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. Artemis Fowl is an anti-hero. What is an anti-hero? What traits and qualities might an anti-hero possess? Can you think of other examples of anti-heroes in literature?

Teaching Suggestion: Artemis Fowl is a character who plots and carries out a kidnapping and other “dastardly” actions, yet readers are drawn in by his conflicts, motivations, and personality. Encouraging students to understand that Artemis fits an anti-hero archetype can help them apply those characteristics to this protagonist as they move through the novel. Once students have a common working definition of an anti-hero and their role in a story, readers might meet in small groups to brainstorm anti-heroes from popular shows and films. They could also work together to create a new anti-hero figure for an original or existing story; group members could share their anti-hero with the class, explaining how they fit the definition.

• Literary Devices offers a definition for and examples of anti-heroes.
• This discussion offers common characteristics readers discover in an anti-hero. (Teacher-appropriate; not student-facing due to vocabulary and mature examples.