A New Kind of Alchemy

Illustration from 'A new kind of alchemy'

Look at the interactive of A New Kind of Alchemy and compare how the short story was adapted.

Read the short story (.pdf 218kB) A New Kind of Alchemy, by Australian writer, James Roy. The story is about Sava, a young boy recruited to help find water in a world threatened with extinction.

The interactive story of A New Kind of Alchemy was a collaboration of the illustrator, the writer and the editor.

Use the activities to focus on the ways the short story, A New Kind of Alchemy was transformed from a short story to an interactive graphic novel.

Record your responses to questions in the activities and compare them with other class members.

  1. Copy, paste and save the short story A New Kind of Alchemy into a new Microsoft Word document.

  2. Read the online story and highlight in your Microsoft Word document the sections each has in common.

    What do you notice about the text used?

    Do you think some ideas from the short story should have been included? Why?

  3. Compare the sections from the short story and the visuals used in each screen.

    Can you suggest other additional text or illustrations to develop the story?

  4. What parts of the short story could be used to develop a new sequence to the story?

  5. Create a storyboard using the short story text and modify and add illustrations to compose your version of A New Kind of Alchemy.