Halley's Comet as class reader

Halley's Comet

Author: Hannes Barnard

Ages: 17+

Suggested grades: Grade 11 to 12 Home Language

This book is an excellent choice for a prescribed book, especially for matric. The book was recorded as an audiobook by students from The American International School. Click here to listen to a sample. 

More about the novel:

Pete de Lange must survive as a teenager in a small Natal town during the 1980s, together with his new-found friends, Sarita and Petrus. In a country marked by turmoil and racial conflict, this is not as easy as it seems. Pete and his friends witnessed a horrendous crime, and the perpetrator is on their case. Will justice prevail? In between all of this, Pete must try to make the first rugby team and win the heart of his high-school crush, Renate. This is an excellent Bildungsroman, full of emotion and nostalgia, set in a troubled country where doing the right thing was not always easy.

Click here to read the first chapter.

Included in the study guide: 

Author’s information 

Introduction: How to use this guide 

Historical and cultural contexts
- Historical Context: Apartheid South Africa 
- Cultural Context: Etymology of Words 

Reading
- General Summary 
- Reading Schedule 

Literary elements
- Plot 
- Characterisation 
- Themes 
- Symbols and motifs

Teaching resources and learning activities
- Literature circles discussion 
- Socratic seminar 
- Writing diary entries 
- Key quotes and magic sentences 
- Character silhouettes 
- Monologue writing 
- Who says? / About whom?
- Literary essays 

Chapter questions 

Answers

Click here to download a free diary entry activity.