Ship Breaker

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Survive Bright Sands: The Game”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of the setting of Ship Breaker by creating a game in which players try to survive life in Bright Sands.

Nailer is born into a dangerous and impoverished environment where every day is a struggle to survive. In this activity, you will show that you understand this setting by working with a group to create a game where players try to survive the harsh conditions in Bright Sands.

Your game can be a board game, card game, role-playing game, or any other kind of game that is playable at school and accurately recreates the following elements from the story:

• The physical environment of Bright Sands (natural and human-made)
• The social structure and culture of Bright Sands
• The day-to-day struggle to survive at Bright Sands

The class will be playing and giving feedback on your finished game, so include clear instructions on how to play your game and make sure that the game is interesting and accurate!

Teaching Suggestion: Setting is integral to the plot and themes of Ship Breaker. This activity allows students to demonstrate that they understand the details of how the physical and social environments of Bright Sands combine to trap characters in misery. Because groups will be playing one another’s games, a group size of between three and five people is probably ideal for this activity. The activity description deliberately does not specify what form feedback will take, so that you can decide whether you want students to give informal, oral feedback or whether you want to create a system for written feedback.

Differentiation Suggestion: If your class contains a large percentage of struggling readers or students with attentional issues, you may wish to make time for a whole-class review of relevant details from Ship Breaker before groups begin working on their games, to relieve them of the burden of combing the text for these details on their own. During such a review, you might also discuss what makes a game engaging and talk through one or two ideas for how textual details can be translated into game design, as literal thinkers and those with less developed abstract thinking may not intuitively understand these aspects of the activity.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. On page 76, Pima whispers “Wish you were here” to Nailer.

• How does this allusion illustrate an important difference between Nailer and Pima? (topic sentence)
• Explain the meaning of this allusion.
• Incorporate at least three examples from different places in the story that support your interpretation of these two characters.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how the contrast between Pima and Nailer helps support the novel’s larger meaning.

2. Nailer takes a number of risks because of his loyalty to either his blood family or his chosen family. Choose one of these risks to use as the basis for your response.

• Whom does Nailer take a risk for, and does the narrative suggest that this is a risk worth taking? (topic sentence)
• Explain at least three examples that support your claims about the value of this risk.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how this incident relates to the book’s larger thematic concerns with Families of Blood Versus Families of Choice and Loyalty Threatening and Aiding Survival.

3. The scavengers of Bright Sands have many tattoos.

• What is the symbolic meaning of these tattoos? (topic sentence)
• Explain at least three pieces of evidence that support your interpretation of the meaning of the tattoos.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how the tattoos relate to the novel’s larger thematic interest in Families of Blood Versus Families of Choice.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Many of the characters in Ship Breaker believe strongly in luck. What messages about luck does the novel communicate through its characters and its plot? Does the novel seem to suggest that there is more to success than luck? How are these ideas related to the characters’ belief in the Fates? What do characters’ social classes have to do with their belief in the Fates and luck? Write an essay analyzing the novel’s stance on luck. Show how its messages about luck relate to its larger thematic interest in Destiny Versus Free Will. Support your analysis with evidence from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted evidence.

2. Different characters in this novel offer different opinions about the relationship between rich and poor. What ideas do Nailer, Nita, and Tool have about why some people are poor and some are rich? What responsibilities do they each think the rich have toward those who have few resources? Which of their perspectives is best supported by the book’s characterizations and plot? Write an essay analyzing the perspectives the novel offers on wealth and poverty. Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted evidence.

3. The setting of this novel is in a dystopian future where whole communities survive by living on the beach and salvaging materials from abandoned ships. What are the lives of the ship breakers like? Who creates the conditions that make their lives this way? What happens when a ship breaker is no longer useful to the salvage companies? How does this relate symbolically to the abandoned ships? Do the abandoned buildings under the water support a similar idea? How do the dangerous storms relate? Write an essay analyzing the symbolic connection between the ship breakers and their environment at Bright Sands. Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted evidence.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which is the most accurate description of the diction the narrator uses?

A) Playful, creative, unusual

B) Elaborate, educated, didactic

C) Sarcastic, cynical, witty

D) Simple, direct, informal

2. What do most of the characters in the novel believe determines events in their lives?

A) Angels and demons

B) Determination and effort

C) Fate and luck

D) Intelligence and skill

3. What is the main source of stability and support for most of the young people in the story?

A) Religious leaders

B) Parents and siblings

C) Their work crew

D) Their teachers and classmates

4. How does Nailer’s outlook change after he nearly drowns in the oil reservoir?

A) He becomes more determined to find a way out of Bright Sands.

B) He starts to believe that he might have no control over his fate.

C) He realizes that family is more important than acquiring wealth.

D) He devotes more time to improving the lives of people in his community.

5. Which character shows the most parental concern for Nailer?

A) Richard

B) Sadna

C) Tool

D) Candless

6. Which character most clearly functions as a foil for Nailer?

A) Nita

B) Pyce

C) Knot

D) Pima

7. Which is the most accurate characterization of Nailer?

A) A dreamer, ambitious, and persistent

B) A doubter, jaded, and worldly

C) A leader, outgoing, and charismatic

D) A thinker, introspective, and shy

8. What does the story’s figurative language often compare Richard and his crew to?

A) Machines

B) Animals

C) Weapons

D) Ships

9. Which is the most accurate description of the book’s point of view?

A) It has a first-person, reliable narrator.

B) It has a first-person, unreliable narrator.

C) It has a third-person limited narrator.

D) It has a third-person omniscient narrator.

10. Which two characters grow the most in their understanding of people who are not like themselves?

A) Pima and Nailer

B) Nailer and Nita

C) Nita and Pyce

D) Pyce and Pima

11. Which character does not function as a mentor figure for Nailer?

A) Richard

B) Candless

C) Tool

D) Knot

12. Which character most clearly betrays Nailer’s trust?

A) Pearly

B) Tick-Tock

B) Bapi

C) Sloth

13. Which of the following definitions of family does the novel best support?

A) Family is the people you are genetically related to.

B) Family is the people who love and respect you.

C) Family is the people you can trust and rely on.

D) Family is the people who feed and shelter you.

14. Which half-man is the only one whose loyalty is not solely a product of genetics and conditioning?

A) Knot

B) Tool

C) Vine

D) Moby

15. Which of the following statements would Nailer be most likely to agree with?

A) Luck is not real—it is just an excuse that lazy people use.

B) Luck cannot be influenced by your actions—it is predetermined.

C) Luck controls most things that happen in people’s lives.

D) Luck matters, but so do intelligence, persistence, and hard work.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. In what way is the name “Bright Sands” both appropriate and ironic?

2. When you consider the paths their lives take during this novel, in what sense are Nita and Nailer opposites?