Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Chronicle a Quest”

Using the original text for inspiration, students will create a new quest involving one or more characters from the book for presentation through a skit or expressive oral storytelling.

In a group of 3-5 students, use a traditional hero’s journey plotline to create a new quest for a character in Steinbeck’s The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights.

• Brainstorm the tasks involved in a quest and the lessons learned.
• Decide on the subject of the quest and the central conflict that your hero will confront.
• Select your cast of characters. Choose a character from the text to serve as the hero figure on the quest. This character can be a main figure or an incidental character whom you promote to a protagonist position.
• Select secondary characters from the legends for your tale or create newly imagined ones. What archetypal character roles will be needed for your hero’s quest? Populate your story with characters to fill the needed roles.
• Confer with your group on the plot points of the hero’s quest.