City of the Beasts

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What facts and characteristics can you list about the Amazon rainforest? Which countries does it run through? What kinds of people, plants, and animals live in this rainforest? Why is it central to our planet’s health?

Teaching Suggestion: Many students are likely to know basic information about the Amazon rainforest and the threats it currently faces; showing the first video listed below or a similar resource will ensure that all students are prepared to read City of Beasts with the appropriate background knowledge. The second and third listed resources are intended to broaden students’ understanding of the human history of this area of the world, to help them more fully identify with the current inhabitants of the rainforest.

• This 3-minute video from Incredible Earth introduces the Amazon rainforest, its ecological significance, its inhabitants, and the threats it currently faces.
• This article from ScienceNews describes recent discoveries of ancient Amazonian urban centers.
• This 3-minute video from the BBC profiles a young Indigenous man who has come from the Amazon to New York City as a cultural ambassador for his people.

2. What do people mean when they say a book is an example of magical realism? How is this different from fantasy? What stories have you read or watched that might be examples of magical realism?

Teaching Suggestion: Even students who have encountered the term magical realism before are often unclear about the distinction between fantasy and magical realism. Discussion, examples, and direct instruction on the differentiation will be helpful grounding before beginning the novel; the resources listed below or other similar sources will help students differentiate between the two and understand which texts they have encountered qualify as magical realism. A discussion of these examples will also illustrate for students how varied magical realist texts can be.

• This 11-minute video from PBS explains the definition, background, and examples of magical realism.
• This article succinctly explains the differences between magical realism, fantasy, and other closely related genres.

Personal Connection Prompt

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

In City of the Beasts, the main character travels somewhere that is very unfamiliar to him. If you had the opportunity to travel somewhere that is both unfamiliar and completely different from where you live now, where would you choose? In what ways might you benefit from and be challenged by traveling to this place?

Teaching Suggestion: Thinking deeply about the benefits and challenges of travel to a very unfamiliar place will help students identify and empathize with Alex. Students are likely to enjoy discussing various places they would like to travel, and hearing peers’ ideas may broaden their thinking and generate excitement about the possibilities. Some students, however, may have difficulty reflecting honestly about benefits and challenges in front of an audience, and the second question might be better answered in writing, as a follow-up after discussion of the first question.