The Duel: The Next Generation by Simon Cooke is a humorous science fiction text that blends adventure, fantasy, and visual storytelling to explore creativity, problem-solving, and the consequences of invention. Through fast-paced dialogue and imaginative scenarios, Cooke follows Emma and her inventor grandfather as they confront Baron AI, a rogue artificial intelligence created from human intelligence and ambition. The narrative builds on the long-standing rivalry between Grandpa Sid and Baron von Spanner, using exaggeration and satire to examine how technology can be misused when not carefully tested or ethically controlled. Clever, energetic, and playful, the text supports students to explore ideas about innovation, responsibility, and resilience through character voice and visual language.

The text is ideal for integrated learning across literacy and digital technologies, supporting inquiry into artificial intelligence, ethical decision-making, creativity, and the role of humour and imagination in storytelling.

This pack contains wide range of response activities including:

• A guided reading plan exploring key literacy elements including inference and deduction, language use, making connection and text organisation, along with key questioning to promote emotional intelligence, metacognition and compassionate inquiry. 
• An independent learning contract complete with explainer videos for activity clarity
  
• A wide range of response activities to support developing and embedding key literacy skills including sentence and word work, spelling, and cloze activities. 

Curriculum Phase: Phase 2

Year Level: Year 6

English: reading for meaning and critical thinking, analysing narrative voice and dialogue, understanding fantasy and science fiction, exploring visual language and humour, synthesising events and themes, identifying author’s purpose

Technology / Digital Technologies: computational thinking, artificial intelligence, innovation and invention, ethics and responsibility, design and evaluation

Text type: Fiction, fantasy narrative, science fiction, graphic-style narrative

Key words include: artificial intelligence, AI, cartoons, duels, family, fantasy, grandparents, humour, inventions, sequels, visual language, creativity, problem-solving, ethics, innovation