Red Kayak

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 kinds of jobs might you find near a river or bay?

Teaching Suggestion: Red Kayak takes place near the Chesapeake Bay, and the Changing Class Landscape due to the decline of the fishing industry forms part of the novel’s backdrop. Since class is a relatively abstract concept for young readers, use this question to help them engage with it in more concrete terms: The novel’s main character comes from a family who fishes crabs and repairs boats, but you might also expect jobs related to trade and transport, tourism, and perhaps conservation efforts.

• overview of Chesapeake Bay fisheries from NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association)
• discussion of river habitats and their social and ecological importance, also from NOAA

2. How would you describe what a literary symbol is? Can you list two examples of symbols from books you’ve read?

Teaching Suggestion: Although symbols vary in complexity, as a device, they’re fairly straightforward: A symbol in literature is an object, person, place, etc. that represents or suggests something else (often an idea or abstraction). Students have probably encountered symbols before, even if they didn’t realize it—well-known examples from juvenile literature include Harry’s scar in the Harry Potter series (symbolic of his connection to Voldemort), pale eye color in The Giver (symbolic of the ability to “see” things others don’t), and the helmet Auggie wears in Wonder (symbolic of his attitude towards his appearance). Red Kayak contains several symbols, including the titular boat, so use this prompt to get students thinking about how to read beyond a symbol’s literal meaning.

• “Symbolism” on SuperSummary

Short Activity

An oxymoron is a phrase that combines two seemingly contradictory words—e.g., “ice burn,” “surprisingly uneventful,” “cruel kindness,” etc. On your own or in small groups, take 5-7 minutes to jot down as many oxymorons as you can think of.

Teaching Suggestion: Oxymorons feature prominently in Red Kayak; after learning the term, the main character and his friends turn coming up with oxymorons into a kind of game. The game tracks with the development of the boys’ relationships, while the apparent contradictions in terms also figuratively echo the very different personalities and circumstances of the members of the friend group. Therefore, the novel offers a good opportunity to introduce students to this rhetorical device.

• “Oxymoron” on SuperSummary
• “26 of the Funniest Oxymoron Examples”: 2022 Reader’s Digest article by Meghan Jones