PENGUIN READERS

Teacher’s notes LEVEL 2 Teacher Support Programme

Dante’s Peak
Dewey Gram earthquake and hot gas explodes into the lake. The couple
die. Harry also meets Rachel’s son Graham who likes
playing in a disused mine with his friends.
Chapters 4 –5: Rachel drives Harry up the mountain.
They meet Ruth. Rachel used to be married to Ruth’s
son. Harry notices that there are brown, dead trees and
says there is acid in the water. Lauren, Rachel’s daughter,
finds two dead animals. Next they see dead fish and then
they find the two dead swimmers, face down, in the water.
Harry telephones his boss, Paul, who decides to come to
Dante’s Peak. However, Paul and Harry don’t agree. Harry
thinks the volcano will explode and Paul doesn’t. They
decide to take their equipment up the mountain and agree
Summary to tell the businessmen what they find.
Dante’s Peak was written in 1997 as a novel based on the Chapters 6 –7: Paul and Harry meet in Rachel’s café. They
film of the same name. Dante’s Peak is a small town in decide to take a helicopter up the mountain. Although
the north-west of the United States, situated on the side they go up in the helicopter, they don’t see an earthquake
of a volcano that has been inactive for thousands of years. that causes rocks to fall down the mountain, because it
When the mountain starts showing signs of activity, Harry happens underneath the helicopter. Rachel asks Harry to
Dalton, an expert on volcanoes, is sent to investigate the dinner. That evening when they are at dinner, Rachel talks
movement. Harry finds a volcano which he believes is about herself and her marriage to Brian. Harry tells Rachel
going to erupt in a very short time, but finds that no-one what happened to his girlfriend, Marianne. The next day,
in the town is willing to listen to him. Even his own boss they take the equipment up the mountain. Terry Furlong
feels that he is exaggerating the danger, and that Harry is takes one of his robots. The robot can find smoke and gas.
over-reacting because his girlfriend was killed in a volcanic The following day, Terry is up the mountain and the team
eruption some months previously. Then the volcano starts is reading the messages from the robot down below. They
to erupt, and everyone realises that Harry was right. But realise an earthquake is happening but it is too late. A rock
has this realisation come too late to save the people of the falls on Terry and breaks his leg. Harry and Hutcherson go
town? up in the helicopter and rescue him.
Introduction and Chapter 1: The story of Dante’s Peak is Chapters 8 –9: The earthquake is bad for business but
similar to the real volcanic eruption of Mount St Helens Paul says that not a lot happened up the mountain and
in 1980 in the United States. Harry Dalton, a scientist, that Terry was unlucky. However, Harry thinks that lava
works at the United States Volcano Office. His boss, is moving up nearer to ground level. They have a fight.
Paul Dreyfus sends him to Dante’s Peak, a small town Paul decides they need to leave and both Paul and Harry
in the north west of the US, to investigate a mountain tell the business people that they don’t think Dante’s Peak
that is moving. Harry thinks the volcano will explode. is dangerous. No-one realises that the fish in the lake near
Local businessmen and the mayor don’t want to hear this. Ruth’s house are dying. Harry walks Rachel home. He
Harry’s girlfriend died in a volcanic explosion and he puts his arm around her. When they get to Rachel’s house,
wants to stop this happening to anyone else. Lauren wants a drink, but the water is brown. Harry wants
Chapters 2–3: Harry meets Rachel Wando, the mayor to see where the water comes from, so they all go up the
of Dante’s Peak when she is thanking the newspaper for mountain. There is gas everywhere. When Harry finds
calling the town ‘the second best town in America’. Elliot the other scientists, they think the mountain is ready to
Blair, a businessman, wants to put lots of money into explode. The people of the town have to leave, but Ruth
Dante’s Peak and make it a centre for winter holidays. doesn’t want to. Ash and smoke start to come out of the
However, there is a problem. A young couple go for a mountain and the school building moves. People start to
swim in the lake up on the mountain. There is a small run and scream.

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 PENGUIN READERS
Teacher’s notes LEVEL 2 Teacher Support Programme

Dante’s Peak
Chapters 10–11: A building falls onto the school bus Conflict between humans and nature: One of the most
and there are earthquakes all the time. Harry goes in important themes of the book is the conflict between
the car with Rachel to get her children and Graham humans and nature, and the fact that we should never take
goes to get Ruth. Elliot Blair, Les Worrell and some nature for granted. Harry is a man with a great affinity
other businessmen pay a lot of money to escape in the and respect for volcanoes and for nature in general. He is
helicopter. However, there is too much ash in the air and therefore willing to take notice of the subtle changes in
it stops the engine. The helicopter crashes. There are rocks nature which point to the danger, such as the acidity of
falling everywhere. Harry, Rachel and the children meet at the water and the number of dead trees in the area. On
Ruth’s house and start to drive down the mountain. Lava the other hand, his boss and his colleagues place their
starts to flow into Ruth’s house and it is too dangerous trust in the computers and other man-made machines that
to continue by car. They take Ruth’s boat onto the lake. monitor the volcano and they are proved wrong in the
However, the water is acid and starts eating into the boat. end. Nature wins and takes her revenge on Paul Dreyfus,
Chapters 12–13: They cannot reach the other side of the Harry’s boss, as he loses his life in the eruption. In this
lake, so Ruth jumps out. The acid starts to eat into her legs way, the story acts as a warning not to place too much
and she dies. Suddenly, water, trees, rocks and buildings trust in modern technology, but to respect the old ways of
start moving down the mountain. Paul tells Harry by interpreting nature’s signals.
radio that the scientists have to leave. The river is very Making decisions: The main character of the book,
high and it carries Paul’s car away. He dies. Harry finds a Harry Dalton, an expert on volcanoes, is trying to rebuild
car that works and they start driving down the mountain his life after his girlfriend was killed in a volcanic eruption.
again. Roughy jumps in. When they get to Dante’s Peak Although he suspects that the volcano at Dante’s Peak is
there is a cloud of hot gas and ash (pyroclastic flow) going to erupt, he feels that it is possible that he is now
coming towards it. Their only chance of escape is to go over-anxious about other people being killed in the same
underground into the mine. They drive into the mine. way as his girlfriend, and that this anxiety is affecting his
Graham and his friends have left food and drink in there. judgement. For this reason he is prepared to put aside, for
They go to find it, but Harry has forgotten the radio. As a while, his own suspicions about the volcano at Dante’s
he goes back to the car to get it, rocks fall down. He gets Peak, and listen to his boss, who believes that there is
separated from the others but sends a message for help. nothing to worry about. This decision in fact has tragic
Two days later, when the earthquake stops, people come to consequences for the townspeople.
rescue them. They all survive. The influence of big business: The other main theme
Background and themes of the book is the influence that big business can have on
people’s lives and fates. Dante’s Peak is about to receive a
The placement of the town Dante’s Peak in the Cascade large investment from a wealthy businessman who wants
Mountains of Oregon and Washington states in the to build a winter holiday complex there. This would
United States was no accident. It was in this area that the make the town much richer than it is, and the plan is
United States experienced one of its worst ever volcanic enthusiastically supported by the members of the business
eruptions, in 1980 when Mount St Helen’s erupted. The community in the town. When Harry Dalton arrives with
volcano had been dormant for over 120 years when it his predictions of a volcanic eruption, the business people
started showing signs of activity in early 1980. It erupted don’t want to listen to him, as they know that a volcanic
in May 1980, when the top of the mountain was blown eruption or even rumours of one would ruin their plans.
off by the force of the explosion and its height was They are happy to support Paul Dreyfus’s opinion and to
reduced by about 400 metres. More than sixty people died refuse to believe Harry. In doing so, they allow something
and an area of 600 square kilometres was devastated. The far worse to happen to the townspeople than the loss of
volcano continues to spit steam and ash today. The book the anticipated holiday complex.
is therefore based on a reality which people in that area of
the United States know very well.

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 PENGUIN READERS
Teacher’s notes LEVEL 2 Teacher Support Programme

Dante’s Peak
Discussion activities Chapter 7
Before reading
Before reading 8 Predict: Have students work in pairs and discuss the
1 Guess: Write these words on the board: earthquake, following questions. What do you think Terry’s Robot is?
acid, smoke and lava. Have students guess what they What do you think it will be used for? Why would people
mean by giving them a context. a This is hot and red use a robot on a mountain? How could the robot help the
and comes out of a volcano. b This is a liquid that scientists? Have the students write down their ideas
can burn you. c Where there is a fire, you often see and predictions.
this in the air. It’s black. d This is when the earth
moves. After reading
2 Research: Have the students look up the states of 9 Check: Students see if their predictions for activity 8
Oregon and Washington in books or on the Internet. are right.
Ask students to find out as much as they can about
these states. Ask them also to locate the Cascade Chapter 8
mountains. What can you find out about the Cascade After reading
Mountains? Is there anything unusual about these 10 Role play: Student A is Elliot Blair. You want to
mountains? Are they safe or dangerous? know everything about the mountain and if there are
any problems. You ask a lot of questions. Student B is
Chapter 1 Paul Dreyfus. You don’t think there are any problems
After reading with the mountain and you don’t want Elliot to take
3 Pair work: Ask the students to think about how away his money or worry about the mountain. Have
Harry felt when his girlfriend died. How do you think the conversation.
Harry felt when this happened? Why do you think he
continued to work with volcanoes? Did this help him feel Chapter 9
better after his girlfriend’s death, do you think? After reading
11 Pair work: Ask the students to work in pairs and to
Chapter 2 imagine they are looking at smoke and ash coming
4 Artwork: Ask the students to imagine what the from the top of Dante’s Peak. You need to decide what
winter holiday centre will look like. Ask them to draw to do. Write a list of the most important things you need
a plan of the centre and include everything the town to do. What should you do first? Think about your
will need. friends and family? Think about the things you own.
Chapter 4 What should you take with you?
Before reading Chapters 10–11
5 Predict: Have the students work in small groups and
talk about the title of Chapter 4. What do you think After reading
‘Dead fish on the water’ means? Why do you think the 12 Pair work: Ask students to work in pairs and to talk
fish are dead? What has killed them? Is this important? about Ruth. How does Ruth feel when she sees her house
Why? Have the students write down their ideas. destroyed? See how many describing words you can think
of together and write them down. Think of words in
After reading your own language and look them up in your dictionary.
6 Check: Students see if their predictions for activity 5
are right. Chapter 12
Before reading
Chapter 5 13 Discuss: Ask students to discuss whether they think
After reading the boat will get across the lake. Will everybody on the
7 Role play: Student A is Rachel Wando. Rachel wants boat live? What could happen?
to know everything about the mountain and if it
is dangerous. Student B is Harry Dalton. Harry Chapter 13
thinks there is a problem and that the mountain is After reading
dangerous. He wants people to leave the town. 14 Write: Ask students to write a paragraph about what
Student C is Paul Dreyfus. Paul doesn’t agree with they think will happen to the family. Will Rachel and
Harry and wants Rachel to think everything will be Harry get married? Where will they live? What will they
OK. Have the conversation. do? Write down your ideas.
Vocabulary activities
For the Word List and vocabulary activities, go to
www.penguinreaders.com.

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