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

1. Throughout the novel, Birdy observes varieties of communities coping with loss and experiencing the grief of losing a loved one.

• How is Death a Shared Experience for the characters of the novel? (topic sentence)
• Find and discuss three examples in which death unites both communities as well as enemies.
• In which ways does this theme speak to shared experiences of humanity? Briefly discuss in your concluding sentences.

2. Although Birdy learns the importance of Rules of Engagement in warfare, he quickly understands that the reality is much  more complicated.

• How are the Rules of Engagement treated by the characters of the novel in the reality of war? (topic sentence)
• Find and discuss three examples in which the Rules of Engagement are knowingly disregarded by either side.