Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.

Recommended Texts for Pairing

 “Freedom”

• a free verse poem by Langston Hughes
• Connect this work to the novel through themes of success and survival, struggles during the Great Depression, racism and discrimination, and hopes and dreams.

Bud, Not Buddy

• a middle grades novel also by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Connect this novel to The Mighty Miss Malone through themes of family unity, success and survival, struggles during the Great Depression, racism and discrimination, secrets, kindness, and hopes and dreams.
• Read aloud Chapter 8 to see what Bud thinks of his encounter with Deza in Flint’s Hooverville and to compare his version of events with Deza’s perspective in Miss Malone’s Chapter 22. (See Paired Text Extension for Activity #2.)

“Pantoum of the Great Depression”

• a poem by Donald Justice in the pantoum format
• Connect this poem to the novel’s themes of success and survival, struggles during the Great Depression, kindness, and hopes and dreams.