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. In writing The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Pyle had to tread a fine line between depicting the outlaw’s life as fun and drawing valid moral lessons for young readers.

• How does Pyle combine moral principles with Robin’s fun-loving outlook on life? (topic sentence)
• Explain what moral principles Pyle encourages his readers to emulate in his novel. Then explain how Pyle makes use of Robin’s mischief to portray Robin Hood’s fun-loving personality. Finally, explain how Pyle manages to combine both Robin’s moral principles and his love of fun as a righteous outlaw for his readers.
• In your concluding sentences, explain why you think both characteristics of fun and high morals were important to Pyle’s intended message for his audience when writing Robin Hood.