Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Pip's capstone project entries provide the narrative structure for A Good Girl's Guide to Murder.

• How does Pip characterize the key figures of the case (including Andie Bell) in these entries? (topic sentence)
• How does Pip's characterization of these key figures differ from the Fairview community's characterization of them, particularly in how they characterized Sal before he was proven innocent?
• In your conclusion, explain how The Importance of Finding Out the Truth compelled Pip to seek answers to the questions that surrounded the disappearance of Andie Bell. Consider how the structure of the narrative, using Pip's capstone entries, clearly demonstrates why the truth is so important to Pip. 

2. As Pip unravels the mystery surrounding the Bell case, she learns things about herself as well.