Where The World Ends
Presentation By Aidan O’Connor,
Cam Dillis, and Ashley Stracco
Aidan
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Story about a group of boys who every year go out to an island off the coast of
scotland to hunt birds
When they go one time they get stranded on the island where they have to
survive out there
About the Author
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Born in 1951, North London
Youngest of three children
Studied Teaching in Christ
Church College of Education
Currently lives in Berkshire
Aidan
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Geraldine McCaughrean was born on June 6 1951 in North London
She is the youngest of three children
When she was growing up, wanted to be just like her older brother and do
everything he did, so when he published a book at the young age of 14, publishing
her own book became an ambition of hers
She didn’t have television at home until 9, so she had to use books and writing to
imagine other places
When she went off to college at Christ Church College of Education, Canterbury,
she studied teaching at Became a teacher, but after that she started working in a
London publishing house for 10 years before becoming a full-time writer in 1988
She still goes and talks in classrooms about reading and writing, as well as the
importance of it
Her motivation for writing is the same as when she was eight: she likes to go
somewhere else and become somewhere else
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Says the only reason writing is better than reading is that she gets to
decide the endings
She currently lives in Berkshire, which is about an hour west of London
She has a daughter that’s an actor named Alisa, which is why she’s written many
plays (which you will see on the next slide)
Her family is like her editors, with all family members doing different parts. Her
daughter reads them, her husband checks over them, and her dog sometimes
eats them!
1988
2005
2006
2017
Author’s Canon
Aidan
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Geraldine McCaughrean has written over 170 books, 50 short plays for schools,
and a radio play
Very diverse writer
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She has written adult books and books for children of all ages
She also writes several books a year on average
Her list of awards is astonishing
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Some of them include: Whitbread Children's Book Award, the Guardian
Children's Fiction Prize, Carnegie award, the Smarties Bronze Award, and
the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award.
A Pack of Lies:
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Published in 1988
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Has many separate stories embedded within one single story
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Quite strange book
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Each one of the stories is from a different piece of furniture in an antique shop
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Book raises the question of if the stories are pure invention (“a pack of lies”) or
true, and what them being true would mean about the narrator
The White Darkness:
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Published in 2005
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Centered around a character named Sym
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You go through the story as sim fights for her life to survive in Antarctica
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It’s a story about finding your inner strength
Peter Pan in Scarlet:
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Published in 2006
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Official sequel to the original Peter Pan written by J. M. Barrie
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McCaughrean was chosen out of one hundred possible authors to write the story
Where the World Ends:
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Published in 2017
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That’s our book
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About a group of boys who got stranded on an island off the coast of Scotland
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Follows the main character named Quill
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Peter Pan in Scarlet:
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Published in 2006
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Official sequel to the original Peter Pan written by J. M. Barrie
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McCaughrean was chosen out of one hundred possible authors to write the story
Historical Context
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Takes place in 1727
In St. Kilda, Scotland
St. Kilda is home to over 1,000,000
seabirds
Earliest records from the Late Middle
Ages
Video
Cam
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The historical context part of the book is based off of two sentences about
boys who got stuck on an island in the 1720’s
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This was just enough for the author, because she likes to imagine as
much as she can with the stories she writes
Story takes place in 1727 40 miles off the coast of scotland
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St kilda is the cluster of small islands, but the story is based off of the
biggest called Hirta
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These islands are also called stacs
Hirta has the highest sea cliffs in the UK
Earliest records from the islands were from the Late Middle Ages
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Due to illnesses on the island from tourism and the first world war, the
island was evacuated in 1930
Human presence existed for over 2000 years back on the island
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Peak of human presence in the 17th century, probably not exceeding
over 180
The book is fiction, but based off of real events
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In the 1700’s, Hebrideans (Which were native people off the northwest
coast of scotland) visited the island every year to catch sea birds
The people that visited the islands were children and only a few adults, which
must have been scary for the parents
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Apparently the children were ready to go once the were brave enough
to stand at the edge of a cliff, lean down, and touch their feet, so
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around out age (maybe a little younger) for them to go over
The sea journey was very dangerous to get to the stac
On these islands were literally millions of birds, so every part of the island had
birds, which is why they went to them to hunt
The native people only fed on birds for the entire year, so this was the way
they would be fed for a very long time
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Very important to do this because of that
The kids on the island would go out to the cliffs and just catch birds with their
hands
They would keep catching the birds until they were covered in them
Once they couldn’t physically carry any more, they would go back to the camp
(which was also on the side of a cliff in real life), take the oils out and feathers
off
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These parts of the animal were like money to them since they could
send it back to the mainland (which isn’t their home island but
mainland scotland) and exchange it for currency
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They could also use it for themselves to make jackets or blankets to
keep warm during the winter
During one particular trip to the island (the one the book is based off of), the
ship bringing the boys back to the home island didn’t arrive
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It’s possible that in the real event a pirate may have attacked the ship
or island, or that the person who would bring the boat to the stac
wasn’t able to do so
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What the kids in the book (and possibly real life) think happened is that
the world came to an end, and you haven’t been collected by the
angels because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time
Today, the island still has lots of scottish pride even though it’s uninhabited
The author’s inspiration for writing this specific book started when her
daughter visited the island and told her about boys who went to hunt sea birds
that got stuck on the island
Video:
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Video talks about the author's purpose for writing, as well as the historical context
for the book, and how it’s like current issues today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HECB03q3RcQ
START - 0:51, 3:44 - END
Photos:
First photo is a map of the island the story takes place on, called Hirta
Big island is hirta
Part of a group of islands called St. Kilda
Second photo is a photo of the ruined stone structures like houses and animal pens
that once had people on the island
Maybe point out the animal pens and houses along the island
Theme: Persevere
through tough times
Characterization
● Specific qualities
lead to perseverance
Plot
● The boys all
remained hopeful
Conflict
● A group of men and
boys were stranded
on an island
Ashley
Characterization:
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The main character; Quill, shows a great deal of perseverance during the
story. He overcomes being banished, breaking his collarbone, missing his old
life and Murdina, and lung fever. With all of these struggles, he still is a great
leader for the rest of the boys. When Niall got lost, Quill overcame his sickness
and found him and saved him from the eel.
In the beginning of the story, John realizes that he is a girl. This took a toll on
John because he realizes that he has been lied to for his entire life. Soon
enough, the boys are fighting over her and want her to be their “sweetheart”.
John is very uncomfortable, however, she perseveres through everything and
ultimately takes down Cane.
Plot:
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The boys remained hopeful for their old lives to be returned to them. They did
not want to forget anything, so they made each boy the “keeper” of something.
Everyone felt as though they had a job to do and persevere because of this.
Davie died and the boys overcame the grief and kept going
When they got home and realized that there were not many survivors, they
stayed strong and did not give up.
Conflict:
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There was a group of men and boys who got stranded on an island for nine
months and had to persevere in order for survival. They also thought the world
had ended. They overcame fear on the island.
Photo:
This is a photo of the island in the book. This view looks over one of the flatter parts of
the island
Reviews
“A strangely
compelling tale…
harshly beautiful and
stark with
near-despair.”
– The Guardian, 2017
Cam
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“A strangely compelling tale… harshly beautiful and stark with near-despair.”
- The Guardian, 2017
This quote represents the danger of the situation the boys were in and the suspense it
created.
Photo:
This picture shows the birds on the island, as well as how the harsh the topology of
the island is
There are cliffs like this everywhere on the island, and in real life the boys slept right
at the top of them
Reviews
“A masterpiece…
McCaughren turns
a small piece of
history into an epic,
nearly mythic, tale.”
– Kirkus Reviews,
2019
Ashley
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/geraldine-mccaughrean/where-the-world
-ends/
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From Kirkus reviews in 2019:
“A masterpiece… McCaughren turns a small piece of history into an epic,
nearly mythic, tale.”
Chose this quote because I felt like the last phrase really encapsulates the difficulty
McCaughrean faced when writing due to the slim Historical information on these
events.
Photo:
This is a photo from the water of the island the book is based off of, and with this
photo you can get an idea of just how many birds actually live there
Imagine it being like this all the time, and all around you
Our Recommendation
● Would not recommend
for Sophomore
Curriculum
● Pacing of story led to
confusion at times
● Could be a good book
for older students
Cam
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We would not recommend for the sophomore curriculum
Possibly a higher level junior or maybe even senior class
The pacing for the story can be confusing at times, which can throw you off of
the flow of the book
Once you get used to the bumps of reading it, it becomes a good read, but it’s
just a lot more to ask for a sophomore
There are a lot of characters as well, and unlike other books that split the
characters into different chapters, this book combines them all in a way that
can sometimes make characters get jumbled up in your head
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During the real trips, there would be a lot of boys that go out on the
island, so it makes sense historically, but it doesn’t work best for this
type of book
There is also a lot of religion in the book, which makes sense with the time
period and location of where the book takes place, but one of the characters in
the book keeps making up a lot of religious stuff, which confused us even
more (give examples like the world is ending and angels who forgot to take
them off the island)
Ashley Give Review
Rate 1-10 & WHY
Cam Give Review
Rate 1-10 & WHY
Aidan Give Review
Rate 1-10 & WHY
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You find yourself having to reread parts of the story a lot, even more than
henrietta lacks if you read that