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 paragraphs) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the novel over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Explore how Lyddie and Charlie’s relationship changes over the course of the novel.

• How does their relationship look at the beginning of the novel versus how it looks at the end of the novel? (topic sentence)
• Draw upon examples from the text in which it appears that Lyddie and Charlie have stopped communicating the way they once did and have begun developing different sets of values.
• In your concluding sentences, connect these changes to how Lyddie and Charlie each change as individuals and how their time apart affects their connection with one another.

2. Triphena’s story about the frog in a butter churn is a comment on Lyddie’s character.

• What are some examples of ways in which Lyddie keeps “churning” in order to stay afloat? (topic sentence)
• What circumstances keep threatening to pull her under? Who in the novel churns butter, and who drowns?
• In your concluding sentence, summarize how this adage is reflected in Lyddie’s successes and how these successes are a product of her character.