Use these discussion questions about Egg & Spoon, by Gregory Maguire, with large or small groups. They will help students meet several of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, including reading literature standards for key ideas and details, craft and structure, and integration of knowledge and ideas (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL), as well as the speaking and listening standards for comprehension and collaboration and for presentation of knowledge and ideas (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL).
Excerpted from
Egg & Spoon
Elena Rudina lives in the impoverished Russian countryside with her dying mother; there is no food. But then a train arrives in the village, a train carrying untold wealth, a cornucopia of food, and a noble family destined to visit the Tsar in Saint Petersburg – a family that includes Ekaterina, a girl of Elena's age. When the two girls' lives collide, an adventure is set in motion, an escapade that includes mistaken identity, a monk locked in a tower, a prince traveling incognito, and Baba Yaga – witch of Russian folklore. In this tour de force, master storyteller Gregory Maguire offers a dazzling novel for fantasy lovers of all ages.
