The Swiss Family Robinson

The Swiss Family Robinson was written as a didactic novel to teach Wyss’s sons lessons that Wyss found valuable. What are these lessons, and how does Wyss use plot events, descriptive detail, and characterization to teach them?

Teaching Suggestion: This prompt asks students to consider the text not from their own perspective but from the author’s, and follows up on their pre-reading introduction to didacticism. If students are struggling to recall the lessons Wyss intended to teach, you might remind them of the information from this article. If your students are less practiced in finding the three types of evidence the prompt requests, you might lead them through a brief practice in finding each kind of evidence. Once they have finished responding to this prompt, you can extend the conversation by asking students about “unintended” lessons the story might also teach and how the shift from a European audience of Wyss’s time period to a more modern audience might play a part in creating these unintended lessons.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who struggle with reading fluency, organization, or attention may have difficulty gathering evidence to support their answers. These students may benefit from working in small groups or with a partner to gather plot details and elements of characterization and description from the text.