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 are some of the challenges facing underdeveloped nations and the people who live in poverty there?

Teaching Suggestion: With sensitivity to low-income families, it may be beneficial to contextualize this novel’s setting and characters’ financial situations by discussing the disadvantages of people around the world who survive on less than $2/day. The articles below mention government corruption and how it plays a part in poverty. This is central to the novel’s themes of Corruption, Poverty, and Education. The main characters are in an impoverished situation in the midst of a political scandal. To improve their situation, the boys embark on a journey to recover stolen funds from a corrupt government.

• This article describes some of the challenges facing the poor in underdeveloped countries.
• This article details the 10 poorest countries in the world and some of the political and economic backgrounds of those countries.
• This 7-minute video explores the main reasons for the prevalence of poverty in some areas.