AQA GCSE in English Literature · Free · no account needed
My Name is Leon
Kit de Waal · Published 2016 · Set in Birmingham, 1980–1981 · Set text on AQA GCSE English Literature (8702) — Modern texts option; not on Pearson Edexcel International GCSE (4ET1) — 8702 Paper 2, Section A — Modern texts (closed book; one essay from a choice of two, no extract)
A boy brings up his baby brother, a system separates them, and the summer of 1981 brings him home.
Two ways to study it
- Grade 9 Notes — condensed and exam-focused: 5 full character studies, 4 themes, quotation analysis, thesis statements and essay plans.
- The Complete Guide to My Name is Leon — the long version: 28 chapters from the world behind the text to the examination.
The characters
- Leon — The boy who looks after everyone, and is the last to be looked after · notes · character analysis, then teach it and defend it
- Carol — The loving, unreliable mother who cannot hold her family together · notes · character analysis, then teach it and defend it
- Maureen — The foster carer who turns a placement into a home · notes · character analysis, then teach it and defend it
- Tufty — The allotment gardener who becomes a father figure · notes · character analysis, then teach it and defend it
- Sylvia — Maureen's sister, who takes Leon in when there is nobody else · notes · character analysis, then teach it and defend it
The themes
- Family and belonging — Leon loses the family he was born into and slowly gains one he did not choose. · notes · theme analysis, then teach it and defend it
- The care system — Social workers, reviews and decisions shape Leon's life, usually without asking him. · notes · teach it and defend it
- Race and racism — Race shapes which brother is adopted, and the novel follows Leon into a community living with racist policing. · notes · theme analysis, then teach it and defend it
- Childhood and loss — A child forced to be an adult is given a childhood back. · notes · teach it and defend it
Think you understand it?
In Literature the thing you master is an interpretation. Each study above has two gates: Teach it — explain your reading to Ember, an AI pupil — and Defend it — hold it against Kit de Waal in a structured debate marked against descriptors you can read first. Completely free.