What experiments and projects does he then undertake?
After he lost at the science fair he understood that he had to do real experiments instead of making them look clean and neat. He made an experiment to find out that what causes the viral disease which kills approximately all monarch caterpillars every few years. He also took on a project to test the theory that vicerory butterflies copy monarches to survive.
How did a book become a turning point in Richard Ebright’s life?
How can one become a scientist, an economist, a historian... ? Does it simply involve reading many books on the subject? Does it involve observing, thinking and doing experiments?
You must have read about cells and DNA in your science books. Discuss Richard Ebright’s work in the light of what you have studied. If you get an opportunity to work like Richard Ebright on projects and experiments, which field would you like to work on and why?
What lesson does Ebright learn when he does not win anything at a science fair?
How did his mother help him?
What are the qualities that go into the making of a scientist?
Why is Mrs Pumphrey worried about Tricki?
How is Ausable different from other secret agents?
What does Horace Danby like to collect?
How did the invisible man first become visible?
What kind of a person is Mme Loisel — why is she always unhappy?
Why is the lawyer sent to New Mullion? What does he first think about the place?
Why is Bholi’s father worried about her?
Why was the twentieth century called the ‘Era of the Book’?
Who does ‘I’ refer to in this story?
What does she do to help him? Is she wise in this?
Lutkins openly takes the lawyer all over the village. How is it that no one lets out the secret? (Hint: Notice that the hack driver asks the lawyer to keep out of sight behind him when they go into Fritz’s.) Can you find other such subtle ways in which Lutkins manipulates the tour?
What kind of a person do you think the narrator, a veterinary surgeon, is? Would you say he is tactful as well as full of commonsense?
Horace Danby was a meticulous planner but still he faltered. Where did he go wrong and why?
If you were in Noodle’s place, how would you handle Think-Tank’s mistakes?
Why do you think Lutkins’ neighbours were anxious to meet the lawyer?
Does Anil realise that he has been robbed?
“Ausable did not fit any description of a secret agent Fowler had ever read.” What do secret agents in books and films look like, in your opinion? Discuss in groups or in class some stories or movies featuring spies, detectives and secret agents, and compare their appearance with that of Ausable in this story. (You may mention characters from fiction in languages other than English. In English fiction you may have come across Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, or Miss Marple. Have you watched any movies featuring James Bond?)
How does Ausable say he got in?
How do they replace the necklace?
“Griffin was rather a lawless person.” Comment.