The Name of This Book Is Secret

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: “Do-It-Yourself Ending/Dear Narrator”

In this activity, students will analyze important themes and character arcs in the novel to write their own ending (as suggested by the narrator in Chapter 31) that successfully connects to and resolves important themes in the novel; they will then engage with the constructed relationship between the Narrator and Reader personas in the novel by defending their choices in a letter written to the Narrator himself.

In lieu of writing an actual ending, in Chapter 31, the Narrator gives the Reader a “do-it-yourself ending”—he provides details about important moments and characters to suggest how their stories ultimately resolved but does write the chapter as a linear narrative. The Narrator uses his intrusive narration style and the relationship with the Reader to give the Reader a greater sense of agency in the novel, allowing them to engage more deeply with the material by leaving part of its final scene supposedly up to their interpretation. In this activity, you will assume the persona of a narrator and write a conclusion to the story of one of the characters outlined in Chapter 31.

• Re-read Chapter 31. Select one of the characters mentioned within that chapter and write a satisfying conclusion for them. You may use the details the Narrator provided you with, but you may also come up with your own.
• Plan before you write by considering a few key questions: What is your character’s role in the story? How do they fit into the overall action or thematic arcs? What is an important conflict that your character needs to resolve to reach their full development? How can you demonstrate that the character has resolved their conflict?
• As you compose your Do-It-Yourself Ending, you will mimic the intrusiveness of the Narrator in the novel. Use at least 3 fourth-wall breaks or direct addresses to the Reader in your writing.
• After you have finished writing your ending, go back and analyze the choices you made. What do you think the Narrator would think of what you’ve chosen to do? Would he agree with your choices? Write the Narrator a letter directly addressing him and explaining why you made the decisions you did.
• As a closure activity, you may read your ending to your classmates, or you may present it in an alternate format such as a short movie, comic strip, or skit.

Teaching Suggestion: Throughout the course of this activity, students can connect to their knowledge of narrative points of view. By trying out the technique of intrusive narration themselves, students may be able to reflect more deeply on the impact of the author’s framing decisions in the novel and the role the relationship between Reader and Narrator plays in the narrative.

Differentiation Suggestion: Writing is not every student’s forte; however, this activity can be adapted so that students engage with fourth-wall breaks and demonstrate appropriate levels of understanding of thematic and character development in an alternate format, such as a dramatic scene, short film, or skit. Any one of those formats would still allow for fourth-wall breaks but would accommodate other kinds of learners like kinesthetic or visual learners. If the writing element is maintained, further scaffolding may be beneficial for students who have trouble organizing their thoughts or struggle with how to start once they complete the planning stages. Introductory and concluding sentence starters/frames could be useful to help students overcome any mental blocks.

ACTIVITY 2: “Cracking the Code”

In this activity, students will create and solve their own linguistic-based codes modeled on one of the codes in the novels.

As they delve deeper into the world of the magician and the Midnight Sun, Cass and Max-Ernest must break codes and solve puzzles to gain access to important information. From the anagrams the magician used to conceal the pages of his journal, to the palindrome password that grants Cass and Max-Ernest access to the pyramid, and finally to the magician’s final message to the protagonists encoded with a keyword code, the novel uses language to conceal and reveal important information.

• Select one of the codes referenced in the novel (anagrams, palindromes, keyword code). Create your own code based on the one you selected and use it to code a brief message to a partner.
• Exchange your coded message with your partner and try to solve each other’s codes.
• In a short piece of writing or oral presentation, reflect on how you approached solving the code and compare it to the role logic and language structure play in the novel.

Teaching Suggestion: It may be beneficial to review the anagram, palindrome, and keyword riddles in the novel with students before beginning the activity. It may be useful to review them as a class and dissect them collectively to ensure students have a solid understanding of how wordplay is used to create the riddles. This will reinforce their understanding of wordplay devices and will ensure that they have enough understanding of how they function to be successful with this activity.

Differentiation Suggestion: This activity can be adapted for the English learner by having them solve an anagram or palindrome code instead of creating one. Using vocabulary from the novel, students may be given anagrams or palindromes to solve; a provided word bank may be helpful as well. Using wordplay devices to reinforce vocabulary will offer students the opportunity to engage with the language in new ways; it will strengthen their understanding of the English lexicon and encourage them to make connections between linguistic structures.