Tom Brennan Chapter Questions
English Wide Reading 2013- AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE
The Story of Tom Brennan, J.C. Burke
1. a) Write a brief overview of the story.
My chosen novel, The Story of Tom Brennan by J.C. Burke, belongs to the Australian Literature genre. The book is a pleasant read, holding the prestigious award of The Children’s Book Council of Australia’s: Book of the Year for Older Readers.
The novel is written from a first-person perspective, revolving around the character of Tom Brennan. As written in the Prologue on page 2, ‘My name is Tom Brennan and this is my story.’ Tom, a typical New South Wales adolescent, enjoys his rugby, friends and normal life. The first few pages, however, reveal that he has lost it all; forced to abandon his much loved town of Mumbilli, his friends and his old life. Once a valued part of the community; now the town despise the Brennan family. The reason is hinted and touched upon slightly during the first quarter of the novel, having to do something with Tom’s brother Daniel. It is later revealed that a drunken night at a party leads to a car accident behind the wheel; where Daniel kills two and turns his cousin Fin into a paraplegic. The family suffer the consequences of Daniel’s actions. All are mentally stressed, especially Tom’s mother- who, after the accident, has never come out of bed. The move to Coghill, and living with their grandmother proves challenging for Tom and his sister Kylie. Kylie struggles with settling in at the new school, St Bennies; and Tom is forced to repeat year 11 because of his poor performance at school. But apart from these immediate stresses, the thing that bothers Tom most is that: he is not himself anymore. He is slightly comforted by rugby and his close bonds with family; but even these are in doubt. Tom’s new rugby team is notorious, known as the team that 'couldn 't catch a cold '. And his family situation is in turmoil. As the narrative progresses we see Tom find ‘himself’ back. Through
The Story of Tom Brennan, J.C. Burke
1. a) Write a brief overview of the story.
My chosen novel, The Story of Tom Brennan by J.C. Burke, belongs to the Australian Literature genre. The book is a pleasant read, holding the prestigious award of The Children’s Book Council of Australia’s: Book of the Year for Older Readers.
The novel is written from a first-person perspective, revolving around the character of Tom Brennan. As written in the Prologue on page 2, ‘My name is Tom Brennan and this is my story.’ Tom, a typical New South Wales adolescent, enjoys his rugby, friends and normal life. The first few pages, however, reveal that he has lost it all; forced to abandon his much loved town of Mumbilli, his friends and his old life. Once a valued part of the community; now the town despise the Brennan family. The reason is hinted and touched upon slightly during the first quarter of the novel, having to do something with Tom’s brother Daniel. It is later revealed that a drunken night at a party leads to a car accident behind the wheel; where Daniel kills two and turns his cousin Fin into a paraplegic. The family suffer the consequences of Daniel’s actions. All are mentally stressed, especially Tom’s mother- who, after the accident, has never come out of bed. The move to Coghill, and living with their grandmother proves challenging for Tom and his sister Kylie. Kylie struggles with settling in at the new school, St Bennies; and Tom is forced to repeat year 11 because of his poor performance at school. But apart from these immediate stresses, the thing that bothers Tom most is that: he is not himself anymore. He is slightly comforted by rugby and his close bonds with family; but even these are in doubt. Tom’s new rugby team is notorious, known as the team that 'couldn 't catch a cold '. And his family situation is in turmoil. As the narrative progresses we see Tom find ‘himself’ back. Through