Lesson video

In today's lesson, we're going to read "The Suitcase Kid" by Jacqueline Wilson.

Now this story focuses on family relationships.

It also focuses on divorce.

So if this is something that might make you feel uncomfortable, I suggest you pause the video now, and go and ask an adult to watch the video with you.

If not, then let's get started.

We're going to start today's lesson by introducing the author of our book.

And then we're going to look and discuss the front cover because front covers often give us a clue as to what a story might be about.

Then we're going to just do some reading of the text.

I'll model some strategies as we do this.

Then we're going to look at some language, and then we're going to summarise what we know already about the plot.

In today's lesson, you will need an exercise book or paper, a pencil or a pen, and your brain.

I want you to be thinking carefully as I read the story to you today and making links between the different parts of the story as well.

If you have any distractions near you that you can turn off or move away from you, then I suggest you do that now.

I find it really difficult to focus on any lesson if I've got my phone near me or if I can hear music playing.

So I suggest you pause the video here and you make sure you're ready for the lesson.

And then when you're ready, just press play.

Fantastic.

So, we're going to start today by introducing the author.

I am sure lots of you know already who this author is.

So the author of "The Suitcase Kid", which is the book we're going to be looking at today, is Jacqueline Wilson.

She has written so many different children's books, and I even read her books when I was nine years old.

I remember trying to get all of her books and reading through them.

I absolutely loved her books.

Her books often focus on relationships, so friendships, family relationships.

And they're almost based on real life.

So they really discuss big issues.

And that's why I've always really liked her books.

So I suggest, I wonder, if you've actually read any of her books already.

Shout out if you have and which books they are.

Brilliant.

If you haven't read any, then this is your first introduction to Jacqueline Wilson, which is even more exciting.

The book that we're going to be looking at is "The Suitcase Kid".

Now, it's really important, whenever we start looking at a book, or even reading a book, that we look at the front cover.

I always like to spend a few minutes, especially if I'm trying to buy a book, I always like to spend a few minutes looking at the front cover for clues about what the story might be about, and the title as well.

So what I'd like you to do now is just pause the video and just look at that front cover and try and have a guess what you think the story might be about.

And then when you're ready, press play.

Well done.

So, looking at this front cover, I can see that the main character here is a girl, but she doesn't look very happy.

If I look at her body language and her facial expressions, to me, she's looking a bit sad.

Now in the distance, there's a family.

And in that family there the people in it are looking really happy.

But she's not with them, which is quite interesting.

And then the rest of the front cover is like a map.

So, along this map, we've got lots of different words, which are quite hard to read.

Now, I wonder why that is.

I wonder why this story is set in front of a map.

And interestingly, the title suggests that this is someone who travels, "The Suitcase Kid".

If you have a suitcase, you're someone who travels a lot, but I wonder why this child is being called The Suitcase Kid.

Any ideas? Shout them out.

Fantastic.

Okay.

So why don't we find out then by reading the opening chapter what the story is about? I can't wait to get started.

But before we can, I'm going to help you with some words.

So as I read, there might be some tricky words that we come across.

Sometimes I'll stop the video and I'll explain those words to you, or stop my reading and I'll explain those words to you.

Other times, I'm going to tell you what those words are, and just simply tell you, because some of these words are just words that are very specific to the text that we're reading.

So they're just words I need to just tell you, and you just need to know.

And there's three of them that we're going to start with.

You're going to say them after me so that you understand them.

Sylvanian.

Say it, Sylvanian.

And that is an animal figurine.

It's like a little toy.

And as you can see here, I've got a Sylvanian family here.

And you might have seen these before.

The next word is custody.

Say it, custody.

And this is the protective care of someone, so it's the legal care of someone.

So a parent might have custody over their child.

This often happens when two parents have divorced, then one will gain custody.

Not always, but one will have the legal custody of the child, or they both will.

So it kind of changes depending on the situation.

The next word is counselling.

Say it, counselling.

Counselling is advice given formally.

You might have heard of the school counsellor.

And that's someone you might go to in your school for advice.

And so if you visit a counsellor outside of school, or you go to counselling, it's someone who might help you.

So a family might visit counselling in order to help them resolve problems. So we've got Sylvanian, custody, and counselling.

Now these words come up all the time in the text that we're about to read.

So when you see them, I hope you spot them, and then you remember what they mean.

So now I'm going to read the text.

So what you can do is, once I've read through the text to you, so I'm going to start by reading it to you.

Once you've read it, once I've read it, you can then pause the video, and if you want, you can go backwards and reread it yourself.

Or you can pause at each page once I've finished reading it and you can have a go at reading it yourself.

Before I get started, what I'd like to remind you, is if the word has a capital letter and it is in the middle of a sentence, it is a name of a place or person.

So we don't actually need to know what it means.

So those words can sometimes trick us, can't they? They're often unfamiliar words to us.

And so sometimes we don't know what they might mean in our reading.

But that's okay, as long as we remember it's just the name and it doesn't matter.

So you look out for those ones as they come up.

Before I start the actual reading, I always like to look at the pictures first of all.

The pictures will always give us clues about what the text is going to be about.

Whenever I get stuck and I'm reading a book, I love it if there are illustrations and pictures, and they always help me to understand what's going on.

Now Jacqueline Wilson's books have fantastic illustrations throughout them.

And so it's always worth having a look at these.

So in this, looking here, I've got the main character.

I don't know the name of the main character, but I'm going to tell you now.

The main character is called Andy.

Say it, Andy.

And she is a ten-year-old girl.

Okay? So she's a female.

And I can see that there are two people and these are like her parents.

To me they look like her parents.

They look like they know her, but they don't.

Nobody in this picture looks very happy.

The mother's got her arms crossed.

The dad's got his hand in his trousers, and Andy is leaning on her face, looking sad.

She's also sat on a suitcase.

So I wonder why she is the only one sat on a suitcase.

To me, she's also positioned right in the middle of these two characters, the other two characters.

Okay, so I'm going to start my reading now.

If you want, like I said, you can pause the video after I've read this first page and you can read it yourself.

Or, if you'd like, you can pause it now and you can read ahead.

When my parents split up, split up means they're no longer together.

They no longer want to be in a relationship.

So split up might also mean divorce.

When my parents split up they didn't know what to do with me.

My mum wanted me to go and live with her.

My dad wanted me to go and live with him.

I'm going to pause here.

And I'm going to assume that we are listening to the main character speaking.

So I'm going to assume this is Andy speaking, who is the girl in the middle.

Because by looking at the picture, I know that one is the mother and the other one is her father.

So it must be Andy in the middle speaking.

It's always important to check you know who the narrator is.

So let's just start again.

When my parents split up, they didn't know what to do with me.

My mum wanted me to go and live with her.

My dad wanted me to go and live with him.

I didn't want to go and live at my mum's new place or my dad's new place.

I wanted to stay living in our old place, Mulberry Cottage, the three of us together.

So what I've learned so far is they used to live in Mulberry Cottage, but now, Andy is having to decide where she's going to live.

And her dad wants her to live with him and her mum wants her to live with her.

And Andy looks as if she's stuck in the middle.

Now the old place is Mulberry Cottage.

I know that's a name because it's got a capital letter.

I'm going to continue my reading now.

Four, counting my pet Sylvanian family spotted rabbit Radish.

So I wanted to stay living in our old place, Mulberry Cottage, the three of us together.

Four, counting my pet Sylvanian family spotted rabbit Radish.

Now we know Sylvanian family is a little figurine, an animal figurine.

And so Andy's pet is an animal figurine.

So it's not a real pet.

It's a toy.

And its name is Radish.

What's its name? Fantastic, Radish.

Which is quite a funny name for a rabbit, because they tend to eat things like radishes.

Fantastic, so we've learnt lots already, even on page seven.

So if you want, you can now pause the video here and you can read this section again.

If not, let's continue.

There were all these arguments about who would get custody of me.

Ah, custody is a word I've already learned today and it means protective care, the legal care of someone.

I thought they were talking about custard at first.

I hate custard because you can never tell when there's going to be a lump and it sticks in your throat and makes you shudder.

Shudder is like a shake.

My mum got mad and my dad got mad and I got mad too.

I felt I was being split up.

Half of me wanted to side with Mum.

Half of me wanted to side with Dad.

It was much easier for Radish.

Who is Radish? Well done.

She just sided with me.

She lives in my pocket, so there's never been any hassle over who gets custody of her.

Why would Radish live in her pocket? Why do you think Radish would live in her pocket? Let me think.

Oh, it's because Radish is her Sylvanian toy.

So it's small enough to stay in her pocket.

We had to go for family counselling.

Now we remembered what counselling is, it's when you go and seek advice.

So family counselling, they're trying to get advice on how to be a family.

It seemed a bit daft because my mum and dad didn't want to be a family any more.

So daft means a bit silly.

So this is Andy speaking.

We know she's 10.

So there's going to be some words that are a bit chatty in here.

And words that perhaps you would say in conversation.

So don't worry if you don't know what those words mean.

Sometimes they're just phrases that we might use in conversation.

This lady chatted to me.

She was trying to be ever so casual but I knew she was trying to suss things out.

So casual, again, we might wear our casual clothes.

It means relaxed and chatty.

And suss things out means trying to work things out.

She had some little dolls in her office, a mummy doll and a daddy doll and a whole set of children dolls in different sizes.

She wanted me to play with them.

I poked the mommy doll and the daddy doll in the stomachs and said I didn't like playing with silly old dolls.

But this lady saw me fiddling about in my pocket and she got a glimpse of Radish.

That means she caught sight.

I like to hold her tight when I'm feeling funny.

So she likes to hold Radish tight when she's feeling funny.

And mascot is like your little toy, something that you might look after, so it's like this is her little mascot.

So if you'd like, you can pause the video here now, and you can read this part of the section on your own.

If not, then we are going to continue.

"Oh, what a dear little toy.

Do let me have a look," she said in that silly voice grown-ups always use when they're trying to get you to like them.

"She's not a toy, she's a mascot," I said.

I didn't want to show her Radish at all.

She's mine and she's private.

I had to let this lady paw her about and undo her frock, which is a dress, and turn her upside down in a very rude sort of way.

We can tell from this that Andy is very protective of Radish.

I wonder why she might be.

I'm thinking it's because Radish is really important to her.

Lots of things are changing in Andy's life.

And so her pet mascot is really important.

It's something she can hold on to.

"What's Bunny's name?" she asked.

This is the counsellor asking.

You'd have thought I was two years old, not 10.

I just shrugged and shook my head.

"That's Radish," said Mum.

"Andrea's had her for years and years.

She's a very important member of our family." Andrea is a longer version of Andy, so that's our main character, the one who is speaking mostly in this.

"Actually, I bought Radish for Andrea.

As a silly Saturday present.

I like to give her a little treat every now and then," said Dad.

"You did not give Andrea Radish! I bought her one Christmas to go in Andrea's stocking," said Mum.

"Look, I can vividly remember buying that rabbit in the corner shop." "They don't even sell Sylvanian families at the corner shop.

I bought it from the toy shop in town, and.

." If you'd like to, you can pause the video here and read this text.

If not, just carry on.

I snatched Radish back and put my hand gently over her ears.

She can't stand to hear them arguing.

Do you think Radish actually hears them arguing or is that just Andy thinking? Perhaps Radish is actually how Andy is feeling because Radish is just a toy.

So she can't actually hear them arguing, but we know that Radish is very important to Andy.

So perhaps it's Andy's way of saying she can't stand to hear them arguing.

"Never mind," said the lady, trying to shut them up.

She was still smiling at Radish.

"Hello, Radish," she said, peering right into her little furry face.

I scowled at her.

A scowl is like a frown like this.

Okay, Radish is real for me, but I can't stick it when grown-ups act like she's real too.

"I expect you're feeling a bit sad and worried about where you're going to live, little Radish," said the lady.

Radish kept her lips buttoned.

"We know what Mummy wants and we know what Daddy wants, but what do you want, Radish?" said the lady.

Radish wouldn't say a word.

"I think she's a bit shy," said the lady.

"Maybe it's hard to say anything in front of Mummy and Daddy." So here, as I said before, the counsellor is talking to Radish, but she's really talking to Andy because Radish is just a toy.

But she thinks if she talks to Radish it's a way of talking to Andy and it might make Andy feel more comfortable, and might encourage her to talk.

So she asked Mum and Dad to step outside the room for a few minutes.

They didn't really want to.

They both kept looking at me.

You know what it's like at school when you're the team leader and everyone wants to be picked first to go in your team.

Pick me, said Mum.

Pick me, said Dad.

I stared down at Radish until they'd gone outside.

"Poor Radish.

This is a bit tough on her, isn't it?" said the lady.

Radish and I stayed silent.

The lady was quiet for a bit too.

And Mum and Dad outside.

I wondered if they were listening.

But then they started up another argument.

They whispered at first, but then got really cross and let rip.

Let rip means they had a really big argument.

If you let rip, you really have, you really shout.

"Oh dear," said the lady.

"Well, Radish.

Here's Mummy.

And here's Daddy." She propped these horrible dolls up at either end of her desk.

Then she got some toy bricks and built a little house for the mummy doll and a little house for the daddy doll.

She reached out and took Radish, putting her in the middle.

Then she looked at me.

"Where does Radish want to live, Andrea? Does she wants to live in House A?" She pointed to the mummy doll's house.

"Or does she wants to live in House B?" She pointed to the daddy doll's house.

"She wants to live in House C.

Mulberry Cottage, where we've always lived." Remember, Mulberry Cottage is where Andy said at first, is where she'd like to live.

"With Mum and Dad and me," I said.

"I know she does.

But she can't.

Not any more.

It wouldn't work out.

Just listen to Mum and Dad," she said.

They were shouting now.

"They can't be happy living together.

You can see that for yourself, can't you, Andrea? But they both love you very much and they want you to be happy.

So which house do you think you and Radish would be happiest in? House A?" she pointed to the mummy doll's house again.

"Or House B?" Daddy doll's turn.

I looked at House A.

I looked at House B.

I looked at Radish.

I made her walk one way.

I made her walk the other.

I made a trek backwards and forwards across the desk.

It shows she's a bit stuck on what to do.

"She still wants to live in House C.

But if she can't do that, and I still think she could, then she wants to live in House A and House B." "Ah," said the lady.

"You mean she wants to live in House A one week and House B the next week." So that's how it was decided.

Radish lives with me in my pocket, as she's always done.

She's the luckiest one.

Why do you think Andy thinks she's the luckiest one? Because Andy has to live with both and she really wants to just live in the same place.

Back to my reading.

And I get to live in my mum's house one week and my dad's house the next.

It's as easy as A, B, C.

I don't think.

Okay, that brings us to the end of our reading here.

So I wonder now if you can tell me why you think Andy's a suitcase kid.

What do you think the reason is that she's called The Suitcase Kid? Can you have a think, maybe shout it out to me now? What do you think the reason is? Yes, it's because she's now going to have to travel between her father's house and her mother's house, which means she's always going to have to live out of a suitcase.

What I'd like you to do now is just to reflect on the opening pages.

Did you like the start of this story? Are you enjoying it? What else would you like to know? Is there anything you want to find out about this story? And I would like you to write or say a sentence to explain whether you enjoyed these opening pages.

So, I enjoyed it because.

I did not enjoy it because.

And I would like to know.

So pause the video, and then resume when you're ready to start.

Well done.

I'm going to look at some key vocabulary.

So when I was reading, there was a word that I came across and I wasn't sure what to do.

So I'm going to show you now what I did to work it out.

And the word was hassle.

Say it after me, hassle.

And here it is in the text.

It was much easier for Radish.

She just sided with me.

She lives in my pocket, so there's never been any hassle over who gets custody of her.

Now I tried to skip the word out to find out what word could go in there.

So, she lives in my pocket so there's never been any mm over who gets custody of her.

Then I'm going to have a go at replacing the word.

And I'm also going to read around the word to help me.

By reading around the word I can see that we're talking about custody.

Now custody was protective care.

And I know Andy's parents were arguing over her.

So I'm going to try and put arguing in there.

She lives in my pocket so there's never been any arguments over who gets custody of her.

That seems to work.

So I think hassle might be similar to arguing.

So that's how I tried to understand it, and then looked up the word in a dictionary.

And I found out that it meant an irritating inconvenience.

So it's something that annoys you, and you have to maybe change or adapt.

We're going to finish today's lesson by summarising.

So I'd like you to quickly answer these true and false statements below.

You can give me a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

Andy's parents can't decide who should have custody of her.

Thumbs up or thumbs down? True or false? Which do you think.

Radish is a person.

True or false? Andy wants to live in Mulberry Cottage.

True or false? You can pause the video and have a think.

If not, you can just carry on and we will reveal the answers.

So Andy's parents can't decide who should have custody of her.

That is true.

Radish is a person.

False.

Radish is a Sylvanian figurine, a toy.

Andy wants to live in Mulberry Cottage.

That is true.

Congratulations.

You have completed this lesson.

I hope you enjoyed reading the opening chapter, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your lessons today.

And I look forward to seeing you soon.