The Sword of Summer

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

“A Plan to Delay Ragnarok”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of Norse mythology and the characterization of Magnus in The Sword of Summer by creating a plan for Magnus to continue delaying Ragnarok.

In The Sword of Summer, Magnus responds to an emergency: Fenris Wolf is already close to escaping, and the events of Ragnarok are about to begin. However, once the immediate threat is over, what might Magnus do to plan ahead to delay Ragnarok? In this activity, you will use what you have learned about Norse mythology and about Magnus to create such a plan.

Create Your Plan

Gather details from the book that will help you create a plan that makes sense within the context of Norse Mythology and is consistent with the characterization of Magnus.

• Your plan should be a list of steps that Magnus can take to delay Ragnarok.
• If your plan involves other characters from the book, explain why they will be willing to help Magnus.
• If your plan involves resources Magnus does not already possess, explain how he will obtain them.

Present Your Plan to the Valhalla Thanes

• Share your plan with your small group. Acting as the Valhalla thanes, they will either approve your plan or suggest changes.
• After this meeting, update your plan with notes relaying the thanes’ evaluation of the plan. Do you agree with their ruling? Why or why not?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may benefit from additional explanation toward making their plans consistent with Norse mythology and the characterization of Magnus. You might offer them some illustrative examples of plan ideas that would be inconsistent with Riordan’s book. This activity can be completed in small groups; groups can be paired for the “Present Your Plan” section of the activity.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who benefit from strategies with reading fluency may find it challenging to review enough text to effectively complete this activity. Allowing time for idea-gathering and sharing with a partner or small group prior to independent completion of the activity may be helpful.

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. Old Norse mythology expresses some grim ideas about both life and death.

• How might someone from the Old Norse culture react to the tone of Riordan’s novel? (topic sentence)
• Give at least 3 examples of language, plot detail, or characterization that support your interpretation of Riordan’s tone. Be sure to cite any quoted material. Include evidence from at least 1 reputable source on Old Norse culture that supports your interpretation of how people from this time and place might react to Riordan’s tone. Be sure to cite this source.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on the impact Riordan’s tone is intended to have on a modern audience.

2. At the end of the novel, Magnus is presented with a choice regarding which afterworld he will join.

• How does Magnus’s choice demonstrate that he has grown and changed during the course of the novel? (topic sentence)
• Analyze and discuss evidence from the text that shows why Valhalla was an uncomfortable place for Magnus at first. Explore the ways in which Magnus changes and grows during his adventures, and explain how Magnus’s growth relates to his choice of Valhalla.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on the relationship of Magnus’s choice to the novel’s suggestion that There Are Different Ways to Fight.

3. The Sword of Summer features many different ships.

• What is one way that these ships serve a symbolic purpose? (topic sentence)
• Give at least 3 examples of language, imagery, or plot detail that support your interpretation.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how this symbol supports the larger meaning of The Sword of Summer.

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. Throughout the novel, characters find that there is a price to be paid for using magic and accessing information. Does the story offer any explanations for why this would be? Does the price always seem fair? How does having to make decisions about the cost of magic and information impact the characters? Write a 3- or 5-paragraph essay analyzing this motif in The Sword of Summer. Show how this motif is connected to the novel’s larger thematic concern with the ways in which All Decisions Have Consequences. Support your ideas with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

2. Later in the novel, Magnus decides that he and Loki are not as different as he first thought. In what ways are the two similar? What are the significant differences between them? How does Magnus grow as a result of this realization? What message does Riordan convey with his protagonist’s realization? Write a 3-paragraph essay analyzing the larger meaning of Magnus’s discovery of his points of commonality with Loki. Support your ideas with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

3. Many of Loki’s children are featured in this novel. What kinds of obstacles do they face because of who their father is? How does Loki’s status affect Sam’s status? Do you think it is reasonable or fair for Sam to be mistrusted and treated poorly because she is Loki’s daughter? Write an essay analyzing how the identity of her father impacts Sam and at least two of her half siblings. Show how the lives of Loki’s children are related to the novel’s larger thematic concern with The Inequality of Hierarchies. Support your ideas with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

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

Multiple Choice

1. What revelation is foreshadowed by Magnus’s discovery of the rune with a letter on it?

A) Magnus’s father is the god Frey.

B) Magnus is being hunted by Gunilla.

C) Magnus will have to defeat Sert.

D) Magnus’s destiny is intertwined with Sam’s.

2. Which event foreshadows Magnus’s recovery of the sword?

A) The introduction of Annabeth as a character

B) Randolph telling the story about the sunken Viking ship

C) Magnus’s revelation that he has died

D) The wolf attack on Magnus and his mother

3. What is the novel’s central conflict?

A) Magnus discovering whether Randolph can be trusted

B) Magnus overcoming his reluctance to believe in the supernatural

C) Magnus trying to come to terms with being the son of a god

D) Magnus attempting to prevent Sert from ushering in Ragnarok

4. What lesson is conveyed through Magnus’s, Blitz’s, and Hearth’s interactions with Mimir?

A) Knowledge often comes at a price.

B) Strength in battle is not always enough.

C) Sometimes friendship means putting others first.

D) The gods can be careless with human life.

5. Which of the following is not one of Loki’s children?

A) Sam

B) Hearth

C) Stanley

D) Fenris

6. Which event most clearly shows that Magnus understands the sacrifices he must make in order to fulfill his responsibilities as a hero?

A) When Magnus uses magic to defeat the fire giants

B) When Magnus rescues Thor from the giantess

C) When Magnus refuses Hel’s bargain

D) When Magnus chooses to remain in Valhalla

7. Which creature does Magnus fear throughout most of the story?

A) Bears

B) Wolves

C) Spiders

D) Snakes

8. Which is one of Magnus’s key character traits?

A) Impulsive

B) Artistic

C) Cynical

D) Empathic

9. Which character is the most unable to see others objectively because of their own emotional wounds?

A) Hearth

B) Fenris

C) Loki

D) Gunilla

10. Which plot event best demonstrates the problematic nature of Valhalla’s hierarchy?

A) When Gunilla is killed in the battle with Surt

B) When Frey sits on Odin’s throne

C) When X reveals himself to really be Odin in disguise

D) When Loki decides to search for Thor’s hammer

Long Answer

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

1. What are the similarities and the differences in the ways that dwarves, the Aesir, and the Vanir battle?

2. What similarities are there in Magnus’s use of the sword, Jack, and in Hearth’s use of magic?