Book Scavenger

Bertman’s novel is about Emily’s struggle to solve the Book Scavenger puzzle, but it is also about her struggle to solve the “puzzle” of friendship. How does Emily’s ability to make and keep friends change over the course of this book?

Consider these questions before you respond to the question in bold.

• What does Emily substitute for face-to-face friendships at the beginning of the story?
• Why is it harder for Emily to make and keep friends than it is for Matthew?
• Besides their common interest in puzzles, what draws Emily to James?
• What events and story details from the middle of the story show that Emily does not fully understand how to be a friend to James?
• How do later events in the story demonstrate that she has grown as a friend? What do you predict will happen in Emily’s friendships after the story ends? Why do you say this?

Teaching Suggestion: This prompt invites students to consider how Emily grows and changes during the course of the story. If your students are ready for terms like “static,” “dynamic,” “round,” and “flat,” you might introduce these and ask students to use them in their discussion of Emily’s growth. Bertman’s narrative stresses Emily’s initial failure to understand the need for reciprocal support in a friendship, and students will likely focus on this facet of friendship. You might ask them what additional aspects of friendship are important and solicit their ideas about Emily’s growth in these areas. More advanced students might also be encouraged to articulate how Bertman interweaves the theme of How to Be a Good Friend with her other main themes, Stability Versus Adventure and Winning at All Costs.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students with attentional and executive function issues may need the questions written in numbered form with spacing rather than as a block of text, so that they can focus on one aspect of the prompt at a time. You might point out to them that the first sentence is introductory and does not require a response, the second sentence is the general question, and the remaining sentences create a step-by-step sequence for answering.

Students with attentional and executive function issues might benefit from creating a three-column chart in which they can list evidence of Emily’s initial failures, attempts at growth, and final successes as a friend. If your students are answering in writing, students who struggle with written language and those who are emergent English language learners might be allowed to simply turn in a chart like this rather than writing out complete answers.