Contents

1. Septimus Pitt
   (poem)

2. The Grumbloid Rap
   (poem)

3. Notes for Teachers
   (About the book)

4. Gathering Thoughts
   (some ideas for using
   the Worksheets)

5. Worksheet 1
   (The Cosmic Postman -
   Outer Space)

6. Worksheet 2
   (Michael and Billy -
   Anti-sectarianism)

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Reviews of
Septimus Pitt

SEPTIMUS PITT

I am an eternal guardian.

Three floors deep below the ground
I feed on discarded
words of yesterdays.

My steps leave no footprints,
are silent as years gone by.

When not napping in my chair,
Inky, my faithful companion,
follows me through dark corridors of gloom

her pointed claws
sharp as a vampire's fingernails.

She scrapes and scratches after
night-time things
that creep and crawl,
night-time things
that might munch their way
through a feast of dry tasty pages,
given half a chance.

Sometimes,
when the staff have left
for their cosy librarians' homes
slipping on their cosy librarians' slippers,
sipping on their cosy librarians' cocoa.

I climb to the upstairs' floor,
walk on its black and white linoleum squares.

Like a lone chess-piece
I wander, exploring,
unable to touch crisp pages
of new books I sniff their scent,
Inky purring silently by my side

in the still library
filled with the air of yesterdays.

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Image: Mandy Sinclair copyright © 2015