Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What elements are common to novels that are survival stories? What traits do protagonists typically reveal in survival stories?

Teaching Suggestion: This question connects to the theme Surviving Against the Odds. The Cay is a classic survival story; there are many others in the genre with which students might be familiar. Once students have identified commonalities, they might determine category headings (e.g., setting, conflict, resolution, etc.) and group elements by category. Traits that enable characters to survive in these stories might include physical strength, mental resilience, creativity, knowledge of nature, and the ability to stay hopeful.

• Eight Below Trailer - The movie Eight Below is about ​​two Antarctic explorers who are forced to leave their team of sled dogs in order to survive. Watching the trailer may help students identify the characteristics of a survival story.
• “Survival Stories” - These are Reader’s Digest’s real-life survival stories. Students might utilize one or several pre-approved stories to analyze for commonalities. (Teacher-appropriate; not student-facing without teacher guidance due to mature content and potential sensitivity issues.