Fowl!

Context questions: chapters 1 & 2
Answer the following questions in full sentences:

1. What was Nguyen disguised as when Artemis met him in the café? (p4)

2. What did Butler do to the pickpocket? (p8)

3. How much was Nguyen paid for the information? (p10)

4. What did Artemis want from the ‘healer’ in the alleyway? (p11)

5. Why was she no longer able to use her magic? (p11)

6. How did Artemis trick her into doing what he wanted? (pp12-13)

7. Where is Fowl Manor? (p14)

8. How long had Butler been guarding Artemis? (p16)

9. Artemis is described as ‘a chip off the old block.’(p17) What does this expression mean?

10. What was Artemis’s goal? (p18)

11. What is Gnommish? (p19)

12. Why is Artemis worried about his mother? (p20)

13. What happened to Artemis Senior? (p29)

14. Why had Artemis been running the CNN’s web site (news and current affairs) for over a year? (p30)

15. What did Artemis do best? (p30)

Irish pathway, Year 7 English

For the past four years novels by Irish authors have formed the basis of a most successful and engaging unit of work on Ireland in Year 7 English at Ryecroft CE (C) Middle School, Staffordshire.

Sandy Pierzchalla, Head of English & Drama, introduces the unit with a potted history of Ireland before embarking on a six-week exploration of the Artemis Fowl, the keystone of the unit and a popular choice with boys and girls.

Exploration of the novel culminates in a
research project, and presentation, on Ireland as a tourist destination.

Then, depending upon ability, pupils enjoy other Irish authors, including

Marita Conlon-McKenna (Under the Hawthorn Tree - a historical novel about the Irish Famine),

Sam McBratney (Jimmy Zest) and Darren Shan (Cirque du Freak).

The last, a ‘living nightmare’ of vampires and tarantulas, has proved a ‘cult thing’ in the school and parents have thanked Sandy ‘profusely for introducing this book to their reluctant-reader boys’.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, Viking, 0-67089-962-3
For some, Artemis Fowl is Ireland’s equivalent of Harry Potter. For others, it is more like a

video game than a book, with its preference for snappy dialogue rather than characterisation

and peppered as it is with up-to-date references to the Internet, digital technology, gratuitous

violence and martial arts.

Nevertheless, the target audience seems to like the fact that Artemis Fowl, one of the

Mud People (Colfer’s answer to Muggles), is a 12-year-old criminal mastermind. Fowl pits his

wits against the Leprecon (Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance) to steal fairy gold and

restore the family fortune. Enter Captain Holly Short, a tough female elf who packs fairy

hardware and is taken hostage in the Fowls’ Manor, set in North County Dublin ...

Other books by Eoin Colfer

Ireland in Schools

Making learning fun & challenging