Shadow and Bone

Shadow and Bone

• Genre: Fiction; young adult fantasy adventure/romance
• Originally Published: 2012
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 800L; grades 7-9
• Structure/Length: Prologue, 22 chapters, and epilogue; approx. 356 pages; approx. 9 hours, 21 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: In this first book of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, teenage orphan Alina discovers she is a Sun Summoner, able to call forth light. The powerful Darkling, a Shadow Summoner and leader of the Grisha army, proposes that they collaborate for good, but she soon learns that he has other ambitions.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Sexual exploitation; violence

Leigh Bardugo, Author

• Bio: Born in 1975 in Jerusalem and grew up in Los Angeles; earned her BA in English from Yale University; worked as a copywriter and a journalist before writing her first novel; defines the genre of her Grishaverse books as Tsarpunk inspired by Tsarist Russia; writes short fiction as well as novels; sang in a band called Captain Automatic; Shadow and Bone adapted as a Netflix series
• Other Works: Six of Crows (2015); Wonder Woman: Warbringer (2017); Ninth House (2019); King of Scars (2019)
• Awards: Romantic Times Book Award (nominee; 2012); Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (nominee; 2012); ABC New Voices Title (long-listed; 2012); Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year (long-listed; 2013)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Power, Belonging, and Self-Acceptance
• Sacrifice, Mercy, and Greed
• The Tension Between Enlightenment and Superstition

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

• Develop an understanding of the social and cultural contexts regarding social hierarchy and belonging that incite Alina’s conflict.
• Study paired texts and other resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Power, Belonging, and Self-Acceptance;     Sacrifice, Mercy, and Greed;     and The Tension Between Enlightenment and Superstition.
• Design and reconstruct the social hierarchy of the Grishaverse for an even distribution of resources based on details from the novel.
• Analyze and evaluate the plot and character details to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding the role of mystery and deception, the novel’s setting, and other topics.