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

1. Skyla and Santiago are very different people, with different attitudes toward their children. Reread the reunion scenes in Chapter 2 and Chapter 18, when Naomi and Owen encounter their parents for the first time in seven years.

• What do the differences between those scenes reveal about each parent’s character? (topic sentence)
• In the body of your essay, compare and contrast the dialogue, Naomi’s internal landscape (monologue, memories, feelings), and body language. Draw conclusions from these details that help you make sense of Skyla and Santiago as characters.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, discuss whether Skyla and Santiago are flat or dynamic characters. Are they realistic? Why or why not?

2. Skyla’s return brings mixed emotions to several characters, including Naomi.