Something Wicked This Way Comes

“He knew what the wind was doing to them, where it was taking them, to all the secret places that were never so secret again in life.”


Something Wicked This Way Comes
Written by Ray Bradbury
Published by Simon & Schuster, 1962

Age, Darkness, Youth, Carousel, Magic

Summary:
Will and Jim are excited when they learn that a carnival is coming to town! Charles Holloway, Jim’s dad, is more suspicious than excited.  The carnival is called Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show. Jim and Will meet Mr. Cooger and Mr. Dark and learn of the true darkness of the carnival.

Reading Level: Lexile Measure: 820L
Suggested Delivery- Read aloud


Key Vocabulary- Ironmongery, Hex, Polarity, Gesticulate, Pendulum, Transfixed

Teaching Strategies

a) Introduce this novel to your readers as a classic novel.  They need to try to understand the beauty of Ray Bradbury’s novel. 

b) This novel has fantastic imagery, make it a read aloud!

c) The title is an exact quote from Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth.  Why not use this as an outlet to briefly discuss the great works of Shakespeare! You could introduce a few poems or at least the passage where Macbeth speaks the line “something wicked this way comes”

Comprehension Strategies:

Pre-Reading:
As a whole class, read the Prologue.  Bradbury introduces readers to James and William.  What do we learn about these characters.  Make a T-chart illustrating what we know about each. 

During reading:

Mr. Bradbury did not randomly choose the character names in this novel.  While reading, complete character maps for Jim, Will, Charles Holloway, Mr. Dark and Mr. Cougar.  Discuss how their names characterize them as a person.  A character analysis can be found at: http://www.shmoop.com/something-wicked-this-way-comes/characterization.html

Post Reading

Separate the novel into sections. In small groups, assign each a section of the novel.  Ask them to illustrate the scene on a long comic strip.  Combine all of the strips like the picture on the right.

Writing Activity
Watch the 1983 motion picture remake of the novel.  Instead of comparing and contrasting the novel and film, ask students to note what they were surprised by and in what ways the film depicted the novel differently than they had pictured it. 

Electronic Resources:

The character maps I discussed to use whole reading can be found below.  The maps highlight character’s actions, words, feelings, and appearance.

http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/GO/GO_pdf/Character_map_boy.pdf

IMDb reviews the film and provides links to buy the film.  Us the movie descriptions as concrete ways to compare the novel and film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086336/

Bradbury, R. (1999). Something wicked this way comes. New York: Avon Books.