Ninth Ward

These prompts can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before or after reading the novel.

Personal Response Prompt

Lanesha studies the vocabulary word fortitude (“strength to endure”) before the storm. Discuss a time that you or someone you know utilized the quality of fortitude in the face of fear, danger, or conflict. How did you or they feel when the ordeal ended? What associated emotions did you or they experience?

Teaching Suggestion: Assure students that we all use fortitude with difficult tasks; they do not have to draw on disasters or tragedies like Lanesha’s. For some, passing a test takes fortitude; for others, giving a speech. Connect these examples of courage and strength to the novel’s theme of Fortitude in the Face of Fear. Students can share responses if they are comfortable.

Post-Reading Analysis

Lanesha performs well in school, but during and after the hurricane, she learns several lessons in other ways. What lessons does she learn, and from whom? How do these newly learned pieces of wisdom help her to survive? Based on Lanesha’s actions, how are wisdom, study, and experience connected?

Teaching Suggestion: Students should draw on Lanesha’s interactions with Mama Ya-Ya, TaShon, and the ghost of Lanesha’s mother as the origins of newly learned lessons during and after the storm.