As a person who lives just fourteen miles from the prison, I was completely unnerved by the idea of two murderers lurking in the woods. The spark for this novel was a real-life prison break, when the escape of two inmates from Clinton Correctional Facility in Northern New York in June of 2015 launched a 23-day manhunt, all through the Adirondack Mountains and beyond.

What inspired you to come up with the plot and characters for this novel? Links to videos of audiobook text, Hamilton videos, author blog posts and more.Our Storytelling & Advocacy Coordinator spoke with Kate Messner, an award-winning author of children's books and middle-grade novels and a long-time World Read Aloud Day advocate (or WRADvocate) about her writing process, the power of reading aloud, and her latest novel, Breakout, which hits the shelves on June 5th this year.

Students can also use this rubric to self-score/evaluate their writing. A rubric for teachers to use to evaluate the writing products created by their students with these prompts.A list of journal writing tips for students.An extension prompt list focusing on additional writings by the author, student experiences/reflections, and lyrics from the musical Hamilton which is an integral part of the story.A generic writing prompt page focusing on text connections (text to self, text to text, text to world) connections that can be used at any point in time with the story.

A targeted journal write question/prompt for each day's reading pages.A thirteen-day page breakdown to read the novel Breakout by Kate Messner.Seriously, there is not a better novel for you and your students to read together this year! The story also includes poetry and lyrics from Hamilton. I love teaching this novel because it not only captures the attention of my students but also gently introduces the topics of racism, prejudice, prison reform and the power we all have to write our own story ending. Breakout by Kate Messner (realistic fiction/social justice fiction) is sure to become a modern day classic! This printable/student consumable novel unit (including: reader response journal, graphic organizer and rubric) will be a great tool for students to use as they improve their writing and communicaiton skills and also process the story.īreakout is about a prison break in a small town, and is told entirely in primary documents, by three 7th graders.

Breakout kate messner audiobook