The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapter 1

Reading Check

1. What does King say the world floats on?

2. What does King say is “all we are”?

3. What happens in the beginning of the Indigenous creation story that King tells?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does the storyteller answer the girl’s question about how many turtles there are?

2. Why was King’s mother the target of discrimination at work?

3. What different kinds of worlds does King say the Christian and Indigenous creation stories describe?

Paired Resource

“Earth on Turtle’s Back” and “The World on the Turtle's Back" Oral Storytelling Clip

• Two video versions of the creation story King tells in the beginning of his book, one 6 minutes and the other 4 minutes
• This content connects to the text’s theme of The Fluid Nature of Stories and Truth.
• King says that the small changes that happen when a story is repeated can tell the audience important things about the storyteller and the audience. What differences are there in these two versions of the same story? What might these differences tell us about the two storytellers? What does your own reaction to the differences tell you about yourself as an audience?