The Girl Who Drank the Moon

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 examples of folktales, myths, or fairy tales that you have heard or read? What purpose do these stories serve?

Teaching Suggestion: The Girl Who Drank the Moon contains many examples of folktales, myths, and fairy tales from the imagined world in which the story takes place. Students are likely to know many examples of folk stories and may enjoy sharing their ideas in a class discussion. They may be uncertain about what cultural function these stories serve; the resources below can be used to fill in the gaps in their understanding. This will help prepare them to understand how the folklore in The Girl Who Drank the Moon develops both the novel’s setting and its themes.

• This 4-minute video from the Center for Teaching and Learning Mathematics offers an introduction to the forms and functions of folk stories.
• This 1-minute video offers brief but clear commentary on the function of folktales by author Carmen Agra Deedy.
• This article from Britannica Kids briefly defines folktales, myths, fables, and fairy tales.

2. What is a symbol? What are some events and objects from nature that could be used as symbols? What might they symbolize?

Teaching Suggestion: If your students do not yet have the background knowledge to answer the first question in this prompt, you might offer them one of the first two resources listed below before they attempt an answer. To check their understanding, you might ask them to answer the first question individually, in writing. The final resource listed below can be used to practice decoding symbols before students move on to answering the second and third questions in this prompt. They might enjoy answering these questions together; a class discussion also offers an opportunity for students to see that the meaning of symbols is not fixed but depends on context and audience. Understanding this will benefit them as they grapple with the novel’s many symbolic uses of nature.

• This 5-minute video from Oregon State University explains symbolism in a nuanced and thoughtful way appropriate for more advanced middle-grade readers.
• This 2-minute video offers a succinct explanation of symbolism appropriate for even the youngest readers.
• This 9-minute video is an animated short that focuses on food as a symbol of love, the importance of family, and tradition. Note that this story includes the implied death of a parent and may not be suitable for all students.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

If something bad happens, is it better to try to forget about the incident, or do you think it is better to remember it? Why? Does it make a difference to your answer if it is a whole community pretending something bad did not happen, not just a single person?

Teaching Suggestion: In The Girl Who Drank the Moon, the repression of painful memories leads to unfortunate consequences. This prompt asks students to begin thinking about this tricky psychological dilemma in advance of encountering it in the novel. Students may be able to think more deeply and authentically about this question if they at least initially answer it individually, in writing.