Legendborn

Legendborn

• Genre: Fiction; young adult; fantasy; contemporary; Arthurian legend
• Originally Published: 2020
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 730L; grades 7-12
• Structure/Length: 59 chapters; approximately 503 pages; approximately 18 hours and 54 minutes on audio
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: The story follows Bree Matthews, a 16-year-old girl, who—while coping with her mother’s death—uncovers a secret society called the “Legendborn” at her university. The society claims to descend from King Arthur’s knights, and a magical war is imminent. As Bree delves deeper into the world of the Legendborn, she begins to question her own history and the truth behind her mother’s death.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Grief and loss; racism and microaggressions; violence; trauma

Tracy Deonn, Author

• Bio: American author; her work combines her love for speculative storytelling and Black culture and history; she holds a bachelor’s degree in communication and a master’s degree in literature/storytelling from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Other Works: Legendborn is her debut novel.
• Awards: Legendborn was a finalist for the Lodestar Award (2021), a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2020), and a Nominee for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (2020). It also won a Coretta Scott King Award/John Steptoe Award for New Talent (2021).

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:

• White Magic and Black Magic
• Generational Trauma
• The Nature of Grief

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

• Develop an understanding of the allusion to King Arthur and his court as it surrounds the central plot and conflict.
• Study paired texts and other resources to make connections to the text’s themes of White Magic and Black Magic, Generational Trauma, and The Nature of Grief.
• Develop a pitch for testing the prowess of potential candidates based on the confines of the text.
• Analyze and evaluate the author’s craft to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding trauma, figurative language, grief, and other topics.