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. There are many similarities between myths and legends all over the world. Watch author Tracey Baptiste talk about this idea in this video.

• What is a legendary character or mythological story from outside the Caribbean that is similar to a story or character in The Jumbies? (topic sentence)
• Explain three points of similarity between the two stories or characters.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, use information from Tracey Baptiste’s video to comment on why the two stories might be so similar.

2. Over the course of The Jumbies, Corinne grows in her understanding of both herself and others.

• What truth does Corinne learn about the idea of “good” and “bad” people? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples from the last half of the book that show that Corinne understands this truth.