‘The Return of the Moonman’ is a short story by the author Eric Malpass and is published by Penguin in ‘Modern British Short Stories’.

About this BritLit kit
‘The Return of the Moonman’ takes us to a remote farm in Wales to meet Grandfather Griffiths, a techno-phobic farmer, and his terrorised family. The first space ship to the moon temporarily lands in one of the fields on the farm, and we find a worried Grandma staring up at a waning moon some days later. This bizarre little tale is a cross between a folk tale and science fiction, and ends with a moral message that demands to be challenged

The themes drawn from this 2,000 word story include a look at the history of technophobia in the UK, alternative energy resources, the Welsh language and space travel.

This kit has been rewritten from the original 2003 version, which was much longer. The editing process has been the result of the demand for shorter kits. Most of the original material which has been excluded from this version can be obtained by contacting brit.lit@pt.britishcouncil.org and requesting ‘Return of the Moonman’ archive materials.

The materials in this BritLit Kit are avialable to download in the Attachments box below. To download pdf files and audio, right click on the file and save to your computer.

How to use this BritLit kit
In Pre-reading (pdf) as the title suggests, there are activities designed to prepare the student for reading. The main characters are introduced by means of quotes from the story, and conclusions drawn about their character. Students are encouraged to create their own story by using cartoon style line drawings. Teachers are strongly encouraged not to omit this section.

After ‘The Return of the Moonman’ text (pdf) has been read there are some activities in the Context (pdf) section which explore the themes outlined above, drawn from a variety of sources. A short After Reading section (pdf) gives students an opportunity to show they have absorbed the main elements of the story. This tale contains a lot of Welsh-style dialogue and as a result is quite rich in use of idiomatic use, a feature which is explored in Word Work (pdf) which also offers other language practice and a short glossary. Guidelines and the answers to the activities can be found in the Key (pdf).