The Mighty Miss Malone

Use these activities 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: “Writing as Deza”

Deza loves writing and storytelling. In this activity, imagine you are Deza and tell what happens after she and Mother return to Gary with Father.

• Think about Deza’s voice and storytelling style.
• Recall and refer to Mrs. Needham’s advice about Deza’s writing in Chapters 4 and 5.

1. Pretend the novel continues into Deza’s first day after returning to Gary with Father. Write a scene from Deza’s first-person point of view that shows a brief conflict and includes at least two characters (in addition to Deza). One should be an existing character, and the other should be a new character that you create.

2. Something about your scene’s plot, outcome, imagery, dialogue, or mood should contribute to one of the major themes of the novel: family unity, success and survival, struggles during the Great Depression, racism and discrimination, secrets, kindness, or hopes and dreams.

3. Stuck for an idea? Try one of these “What if…?” prompts:

•  What if Clarice returns to Gary, but lives on the other side of town?
• What if Deza runs into Mrs. Carsdale on the sidewalk?
• What if Jimmie gets ill and loses his voice?
• What if Father finds a new job, but must break a rule to take it?

4. As time allows, share your scene aloud with an audience. Explain why your scene fits the theme you chose.

Teaching Suggestion: Peer editing and small reading circles are good extensions for this creative writing project. Revision and editing steps connect to grammar and writing process standards and objectives. If authors are willing to read aloud, positive discussion and feedback can fill spare minutes for several days and fulfill speaking and listening standards and goals. You might tie this activity into a group brainstorming exercise of a comprehensive list of all characters in the book for reference/assessment preparation (which can then be used as a character bank for Activity #2, below). Then, offer some coaching guidelines for creating a strong character in fiction writing:

• This brief how-to article, “How to Craft Spectacular Secondary Characters” on Well-Storied offers teachable points and suggestions for writers.

Paired Text Extension: After reading Langston Hughes’s  “Freedom” and discussing the poem’s themes, students can write a short piece of poetry in Deza’s voice about her experiences, family unity, or her hopes and dreams. If students are willing to share their Deza poems, discuss as a class the possible differences in tone between Hughes’s poem and Deza’s.

ACTIVITY 2: “Who Am I to Deza Malone?”

This activity will help you to analyze the many characters Deza knows, meets, or observes in the novel; it will also allow you to show your knowledge of each step of Deza’s journey.

1. Brainstorm three lists of characters in the novel besides Deza. Include major and minor characters with some significance to Deza, her journey, or her observations. Your lists will categorize:

• main characters (like Jimmie),
• secondary characters (like those with some emotional connection to Deza, such as Stew, Mrs. Needham, or Mr. Alums),
• and tertiary characters (like those who are “pop-up” or “walk-on” roles, such as the hobos, the Flint teachers, or the family who moves into Deza’s rented house).

2. For each character on your list, write a “Who Am I to Deza Malone?” identifying statement. Each statement must be one sentence, must be written in first-person point of view as that character, and must be a unique identifier (the statement cannot be true of another character). Be sure to include text details that connect the character to Deza’s observations and journey and hint at her tone and thoughts.

3. Try to make challenging yet meaningful “Who Am I?” statements.

As time allows, share your “Who Am I?” statements with your class to see how many can be answered accurately, and how many different identifiers might be represented class-wide for any one character.

Teaching Suggestion: Remind students that spoken lines of dialogue often make good identifying statements (“I told Deza, ‘Jimmie’s fell in with a shady manager calls hisself Maxwell. I got cut loose.’ Who am I?”) Students can also categorize each “Who Am I?” statement by a Where category heading: Gary (early), Chicago, the rails, the shantytown, Flint, Gary (later). Students might also connect the “Who Am I?” statement to one of the novel’s themes.

Paired Text Extension: Read aloud Chapter 8 of Christopher Paul Curtis’s Bud, Not Buddy. In this chapter, Bud meets Deza in Flint’s Hooverville. They wash dishes together, talk, and hear “Shenandoah.” After students listen to Bud’s version of that night’s events, have students write five “Who Am I to Bud Caldwell?” statements—all of them about Deza. Be sure to include text details that hint at Bud’s observations and thoughts about Deza, as she is a secondary character in his story.

Teaching Suggestion: Here are YouTube read-alouds of Chapter 8, complete with a short melody of “Shenandoah.” Transcripts to the right can help you narrow to Deza’s entrance and exit.

•  Bud, Not Buddy Chapter 8 Part 1 Audiobook Read Aloud
• Bud, Not Buddy Chapter 8 Part 2 Audiobook Read Aloud