My kid and I just read A Wrinkle In Time. Well, I read it to him. And he’s six, so we used the graphic novel.
At the end, there’s a page of Discussion Questions. See how many of our recurring questioning problems you spot (I typed these all out down at the bottom):
The Problems
- They’re all one-offs.
- There’s no scaffolding.
- There’s no movement up Bloom’s.
- They leap randomly from topic to topic.
- It’s quantity rather than quality.
A Wrinkle In Time is an incredible book. These questions don’t do it justice. Let’s take just one question and renovate it!
Renovating Question #2
I picked Question #2, which is about the characters’ gifts.
If you’re not familiar with the book, Meg (the main character) is stubborn, impatient, and often angry. Her mentor, Mrs. Whatsit, gives her these faults as her “gift” to survive a confrontation with the villain, IT – who is a big, telepathic brain. (Yes, this book is amazing.)
- Before they confront IT, Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace are given gifts. Calvin’s natural gift of communication is strengthened, Meg is given her faults, and Charles Wallace is given the resilience of his childhood. What gift do you think you would receive from Mrs Whatsit?
Notice how this question doesn’t actually engage with the story?
Most of it just summarizes the plot. Then it leaps to the fluffy question: “What would your gift be?” This is fluff because a student could write literally anything! They don’t even need to have read the book.
- “My gift would be a calculator because I like math.”
- “My gift would be a guitar because I play the guitar.”
- “My gift would be a unicorn because I am unique.”
Blah.
Worst of all? This question ignores the most incredible thing about the gifts!
Meg’s gift is her faults!
How could you NOT ask students to think about this!? (ok ok. phew. I’m settling down…).
Let’s Fix Question #2
We’ll start simple and grow more complex with each step:
- Meg’s faults become her strength. In this story, list moments where Meg’s faults are a problem. Then, list moments where her faults are a strength.
- What characters in other stories (or people from history) used their faults as strengths? (examples: Tony Stark from Iron Man, Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon, and Percy Jackson.)
- Form a team of three characters from your list. Their faults must work together.
- Describe how their faults complement each other.
- Create a situation where this team triumphs as a result of their combined faults.
- Turn this into a short story, a skit, or a comic book. (or whatever)
This sequence digs deep into the interesting idea that “a fault can also be a strength.” It’s so much better than just asking, “What would your gift be?”
I also wrote a whole article about how I’d approach a book study of A Wrinkle In Time.
The Nine Discussion Questions
Since that photo is hard to read, I’ve typed out the questions:
- This graphic novel was adapted from a classic prose novel. Adaptations are very common—many movies and plays were originally books. What is unique about adapting a book into a graphic novel? How is it similar to adapting a book into a play or movie?
- Before they confront IT, Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace are given gifts. Calvin’s natural gift of communication is strengthened, Meg is given her faults, and Charles Wallace is given the resilience of his childhood. What gift do you think you would receive from Mrs. Whatsit?
- IT argues that everyone is safer and happier because IT controls them, but obviously, Camazotz is a very scary place. What do you think is the right balance between freedom and playing by the rules?
- Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin rely on instincts to make many of their decisions. What do you think of this strategy? Do you trust your own instincts?
- Many graphic novels represent three dimensions on a piece of paper—but this one had to represent two, three, and more dimensions when the children traveled via tesseract. What did you think of the illustrations of these hard to imagine concepts?
- Meg tells IT, “Like and equal are not the same thing at all!” Do you agree? How do the ideas of “like” and “equal” differ?
- Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin venture thousands of light-years from home to find Mr. Murry, and Meg returns to Camazotz alone to save Charles Wallace. How far would you go to save a family member? What if you weren’t sure you would succeed?
- The Dark Thing is evil. Mrs. Which tells the children that some of the best fighters of evil have come from Earth. They list great people throughout history: Jesus, da Vinci, Shakespeare, and more. Who would you add to their list? What makes you choose them?
- Meg’s advantage against IT is that she has love and IT does not. What types of love do you see in the novel? What strengths is Meg able to draw from loving and being loved?
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