Cogheart

Cogheart is about a girl who lost her Dad in a jet accident and is desperate to find him.

She and her mechanimal fox Malkin set off on an adventure because Lily is determined that her Dad isn’t dead. Lily makes lots of friends along the journey who help her with her mission.

This is a book with a great heroine and an intriguing storyline, set in an alternate Victorian Era. It talks about friendship, kindness, and hope.

In this chapter, Lily Grantham, a student at Miss Octavia Scrimshaw’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies, struggles with the strict and outdated rules of the institution and her own desire for adventure. As she navigates her deportment class, led by the stern and demanding Mrs. McKracken (whom Lily nicknames “The Kraken”), Lily finds herself caught between the drudgery of her Victorian education and her fascination with penny dreadful, particularly Varney the Vampyre Versus The Air-Pirates. During class, Lily’s attempts to read the magazine hidden inside her schoolbook cause a commotion, leading to a clash with the Kraken, who confiscates her magazines and reprimands her for her disobedience. The chapter further explores Lily’s dissatisfaction with her current life and her longing for excitement, setting the stage for her decision to hide her remaining penny dreadful and avoid her French conversation class.

Later, Lily finds solace in the dormitory, where she encounters Molly Tarnish, a mechanical maid who is distressed over accidentally dyeing the bed sheets. Lily helps Molly fix the mistake, showing her compassionate side despite the harsh environment. Their moment of camaraderie is interrupted by two other girls, Alice and Lucretia, who mock Molly and escalate the situation into a physical altercation with Lily. This leads to Lily’s punishment, as the Kraken locks her in the dark, ominous coal bunker. The chapter ends with Lily in the bunker, grappling with her fear and the unsettling discovery of a dismembered arm among the coal, symbolizing the dark underbelly of the academy’s facade of propriety.

In this extract, Malkin, a mechanical animal, flees through a misty forest to deliver John’s final message to Lily before time runs out. As he navigates the dense undergrowth and boggy ground, he is pursued by men from the wrecked airship and their mechanical dog. Despite the harsh weather and difficult terrain, Malkin perseveres, moving stealthily to evade his pursuers. He faces various obstacles, including thorny bushes and a muddy field, while the searchlight of the airship sweeps the forest in search of him. Malkin is struck by a bullet from one of the pursuers, which severely injures him but fuels his determination to complete his mission.

As Malkin continues to evade capture, he struggles with the pain from his injury but remains focused on delivering John’s message. He uses the fog to his advantage and manages to escape the men’s immediate grasp. Reaching the edge of the forest, he sees Brackenbridge village in the distance, symbolizing the near end of his perilous journey. The extract closes with Malkin’s resolve to fulfil his promise despite the dangers he has faced, emphasising the themes of courage and sacrifice in the face of overwhelming odds.

Robert Townsend, awakened by a mysterious noise early in the morning, observes an unusual military airship and a group of men and a mech-dog approaching the village. He follows a mechanical fox, which leads him to an old shed where he discovers the fox, unwound and apparently abandoned. By misleading the men away from the fox’s location, Robert uncovers a hint of a larger, sinister plot involving the airship and its crew.

Back in the clock shop, Robert struggles with his apprentice duties, further distracted by the morning’s events. His father scolds him for breaking a valuable clock but encourages him to keep trying. After work, Robert returns to the shed, reflecting on the strange occurrences and the potential dangers they represent, as he begins to sense that there are deeper mysteries at play in the village.

In this chapter, Lily, recently punished and confined to the freezing coal bunker, is summoned to Miss Scrimshaw’s office. There, she discovers that Madame Verdigris, her father’s housekeeper, has come with distressing news: Lily’s father’s airship has crashed, and he is presumed dead. Overwhelmed by the news, Lily faints, but soon recovers to find Madame Verdigris preparing to take her back to Brackenbridge. Madame Verdigris explains that Lily will wait at the family home for further updates, while Miss Scrimshaw arranges for Lily’s immediate departure.

At the airdock, Lily and Madame Verdigris board a zeppelin bound for Brackenbridge. As they prepare to leave, Lily reflects on her memories of saying goodbye to her father at the same terminal, feeling a profound sense of loss and uncertainty about her future. The chapter closes with Lily boarding the zeppelin, contemplating her isolation and the difficulties that lie ahead under Madame Verdigris’s guardianship, all while a mysterious man in the crowd reminds her of her father but remains out of reach.

In Chapter 5, Lily and Madame Verdigris board a zeppelin to Brackenbridge after receiving the tragic news of Lily’s father’s presumed death in an airship crash. While on the zeppelin, Lily encounters Mr. Roach, a mysterious man with mirrored eye sockets who introduces himself as a fellow passenger. Mr. Roach engages in unsettling conversation with Madame Verdigris and tries to offer Lily sweets, but she declines under the guidance of Madame Verdigris. During the conversation, Mr. Roach makes cryptic remarks about upcoming changes in Madame Verdigris’s life, which Lily finds both intriguing and alarming. After Mr. Roach departs, Lily and Madame Verdigris arrive at Brackenbridge Airstation, where Captain Springer, Papa’s mechanical driver, greets them and takes them to the manor.

At the manor, Lily is struck by the cold, unwelcoming atmosphere of the house that was once filled with her father’s warmth. Madame Verdigris immediately takes over the master bedroom, displacing Papa’s belongings and setting herself up as the new head of the household. Mrs. Rust, the mechanical cook, welcomes Lily and informs her of Madame Verdigris’s recent actions, which include rummaging through Papa’s office. As Lily settles into her old room, she is filled with grief over her father’s death and unease about Madame Verdigris’s intentions. The chapter ends with Lily trying to push away her worries and sleep, troubled by thoughts of the enigmatic Mr. Roach and Madame Verdigris’s recent behaviour.

Robert discovers a damaged mechanimal, a mechanical fox, in his da’s workshop after finding it hiding in the lane, having been chased and shot by men from the village. His da, Thaddeus, recognizes the sophisticated design as the work of the reclusive Professor Hartman from Brackenbridge Manor. The discovery of a letter addressed to “Lily,” the professor’s daughter, prompts Thaddeus to consider helping both the fox and the professor, despite the risks. The chapter delves into the father-son dynamic as Thaddeus reflects on the nature of good and evil, the existence of mechanical souls, and their responsibilities in a world filled with violence.

Together, Robert and Thaddeus work late into the night to repair the fox’s damaged internal mechanisms. During their labor, they discuss philosophical questions about the essence of life and the nature of mechanical beings, with Thaddeus sharing insights from his past experiences working with Hartman. As they finish the repairs and wind the fox in hopes of reviving it, they leave the letter on the workbench, indicating their intent to deliver it to Lily and their readiness to face the challenges ahead.

In this chapter, Lily Hartman wakes to a snowy morning and finds two unusual steam-wagons in the driveway: a luxurious Rolls-Royce Phantom and a smaller, unremarkable vehicle. She notices that two of her father’s mechanical servants, Mr. Wingnut and Miss Tock, have been left out in the cold to freeze, a sign of Madame Verdigris’s neglectful behaviour since her father’s disappearance. Lily goes to the kitchen to seek comfort from Mrs. Rust, who reveals that Madame Verdigris has been careless with the mechanicals and has taken all the winding keys. Mrs. Rust also mentions that Madame Verdigris has been probing into the family’s affairs and that there is a lawyer, Mr. Sunder, visiting today to discuss legal matters related to Lily’s father’s disappearance. Despite the warm atmosphere of the kitchen and Mrs. Rust’s kind words, Lily is overwhelmed by grief and anxiety over her father’s fate and the future.

When Lily meets with Madame Verdigris, Professor Silverfish, and Mr. Sunder, she learns that her father’s will has named Madame Verdigris as her guardian and appointed Professor Silverfish as an informal advisor. The lawyer discloses that the estate is deeply in debt, and there might be a need to sell off valuable assets, including the mechanicals and the house itself. Lily, devastated by the news, argues that her father would have wanted to protect his creations and their home. Professor Silverfish, acknowledging Lily’s distress, offers to help by storing her father’s work at the Mechanists’ Guild and urges her to keep an eye on Madame Verdigris. After their conversation, Professor Silverfish departs, leaving Lily with a card for contacting him in London and a renewed sense of hope and resolve. As he leaves, Lily watches him drive away, reflecting on the heavy decisions she must face under Madame Verdigris’s guardianship.

This question set is linked to Chapter 8 of Cogheart.

KS2 teachers know how vital it is to provide engaging reading resources that help pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 develop core comprehension skills. Whether it’s guided reading or independent tasks, having high-quality texts and well-structured questions makes a big difference. This resource reinforces the curriculum objectives whilst gaining knowledge of the book concepts.

This comprehension is linked to Chapter 10 of the book.

Did you know?
Our comprehensions easily integrate with your reading planning and follow a 7-chapter pattern. Our reading resources are flexible, can be used for homework or classwork and have been mapped to national curriculum objectives.

Why not try our online question sets?
This ensures that classroom time is used effectively without additional workload, with comprehensions marked in real time.

This printable resource is linked to Chapter 11 of Cogheart.

How to use our resources
A useful way to complete our reading comprehension is to start by reading the chapter of the book by printing it off, offering a digital copy through seesaw or equivalent, or by giving them a copy of the book and then complete the comprehension.

Did you know?
Our summarising questions is multiple choice and includes the main events or identifies key details, helping to reinforce narrative structure and improve their ability to retain information.

Chapter 12 comprehension for Cogheart is aimed at UKS2 classes.

For KS2 learners, especially those in Year 5 and Year 6, exposure to a wide range of quality texts such as Cogheart encourages a love for reading. By using our comprehension resources, your KS2 children tackle not only retrieval and informational questions, but also a broader spectrum of spelling, punctuation and grammar style questions too, encouraging both reading and writing development.

This comprehension should be completed after reading Chapter 13 of Cogheart.

Embedding comprehension tasks into your weekly literacy sessions doesn’t have to be difficult. When effective resources are available for each chapter, it becomes easier to assess where children are understanding and the areas needing progressed.

Did you know?
Our sets consist of 12 questions each chapter. The first 4 are generally retrieval, using information from the first few pages. The next 4 are linked to SPAG. The final 4 are deeper level questions: sequencing, inference, summarising, authorial techniques and more.

This resource links to Chapter 14 of Cogheart.

In our reading comprehensions at KS2, we have a balanced mix of multiple choice and single answer questions to promote deeper thinking in your Year 5 and Year 6 class. Our question structure and formats work well for targeting specific skills and will be revisited 7 chapters later.

This comprehension should be completed after reading Chapter 15 of Cogheart.

Encouraging pupils to read this chapter of the book during guided reading time offers independent thought and analysis of the chapter. Afterwards, students can answer our comprehension question sets involving summarising, retrieval, and inference. These critical reading skills are fundamental for Year 5 and Year 6 success and exam preparation.

This question set should be completed after reading Chapter 16 of Cogheart.

High-quality comprehensions should include questions that address many key objectives within the KS2 literacy curriculum. For Year 5 and Year 6, this means not just assessing the retention of information, but also tackling questions that test spelling, punctuation and grammar within context of the book.

This question set is linked to Chapter 17 of the book Cogheart.

These resources feature questions that target a range of key objectives from the KS2 literacy curriculum. For Year 5 and Year 6, this goes beyond checking information recall — it includes assessing spelling, punctuation, and grammar (SPAG) within the book’s context.

The next question set is linked to Chapter 18 of Cogheart.

After reading, students can tackle our comprehension question sets focused on summarising, retrieval, and inference. These essential reading skills are crucial for Year 5 and Year 6 exam readiness and long-term success.

This comprehension is linked to Chapter 19 of Cogheart.

Our KS2 reading comprehensions include a combination of multiple choice and single answer questions, designed to deepen engagement for Year 5 and Year 6 classes. This format helps target specific comprehension skills and helps to reinforce understanding.

This question set is linked to Chapter 20 and Chapter 21 of Cogheart.

Incorporating comprehension tasks into your weekly literacy sessions can be simple. With effective chapter-based resources available, it’s easier to pinpoint pupils’ understanding and identify areas that require development.

Did you know?
Each of our chapter sets includes 12 questions. The first 4 focus on retrieval from the early pages. The next 4 assess SPAG skills. The final 4 delve into higher-order thinking, such as sequencing, inference, summarising, and authorial techniques.

This next question set is linked to Chapter 22 of the book.

KS2 pupils, particularly those in Year 5 and Year 6, benefit from reading a wide range of quality texts like Cogheart, which fosters a passion for reading.

Using our comprehension resources, students tackle retrieval and informational questions, alongside a variety of spelling, punctuation, and grammar-based tasks that enhance both their reading and writing progress.

This comprehension is linked to Chapter 23 of the book.

How to use our resources
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A practical way to deliver our reading comprehension is by first providing access to the chapter — either as a printout, a digital version via Seesaw or similar platforms, or a physical copy of the book — and then completing the associated comprehension questions.

Did you know?


Our multiple choice summarising questions help pupils identify key details or main events, supporting their grasp of narrative structure and boosting memory retention.

This comprehension should be completed after reading Chapter 24 of Cogheart.

Did you know?


Our comprehensions align seamlessly with your reading plans, following a consistent 7-chapter cycle. These flexible resources can be used in class or as homework and are carefully mapped to the national curriculum.

This resource is linked to Chapter 25 from the book Cogheart.

At KS2, effective comprehension relies on asking the right types of questions. Our materials feature a mix of multiple choice and single answer formats to help pupils practise essential skills like retrieval, inference, summarising, and sequencing.

This structured approach challenges Year 5 and Year 6 pupils with our printable comprehension sets.

The final comprehension is linked to Chapter 26 of Cogheart.

KS2 teachers understand the importance of providing engaging and effective reading resources to build core comprehension skills in Year 5 and Year 6.

Whether during guided sessions or independent reading, high-quality texts paired with well-crafted questions enhance learning, reinforce curriculum goals, and deepen understanding of book content.