Echo

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. What is a frame story or frame narrative? Can you explain what this technique entails or make a logical guess about its meaning? What frame stories are you familiar with in literature or film?

Teaching Suggestion: Echo uses a fairytale-like frame story to explain the origin and purpose of the harmonica that unites the three main characters’ stories. Students will have varying degrees of familiarity with this device; to ensure that they all have sufficient background knowledge before beginning the novel, you might ask for a preliminary answer to this prompt, show students the video linked below, and then ask students to revise their first attempts at the prompt to reflect their new understanding. You might also prepare a list of frame narrative examples in advance for discussion or reference, such as The Wizard of Oz, The Princess Bride, and/or Frankenstein.

• This 7-minute video from Oregon State University answers the question, “What is a frame story?” and offers examples.
• This article from TCK Publishing explores why writers write stories within stories and identifies the different types of frame stories and their purposes.

2. Do you think that most people, regardless of when or where they were born, respond to music in similar ways? Why or why not?

Teaching Suggestion: In Echo, the universal powers of music are elevated to magical status through the power of a harmonica that impacts the lives of several subsequent owners. Students are likely to have pre-existing opinions about the power of music and may enjoy sharing their ideas in a preliminary discussion before learning more through the resources listed below. You might follow up their exposure to one or both of these resources with a discussion in which students share what they found interesting, challenging, or thought-provoking about the material. Alternatively, you might play an instrumental song at the beginning of class and ask students to discuss how it made them feel and why, which may help them generate ideas for the Short Answer prompt.

• This article from the Harvard Gazette shares research into the universality of music.
• This article from BBC Music Magazine shares research into both the universality of and the cultural differences in perception of music.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

What genres of music do you enjoy the most? Do you have a favorite song? Does your reaction to this music change as you grow and change, or does it stay the same? What causes this to be true?

Teaching Suggestion: The main characters in Echo are musicians and each is profoundly moved by music. This prompt highlights for students the ways in which they, too, are impacted by music, regardless of whether they consider themselves “musicians.” Because the harmonica at the center of the story is used to both connect the various storylines and differentiate Friedrich, Mike, and Ivy, this prompt is also intended to get students thinking about the use of music as a continuity device and as a means of characterization. As students develop their ideas, you might ask them what books or television shows they enjoyed when they were younger and whether or not their thoughts about these have changed over the years, as this could help them gain perspective in answering the third question.