Gods of Jade and Shadow

Gods of Jade and Shadow

• Genre: Fiction; historical fantasy
• Originally Published: 2019
• Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
• Structure/Length: 35 chapters; approx. 384 pages; approx. 11 hours, 4 minutes on audio
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: It’s the Jazz Age, and Casiopea Tun dreams of a life she can call her own as she cleans the floors of her grandfather’s house. When she accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death from a wooden box in her grandfather’s room, Casiopea must help him recover the throne from his brother. Success could make all her dreams come true, but failure ultimately means her demise.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Colorism; violence; animal death; domestic abuse; human sacrifice; misogyny; ritualistic self-harm

Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Author

• Bio: Born in 1981; Mexican Canadian novelist, short story writer, editor, and publisher; born in Mexico; moved to Canada in 2004; holds a master’s degree in science and technology studies from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver; serves as publisher of Innsmouth Free Press, an imprint devoted to weird fiction; co-author of several books on HP Lovecraft; columnist for The Washington Post since 2019
• Other Works: Signal to Noise (2015); Certain Dark Things (2016); The Beautiful Ones (2017); Mexican Gothic (2020)
• Awards: Nebula Award Finalist (2019)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Power of Belief and Self-Determination
• The Difference Between Freedom and Stagnation
• Finding One’s Place in the World

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the cultural context around Mayan mythology that forms the foundation of Gods of Jade and Shadow and the historical context of Mexico in the 1920s.
• Study paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of The Power of Belief and Self-Determination, The Difference Between Freedom and Stagnation, and Finding One’s Place in the World.
• Analyze and evaluate the plot and character details to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding theme, allusions, and other topics.