The Highwayman

Date: 28th Feb 2020 @ 9:30am

The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes

Wow! The book displays along the school corridor have changed and they look ‘pawesome’. They all captured my attention and made me want to read every book that each class has focused on. This time my nose for a good story would ‘lead’ me to the book that Year 6 has been reading – The Highwayman.

There were so many objects on the display; a horse, a sword, a cape, a rose and some coins. This intrigued me as to what the story was about.

The story is about a Highwayman who is in love with a Landlord’s daughter (Bess) but the King’s men are after The Highwayman. The Highwayman wants to be with Bess but he knows he will put her in danger if he is with her. Does the Highwayman get to be with Bess? Do the King’s men capture the Highwayman or worse? I won’t spoil the ending, you will have to read it yourself to find out what happens.

To my surprise, when I started reading the book, it was a poem. In the poem were couplets (two consecutive lines that rhyme) metaphors (when an object is described as something else) and similes (when an object is compared to something else using like or as). These really brought the story to life and helped my little imagination create wonderful images of the story. My favourite part of the book was Alfred Noyes’ choice of powerful vocabulary and the way that these made the characters and the action even more dramatic. My least favourite part was when the author described one character as ‘dumb as a dog.’ I was quite offended by this as I’m quite intelligent, I can read books!

My favourite part of the display is the children's writing. They have written their own version of The Highwayman poem using the same structure and style as the author. The pride and care they have taken in their learning stand out and their poems are really enjoyable to read. Taking care and pride in yourself is very important, just look at my new haircut.

I really enjoyed this book and lookout for the next time I blog about one of the books on display.