Echo Mountain

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. What do you know about the Great Depression and the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929? What does a “stock market crash” mean? How did the crash affect the lives of Americans for the next decade, and how did people learn to survive despite these challenges?

Teaching Suggestion: Depending on past learning, students may have some or little familiarity with the Great Depression era. Use the first discussion point to clarify what exactly a stock market crash is; then students who are not familiar with the subject should still be able to reason out the possible effects such a situation might have on average people. While the novel’s focus is not on the crash itself, the effects are one of its driving forces.

• In the 10-minute video “Interviews with Survivors of the Great Depression,” people who lived through the 1930s tell stories of everyday life during that time.
• “Migrant Mother” is a famous photograph of a woman during the Great Depression with her children; it embodies the desperation and constant worry of the era.

2. Natural remedies involve the use of plant and animal products to treat medical problems such as wounds and colds. Why do you think natural remedies became so commonplace during the Great Depression? Do you know of any natural remedies still used today?

Teaching Suggestion: In the interview clip above, students were able to hear people discuss their experiences during the 1930s, including the types of natural remedies that were often used. This question allows students to showcase their knowledge of natural remedies and their ability to apply that knowledge to make educated guesses as to why these remedies were so common during this era.

• “A Guide to Natural Remedies” gives an overview of what natural remedies are and cautions readers against using them without prior knowledge.
• “Use of Home Remedies: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Patients in Germany” is a scholarly article outlining a study in Germany that analyzed common home remedies and their effectiveness for managing minor ailments. Strong readers with an interest in the topic may read the Abstract section for a summary of the study and its conclusions.

Short Activity

Echo Mountain centers around 12-year-old protagonist Ellie, whose family moves from town to the mountains after losing everything. There, Ellie learns to use natural remedies to help others. Write a one-page story about a day in the life of a girl or boy your age living during the Great Depression. This activity connects to the novel’s theme of Persistence in the Face of Great Obstacles.

Teaching Suggestion: Encourage students to be creative and apply their knowledge from previous discussions and the interviews with people who survived the Great Depression to write their story. After writing, students can discuss their stories in small groups.

• The poem “Pantoum of the Great Depression” by Donald Justice describes the Persistence in the Face of Great Obstacles that people of the Great Depression demonstrated and states the importance of “going on” in the face of such obstacles. Explain to students that the word pantoum describes the form of the poem and its pattern of rhyming words.

Differentiation Suggestion: Visual learners can choose to draw a portrait or depiction of everyday life rather than writing a short story.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

In Echo Mountain, Ellie and her family survive losing everything by migrating to a mountainside to live in the wild—something they have never experienced before. They must adapt to new environmental conditions, as well as a new family dynamic. Can you think of a time when you encountered a great obstacle? How did you persevere through it, and what did you learn from the experience?

Teaching Suggestion: This open-ended question, which explores the theme of Persistence in the Face of Great Obstacles, has infinite possibilities for answers. Encourage students to think about something that was truly difficult for them personally, not something they think would be difficult for others or in general. Students can choose whether to share their responses or keep them private; leaving this option open will hopefully inspire students to be more open with their responses.