68 pages • 2 hours read
Christopher Paul CurtisA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
In the novel, Elijah observes:
When Mr. Frederick Douglass is speechifying, he says that the second hardest step in making yourself free is the first one that you take. He says after you make up your mind and take the first step, most of the rest of ‘em come pretty easy. But he says that the most hardest step to take is the very last one. He says that finally crossing over from slavery to freedom is the most horrifyingest, most bravest thing a slave will ever have to do (Chapter 11).
Take some time to reflect on these words and what they mean. Discuss these questions, using text details to support your answers.
Teaching Suggestion: Students can use this discussion to engage with two of the novel’s central themes: The Strength of Community and Family and Connections Between Opportunity, Equality, and Freedom. This discussion may prompt students to go beyond the world of the novel and place its messages into historical context.
By Christopher Paul Curtis
Bucking the Sarge
Christopher Paul Curtis
Bud, Not Buddy
Christopher Paul Curtis
The Madman of Piney Woods
Christopher Paul Curtis
The Mighty Miss Malone
Christopher Paul Curtis
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963
Christopher Paul Curtis