Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. An “archetype” is a pattern that many works have in common. One example is the hero’s journey. What can you guess about this archetype from its name? What stories have you read, seen, or played that you suspect are examples of this pattern?

Teaching Suggestion: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a hero’s journey. Knowing more about this archetype will increase students’ comprehension of the story’s deeper meaning. After they give preliminary answers to this prompt, you can offer them the resources listed below to deepen their understanding. Afterward, they may enjoy discussing how the various parts of the hero’s journey manifest in some of their favorite hero’s journey stories.

• This 5-minute video from TED-Ed offers an overview of the hero’s journey as formulated by Joseph Campbell.
• This 10-minute video analyzes Disney’s Moana as an example of the hero’s journey.

2. What do you think makes the hero’s journey archetype so popular?

Teaching Suggestion: Some students will be quicker than others to come up with a theory about what makes the archetype popular.