My Name is Leon: GCSE English Literature
Foster care, race, brothers, 1980s — de Waal (first exam 2025)
The short version
1981 setting (New Cross, unrest in the background); Maureen; Tufty; the allotment; Leon’s lists and bike as motifs.
Key idea
Leon’s mum Carol cannot cope. Jake, the baby, is white; Leon is mixed-race. Social services split them: Jake is adopted quickly; Leon goes to Maureen, a foster carer. Leon keeps lists, rides his bike, and plots to get Jake back. He meets Tufty and Mr Burrows at the allotment — a place where things grow if you wait. 1981’s public anger (New Cross fire’s aftermath, unrest) is the weather around a private theft of a brother. Leon learns what “home” can still mean when the state has taken the plot he wanted.
Go a bit deeper
Do not memorise every page. Memorise the hinges. In the exam, name where you are (act / stave / chapter / scene).
Worked example
Worked example
Grade 2–3: You can say what happens, in order. Grade 5–6: You pick the bits that answer the question and skip the rest. Grade 9: You treat plot as structure: each turning point changes power, guilt, love or hope — and you say so.
Lessons in this topic
- The story (whole-text map)
- People (the writer’s methods)
- Ideas the question might name
- Methods, form and context
- Write the essay (Grade 2 to Grade 9)
In the app each lesson is video (when we have a real YouTube id) then intro, learn and summary steps.
What the examiner wants
Newer text: be accurate on plot beats and names. Childhood viewpoint + political weather (without dumping a riot essay). Family questions should include the care system as a character, not only Carol.
Try these questions
Cover the answers and have a go first. Worked solutions are underneath.
In the exam, My Name is Leon is
A useful whole-text reference is
Characters should be written as
A theme paragraph must
Common mistakes
- A plot dump from the opening to the ending, with no question word, is a Grade 2–3 answer wearing a lot of ink. Underline the question. Only tell the story that proves it.
- A theme dump that ignores the question fails AO1 no matter how many quotations you own.
- “Shakespeare was born in 1564” unlocks nothing. “A Jacobean audience had just seen a gunpowder plot against a king, so killing Duncan is an attack on order itself” unlocks the horror of the murder.
- “In this essay I will discuss the themes of…” is a Grade 2 opening. Answer in the first sentence.
Answers and working
Frequently asked questions
Is this open book?
No. AQA English Literature is closed-book. You get an extract on Paper 1; you must still write about the whole text. Learn short exact quotations.
Which exam board is this My Name is Leon page for?
The ideas are board-agnostic for AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC and CCEA. Paper lengths and question numbers differ — check your specification.
Is English Literature tiered?
No. GCSE English Literature is untiered. Everyone sits the same papers. AO4 SPaG is awarded on certain questions — check the paper.
Learn, try, get feedback, fix the mistake
Open the stepped lesson, then the quiz with hints. Required-practical and calculation questions use the same method you will need in the paper.
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