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Dippers
by Barbara Nichol
illustrated by Barry Moser
Themes include: creative writing, math / science, urban
geography
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About this book:
Barbara Nichol has created an urban legend that Barry Moser
brings to life through his amazing watercolor illustrations.
A sketchy letter by seven-year-old Margaret, found in the
City of Toronto archives, chronicles the summer of 1912 - a
time of relentless hardship and blazing heat. But 1912 was
also the summer the dippers came up from the Don River and
soon spread to the poor neighborhoods nearby. As Margaret
tells of these creatures and their habits, we learn that
things often look worse than they are.
This enchanting story is a great inspiration for activities
across the curriculum. Its haunting beauty and simplicity
of style provide a wonderful stimulus for creative writing
and drama exercises. The book richly details daily life of
the early twentieth century's poorer classes, providing a
literary backdrop for urban geography studies. The artwork
itself is evocative of times past and careful examination of
the illustrations reveals numerous historical details. In
addition, both the text and the illustrations stimulate
creative, science-based activities. The variety of themes to
be explored along with an unpretentious tone render this
book accessible to a wide array of ages and ability levels.
Teaching Ideas:
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Literature, Creative Writing
1. This fragmented letter by seven-year-old Margaret has
been read several times on public radio on April Fools' Day.
Discuss the realistic elements of the story. What parts of
the story are most fantastic? How does Nichol plant the
seeds of belief before the story even begins? How does
Barry Moser's first illustration add to the veracity of the
tale? Don't neglect to read the small print on his
bookplate.
2. Working with a partner, compose the beginning and the
ending of a paragraph. Now, independently write the four or
five middle sentences of the paragraph. Compare the two
paragraphs with your partner. How do the differences in
story development reflect differences between you and your
partner?
3. Dippers is told from Margaret's point of view. Choose
one of the scenes where dippers are found and retell it from
someone else's vantage. How does point of view influence
the way in which a story is related? What external and
internal factors affect point of view?
Compare and contrast children's responses to the
dippers to the responses of adults.
Is Margaret a fairly unreliable narrator in recalling events
of her childhood summer? Explain Margaret's reaction to her
sister's dipper experience. Why is she so unwilling to
accept her sister's telling of her own dipper encounter?
4. Dippers is similar to an urban legend. Discuss
characteristics of urban legends. Interview friends and
family about urban legends they have heard. Create your own
urban legend involving a person encountering an unusual
creature.
5. Refer to Nichol's discussion of dipper bells - a type of
wind chime. Select a familiar household item and, in a
paragraph, create a mythology around it.
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Drama Activities
1. Select a section of the story and script it for two or
more actors.
2. Pretend you have just seen a dipper. Try to convince a
partner that what you saw was real.
3. Select a scene from the story that involves a sighting of
dippers. Write and record a news item to report this.
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Math and Science Activities
1. It has been suggested that the study of natural history
is the one science to which amateurs can contribute.
Examine some old natural history books and the picture
plates in them. Margaret has created a natural history of
creatures she calls dippers. Create a chart to summarize
the information provided about dippers. You may include
such headings as Size, Physical Characteristics, Habitat,
Observed Behaviors, or any other heading you feel would
assist someone in identifying a dipper.
Use the same chart format to describe a familiar animal such
as a cat.
Now create your own fantasy creature and describe its
characteristics in chart form. Design a bookplate to
accompany your chart.
2. Create a scale model of a dipper based on the description
dimensions provided in the book. Alternatively, you could
use the information from your own fantasy creature to create
a scale model.
3. Where did the dippers come from? Can you think of any
parallel situations that have really occurred in nature?
Investigate the introduction of zebra mussels to the Great
Lakes. What effects can the introduction of new species
have on ecosystems?
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Art Activities
1. As Margaret tells us more about the dippers, Barry
Moser's illustrations evolve. Describe the changes in the
pictures. How do these changes evoke different emotional
responses from the reader?
Using details of your own fantasy creature, create a sketch
to evoke a feeling of mystery. Create another sketch of the
same creature that would elicit warmth and compassion.
2. Describe the story's setting. What impact has this
setting had on the style of illustration that has been used?
Choose one of the pictures in the book and recreate it in
another era such as the sixties, the nineties, or in 2020.
3. Describe how Moser has represented this period in history
and this social class.
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Social History / Urban Geography Activities
1. Using only the pictures in the story, search for details
of urban life in the early twentieth century. Focus on
clothing, housing, and technology. Read through the text
and add more details.
2. What were some of the difficulties Margaret faced in the
summer of 1912? Often stories of olden times are nostalgic
and glorify "family values." In what ways are Margaret's
experiences similar to those of urban children today?
3. As Margaret notes, the dippers came around the
neighborhoods where the poor lived. Describe areas in
cities where poorer classes live. Where are they located?
What non-residential establishments are often found in core
areas of cities? Describe the population density of urban
cores. Why might urban legends spread rapidly through these
areas?
4. If you live in a city, visit the core area with your
class. Take note of the housing density, cleanliness, and
evidence of urban decay. Are efforts being made to restore
old sites? Is there still a significant downtown
population, or have people moved out to the suburbs? How
has city life changed since the early 1900s?
5. We don't often read stories about single-parent families
that take place in the old days. How does Margaret's family
compare to single-parent families today? What resources
were available to Margaret's mother that might not be
available today? What resources are available today, but were
not then?
6. We are told that Margaret's sister, Louise, becomes sick
with a fever that is followed by a paralysis in her leg. It
is likely that Louise had polio. What is polio and why is
it no longer a problem? What was the typical treatment for
polio? What is "post polio syndrome" and how does it affect
people? What are some diseases associated with urban living
today? How are they spread? What efforts are being made to
control or eradicate these diseases?
7. At the beginning of the story Margaret mentions that her
mother was always afraid something bad was going to happen
down at the river. Compare and contrast safety and health
concerns, then and now, with respect to children. How was
the life of a child more free back then? What social
factors enabled children to live their lives with little or
no supervision or adult scrutiny?
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Personal Issues
1. How do you feel about Margaret's brief glimpse of her
father? Do you agree with the way her mother handled the
encounter? Why do adults hide things from children? What
effects can lack of communication between a parent and child
have on children? What advice would you give to adults
about sharing information with their children? What advice
would you give to children about sharing information with
their parents?
2. Margaret tells us at the end that things are often not as
bad as they look. What were some of those things in the
book that proved to be better than they looked? What things
in your own life are better than they appear?
If You Live in Toronto:
Locate Margaret's neighborhood in a city map. Visit the
area with your class and locate the streets named in the
book. Look at the houses in the neighborhood. Is it still
a working-class neighborhood, or has it been "gentrified"?
What happens to affordable housing when core areas become
trendy? How do you think Margaret's neighborhood has
changed or stayed the same?
Visit the Don River valley. Examine old photos to note
activities that took place in the valley in the past. What
projects are underway to restore the valley? How will these
projects help to protect the environment and restore
ecosystems that have been threatened by industrialization
and urbanization?
As a class project, get involved in some of the restoration
efforts.
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Tundra Teacher Guides:
Amazing Grace,
Charlotte,
The Legend of the Panda,
The Long Road,
Lucy Maud and the Cavendish Cat,
A Mountain Alphabet,
Silent Night
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