The Time Devil is a fantastic time-travelling story which teenagers will love. Six students from Deptford Green school are kidnapped by a Time Devil, an evil, gigantic time-travelling black bird having been lured by the TimeBook app he set up in cyber-space. They are flung into the National Maritime Museum where they enter the exhibits, finding themselves in the actual time and place of the exhibits. Charlie lands in Prince Frederick's golden barge; Tai encounters the horrors of the Battle of Trafalgar; Padraig sees the Great Comet of 1843; Nicola sees a friend die in the 2nd Opium War; Favor is stuck in the great city of Benin as the British Navy storm an African leader's palace in 1897; Miski nearly dies in the Battle of Jutland. The Time Devil gives each teenager the chance to change history forever; each student is given enough power to defeat the forces of terror and destruction which have marred so much of our history and create a more peaceful world. Or so they think? What will they do? Read this fabulous script by yourself or in a group and find out! The script is framed by a "teaching script" which gives the readers a chance to develop their reading skills; to improve their ability to skim and scan, to summarise, to ask questions, to learn more about their learning. It's not only a great story but also a great way to improve your reading.
About the Author: Francis Gilbert is a Lecturer in Education at Goldsmiths, University of London, teaching on the PGCE Secondary English programme and the MA in Children's Literature with Professor Michael Rosen. Previously, he worked for a quarter of a century in various English state schools teaching English and Media Studies to 11-18 year olds. He has also moonlighted as a journalist, novelist and social commentator both in the UK and international media. He is the author of Teacher On The Run, Yob Nation, Parent Power, Working The System -- How To Get The Very Best State Education for Your Child, and a novel about school, The Last Day Of Term. His first book, I'm A Teacher, Get Me Out Of Here was a big hit, becoming a bestseller and being serialised on Radio 4. In his role as an English teacher, he has taught many classic texts over the years and has developed a great many resources to assist readers with understanding, appreciating and responding to them both analytically and creatively. This led him to set up his own small publishing company FGI Publishing (fgipublishing.com) which has published his study guides as well as a number of books by other authors, including Roger Titcombe's Learning Matters and Tim Cadman's The Changes. He is the co-founder, with Melissa Benn and Fiona Millar, of The Local Schools Network, www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk, a blog that celebrates non-selective state schools, and also has his own website, www.francisgilbert.co.uk and a Mumsnet blog, www.talesbehindtheclassroomdoor.co.uk. He has appeared numerous times on radio and TV, including Newsnight, the Today Programme, Woman's Hour and the Russell Brand Show. In June 2015, he was awarded a PhD in Creative Writing and Education by the University of London.