Nyla calls D a “freak.” Is that an insult or a compliment? What is “the freak’s Golden Rule”? Write five rules that you expect your friends to follow.
Nuru never explains how she escaped from the nether beings, though she admits that she had help from “burrowing creatures.” Write a scene that explains how Nuru managed to become free.
Nyla resents the way she’s treated by guys on the street, yet Keem says some girls enjoy that kind of attention. What kind of behavior do you find offensive, and what do you do when someone disrespects you? Write a “survival guide” for teenage girls or boys to help them avoid and/or address sexual harassment.
Forty percent of the remains found in the African Burial Ground belonged to children. Imagine that D met one of those children in the Chamber of Souls. What kind of conversation do you think they would have? Write a short play in which D, Keem, Nyla, or Billy talks with an enslaved child about his or her life. What might they have in common? What are the advantages of being a child in the twenty-first century?
Ship of Souls Page 11
