90 pages 3 hours read

Priscilla Cummings

Red Kayak

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2004

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Essay Topics

1.

Memory and the past are central themes of The Red Kayak. How do they affect the structure of the novel?

2.

Although Brady is narratingThe Red Kayak months after most of the major events, we do not learn the whole truth about what caused the accident until midway through the novel. How does Cummings use foreshadowing to hint at Brady's eventual discovery?

3.

Class tension is at the heart of both Digger's sabotaging of the kayak and the disputes surrounding government regulation of crabbing. What do these parallel storylines allow Cummings to say about social class?