The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys

By: Maggie Stiefvater

Lexile Level: HL760L

Genre: Fiction

Summary: Every year, Blue Sargent stands with her clairvoyant mother as the soon-t0-be-dead walk past. Blue cannot see them herself...until this year. A boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey. Blue soon discovers he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has long had a policy of staying away from the Aglionby boys. They are known as Raven Boys and only mean trouble. But, Blue is drawn to Gansey. He is on a quest with his three best friends and fellow Raven Boys. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause the death of her true love. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, she is not so sure.

Selling Tool: This is the book trailer published by the author, Maggie Stiefvater. It is a great selling tool for the book.

Possible Learning Activity: Throughout the novel, the main characters reference the Medieval Welsh ruler, Owen Glendower and the tales that surround him. Students will compare and contrast how the novel portrays the tale of Glendower and the factual information on the last king of Wales.

Standards:

New York State Learning Standards and Core Curriculum:

CC.RL.9-10.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

CC.RL.9-10.3 Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

Learning Objective:

1. Students will compare and contrast how the novel portrays the tale of Glendower and the historical facts on the king.
2. Students will analyze how the author has changed some of the facts in order to better tell the story.
3. Students will discuss an author’s creative license to change historical facts.

Possible Learning Outcome: Students will compare and contrast how the novel portrays the last king of Wales and the historical facts of the king. They will also react to how authors use creative license to “change” history in order to better tell their stories.