Teacher Guide

Sing, Unburied, Sing Lesson Plan

Introduction to Sing, Unburied, Sing

Sing, Unburied, Sing won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2017, Jesmyn Ward's second novel to receive the prize. Much like Ward's other work, and similar to the works of William Faulkner, Sing takes place in a fictional town in Mississippi based on Ward's own hometown. Sing employs two notable features: multiple perspectives and magical realism.

The novel moves through the perspectives of three narrators: Leonie; her son Jojo; and a ghost boy, Richie. The plot itself is straightforward, at least until the end: Leonie, Jojo, Michaela (Jojo's sister), and Misty (Leonie's friend) go to Parchman Prison to pick up Leonie's partner and Jojo and Kayla's father, Michael, who has just...

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