You will be working together in a small group of 2-4 students.  Each group member will choose specific topics to explore on the Web.  At the end of your research, you will come to a decision as a group about the value or danger of April Morning for students like you.  As a group, your job will be to:
1. Investigate April Morning for accuracy.
2. Compare viewpoints of the characters with those of real people from that era.
3. Rate the novel's accuracy.
4. Decide if April Morning is valuable or not valuable for students.
5. Write your letter to the editor stating your judgment and supporting it with evidence from your research.

                Assign an equal amount of these topics to each member of the group:

For each topic, you should create a graphic organizer with these four columns:

Topic:

L1 "By then, I had wormed my way into the crowd.  I had gathered, from the talk around me, that he rode a warning express, that the British had marched out of Boston, that that a great army of them were headed this way . . . ." (p. 55, The Night)
 

L2 "'Where are they marching?'  'To Concord, no doubt, having heard that we put some shot and gunpowder away there.'" (p.121, The Forenoon)
 

L3 "They were just about going out of their minds, plagued by an enemy they couldn't see, unable to use an tactics of battle they had learned or practiced in Europe, shooting away all their ammunition at stone walls, woods, and thickets, and losing. . . . "  (p. 164-5, The Afternoon)

LINKS to LOCATIONS of BATTLES:
 

E1 "'Now just one thing,' my father was saying to him, 'just one thing--what time did they start?'
'I told you they were getting into the boats to cross the Charles at ten o'clock.'"  (p. 58, The Night)

E2 "'But they shot us first.'   'That's an argument, Adam, and we're past arguments. . . Nobody's going to be calm and reasonable about who shot first.'" (p. 159-160, The Afternoon)

E3 We discovered subsequently that only three houses had been set afire and actually burned down, the Loring House, the Mullikan House, and the Bond House. . . . (p. 161, The Afternoon)

E4 ". . . and the only reason the battle went on hour after hour was that no one was in any position to halt it or direct it.  It was perfectly true that before the reinforcements reached the first redcoat army, they wanted to surrender.  They were just about going out of their minds. . . ." (p. 164, The Afternoon)

LINKS to EVENTS:

P1 "By then I had wormed my way into the crowd.  I had also gathered, from the talk around me, that he rode a warning express, that the British had marched out of Boston, and that a great army of them were headed this way. . . .." (p. 58, The Night)

P2 "'They were here?'  'Who?' 'Sam Adams and John Hancock.'" (p. 88, The Morning)

P3 "'My name is Solomon Chandler, out of Lincoln Town. . . .'" (near the beginning of The Forenoon)

P4 "Then another British officer--I discovered afterward that he was Major Pitcairn--called out orders. . . ." (p. 99, The Morning)
 

LINKS to PEOPLE INVOLVED:

CV1 "'Study them, Adam,' he said, 'and realize their stupidity and ignorance.  They [the British] have a great contempt for us, and they call us peasants and louts. . . .'" (p. 120, The Forenoon)

CV2 "'I had a belly full of war and killing, Cousin Simmons.'
'I know that, Adam.  So have I, when you come right down to it.  Maybe so has everybody here except an old fire-eater like Solomon Chandler.  But we can't stop. . . We declared ourselves.'" (p. 159, The Afternoon)

CV3 "We called the game Pontiac.  Once, Pontiac had been a villainous red Indian, but by the time I was old enough for the game, he had changed into a hero." (p. 191, The Evening)

    Look at what you have found out in Steps 1 and 2.Discuss the following questions in your group and write down your answers and the reasons for your answers.

    Is the novel very accurate, somewhat accurate, or not very accurate?
    Are the most important facts the ones that are most accurate?
    Will the parts that seem imaginary or inaccurate damage students' understandings of history?

    Make your decision about the novel.  Is reading April Morning valuable or not valuable for helping students understand history?  Once your whole group agrees, write down your decision in a complete statement.  Then, begin listing the reasons that support your decision statement.  Since these decisions are based on what you found in your Web searches on the novel's accuracy, you will want to use that information as evidence.Once you have this clearly organized, it will make it much easier to write your letter to the editor.You may use the graphic organizer below.

Your group has researched the accuracy of the historical fiction novel April Morning  and you have decided whether that novel would be valuable or harmful to students' knowledge of history.  Now, you are to write a letter to the editor of a local newspaper agreeing or disagreeing with the letter from "Concerned Citizen".  Write a letter to the editor persuading readers that reading April Morning is valuable or harmful for middle school students.

In your letter, be sure to write about these questions:

Is April Morning valuable or harmful for middle schools students' knowledge of history?

How historically accurate is April Morning?

Are the characters' viewpoints in April Morning similar to those of real people in that era?

What evidence from your research supports your statements?

Now, write a letter to the editor persuading readers that reading April Morning is valuable or harmful for middle school students.