Miss Bonnie, do,' said Pattern after a while.

Each time she bounced, she nearly hit the ceiling. She had climbed up on to the window seat, the better to survey the snowy park, and was jumping on its well-sprung cushions, covered in crimson satin. The little girl turned again to her impatient vigil. Miss Bonnie,' was the inevitable reply from her maid, who, on hands and knees in front of the fire, was folding and goffering the frills of twenty lace petticoats. Pattern? Will she?' was her continual cry. In the nursery a little girl was impatiently dancing up and down before the great window, fourteen feet high, which faced out over the park and commanded the long black expanse of road.

The house was all alight within, and the joyous hubbub of its activity contrasted with the somber sighing of the wind and the hideous howling of the wolves without. Its rosy herringbone brick was bright and well-cared-for, its numerous turrets and battlements stood up sharp against the sky, and the crenellated balconies, corniced with snow, each held a golden square of window. But for all that, the Chase looked an inviting home-a warm and welcoming stronghold. Upon the roof of Willoughby Chase, the great house that stood on an open eminence in the heart of the wood. There were hundreds of them at work, wrapped in sacking because of the bitter cold, and keeping together in groups for fear of the wolves, grown savage and reckless from hunger. Snow lay piled on the dark road across Willoughby Wood, but from dawn men had been clearing it with brooms and shovels. Snow lay white and shining over the pleated hills, and icicles hung from the forest trees. After composing their own stories they might like to read Black Hearts in Battersea, Aiken's sequel to The Wolves of Willoughby Chase which does just that.The Wolves of Willoughby Chase One It was dusk-winter dusk. Pupils could write about Simon's subsequent adventures in the style of Joan Aiken. At the end of the novel, he goes off to London to study at one of the art schools. Simon is a good-hearted, independent boy who has numerous practical skills and discovers a talent for painting. Bonnie is reckless at the beginning but her actions become more considered. Sylvia is very timid at the beginning of the book but becomes more confident towards the end. The characters of Bonnie and Sylvia are very different and complement each other. Children could explore the emotions of the characters and their motives through techniques such as hot-seating, conscience alley and diary writing.

The themes are developed, on the whole, through the actions of each of the characters and their relationships. The main themes of the novel are friendship and family and good v evil.

The wolf of willoughby chase