The Storyteller by Patricia Reilly Giff (Realistic Fiction)

The Storyteller

Patricia Reilly Giff's The Storyteller focuses on Elizabeth, a teenager from upstate New York in the 21st century, and Zee, an adolescent from the 18th century during the Revolutionary War. Elizabeth is sent to live with Libby, her aunt on her deceased mother's side of the family whom she has never met, while her father is selling his crafted sculptures in Australia. Although Elizabeth is initially timid of her living situation, she and her Aunt Libby connect over an old portrait of one of their ancestors, a young woman named Zee. The two women bond as they unravel Zee's history and solve the mystery of their heritage during the Revolutionary War. During the flashbacks to the 18th century, Zee is left to fend for herself after her mother died and her brother and father left her to fight for the Patriots at Fort Dayton. She travels alone and wounded to find and fight with her brother and father for their land and freedom at the Battle of Oriskany.

I would incorporate The Storyteller  into my classroom by integrating both literature and social studies. As we read the book, the students would create their own timeline of the story and another timeline of the Revolutionary War to see how the events coincided with the story. Also, one activity I could do with the students to integrate literature and social studies would be to assign the male students to read The Storyteller and the female students to read a book from a boy's point-of-view during the Revolutionary War. Then the students would have to keep a journal log after each assigned reading and write about how they could relate to the characters and their favorite parts of the story. By having the students study opposite point-of-views, my students will be able to understand significant aspects of the Revolutionary War from multiple standpoints.