Here are some examples to get you started:

• 1

  The author of Chains includes quotes from primary sources at the beginning of each chapter. These primary sources are from people who actually witnessed events at the time of the American Revolution. The quotes often come from diaries, documents, images and artefacts. Ask your child how these quotes connect to the events of each chapter. How do they connect to the story and events of this history overall? (Note: you may need to lead your child through the older language of the Colonial Period; however, this opportunity is so rich it should not be missed).

• 2

  It’s important to know who is telling a story. Ask your child who is telling this story. How do you know? Ask your child to find examples from the story to explain his or her answer. After talking about who is telling the story, explain that this is called a first-person narrative, the process in which the story is told from one person’s perspective. How does the author include actual narrative conversation and the conversation Isabel has in her
  mind? Have your child point to places in the text where she or he can see where that is happening. How can you identify the difference between these two types of conversations? What clues does the reader have?

• 3

  Consider questions 1 and 2. They point to two different examples of a first-person perspective. How do you think they are different? How are they the same? Why do you think the author would include both in this novel? Where in the text do you see why the author would do this? (Suggestion: Revisit this question periodically throughout the book to allow opportunity to get at this complexity).

• 4

  Anderson’s novel is rich with figurative language. For example, on page 23, the story reads, “Mr. Robert dropped the heavy coins into the velvet bag. The thudding sound they made as they fell to the bottom reminded me of clods of dirt raining down on a fresh coffin.” Ask your child how this kind of description affects his or her understanding of the scene? Why would Anderson compare these heavy coins to dirt falling on a coffin? Do you see somewhere in the text that helps you talk about this? Continue looking for additional uses of rich language and analysing the word choice made by the author.

• 5

  On page 197, Isabel narrates to the reader, “My bees a’swarmed back into my brainpan. They hummed loud so I need not ponder on the baby doll. The burned-over district looked like the inside of me. It was hard to tell where one stopped and the other started. I feared my wits had been melted by the flames, twisted and charred.” Now, go back to the events in the previous chapter and then the entire story. What is Isabel talking about? Ask your child: How do the descriptions of the events and setting mirror what was happening inside Isabel?

• 6

  Liberty and freedom are frequently referenced in patriotic symbols, songs, artwork, and words of Americans. Challenge your child to compare these notions of liberty and freedom to various characters in the book, beginning with Isabel. For example, on page 270, reread the opening reference to the Declaration of Independence. Compare these words to the lives of the different characters. Does the Declaration of Independence apply to their lives? What do you think Anderson is saying about liberty and freedom? In what ways does she say it?