Endangered

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.

“A Field Guide to Sophie’s Adventures in the DRC”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of the impact the novel’s setting has on its action by creating a field guide to Sophie’s adventures.

Every novel has a setting. Sometimes the setting is relatively unimportant because the events of the novel could easily have taken place in any number of places and times. But in some novels, such as Endangered, the setting is crucial. In this activity, you will get to know the setting of this novel in more detail by creating a field guide to Sophie’s environment. Then you will explain why understanding the setting helps a reader understand this novel.

Learn About Field Guides:

• Read this article about field guides from the Nature Conservancy’s Cool Green Science blog.

Create Your Field Guide:

• Choose six plants and animals that Sophie mentions in Endangered.
• Create a separate page for each plant or animal. On each page, create an entry that consists of an illustration of the plant or animal and some basic facts about its range, its typical habitat, and its characteristics.
• At the bottom of each page, list the sources you used to complete the entry.

Reflect: Answer the following questions in a paragraph. Append this paragraph to the end of your field guide.

• What did completing this activity help you understand more clearly about the novel’s setting?
• How does understanding this setting help you understand the novel’s meaning?

Teaching Suggestion: This activity can be completed individually, with a partner, or in a small group. Students can complete their field guides on a computer or on paper. If you choose to have students use a computer, you might have them use a presentation platform they are already familiar with—such as Google Slides—or you might ask them to explore a new format such as a flipbook, using a site like Heyzine. If students will be working on paper, they will need to either hand-draw their illustrations or have access to printed illustrations that they can cut out and paste into their field guides. They will also need printed sources about the various plants and animals that Sophie mentions in her narrative.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students with visual impairments may not be able to complete this assignment as written. Instead of asking these students for illustrations, you might ask them to replace the required picture with a quote from Endangered that mentions the plant or animal being featured in each entry. Assembling a list of plants and animals from the novel requires reviewing a significant portion of text. Students with attentional or reading fluency issues may benefit from being allowed to create a list of plants and animals with a partner or small group, even if they will then be creating an individual field guide. Literal thinkers may also benefit from discussing the “Reflect” section of the assignment in small groups or as a whole class, as it asks students to consider a fairly abstract concept that literal thinkers may struggle with on their own.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Over the course of the novel, Sophie’s attitude toward the Democratic Republic of the Congo changes.

• What causes her attitude toward the DRC to change? (topic sentence)
• Explain an example from the novel that demonstrates her initial attitude.
• Explain at least two examples from the novel that support your idea about what causes Sophie’s attitude to change.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how Sophie’s attitude shift relates to the novel’s larger thematic concern with Coming of Age.

2. The characters in Endangered—both human and bonobo—face terrible circumstances beyond their control. Sometimes, though, they seem to make deliberate choices that lead to more suffering.

• When given a choice, why do the novel’s characters not always make the choice that leads to less suffering for themselves and others? (topic sentence)
• Explain at least three examples of places in the novel that support your interpretation.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how choices that lead to suffering relate to the novel’s larger thematic concerns with Coming of Age, Dedication and Self-Sacrifice, and Protecting the Endangered.

3. One message bonobo researchers frequently try to get across to people outside their field is that humans can learn important lessons about life from observing the behavior of bonobos.

• What lessons might bonobos teach our society? (topic sentence)
• Explain the characteristics of bonobo society, citing reputable sources for your information.
• Explain how modeling human society after bonobo society might improve our society, using three specific examples from the bonobos shown in Endangered.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how the information gained from studying bonobos supports the novel’s larger thematic concern with Protecting the Endangered.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Sophie’s youth and inexperience lead her to make mistakes early in the novel. The guilt she feels as a result motivates some of her later choices. What are the incidents that cause her to feel guilty? Are all of these incidents really her fault? What does this show about Sophie’s character? What does she do to try to make up for her mistakes? Write an essay analyzing how Sophie’s feelings of guilt motivate her actions. Show how Sophie’s process of learning from her mistakes relates to the novel’s larger thematic concerns with Coming of Age, Dedication and Self-Sacrifice, and Protecting the Endangered. Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

2. In some ways, Sophie’s relationship with Florence is a typical mother-daughter relationship. But in other ways, their relationship is complicated by Florence’s dedication to saving the bonobos. Which aspects of their relationship strike you as typical? How does Florence’s work create both obstacles and opportunities for Sophie, and how does this impact Sophie’s feelings about her mother? How does this impact Florence’s ability to guide and nurture her daughter? Write an essay analyzing the impact that Florence’s work has on her relationship with Sophie. Comment on how their relationship supports the novel’s larger thematic concerns with Coming of Age and Dedication and Self-Sacrifice. Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

3. The world’s three most famous primate researchers and conservationists—Dian Fossey, Birute Galdikas, and Jane Goodall—are all white women from the United States or Europe. Why do you think Schrefer chose to make Florence a Black Congolese woman? What message does this send about the ability of the Congolese to solve their own problems? How does having a Black Congolese mother and a white American father impact Sophie’s identity and her perspective? Write an essay analyzing the impact of Florence’s race and nationality on the novel’s characterization of Sophie and on the novel’s larger thematic ideas about Coming of Age, Dedication and Self-Sacrifice, and Protecting the Endangered.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-book review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which is the most accurate characterization of Sophie?

A) Creative, carefree, funny, irresponsible

B) Clever, adaptable, caring, impulsive

C) Talkative, confident, spontaneous, self-centered

D) Athletic, protective, ambitious, opinionated

2. How does Sophie’s attitude toward her mother change during the novel?

A) She begins to see that her mother can be oblivious to others’ needs.

B) She learns that her mother is not as cold and unforgiving as she has always seemed.

C) She begins to understand and sympathize with her mother’s priorities.

D) She learns to accept her mother’s eccentricities instead of being embarrassed by them.

3. Which of the following characters appear at both the beginning and end of this novel?

A) Florence and Mama Marie-France

B) Mama Marie-France and Patrice

C) Patrice and Mama Brunelle

D) Mama Brunelle and Florence

4. Who arrives in the DRC near the novel’s end?

A) Sophie’s father

B) Clément

C) Hector

D) The UN peacekeepers

5. During the novel, where does Sophie learn the most about her mother?

A) The bonobo sanctuary

B) Kinshasa

C) Mbandaka

D) Ikwe

6. What do Sophie’s freckles represent to most of the Congolese around her?

A) Her innocence

B) Her love of the outdoors

C) Her foreignness

D) Her beauty

7. Which is the best description of how most of the sanctuary workers, aside from Florence, view the bonobos?

A) They see the bonobos as an interesting science project.

B) They view the bonobos as an economic opportunity.

C) They are a little frightened of and puzzled by the bonobos.

D) They genuinely love and cherish the bonobos.

8. Which is an important way that Sophie grows during this novel?

A) She learns how her stubbornness impacts other people.

B) She learns to forgive herself for the mistakes she has made.

C) She learns to have more respect for the sacrifices her father has made.

D) She learns how to balance her fearless nature against practical realities.

9. Which of Sophie’s characteristics is most important to her survival during the unrest in the DRC?

A) Her superior physical abilities

B) Her knowledge about her environment

C) Her understanding of human psychology

D) Her faith in the good intentions of the bonobos

10. Which is the most important inspiration for Sophie’s determination and perseverance?

A) Her desire to protect Otto

B) Her desire to return to America

C) Her desire to confront her mother

D) Her love for the people of the DRC

11. How does the novel portray the Congolese people in general?

A) They are the victims of both historical colonialism and modern economic colonialism and have little hope for the future.

B) They are callous toward both human and animal suffering because of the country’s corruption and poor education system.

C) They are trapped in terrible circumstances and sometimes make terrible decisions in order to survive.

D) They are part of a culture that values comfort and material things much more than it values anything else.

12. Which most clearly functions as a symbol of Sophie’s guilt?

A) The duffle bag

B) The bonobo enclosure

C) The necklace

D) The twin juvenile bonobos

13. What do both Sophie and Florence use to get what they want from others?

A) The threat of magic

B) Bribery

C) Their beauty

D) Weapons

14. Besides Sophie, who else experiences a coming of age in this novel?

A) Anastasia

B) Otto

C) Mushie

D) Banalia

15. Which incident best demonstrates that ordinary people will often sacrifice to help others in dangerous circumstances?

A) Florence’s attaining medical help in Ikwe when she gets malaria

B) Florence’s willingness to hire more people from Kinshasa after the unrest

C) Sophie’s encounter with the schoolmaster at the boys’ boarding school

D) Sophie’s encounter with Bouain in the restaurant in Mbandaka

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. Besides the bonobos, what else might the novel’s title refer to?

2. What are the multiple ways Florence’s project near Kinshasa provides sanctuary?