The Inquisitor’s Tale

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. Have you ever read a book that has more than one narrator? How does it change the experience of reading a story when you hear different perspectives from different narrators? Have you ever heard of a “frame story”? What is this, or what do you guess it might be?

Teaching Suggestion: Depending on your students’ backgrounds, they may have little pre-existing knowledge about stories with multiple narrative perspectives. Even those with a lot of reading experience may never have heard the term “frame story.” Encourage students to make thoughtful guesses in any part of this prompt that contains unfamiliar ideas or phrases. Waiting until after they have given the prompt some thought before offering them the resources below will help them contextualize the information within their prior knowledge and increase their retention of any new information.

• This article in which author Aimie Runyan discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using multiple narrators.
• This 7-minute video is a guide to frame stories from the Oregon State University Writing Lab.

2. The book The Inquisitor’s Tale takes place in the Middle Ages. What images, settings, and conflicts come to mind when thinking about Europe in the Middle Ages?

Teaching Suggestion: Some students will know very little accurate information about the Middle Ages, while others with a wealth of background knowledge may need help to limit their responses to this prompt. If students answer in writing, you might recommend they stick to “big ideas” like the structure of governments and economies and a few facts about ordinary people’s daily lives. If students are answering aloud, students with more background knowledge will tend to dominate the conversation; you might offer other students a way into the conversation by encouraging them to come up with questions about Medieval life that might be important to understanding a book set in this period.

• This 13-minute video from Captivating History offers an introduction to the Middle Ages.
• This 8-minute video from Simple History explains the daily life of villagers in the Middle Ages.

Personal Connection Prompt

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

The Inquisitor’s Tale is a type of narrative called a “journey story.” What stories about journeys have you read, watched, or played in a video game?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may enjoy discussing this prompt aloud, either after writing or instead of writing their responses. The discussion will expose students to a broader variety of journey narratives and provide a springboard should you wish to talk to them about the potential thematic and symbolic purposes of journey narratives.