Turtles All the Way Down

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. How does mental illness affect different people? What are some types of mental illness and anxieties people face? What do you know about obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in particular? How might this affect a person’s life?

Teaching Suggestion: The topic of mental illness can be sensitive for anyone who has experienced mental illness firsthand or watched someone close to them face it. Aza lives with OCD and severe anxiety, and it will be important to approach the topic of mental illness with compassion. Studying these resources could increase understanding of OCD and anxiety. The International OCD Foundation Website has multiple pages, which could turn into a longer research opportunity.

• This resource from the National Institute of Mental Health explains the symptoms and causes of obsessive-compulsive disorder and reviews some common treatments.
• “Anxiety Disorders: Types, Causes, Symptoms & Treatments” from the Cleveland Clinic provides background on anxiety.
• The International OCD Foundation Website offers numerous resources about OCD. This page includes a brief video and written overview that explain some of the different types of obsessions someone with OCD might experience.

2. In what way is life for people in lower socioeconomic classes—that is, people with less power and wealth—different from people who rank in higher social and economic classes? What different challenges and benefits does each class have? Which group does society treat better? How?

Teaching Suggestion: This book is populated by characters from various socioeconomic classes, and their material wealth impacts the way they think and feel. Keeping this issue in the front of readers’ minds can lead to a greater understanding of why characters behave the way they do in the novel. This topic might also be a difficult one for some students. Students could discuss injustices people experience in lower social classes and suggest ways society might become more equitable. During reading, the class might return to these ideas and discuss how Socioeconomic Status affects characters like Daisy, Aza, and Davis.

• “What Is Social Class, and Why Does It Matter?” from ThoughtCo. explains some differences between the terms social class, economic class, and socioeconomic class and their effects on people.
• This Gallup Poll resource includes graphs and written explanations of how people view their social class.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

The pressing question of adolescence is “Who am I?” How do young people discover who they are? What difficulties can arise in this search? How would you describe yourself?

Teaching Suggestion: The class might list crises of identity, including their realization that they are separate from their parents, have their own values, and can contribute to the world in their own unique ways. The book centers around Aza and her sense of self, so exploring the idea of identity before reading can lead to a deeper understanding of her character and central conflicts. Another way to approach this topic could be to ask students to write an identity poem or journal about their identities.

• “How TikTok Is Helping Some Teens Better Understand Their Identities” from Teen Vogue discusses how sometimes the algorithm for the For You Page on TikTok provides people with content that helps them.
• In this video, Morgan Butler, CiCi Felton, and Thomas Hill perform their slam poem “This Mouth, This Body, This Being, Is an Act of Rebellion.”
• “The Big Question: Who Am I?” from the Center for Parent & Teen Communication is useful for sparking ideas.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who would benefit from assistance with abstract thinking, it might be helpful to provide more of a framework. For example, students could respond to teacher-selected aspects of identity, such as family, friends, activities, location, etc., ranking them or writing about how each affects them. After starting with these concrete ideas, students might add other things that affect who they are.