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 below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. In this novel, Stone incorporates various writing styles, including a third-person limited omniscient narrator, letters to Dr. King, and dramatic dialogue.

• What purpose does this mix of styles serve? (topic sentence)
• Discuss why Stone might deploy these three approaches. For example, Stone may want to provide readers with distinct experiences that allow insight into certain aspects of the story.
• Consider what, specifically, each of the three approaches does for the narrative. For example, with the third-person limited omniscient narrator, readers are privy to Justyce's thoughts as well as events that move the plot of the story along. With the letter to Dr. King, readers are given more in-depth access to Justyce's feelings and interpretations of events.

2. Justyce and Jared each experience change over the course of the novel.