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. Brainstorm a list of books or movies in which a particular culture’s legends, folktales, myths, or other stories play a role. In what different ways do writers and filmmakers incorporate these cultural tales or details into their stories?

Teaching Suggestion: In offering examples, try to inspire students with a varied representation of genres and cultures: the Ragnarök myth in Thor: Ragnarök, Greek mythic characters in the Percy Jackson series, Hindu myths in Aru Shah and the End of Time, and the Golem legend in Sweep: A Story of a Girl and Her Monster. Connect to When You Trap a Tiger by explaining that protagonist Lily will be focused on her grandmother’s Korean stories for much of the novel, and that tigers are a recurring symbol in traditional Korean literature and art. Expand the discussion of student responses by introducing the theme of The Perception and Importance of Stories, and by considering the influence of folktales, myths, and legends on popular culture, with examples from these or other articles.

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