The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen:
Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
Additional Activities
STeampunk
-Graphic Novel
-Good for grades 11-12 *some explicit content*
-Alternative graphic novel: Amazing Screw-On
Head: Mike Mignola
-Publisher: America’s Best Comics
-Published: 1999, 2nd printing 2000
-ISBN: 1-56389-665-6
Summary:
London is in danger. A group of extraordinary
characters must be called together to prevent a
crime war from destroying the city. This strange
band includes Mina Harker, Captain Nemo, Allan
Quartermain, Dr. Jekyll, and Hawley Griffin,
giving classic literature an exciting new twist.
Activities:
-The League is looking for new recruits. Have
the students pose as another literary character (i.e.
Dorian Gray) and hold job interviews of what their
qualifications are and what they can bring to the
team.
-Steampunk is a greatly varying classification. Have
students create their own definition of what they believe
steampunk to be.
-Have students come up with their own steampunk
worlds. What are the differences to today’s society?
What types of jobs are there? Any fancy gadgets? What
is the political structure? The class structure? Is there
war? How did this world develop?
-Describe, sketch, or make a model of a modern object in
the steampunk style.
-engages the visual and active learner
-connects literature to personal life
-Have students write their own steampunk adaptions of
old fairy tales or stories.
-gives writing practice
-students must take note of important details in
the theme and put them to use
-puts different twist/perspective on the original
story
-must read/analyze original story more
carefully
Classical Literature Connections
DEFINITION
Steampunk is a genre that came into prominence
during the 1980s and early 1990s and incorporates
elements of science fiction, fantasy, alternate
history, horror, and speculative fiction. It involves
a setting where steam power is widely used.
Works of steampunk often feature futuristic
innovations based on a Victorian perspective on
fashion, culture, architectural style, and art
(Wikipedia).
-Jules Verne
-Nautilus
-20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
-The Steam House
-H. G. Wells
-The War of the Worlds
-The Time Machine
-The Invisible Man
-Mary Shelley
-Frankenstein
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
-Sherlock Holmes
-Steampunk Prime: anthology of Victorian
literature with a steampunk theme
The Golden Compass: Philip Pullman
-Previously banned for religious controversy
-Good for grades 6-12
-Main themes include friendship, coming of age,
power
-Publisher: Dell Yearling
-Published: 1995, reprint 2001
-ISBN: 0-440-41832-1
Summary:
-When ever-curious Lyra Belaqua and her
daemon familiar eavesdrop on a top secret meeting
led by her uncle, the mysterious Lord Asriel, she
finds herself launched into the middle of an
adventure. When her best friend goes missing,
Lyra is stirred into action and sets off on a long
journey to the North to find him. Along the way,
she meets with a wide variety of gypsies, witches,
armored bears, and dangerous combatants. She
herself must play a vital role in this huge battle of a
heavenly scale.
Activities:
- Lyra is special in The Golden Compass
partially because of her ability to read the symbols
of the alethiometer. Define ‘symbols’ in the class,
and create other ways of putting together symbols
to tell a story or ‘tell the future’.
-Compare and contrast power themes with
Milton’s Paradise Lost.
http://www.glogster.com/klmillik/the-goldencompass/g-6ll97c210dpi3khe97jiia0
Mortal Engines: Philip Reeves
correspond, characterization occurs, and story
arches develop.
Leviathan: Scott Westerfeld
-Good for grades 7-10
-Publisher: Simon Pulse
-Published: 2009
-ISBN: 978-1-4169-7173-3
-Good for grades 6-9
-Themes include human weakness, greed, internal
beauty, betrayal
-Publisher: HarperCollins
-Published: 2001, reprint 2003
-ISBN: 0-06-008207
Summary:
-In the days following the Sixty Minute War,
traction cities have risen from the remaining
shambles. It is a city-eat-city world, and the
traction city of London is on the move. Young
resident Tom is suddenly confronted with betrayal
and must team up with Hester Shaw, a disfigured
assassin, in order to prevent the deaths of
thousands of innocent people. Meanwhile,
Katherine, and upper class Londoner, must face her
fears and risk death to stand up for what she
believes is right.
Activities:
- Trace the individual storylines of characters
(such as Tom, Hester, Katherine, and the Stalker)
through the book to show how individual lives
Summary:
In an alternate Europe, Prince Aleksandar
Ferdinand is awakened by two of his servants in
the middle of the night. He quickly learns that his
people have turned on him and he is now a wanted
war criminal in the oncoming WWI. On the other
side, Deryn Sharp has disguised herself as a boy in
order to gain a place in the British Air Service.
Suddenly, their two paths cross, and the pair must
put aside their differences if they hope to come out
of the war alive.
Activities:
-How else might the story have ended? Write an
alternate end chapter.
-What 5 facts would you pick to explain the
world of Leviathan?
-Leviathan takes place in an alternative reality
during WWI. This is the perfect opportunity for a
history lesson or to tie English class in with other
subjects. Discuss how wars sometimes are started
over small things, WWI in general, or how the
political climate of the time can influence literature
and individual lives.