Neil Anderson from the Association from Media Literacy (which has a great-sounding upcoming conference) has produced an excellent study guide for my novel Homeland (the sequel to Little Brother) — Anderson’s guide encourages critical thinking about politics, literary technique, technology, privacy, surveillance, and history.

I’m immensely grateful to Anderson for his good work here. I often hear from teachers who want to know if there are any curricular materials they can use in connection with my books, and several of them have shared their own guides with me, but this one stands out as an unusually comprehensive and thoughtful one.

7. Word Meanings

Because communications technologies are central to Homeland‘s plot, the novel contains many tech-oriented words that might be unfamiliar to some readers. Because Marcus is a young adult, some words are specific to young adult culture. Explain how readers could use context to infer the meanings of unfamiliar words.

Some words that you might use for inferring meanings include:

*Rooted

*Pwned

*Faraday pouch

*Lulz

*Darknet

*Tor

*Distro

8. Representation

Marcus Yallow, Homeland’s protagonist, is a male. But there are several female characters: Ange is his girlfriend, Masha is an ally, Carrie is an enemy, and Flor is his campaign office boss.

Does Homeland represent a good balance of male and female characters or is it biased? Why?

Are the male and female characters fairly represented? Explain?

Homeland also includes representation from multiple racial/ethnic groups. Joe is African-American, Ange is Asian, etc.

How might this inclusiveness add to the novel’s authenticity and pleasure?

Some people think that it is important for audiences to see themselves represented in the media texts that they consume; that it helps them enjoy the texts and validates their own existence.

Does it really matter whether Homeland‘s characters represent a range of racial/ethnic groups?

Would the story be equally interesting and entertaining if all the characters were from only one racial/ethnic group?

Imagine that Marcus, Ange, Joe and Carrie are from other racial/ethnic groups, or that their genders are switched.

How might those changes influence readers’ responses to the story?