 of the book)

Week 18 - January 20 - Read through chp 22, (roughly 1/2 of the book)

Week 19 - January 27, Read through chp 33 (roughly 3/4 of the book

Week 20 - February 3, Finish the book

Week 21 -Culminating Activities and writing projects

Week 22 - Culminating Activities and writing due

Weekly Assignments by Ms. Lisa

January 13, 2026 Week 17 Characterization

Read through chp 12

As you read, choose one character on which to focus. You will be filling out a characterization chart on this character as homework.

Consider: 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

Read through chp 22

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

January 27, Week 19

Character Development & Start Culminating Activities

Read through chp 33

Character Development

  1. Add to your CHARACTERIZATION CHART (MS Word Doc) — from Week 17.

  2. Is your character:

    • dynamic or static?

    • 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.

February 3, Week 20

Finish the book

  1. Add symbols to your characterization chart.

  2. Work on the culminating activity you chose (see brown box below with list of possible activities)

February 10, 2026 Week 21 Prepare for your in-class essay or paragraph

Make an outline for a characterization paragraph to be written in class.

You have two writing prompt options:

  1. Write about two character traits possessed by one character. Why do these traits matter (do they drive the plot? relate to a theme? serve as a foil to another character? OR

  2. Compare and contrast two characters. Why do their differences and similarities matter?

It will be a double, double hamburger paragraph format. OR if you want more space, you may write a five-paragraph essay

Formatting rules are: no more than five paragraphs and two pages double spaced, 12 point Times New Roman, Palantino, or Garamond font, 1 inch margins. Again, we will write this in class next time we have class. Bring a lap top. You’ll email me your work from class and you’ll turn in your outline which you did at home.

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. 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??

  8. 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.