Wizard Study Guide Away

by Richard McRoberts

Published 23 October 2002











Gattaca is a thought-provoking SF film centred on a key contemporary issue – genetic engineering. In this study guide, two experienced teachers (one a film lecturer) offer background on the movie, explaining how to ' read' it in cinematic terms, before taking you through the film, scene by scene, drawing out its 'subtext' in easy to understand language, and offering you key quotes to use. Also offered are generous notes on characters, themes, critical reviews, and finally a full length A+ exam essay on the text.

A student's guide to Thomas Keneally's The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith - a prescribed text for VCE English 2003-2004. The series: Cambridge Wizard Student Guides have a well earned reputation for quality in research, easy-to-understand explanations and comprehensive text coverage. Excellent background teacher resources, perfect class set material and exceptional student revision aids, Cambridge Wizard Student Guides are an invaluable tool for all teachers and students of senior English.

The Accidental Tourist is an award-winning novel by celebrated American author Anne Tyler. Its central character, Macon Leary, is a middle-aged man numb from a recent bereavement and whose wife has just left him. His life rapidly spirals out of control - until he meets Murial Pritchett, another damaged individual who still finds reason to hope for the best in life. Written by an experienced teacher, this guide offers you background notes on the author, and on the genre, structure and style of the novel. You are given a storyboard summary of the text, then taken through it chapter by chapter, with key quotes highlighted and teacher explanations to draw out the subtext. This guide also includes comprehensive notes on characters and themes, critical reviews, advice on writing an exam answer, and two full length A+ exam essays on the text.

The Quiet American is a key work by famous British author Graham Greene. The title character, Alden Pyle, is an idealistic young man working undercover for American intelligence agencies in Vietnam during the last days of the French colonial administration. However, his interference in local affairs, and agent provocateur role, lead almost inevitably to tragic consequences - including his own death. The narrator, world weary British journalist Thomas Fowler, is simultaneously repelled and attracted to the dangerously 'innocent' Pyle - and in a dramatic twist, shares Pyle's obsession with a beautiful Vietnamese girl. The novel is a clever composite - part thriller, part murder mystery, part love story. This study guide provides background on the author, and the complex history of Vietnam, before offering a summary and detailed explication of the novel. It includes thorough notes on characters and themes, as well as critical references and model answers.



Henry Lawson is considered one of Australia's greatest writers. In this student guide, an experienced teacher offers background on the author and sets Lawson in his literary context, before going through his stories one by one. Each story is summarised and then explained in detail so that students can fully appreciate the text. Also offered are generous notes on characters, themes, critical assessments of the author, and finally a full length A+ exam essay on Lawson.

In the Lake of the Woods is a powerful antiwar novel by respected American author Tim O'Brien. Its central character, John Wade, is a Vietnam veteran with grim secrets that have come back to haunt him years later. The novel centres on the mysterious disappearance of his wife Kathy in the 'Lake of the Woods' - a forbidding wilderness where they have gone on holiday. However this mystery is soon eclipsed by the larger tragedy of his war experience, and indeed his whole life. The text is complex and innovative, buts its central issues - of love, loss and war - are timeless. Written by an experienced teacher, this guide offers you background notes on the author, and on the genre, structure and style of the novel. To extend your understanding and interpretation, this guide also includes comprehensive notes on characters and themes, critical reviews, and two full length A+ exam essays on the text.