A Dog's Porpoise: Novel Discussion Guide

Anchor Standards for Reading: Key Ideas and Details: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

Anchor Standards for Reading: Key Ideas and Details: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

Anchor Standards for Reading: Craft and Structure: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures.

Anchor Standards for Reading: Key Ideas and Details: Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (e.g., mysteries and adventure stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics.

Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).

Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations.

Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.