Published by Sourcebooks, 2022
Topic: ELA
Genre: Young Adult Mystery
Summary:
Tell Me What Really Happened is a tale about a group of teens, acquaintances, not friends, who spend the night camping together in a forest known for mysterious disappearances…of young girls. when one of them goes missing in the night, the teens find themselves crashing through the dark and treacherous woods in the dark, terrified and confused. This story is told entirely through the police interviews with the teens who were left to tell the tale. It sounds like a simple story, but it raises questions about responsibility, racism, prejudice, same sex relationships, family relationships, being governed or misled by our beliefs and goals, and the ramifications of jumping to conclusions.
Teaching Ideas:
-Have students choose one of the characters and write the story of that night from the time they were invited to go camping until they were picked up by police.
-In a class discussion, have the class discuss some of the themes of the book: family relationships, responsibility, honesty.
-Have students write character descriptions of each character, supporting their analysis with quotes from the text.
-Stop reading at page 378. Discuss the characters and what’s happened so far. Have students work in teams to solve the mystery. Each team will write a paragraph stating who they think is responsible for Maylee’s death and explain why. The teams will present their statements to the class orally.
Next Generation ELA Teaching Standards:
8R1: Cite textual evidence to strongly support an analysis of
what the text says explicitly/implicitly and make logical
inferences.
8R2: Determine one or more themes or central ideas of a text
and analyze their development over the course of the text;
summarize a text.
8W1: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons
and relevant evidence.
8W1b: Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence,
using credible sources while demonstrating an understanding of the
topic or text.
8W3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined
experiences or events using effective techniques, relevant
descriptive details and clear sequencing.
8W5: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support
analysis, reflection, and research. Apply the grade 8 Reading
Standards to both literary and informational text, where applicable.
8SL4: Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points
in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, valid
reasoning, and well-chosen details; use appropriate eye
contact, adequate volume, and clear enunciation.
Anchor Standard 2 (6-8L2):
Demonstrate command of the conventions of academic English capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling when writing.