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. Nineteen Minutes is narrated in a non-linear fashion, and the reader is kept guessing as significant revelations are continually made about different events and characters throughout the book. For example, from the outside, Matt and Josie’s relationship looks perfect, and the couple appears to have been deeply in love. As the story unfolds, however, the true picture comes to light.

• What is the true nature of Matt and Josie’s relationship? (topic sentence)
• Why and how did Josie work to maintain a certain appearance of her relationship with Matt? What are some of the revelations readers learn about their relationship over time? How do they give light to how Josie, too, was being bullied or abused within the relationship?
• In your conclusion, outline how Josie’s relationship with Matt sees an intersection of the book’s main themes: Appearance Versus Reality, Bullying, and Fitting In.