Okay, so this is my third time writing about this book, but yesterday we finished it, and the ending was CRAZY!!!  Title is “Dragon Skin” and it is by Karen Foxlee. It is a mix of fantasy and realism. You can read the actual book or, be lazy (like we were) and listen to the audio book.

 

It is about a girl called Pip, who is around 11 years old and her mum blames herself for getting into a serious relationship with Matt. He controls everything, drinks heavily, wants Melissa (Pip’s Mum) all to himself, and is starting to get suspicious, as Melissa and Pip plan their escape. It has many flashbacks to one of her old friends Mika, who was in a similar situation. His mum shipped him off to live with his great grandma in Mount Isa, where Pip lived. The rest of the story took place I think after almost a year.

Pip found a baby dragon and felt a connection. She made it her mission to help it grow, but her inner dragon also grew…

I’m not going to tell you the ending, so you can go and listen to, or read it.

Mr Hope chose this book to level up our understanding and make us work harder because he set the standards higher. It was a really deep book, and I know this author will go on to do great things. I really hope that she makes a second book or makes it a series. If she did, I would absolutely buy it and read it over and over. I can’t recommend it enough.

Ok, so I told you we were making dragons but were done now! So, we started with plan, and you can see that in a sec. Then we mapped out what materials we were using. Then we collected them and brought them back to school. I used a six pack egg carton for the base of the head, and a bit of paper towel roll for the snout. I used some milk bottle tops for eyes, and Mackenzie made some paper cones for horns. I also poked holes beneath the snout and inserted screws as fangs. I used more paper towel roll for the neck. I used one of those apple crates, upside down for the body and corks for the legs. More paper towel rolls for the tail and I had a few screws, cogs and necklace chains scattered around. For wings I used paper and some wire. We had an hour or two each day for around two weeks where we could make and add to them. Finally we could paint them and add finishing touches. My original legs were ment to be pegs and springs, but they weren’t sturdy enough.

Here is a comparison between my plan and final result. (Spoiler, they’re VERY similar!)

 

Plan…

Result!

RAWR…

I’m a dragon… and so is pretty much my whole term.

We kick things of with studying a book called, Dragon Skin, by Karen Foxlee. It is a story about a girl named Pip/Pippa who lives with her mum and her abusive boyfriend, Matt. They try to escape his controlling behaviour by running away to Pip’s grandparents’ house, in Townsville. There are many flashbacks to the before times, where Pip had a loyal friend and her mum could have her own identity. Somewhere along the way, Pip finds a baby dragon and makes her mission’s purpose, to protect Lil Fella. (That’s the dragon’s name, by the way)

Keeping the theme of dragons, we are also creating dragons with bits and bobs from at home. What’s cool about it is that you can use your IMAGINATION… They are all different shapes and sizes, Justin’s dragon can fit on Mackenzie’s, Mackenzie’s dragon can fit on top of mine, and mine can fit on Anabiya’s dragon.

And to top it off, our amazing art teacher joined in by thinking up a project where we use a glass eye and clay to make the surrounding area of the eye and scales.

Ok bye!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RAWR!!!