City of Ice (29 page)

About This Guide

The information, activities, and discussion questions that follow are intended to enhance your reading of
City of Ice.
Please feel free to adapt these materials to suit your needs and interests.

Writing and Research Activities

I. Friends and Family

A.
Create a descriptive page for at least six
City of Ice
characters. Using information found in the novel, note each character's name, age, physical attributes, homeland, personality traits, special talents, and goals. Compile the pages together into a booklet entitled
Characters from
City of Ice.

B.
In the character of Bayang, write a journal entry describing your feelings for Scirye or Leech. Explain how these feelings have changed you and what you have learned from your friendship.

C.
Compare and contrast the characters of Scirye and Roxanna in terms of their heritage, talents, goals, relationship to their families, and sense of their obligations to their families, friends, community, or future. Create a two-column chart or other diagram to illustrate your comparisons.

D.
Hold a class discussion as to which is more important: loyalty to friends or loyalty to family. Are there circumstances, such as war, that may alter your priorities? What are the most important things you can learn from family? From friends? If desired, take a class vote to determine what the majority thinks about key questions. Write a newspaper-style article summarizing the outcome of your debate.

II. Worlds and Weather

A.
The novel begins in 1941. Go to the library or online to research what was happening in real history in 1941. Create a month-by-month timeline of interesting events that occurred in the United States and around the world in 1941. Share your timeline with friends or classmates. Do you see any connections between the events in real history and the events taking place in Laurence Yep's alternative world? Make a list of the connections you observe.

B.
Using clues from the novel, draw a map of Nova Hafnia, the Wastes, and other icy landmarks through which Scirye and her friends travel. Label natural formations, the homes of clans or groups, and other important landmarks on your map.

C.
As they journey to the Wastes, Scirye and her friends experience brutal cold. Write a poem or song expressing their experience of nearly freezing.

D.
Pele provided a charm to help keep the travelers warm on their icy journey. Use clay, paints, and/or other craft materials to create the charm you imagine the main characters wearing.

E.
Imagine you are riding on the wing with Scirye, Bayang, and the others. Write two to three pages of dialogue in which you and other characters try to persuade Naue to slow down, speed up, or perform some other action. Include lines about how you feel riding the wing, where you want to go, and whether you think Naue can get you there.

F.
Go to the library or online to learn more about the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights, called “Dancers” in the novel. Create a painting, photo collage, or other visual artwork depicting the Northern Lights. Caption your work with information from your research.

III. Secrets and Promises

A.
Tumarg
, or honor, is an important Kushan principle for Scirye. Draw three to four graphic novel–style panels depicting a moment in the story when Scirye grapples with the need to keep
tumarg
. Then, write a paragraph describing why you chose this particular moment in the story as a good example to illustrate a crisis of honor.

B.
Throughout the novel, Leech struggles with evil thoughts, particularly ones that suggest harm to Bayang. Write a letter to Leech, advising him on how to handle these troubling thoughts and whether or not you think he should reveal them to Bayang.

C.
Koko, Upach, Lord Resak, and Bayang all have the capacity to change form. In the character of Dr. Goldemar, describe the forms these characters can take. Add details about these abilities based on information from the novel.

D.
Nanaia is a goddess worshipped by many cultures in different ways. Write a short essay describing the “bargain” Scirye has made with Nanaia and how her journey from Kushan to Sogdian lands, with their different senses of Nanaia, has affected this promise.

Discussion Questions

1.
As the novel begins, of whom are Sciyre and her friends in pursuit? Why do they want to catch this character? What supernatural creatures are helping them on their journey? Through what type of landscape are they traveling? Does the landscape remind you of any real-world locations?

2.
What aid does Prince Tarkhun provide the travelers? What country is he from? What is his relationship to Roland and Badik? To the freebooters? What is important about the types of language Tarkhun and Scirye use in their communication?

3.
Who does Scirye come to know at the Sogdian caravanserai? How do these Sogdians come to find themselves in the North? Does Roxanna consider herself more of a Sogdian or Arctic girl? Compare Roxanna's sense of nationality with Scirye's.

4.
What is the relationship between Leech and Bayang? How does this relationship change in the course of the novel? What role does flying play in their relationship?

5.
Compare the friendship between Leech and Koko with the friendship between Scirye and Kles. Do you think one friendship is stronger than the other? Why or why not?

6.
Describe the strange experience Scirye has with the statue of Nanaia. What do you think is the meaning of this experience? How does the experience change other characters' understanding of Scirye?

7.
How do Scirye's memories of her parents and her dead sister, Nishke, affect her thoughts and actions? How might you compare Scirye's sense of guilt over her lost sister to Roxanna's lost confidence when she feels she has failed Scirye?

8.
Who is Lord Resak? In what form do Scirye, Bayang, and the others first meet him? Describe Lord Resak's secret home. Why do you think so many characters call Resak “Uncle”? How does this relate to Resak's relationship with nature?

9.
What are the ring and bow string of the Archer Yi? What theories does Scirye advance to explain why Roland wants them? How does sharing this information with Lord Resak impact their relationship?

10.
, Scirye recalls that Bayang once warned her “that powerful beings like Pele had a different perspective than humans.” Do you think this statement is one of the central ideas of the novel? Explain your answer.

11.
How does Naue help the characters in the course of the novel? How do Scirye's conversations with Naue reveal her talents at diplomacy?

12.
What is the secret of the Wastes? What happens when the secret can no longer be kept? To what decisions does this lead Lord Resak and Scirye?

13.
What happens to Upach during the battle with Roland's thugs? How does this affect Roxanna's actions? What does Roxanna's decision to stay with Upach, and not return to her father with Scirye, reveal about her character?

14.
Describe Scirye's, Leech's, and the others' journey back to the caravanserai. How does Bayang deal with her injury? How are the friends greeted by Lady Miunai?

15.
Where is the City of Death? What worries Scirye about making the journey to this city? Are you surprised by her greatest concerns? What do you think Scirye's greatest worry should be?

16.
If you were describing
City of Ice
to a friend, would you call it foremost a story of power, of friendship, or of honor? Explain your answer, citing examples from the novel.