Terror at Bottle Creek

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

ACTIVITY 1: “Map the Swamp”

In this activity, students will create a labeled map that includes the main areas Cort, Liza, and Francie traverse during the hurricane.

Reflect on the harrowing night Cort, Liza, and Francie face. Using details from the novel, create a map of the places they experience. Incorporate symbolism through color, placement, materials, and images. For example, different colors might represent the danger of each location on the map.

• Re-read key scenes.
• Draft your map, choosing meaningful colors and images. Include captions, labels, and quotations that represent the text.
• Plan your final version of the map. What materials will you use?
• Create your project.
• Reflect on key aspects you want to share in the class gallery walk.

Participate in the class gallery walk, sharing your project and learning about peers’ projects. Then, display the maps in the class.

Journal about a key aspect of your map and how this plot detail affected the characters.

Teaching Suggestion: It might be beneficial to draw part of a map and conduct a think-aloud while introducing the project; this will serve as an opportunity to model the abstract thinking needed for the project. The class might also brainstorm together some of the key places to include on their maps. After readers complete their map drafts, they might meet in small groups to discuss ideas and receive feedback before creating their final projects. Initial discussion might also include ideas for different map forms: posters, salt dough or other 3-D versions, videos, photographs, etc.

ACTIVITY 2: “Rank the Dangers”

In this activity, students will list and rank the dangers Cort, Liza, and Francie face during the hurricane.

Think about all the dangers Cort, Liza, and Francie face as they survive the hurricane. Which are the most and least treacherous? List and rank the dangers.

• Brainstorm as many hazards as you can think of that the characters face.
• Consider these perilous dangers. What makes something worse than another? What qualities should you use to decide?
• Decide on the ranking for each danger, and list them from least to most dangerous.

Discuss your rankings with the class. Be ready to share your reasoning.

Journal about this process. How challenging or easy was it to decide? How do you think the characters would respond to your list?

Teaching Suggestion: The two activities might be combined, with students placing dangers on the map they created for Activity 1. The discussion could easily become a debate, so reminding students how to build off each other’s ideas and ways to disagree constructively with ideas instead of people could be important. Small group discussions might be a useful alternative to whole-class sharing. Another way to approach the discussion could be to write each danger on a sticky note and draw a line on the board, with “extremely dangerous” on one end and “not dangerous” on the other. Different students put the sticky notes on the line where they feel they fit. Then, students can take turns moving the sticky notes and explaining their reasoning for doing so.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Much of the novel takes place outside, with animals and weather playing prominent roles.

• What is the most impactful lesson about nature developed in this story? (topic sentence)
• As you write your essay, consider Cort’s experiences and those of other characters. What do they gain in knowledge during the events? Analyze and discuss 3 examples that support your topic sentence. Incorporate quotations and other specifics to develop your ideas.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain how that lesson might impact a character moving forward.

2. The houseboat appears throughout the novel in significant ways.

• How does the houseboat become a symbol? (topic sentence)
• Reflect on the scenes in which the houseboat appears. Analyze and discuss at least 3 ways the houseboat serves as the symbol you determined in your topic sentence. As you craft your analysis, include quotations and additional details to illustrate your points.
• In your conclusion, explain what the new house Cort and his father discuss could symbolize.

3. Throughout the novel, the character of Liza features prominently, even in scenes without her.

• What are Liza’s 3 strongest character traits? (topic sentence)
• Analyze and discuss Liza’s actions, words, and decisions that best demonstrate these traits. As you write your analysis, incorporate examples and other details to develop your ideas.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, state whether the hurricane has or has not changed Liza and provide your brief rationale.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider the stylistic choices the author makes in Terror at Bottle Creek. How does the style of the novel build the mood and meaning? Consider elements such as chapter length, point of view, setting, pace, and timeline of events. Write a 3- or 5-paragraph essay explaining how the author’s choices in the novel develop the mood and theme. Connect your analysis to one of the core themes: Loss and Separation Within the Family, Sense of Connection and Belonging, and Responsibility Differences Between Children and Adults.

2. When Cort’s father leaves, the burden of responsibility shifts to the children to find ways to survive. What do Cort’s actions reveal about his character? As Cort, Liza, and Francie make their way through the harrowing night, what does Cort share and what does he keep to himself? In a 3- or 5-paragraph essay, analyze Cort and how his choices regarding Liza and Francie illuminate his character. Connect your analysis to the theme of Responsibility Differences Between Children and Adults.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What does the alligator hunt in the first chapters foreshadow?

A) The looming hurricane floods

B) The need for Cort’s father to move

C) The town encroaching on nature

D) The swamps’ many lurking dangers

2. Which of the following characteristics best describes Liza?

A) Uncertain, quiet, and lonely

B) Capable, wise, and kind

C) Wistful, questioning, and distracted

D) Panicky, self-absorbed, and unhappy

3. Why did Cort stop playing on the basketball team?

A) He could not get to and from practices after his mother left.

B) He decided he wanted to spend all his time with his mother instead.

C) He needed to find time to work for the Stovalls.

D) His grades dropped, causing his father to require him to take a year off.

4. What do No-Name and Elmo have in common?

A) They both are wild and pose grave threats.

B) They both seem to try to help Cort at one point.

C) They both work together the night of the hurricane.

D) They both help Cort’s father make a living.

5. What literary strategy does the following quotation include?: “After a while I became numb to it, like something in a hard shell.” (Chapter 28)

A) Third-person narration

B) Simile

C) Personification

D) Onomatopoeia

6. Which idea most clearly develops the theme of Responsibility Differences Between Children and Adults?

A) Francie naming the bear in the tree Elmo and worrying about him

B) Liza encouraging Cort to continue with the basketball team

C) Cort’s father checking on Cort’s mother the night of the hurricane

D) Mrs. Stovall and Liza offering Cort spaghetti for lunch

7. How does Cort’s father demonstrate his renewed focus on Cort?

A) Cort’s father helps Cort build his tree fort and signs him up for his dream club: chess.

B) Cort’s father drives Cort and Liza to the dance and finds Cort a new job away from the river.

C) Cort’s father schedules a weekly trip for the two of them for brunch in town and builds him a boat.

D) Cort’s father travels through the hurricane to help Cort and offers to help him get to basketball practice.

8. What idea best describes how Francie reacts about Catfish being at her home after the hurricane?

A) Terror at the large dog returning

B) As if she knew he would be there

C) Shock that he survived the storm

D) Like she did not recognize him

9. Which of the following best describes Cort's feelings toward the bear at the end of the novel?

A) Disdainful about the fight and trying to forget it

B) Hopeful he will see the bear again and joyful about the cub

C) Grateful but aware the bear was wild and a danger

D) Worried and nervous the bear might have followed him

10. Which statement best describes how Cort's feelings about the swamp and river have shifted by the end of the story?

A) Cort focuses on problems with the swamp and river early in the story, but by the end, he recognizes the water’s importance and embraces the possibilities.

B) Cort is enthralled with the river and swamp before the storm, and the hurricane gives him even more reason to spend all of his time there.

C) Cort dislikes the swamp because it drove his mother away and only likes the river early in the story, but he begins to appreciate the swamp more and turns against the river with the storm.

D) Cort hates both the river and swamp and tries to convince his father to move out of the state, but by the end of the storm he accepts that he will stay there through college.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. Why do Cort and his father need to stay with Liza and her family during the storm?

2. What solution does Cort find for basketball practice?

3. How do Cort's feelings toward his mother shift over the course of the novel?