Classroom Guide for AFTER THE RIVER THE SUN

I am so pleased to share a free, professionally prepared Classroom and Reader's Guide for After the River the Sun. It includes new Common Core state standards. Click Here for the pdf.

Here's an excerpt about quests from pages three and four:
Reading
“Eckhart had read/that turtles liked to bask in the sun./This one might die from the cold … /A knight would rescue it.” [Page 19] Eckhart looks at challenges that come his way through the lens of the knights he wishes to emulate, especially Sir Gawain. Like those knights, he is on several different quests throughout the novel. 

Discuss with the class Eckhart’s many quests. For each one, have students identify the goal, his method for achieving it, and the ultimate resolution. Be sure to include the following and go as far beyond this list as your class takes you: 

 The quest for home 

 The quest to win the game of The Green Knight

 The quest for courage 

 The task of clearing, then replanting, the orchard 

 The quest to atone for his parents’ deaths 


Which other characters have quests (or goals)? Have the class name them and talk about how  they go about achieving their goals. 

RL 6.1, 6.2, 6.3; SL 6.1