Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Oliver Strange and the journey to the swamps (school edition)
    Oliver Strange and the journey to the swamps (school edition)
    Oliver Strange and the journey to the swamps (school edition)
    Ebook141 pages2 hours

    Oliver Strange and the journey to the swamps (school edition)

    By Diane Hofmeyr

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Oliver Strange’s life in London is all very normal until his father disappears in the wilds of the Okavango Swamps while collecting frog data. When Oliver goes in search of his dad, he is captured and things go from bad to worse. He soon discovers his knowledge of reading maps and his Swiss Army knife are not enough when faced with crocodiles, hippos, lions and dynamite-brandishing crooks with a sinister goal – to collect venom from the most poisonous frog of all – the golden poison dart frog, found only in Colombia. Oliver is faced with not only saving his father – but perhaps the whole world.

    This school edition of Oliver Strange and the Journey to the Swamps is included in the Department of Basic Education’s National Catalogue for Senior Phase learners. It has been revised and updated with activities for pre-reading and post-reading, questions according to cognitive levels, glossaries and notes on the genre of the novel. Memoranda available online at www.tafelberg.com.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTafelberg
    Release dateJun 20, 2012
    ISBN9780624065968
    Oliver Strange and the journey to the swamps (school edition)
    Author

    Diane Hofmeyr

    Dianne Hofmeyr lives in London but grew up on the southern tip of Africa. She qualified as an art teacher. Journeys with notebook and camera through Botswana, China, Egypt, Russia, Tunisia, Senegal, Siberia, Vietnam and Zambia have led to books that have won Sanlam Awards, the Young Africa Award, IBBY Honour Books and the M-Net Book Prize. Her novels and picture books have been translated into Catalan, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish as well as most African languages. In 2012 she celebrated twenty-five years of being published by Tafelberg.

    Related to Oliver Strange and the journey to the swamps (school edition)

    Related ebooks

    Children's For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Nadia Owusu, Nonfiction

      Mar 20, 2019

      Nadia Owusu, Nonfiction
      2 min read

    • Article

      Unwante Guests Ed

      Aug 3, 2021

      Unwante Guests Ed
      4 min read

    • Article

      HUNTING With The Ellements…

      Sep 13, 2021

      HUNTING With The Ellements…
      19 min read

    • Article

      The Dragon Of The North

      Sep 7, 2022

      The Dragon Of The North
      5 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Sep 1, 2022

      First prize 10 and under Tang Li, age 9 Palmetto Bay, FL My name is Anisa. I was in Hawaii on vacation. I enjoyed sipping refreshing drinks, overlooking the turquoise ocean, and dancing with others, before I overheard that the priceless Fire Ring wa

      10 min read

    • Article

      Nature’s Gentle Giants

      Jun 12, 2020

      ‘I CAN’T hear anything.” “Nothing at all?” “Honestly, just feedback. Wasn’t his last point here?” “Oh, but that point was very early this morning. Let’s look for him.” I sighed and took the radio receiver from my ear. I was tracking a male elephant n

      8 min read

    • Article

      A Voice In The Marsh

      May 24, 2019

      A Voice In The Marsh
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Memento

      Jan 16, 2022

      In the middle of the night, after a particularly tough day of interrogations in a Beijing security facility, the artist and dissident Ai Weiwei began to write what would become 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrow: A memoir. His tough, implacable interrogat

      4 min read

    • Article

      “Really?”

      Jun 2, 2022

      “Really?”
      6 min read

    • Article

      Excerpts From The Works Of The 2024 Whiting Award Winners

      Apr 10, 2024

      The 2024 Whiting Award winners were announced Wednesday night. Below are excerpts from their work.

      19 min read

    • Article

      Tuskers

      Jul 1, 2018

      Tuskers
      9 min read

    • Article

      Diary of Remorse

      Sep 6, 2022

      I was plagued by remorse, but my remorse seemed inspired by insignificant dumb things—things not really worthy of bona fide remorse. That didn’t make it any less painful or plague-worthy, as I was still riddled with disgrace on a minute-by-minute bas

      20 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Jan 1, 2020

      Ivy Lugbill, age 8 Indianapolis, IN I was so excited! My dad and I were going camping! After we packed all our stuff, my dad said, “Hop in!” I grabbed the paper towel roll binoculars I had been making and jumped into the car. It was a really . . . re

      7 min read

    • Article

      Braving the STORM

      Aug 17, 2021

      Braving the STORM
      6 min read

    • Article

      His Brilliant Career

      Mar 19, 2023

      His Brilliant Career
      9 min read

    • Article

      Table Talk

      Jun 1, 2023

      Table Talk
      11 min read

    • Article

      It Happened to Me…

      Jun 16, 2022

      A genuine miracle occurred at the art opening of the Blinky 40th Anniversary Exhibition at California State University Northridge Gallery in Southern California on 2 February 2019. An artwork by Erika Ostrander of the “Shroud of Blinky” was found wee

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Wolf

      Nov 6, 2018

      The Wolf
      12 min read

    • Article

      A Symposium on Childhood

      Sep 1, 2021

      A Symposium on Childhood
      25 min read

    • Article

      The Hound and the Hidden Homework

      Feb 1, 2019

      The Hound and the Hidden Homework
      4 min read

    • Article

      Let The Bones Talk

      Jun 16, 2021

      Let The Bones Talk
      6 min read

    • Article

      Let The Bones Talk

      Jun 16, 2021

      Let The Bones Talk
      6 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Sep 1, 2020

      Cricket League
      7 min read

    • Article

      Life In The past Lane

      Aug 27, 2021

      Life In The past Lane
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Silence of Witches

      Dec 10, 2019

      The Silence of Witches
      6 min read

    • Article

      I Am the Tooth Fairy

      Nov 14, 2019

      I Am the Tooth Fairy
      7 min read

    • Article

      John Jeremiah Sullivan

      Mar 9, 2021

      John Jeremiah Sullivan
      27 min read

    • Article

      Duncan Hannah

      Sep 15, 2017

      Duncan Hannah
      25 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Oliver Strange and the journey to the swamps (school edition)

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Oliver Strange and the journey to the swamps (school edition) - Diane Hofmeyr

      Oliver Strange and the Journey to the Swamps

      School Edition

      Dianne Hofmeyr

      %232.tif

      Tafelberg

      MAP.tif

      Book

      For Amelia and Jack

      1. Mistaken Identity

      paddas.jpg

      Pre-reading

      The wheels of the Boeing bumped down on the runway and the plane screeched to a halt. Phew! Oliver breathed out a lungful of air. Here he was at last! In Africa! His quest had begun. In his carry-on case were his emergency things. A black notebook. A folded map. A compass. And his slim-line torch. Pity he had no micro cameras for taking macro shots. Or mini microphones for recording maximum sound.

      For security reasons his Swiss Army knife, a red Victorinox Explorer, with extra fold-out tools – two blades, a wire stripper, scissors, magnifying glass, reamer, screwdriver, corkscrew, hook, toothpick, tweezers and two bottle openers that were also extra screwdrivers – was in his backpack in the hold of the plane.

      He peered out the small window hoping to spot a giraffe. Maybe even an elephant. But no. Nothing except a strip of bare tarmac, some straggly thorn trees and a single, ancient fire-engine standing next to a ramshackle cluster of buildings. Nothing like Heathrow Terminal 5. The plane nosed forward. A lady on the tarmac waved paddles like orange, ping-pong bats. A contraption of steps was trundled towards the door.

      The airhostess smiled. Welcome to Bulawayo’s J.M. Nkomo airport.

      Oliver nodded to himself. Geographical location: 20° 1 2 South of the Equator and 28° 37 4 East of Greenwich.

      Heat slammed into him like a solid wave of water. Light bounced and dazzled and skittered. He pushed his sunglasses firmly in place. Here he was! Oliver Strange! All set to find his father. All set to meet an unknown aunt who flew an aeroplane. But no one waved as he peered through the crowd milling about behind the barrier.

      A crack like gunshot came from nowhere. Oliver spun around expecting to see a hijacker but everyone was carrying on as normal. Then with a whoosh, rain began to pelt down on the tin roof and a voice bellowed over a crackling loudspeaker: Welcome to Africa! Collect your bags and proceed to Passport Control.

      Oliver rescued his backpack and sleeping bag. Then he filled out a small white form for Passport Control.

      Name: OLIVER STRANGE

      Country of Residence: UNITED KINGDOM

      Nationality: BRITISH

      Reason for visit: TO RESCUE MY FATHER.

      The man at the desk flicked through his passport and stamped the pages a couple of times. Suddenly his hand froze in mid-air.

      Take off your cap and sunglasses! It’s an offence to wear them when entering a foreign country.

      Sunglasses? Oliver had forgotten he had them on. No wonder it was so dark inside the building. And then the lights flickered and went out.

      We need to question you.

      Before he knew it, he was being marched down a passage into a dark room. Two men in uniform began speaking at the same time, but all Oliver heard was the sound of rain pelting against the roof.

      One of them bent closer. Why are you here?

      It was impossible to speak normally. He had to shout. I’m going to Botswana.

      But this is Zimbabwe.

      I know. I’ve landed here. But I need to get to Botswana to find— the rain suddenly stopped as abruptly as it had started. — MY FATHER! his voice boomed out into the darkness.

      It’s not necessary to shout.

      "I’m not shouting but …"

      On this paper you say you have come to rescue someone. Young people aren’t sent to rescue people. Are you a spy?

      Oliver shook his head.

      Spies are put in jail.

      The men exchanged glances. This is serious.

      You didn’t mean what you wrote. To answer falsely on a Government form is serious. Very serious. Do you understand?

      Yes … His voice came out small and squeaky. The plan was going horribly wrong. He was going to land up in jail. A tiny rat began gnawing at his stomach.

      The officials peered at him. Who’s here to meet you?

      My aunt.

      What is her name?

      Dr Hortense.

      Dr Hortense? You should have said so in the first place. We’ve a message for you.

      The lights suddenly came on. The men looked different now. Almost cheerful.

      A message?

      Yes. Your aunt isn’t able to meet you. You’re to travel by train to Kasane, across the border in Botswana. She’s left a train ticket for you and this letter.

      Oliver opened the letter. It wasn’t in Aunt Hortense’s handwriting. It was printed. But perhaps she had to do it in a hurry:

      Dear Oliver

      There’s been a change of plan. Please take a taxi to the Bulawayo station and catch the train to the Victoria Falls. Then catch the bus to Kasane where I’ll meet you.

      He read it again to be quite sure there was nothing he’d missed. A train to the Victoria Falls. A bus to Kasane. Very casual instructions. No details. Aunt Hortense was like his father. She left out details. It was probably a family thing. Which was odd, seeing his father was a zoologist – well actually a herpetologist – and she was a doctor. Shouldn’t doctors and zoologists know better? What now? Should he go? At Heathrow airport, his grandma had warned: Be careful, Oliver! Don’t take any risks.

      He wanted to take out his map to check on Kasane. And how far was it from the Okavango Swamps? But the men were in a hurry for him to get going. He tried hard to forget the little rat that was still gnawing away at his stomach.

      Post-reading

      2. Strange Travel Companions

      paddas.jpg

      The station was crowded. A girl was standing next to a huge pile of boxes and crates. Oliver pushed his way across to her.

      "Hi. Is this the

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1