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. Brainstorm stories from television, books, film, comics, games, and other media that demonstrate the difference between being selfless and selfish when disaster strikes.

Teaching Suggestion and Helpful Links: As students brainstorm popular titles of books and movies, discuss how Selflessness Versus Selfishness in the Face of Disaster affected these stories’ outcomes. Ask what they admire about selflessness, whether it should be expected of others, and if it can ever go too far. Explain that you will be reading a book in which a character has to choose between selfish and selfless actions during a serious outbreak of disease in her city.

2. What kinds of opportunities to be selfish or selfless might people be faced with during an outbreak of disease?

Teaching Suggestion and Helpful Links: As students imagine possibilities, help them broaden their thoughts into more than one area—if they focus primarily on social interactions, for instance, ask about economic and medical interactions as well. If you are comfortable, help students connect these questions to the global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 that began in 2019.