84 pages • 2 hours read
Linda Sue ParkA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 was an extremely significant event in US history. Why was rail transportation so important to early America? Brainstorm 5-6 specific reasons. What is meant by “railroad towns?” Why and where did they typically exist? How were railroad towns different from other frontier towns?
Teaching Suggestion: Begin your contextual study of Prairie Lotus by explaining to students that main character Hanna travels to a newly constructed railroad town in Dakota territory, 1880. While the town of LaForge in the novel is fictitious, author Linda Sue Park modeled it after the railroad town of DeSmet in what is now South Dakota. (Be sure to read Park’s Author’s Note before beginning your unit for a full understanding of the connection to DeSmet.)
By Linda Sue Park
Asian American & Pacific Islander...
View Collection
Books About Art
View Collection
Books About Race in America
View Collection
Books that Teach Empathy
View Collection
Colonialism Unit
View Collection
Coming-of-Age Journeys
View Collection
Community
View Collection
Coping with Death
View Collection
Daughters & Sons
View Collection
Diverse Voices (Middle Grade)
View Collection
Family
View Collection
Fathers
View Collection
Fiction with Strong Female Protagonists
View Collection
Friendship
View Collection
Juvenile Literature
View Collection
Mothers
View Collection
The Best of "Best Book" Lists
View Collection
The Journey
View Collection