DD- Funny descriptions from famous book

 

Description Objectives Phases / timeline Student activity
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Physical description of Pippi Långstrump 

by Astrid Lindgren

Analysis of the different paragraphs

Her hair, the color of a carrot, was braided in two tight braids that stuck straight out. Her nose was the shape of a very small potato and was dotted all over with freckles. It must be admitted that the mouth under this nose was a very wide one, with strong white teeth.

This paragraphs tells about the face and its parts, the hair, the nose and the mouth. Nothing is said about the form of the head and the proportions.
Her dress was rather unusual. Pippi herself had made it. She had meant it to be blue, but there wasn’t quite enough blue cloth, so Pippi had sewed little red pieces on it here and there. On her long thin legs she wore a pair of long stockings, one brown and the other black, and she had on a pair of black shoes that were exactly twice as long as her feet. These shoes her father had bought for her in South America so that Pippi would have something to grow into, and she never wanted to wear any others. This second paragraph tells about the clothes that Pippi likes to use. You can read about the dress, the stockings and the shoes.

Pippi’s father was a pirate so she lives the good life (she had a suitcase full of gold!). She has her own house and lives without parental supervision. She has superhumanstrength so no one tends to mess with her. She has two pets, Mr. Nilsson, a monkey and a horse (It has no name in the books). She is also friends with two children Tommy and Annika whom she goes on adventures with.

This third paragraph tells us about her house, her two pets and her two friends and what they do together.
 
 

Phisical description of Miss Agatha Trunchbull
from Mathilda.

by R.Dahl

 Analysis of the different paragraphs
She was a gigantic holy terror, a fierce tyrannical monster who frightened the life out of the pupils and teachers alike. There was an aura of menace about her even at a distance  In this paragraph Miss Trunchbull is described as a gigantic, weird monster frightening the life of pupils and teachers
She was above all a most formidable female. She had once been a famous athlete, and even now the muscles were still clearly in evidence. you could see them in the bull-neck, in the big shoulders, in the think arms, in the sinewy wrists and in the powerful legs. Looking at her, you got the feeling that this was someone who would bend iron bars and tear telephone directories in half. Her face, I’m afraid, was neither a thing of beauty nor a joy for ever. She had an obstinate chin, a cruel mouth and small arrogant eyes. 
This paragraph tells us  Miss Trunchbull’s look. She has strong muscles in any part of her body. Her complexion looks like someone bending iron bars or tearing big books in half.
Again  it is told that her face isn’t lovely and joyful at all
And for her clothes…she always had on a brown cotton smock which was pinched in around the waist with a wider leather belt. The belt was fastened in front with an enormous silver buckle. The massive thighs which emerged from out of the smock were encased in a pair of extra-ordinary breeches, bottle-green in colour. These breeches reached to just below the knees and from there on down she sported green stockings with turn-up tops, which displayed her calf muscles to perfection. on her feet she wore flat-heeled brown brogues with leather flaps.  This paragraph tells us she usually wears in a strange way: a cotton smock held tight around the waist  with a belt;  short trousers made of rough material; green stockings showing off her calf muscles; no-heeled shoes.

 

 

Phisical description of Ichabod Crane  from
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

by Washington Irving

 

 Analysis of the different paragraphs

 
He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes and a long snipe nose, so that it looked like a weathercoc, perched upon his spindle neck, to tell which way the wind blew. This paragraph tell about height and other parts of his body. The author describes also his head and face, eyes and nose
 To see him striding along the profile of a hill on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, one might have mistaken him for the genius of famine descending upon the earth, or some scarecrow eloped from a cornifield. This paragraph tells us about his/her way to walk on a hill. He wears bagging and fluttering clothes like a scarecrow in a field

 

 

Physical description of  Albus Dumbledore.
from Harry Potter and the philosophical stone

By J.K. Rowling

 Analysis of the different paragraph
He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak wich swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. The first paragraph tells something about his body, his hair and beard.
 His blue eyes were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked as though it had been broken at least twice. This man’s name was Albus Dumbledore The second paragraph tells us about clothes and boots.