When You Trap a Tiger

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

Pre-Reading “Icebreaker”

Imagine you are moving from your hometown to an unknown town several states away. Everything will be different… your school, your house, the climate and weather. Furthermore, you will be sharing a home with a relative, at least temporarily. What challenges do you foresee? What potential conflicts would your family members work to overcome?

Teaching Suggestion: Welcome students to write from personal experience if their lives connect with any of these given circumstances; if not, writers should base their thoughts on speculation. After writers have a chance to respond, explain that main character Lily is moving from a California beach town to the rainy hometown of her halmoni (grandmother) in the state of Washington. Lily recalls that her grandmother is fun and full of traditional Korean stories, but her sister Sam remembers Halmoni as slightly mysterious and secretive. Any overview of the novel is a good time to introduce the theme of The Complexities of Three-Dimensional Personalities.

Post-Reading Analysis

Sam claims early in the novel that Lily fits a “quiet girl” stereotype, but by the novel’s conclusion, she apologetically admits she was wrong to say that.