Turtles All the Way Down

Use these activities to engage all types of learners while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activities.

ACTIVITY 1: “Thought Symbols All the Way Down”

In this activity, students will choose language from the text in which Aza describes her OCD and anxiety using figurative language and create a visual representation of her description.

Create a presentation that pairs a passage from Aza’s descriptions of her OCD and anxiety with original artwork representing your interpretation of her words. Follow these steps:

• Review the novel for places in which Aza uses vivid language to describe the way her OCD and anxiety make her feel.
• Choose one or more passages from the novel and visually represent Aza’s thoughts, illustrating how the anxiety and obsessions affect her.
• Allow your presentation to reflect both your artistic vision and the power of the author’s language.
• Make connections to at least two of the themes: Mental Illness, Reality and Identity, and Socioeconomic Status. Include quotations and details from the novel.
• Symbolically incorporate colors, perspective, and additional visuals. Be colorful and creative!

Present your project to your peers. While viewing other presentations, list at least three ideas that you found particularly creative. Be prepared to share in our class discussion.

Teaching Suggestion:

Students should be encouraged to find their own examples of Aza’s figurative language, but you may want to point them toward the metaphors of “invasive weeds” in Chapter 5, the “whirlpool” or “ever-tightening spiral” of Chapter 6, or the “hurdle you jumped over” from Chapter 8. A teacher think-aloud might benefit the class, talking through ideas or maybe sketching the start of an example. This modeling could especially guide students who learn more visually or need additional guidance with more abstract concepts. It could also be helpful for students to have some feedback when they finish their initial sketches. They could work in pairs or small groups to provide each other feedback, using the format of praise, questions, and suggestions. An alternative way to approach the presentations could be a gallery walk or a display in a section of the classroom.

Differentiation Suggestion: For advanced learners, consider adding layers to this project. Perhaps they also write an essay focusing on literary analysis of an excerpt and discuss ways their visual and written projects connect. Another alternative could be tableaus or skits for specific moments when Aza faces obsessions and anxiety.

ACTIVITY 2: “Mental Health Awareness”

In this activity, students will research and spread mental health awareness.

The more the people around Aza understand what she faces, the more they can support her. Choose a topic regarding mental health. Research and create a project that will increase mental health awareness and support in our school community.

• Choose a mental health concern you would like your presentation to focus on.
• Research and study at least two credible sources on your topic.
• Decide on the most effective way to share your information: Consider a digital presentation, a poster, an announcement, a video, etc.
• Create your project.
• Choose a way to share your presentation with your classmates or another community.
• Reflect on what you learned in a “Mental Health Awareness Debrief”

Teaching Suggestion: It might benefit the class to brainstorm topics and ideas for formats together. The World Health Organization has a list of mental disorders that can help produce ideas. Students might work in pairs for all or part of the activity. This project could be adapted to turn into a service-learning project if students need one. Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, consider completing or revisiting this project then.

Differentiation Suggestion: Recall that some students may be personally affected by issues of mental health and that you should approach this activity with caution. For students who need support with organization, consider providing a graphic organizer with guiding questions while creating the project. Students with attentional and executive functioning differences may benefit from a calendar with steps and due dates for each step clearly stated.

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. Daisy and Aza share a scene where they discuss the idea of “turtles all the way down.” (Chapter 21)

• Why did the author choose to use this idea as the title of the book? (topic sentence)
• What does the idea of “turtles all the way down” mean to the characters? How does it reflect their experience? Include at least two or three quotations from the novel to support your reasoning.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain how this conversation with Daisy affects Aza.

2. The White River plays an important role for Daisy and Aza throughout the novel.

• How does the river hold different meanings for Daisy and Aza? (topic sentence)
• Choose evidence from different parts of the novel to show how the river’s meaning changes for the characters.  
• In your conclusion, state whether Aza has a positive or negative idea of the river.

3. Daisy and Aza’s friendship experiences severe tests in this story.   

• How do the events of the novel affect the girls’ friendship and sense of who they are? (topic sentence)
• Include at least two or three pieces of textual evidence to support your claim.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, state a lesson the novel teaches about Reality and Identity.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Reflect on the final scene that provides glimpses into Aza’s future. What meaning does shifting pronouns hold: from singular to plural, from “I” to “our” and “[w]e” (Chapter 24)? What moods do these pages build? What does the future hold for Aza? In a 3-5 paragraph essay, analyze the importance of this final scene in revealing Aza’s Reality and Identity and the effects stylistic choices have on building these ideas.

2. Consider how John Green develops Aza’s anxiety and OCD. For example, he includes inner dialogue between her and her anxiety and obsessions. He also incorporates discussions she has with Daisy, Davis, and others about what she experiences. What details best illustrate her experience? How do the different scenes work together to reveal what she is going through? Craft a 3-5 paragraph essay analyzing how Green’s writing choices build the themes of Mental Illness and Reality and Identity.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following best characterizes the relationship between Aza and Noah?

A) Aza encounters him multiple times when visiting Davis and wants to help him.

B) Aza dislikes Noah, but he wants a big sister and tags along whenever she is with Davis.

C) Aza and Noah used to attend camp together and were archenemies.

D) Aza is indifferent toward Noah until he teaches her how to play golf and they become friends.

2. What does the Iron Man figurine symbolize?

A) Davis’s father’s power and influence over others

B) Noah’s longing for his father to return home unharmed

C) Aza’s dream of leaving her hometown and exploring the world

D) Davis’s memory of his mother and his sense of comfort and hope

3. Which of the following best describes the meaning of Aza’s text to Davis that reads “I is the hardest word to define”? (Chapter 7)

A) Her idea of self is complicated and shifting.

B) Pronouns can apply to different people.

C) She loves talking about herself and does not know where to start.

D) “I” is a homonym with multiple definitions.

4. Which of the following best describes the audience of Daisy’s fanfiction?

A) Daisy struggles to gain a following beyond her family and best friends.

B) As Daisy only recently began writing, her readership is small but growing.

C) Daisy’s fanfiction was once successful, but she subsequently lost many followers.

D) Daisy’s fanfiction is successful, with many followers including Davis and later Aza.

5. Which of the following best describes Aza’s mom?

A) Wise, distant, lost

B) Serious, strict, unhelpful

C) Caring, protective, strong

D) Curious, flighty, instinctive

6. What is similar about how Aza and Daisy view college?

A) They both dread college, hoping to travel instead.

B) They both recognize the hope of attending college.

C) They both see college as an obligation.

D) They both think college is an impossibility.

7. Which of the following do Aza and Davis do together multiple times?

A) Play golf on his golf course

B) Attend a live play at a theatre

C) Watch the sky while lying outside 

D) Attend an exhibit at an art gallery

8. Why does Aza prefer interacting with Davis via text or Facetime instead of in person?

A) It allows her to avoid physical contact and the germs that come with it.

B) It allows her to avoid Davis’s father, whom she dislikes.

C) Davis’s immense wealth intimidates her, and she finds it hard to act naturally around him.

D) While she appreciates Davis’s ideas and writing, she does not love their conversations.

9. Which of the following best describes Aza and Daisy’s relationship?

A) They share an intense but brief friendship for one school year.

B) They are acquaintances who check in occasionally and see each other at social events.

C) Aza helps Daisy when she can, as she has the means to do so.

D) They are great friends who provide reliable support for one another.  

10. How does Daisy’s reaction to reading the College Guide reveal her character?

A) She dreams of attending Amherst, showing her ambition.

B) She decides to apply to the state university, showing her practicality.

C) She shows no interest in applying at all, showing her lack of confidence.

D) She hopes to attend wherever Aza attends, showing her lack of individuality.

11. How is Harold a symbol?

A) Harold symbolizes the meteor shower, old like the meteors are, vibrant and inspirational as Davis views space, and unforgettable as Aza’s poem about the meteors.

B) Harold represents Aza’s ties to her father, once belonging to her father, holding his old phone, and protecting Aza and Daisy in the crash that totals the car.

C) Harold brings people together, symbolizing unity. He is a part of the school celebration, Davis and Aza’s first meeting, and Daisy and Mychal’s beginning to date.

D) Harold represents a new beginning. He leads to Aza’s realization that she would like to try to date Davis and Daisy’s applying for college.

12. What causes the car accident that injures Aza and Daisy?

A) Davis’s father runs into the road, causing Daisy to swerve and crash into a tree.

B) Davis loses control of his car in a meteor shower, injuring Daisy and Aza.

C) A school bully taunts Daisy, and Aza gets so enraged she drives into his car.

D) Aza becomes distracted during an argument with Daisy and rear-ends a car at a red light.  

13. How is the relationship between Daisy and Aza different after the car accident?

A) They have both spoken difficult truths, and Aza now tries to learn more about Daisy.

B) Daisy blames Aza for the crash and her injuries and refuses to speak to her for a while.

C) The two decide to work together to raise funds for the hospital but avoid each other all other times.

D) They both immediately feel closer to each other after sharing the intense experience.

14. Which of the following literary strategies does this quotation include?

“I could see everything: the green moss on the boulders in the river below; the golden frothy bubbles at the base of the waterfall; the trees in the distance bent over the water like the roof of a chapel; the power lines sagging across the river below us; a great silver grain mill absurdly still in the moonlight; neon Speedway and Chase Bank signs in the distance.” (Chapter 22)

A) Personification and irony

B) Hyperbole and onomatopoeia

C) Simile and imagery

D) Alliteration and metaphor

15. What does the phrase “turtles all the way down” help Aza understand?

A) The grief she feels for her father

B) Her inability to find her true self

C) The pressure Davis feels after his father disappears

D) The forces that make her act obsessively

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. Why does Aza worry about the phone after the car accident?

2. What reasons does Davis give for telling the police where his father is?