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. For a long time, Melissa cannot trust her mom enough to tell her she is a girl.

• How does Melissa’s mom’s attitude toward her daughter shift over time? (topic sentence)
• Incorporate at least 3 quotations or details from the novel that illustrate your points. Explain what each illustrates about Melissa’s mom.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, identify how accepting Melissa’s mom is as the novel ends. Is she completely accepting, mostly accepting, or only somewhat accepting? Also, make a connection to the theme of Natural Versus Normal.

2. Melissa hides her magazines until her mom discovers them.

• What is the significance of Melissa’s “secret” magazines? (topic sentence)
• Include at least 3 quotations or specific scenes and reasoning about how each develops your arguments.