"A Candle for the Birthday Boy" - Christopher Hawkins

OK, so this week we spent some time on this text. It's not to everyone's taste but it does the important job of being a short prose piece, and it plugs an important gap in preparation for the exam: readiness to be able to write on the structure of a text.

The question you were asked was about the ending of the book, and why it was good. As previously, below are my thoughts about how I would answer it. The important thing to note is that, for a question about endings, you need to show how the action creates this ending, and how it is a suitable way to finish the text.

You are all experts on writing introductions now, so I'm just going into the main points. This is what I would do for this question:

• "The kid was turning six, and he was missing the whole thing" - I'd establish that this is the opening line to the story, and it sets up the plot. The story becomes about a missing boy - where is he?
• Next, I'd go on to establish the threatening presence (or actually absence) of Tabby: "One who scared him sometimes with the feral look that seemed to come over her like a storm" with analysis of key words - "feral" meaning wild, and the simile "like a storm" which effectively create an impression that she is dangerous and unpredictable
• Next, I'd use the line "And, of course, there was the pinata" which stands out as a paragraph on its own. It focuses the reader on the pinata. It catches our interest. It is "big and garish, an eyesore in the shape of a bloated sheep" which starts to suggest a menacing mood, with connotations of sickness, disease and even death. However, I'd also explain that the pinata is used as a red herring, to deliberately mislead the reader.
• Next I'd show how the suspense is built by the continued mystery of the pinata. It is held in place by a rope tied "like a noose" (which has futher connotations of death, and possibly even execution, because Tabby is getting her vengeance on Nate) and I'd use a quote to show how Nate is worrying about the contents as the plot builds towards it's climax: "But if it was just paper, why didn't it move with the wind? If there was only candy inside, why did it need such a thick piece of rope to hold it in the air?"
• I'd go on to show the dramatic climax of the story - when the pinata is broken to reveal "its contents in a slush upon the ground" but that it is just pig entrails and a pig's head, and Danny is revealed to be safe.
• Finally, I'd show the resolution of the story - the surprise twist in the tail. The punch is poisoned: "But it was too late. The cup was almost empty, and all around him, children were starting to fall." I can now refer back to the pinata as a red herring, when in fact all the clues, about "dead flies" and Tabby, who had "filled the punch bowl and covered it with plastic wrap to keep out the bugs"

So that is how I would have answered this question. The key fact is that the tension mounts all the way through the story, the mystery of what is hidden inside the "grinning" pinata is revealed in the climax to be a red herring, and the the ending is appropriate / effective / good / surprising because in the final resolution, Tabby manages to get her revenge in the most surprising way.

Ten days people. Tick tock. Tick tock. Close reading this week. See you Tuesday,