Skink—No Surrender

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. What is online “catfishing”? What are some of the reasons that people might choose to engage in this behavior?

Teaching Suggestion: The resources linked below offer a definition of “catfishing” and some insight into both people’s reasons for impersonating others online and people’s willingness to believe them. If you choose to have students answer this prompt aloud, you might want to communicate in advance how many and what type of stories students will be allowed to share from sources like the television show Catfish, which contains some elements that may not be classroom appropriate.

• This thorough explanation comes from the nonprofit Cybersmile Foundation.
• This article on why people fall for catfishing is from Discover Magazine.

2. Why might even people who are aware that catfishing exists still fall for a catfish? What are some reasons that online catfishing should be taken seriously?

Teaching Suggestion: Even students who are familiar with the idea of posing as someone else online may not associate catfishing with the kinds of serious consequences Malley faces in Skink—No Surrender. The resources linked below detail some cases where catfishing has caused serious harm to others. Please note that these resources, though not graphic, do mention subjects that might be distressing for students, and you may wish to consider them as teacher-facing resources only, depending on the age and maturity of your students.

• This article from BBC News discusses the killing of a young woman at the direction of a catfish. (Content Warning: violence, murder)
• This article briefly explains how easily people might be duped by catfishing techniques. (Content Warning: mention of attempted murder)

Personal Connection Prompt

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

In the book you are about to read, several of the characters act in ways that might seem immoral on the surface. But are there times when there is a good reason to do a “bad” thing? If so, what are some situations in which it might be morally acceptable to steal, lie, or use violence? If no, what is your reasoning for your answer?

Teaching Suggestion: If your students struggle to apply this abstract moral question to concrete situations, you might provide them with a few examples: Is war always wrong? Is it wrong to steal food to feed your starving child? Is it wrong to lie and say your parents are nearby when you are approached by a stranger? Even if you choose to have students respond to this prompt in writing, they may enjoy discussing and debating their reasoning afterward. If your students are ready for the challenge, you might ask them to discuss the motivations required to excuse certain kinds of immoral actions—for instance, is it forgivable to kill a person who is trying to steal from your home, or does the justification have to be much stronger in order to excuse an action this extreme?